Plan for the Day

note book with daily routine

It’s finally here…. JUNE!  Days are longer…much longer. Weather it warmer…. much warmer. Everyone is home… school’s out…..everyone’s home…. all day.  Did we mention the days are longer?

While June ushers in a time a carefree days and weeks, pay attention to just how important a daily routine (dare we say schedule) is for your loved one’s success, ease of mind, and ability to manage behaviors.  

“But we just finished a school year worth of schedules!”

We hear you, but these summer routines and schedules are a lot less time specific.  Summer routines and schedules make the ‘unknown’ day more concrete. They also provide the adults with a reminder or recap of the day.

Resources for creating schedules are available online.  Use simple pictures of places and events or if your loved on is literate, use text.

There are many different types of set-ups for schedules or routines you might want to consider.  Ultimately, create a combination of different types that suits your family’s needs best.

Object schedule: Using objects that represent the events throughout the day may give your loved on the visual support needed to easily transition from one activity to the next.  This also provides a concrete explanation of the expectations throughout the day so there is no ‘arguing’. It’s so much easier to ‘blame’ the schedule for completing a non-preferred task. “I’m sorry, but the schedule says it’s time to clean-up. Check the schedule.”

Picture schedule: Simple clipart pictures or actual photos can serve as  visual reminders for the schedule or routine of the day.  Providing a method of indicating the event is complete provides a very concrete message for your loved one.  Some suggestions to show an event is complete include turning the picture over, removing the picture from the schedule, or placing a check-mark next to the picture.

Text Schedule: If your loved on is literate, consider a simple checklist for the day’s events or using a white boards to catalogue the schedule for the day. These types of schedules can include exact times as well as specific locations.

High Tech: If your loved one is more comfortable using a ‘smart’ device, consider using the calendar built in to the operating system or a daily planner app (free ones are the best when trialing this support). Work with your loved one to set up the calendar, make sure to include alarms or notifications for each event. Using a ‘shared’ calendar provides everyone the flexibility to add or change items accordingly.  

 

Providing visual supports and schedules to loved ones gives everyone the opportunity to enjoy the lazy days of summer more successfully and with much less stress.  The speech-language therapist at Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC will be happy to provide more ideas and assistance with developing visual supports specific to your loved one’s needs.

 

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC

Express your love!

February – the month of love; loving and caring for our family, our friends, our significant other.  Everyone needs a little help now and then. Helping our loved ones express themselves is important in February and all year through. Expressing one’s self cannot be limited to talking.  Expressions of love come in variety of shapes, colors, and sounds. Give your loved ones the opportunity to express and communicate with the world.

Opportunities to communicate happen every minute of the day, knowing the best or most effective way to communicate may take some practice.  Give you and your loved the time to practice. This practice doesn’t have to take long or even have a lot of ‘moving parts’. Valentine’s day is only a few days away, what a wonderful reason to practice and share your loved one’s communication skills with the special people in their lives.  Here are a few ideas to get your creative communication juices flowing.

  • Teach your loved one the sign for “I love you”.  Remember to teach those in your lives the sign as well so when your love one signs “I love you”, the recipient will understand that wonderful message.
  • Use a speech bubble and write a Valentine’s message in the bubble or a simple heart cut from paper.  Have your loved one hold the speech bubble or heart and snap a picture. Whose day won’t be uplifted receiving that message via text or email?
  • Using pink or red lipstick/chapstick, have your loved one decorate a Valentine with lip prints by having them kiss the paper.  Not only is this just adorable, but it’s a GREAT oral motor exercise for speech.
  • Simple communication boards or pictures are also a great way of communicating. Making a video of your loved one creating a message and send it out via text or email will definitely brighten the day!

Let the world hear your loved ones message loud and clear this Valentine’s Day!

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC

Get Cooking!

The weather stations are all predicting record cold in the next few days.  Record cold means staying in the house. Staying in the house means lots of ‘together time’. Use that time to promote language use and development and have fun as well.

These frosty days are perfect for working together not only on language use and practice, but beginning to develop some independent functional skills that promote a sense of independence and pride. You have all you need to accomplish this in your kitchen.   Cooking, baking, food prep….functional and filled with language.

Creating in the kitchen builds a sense of togetherness and promotes language development and use.  For most, food is a motivating force to decrease inappropriate behaviors, increase language use as well as social skills.  For loved ones that are not motivated by eating different foods, you may be surprised at their willingness to help in the kitchen and be around different smells, tastes and textures (all great ways to start introducing new foods to limited palates).

Below are links to wonderful resources that not only promote cooking and baking as therapeutic tools, but provide free materials for everyone (young and old and in between) to participate in together time in the kitchen.  

Collect and print your favorite recipes to make a special recipe book.

But on your favorite chef’s apron, roll up your sleeves, and get to creating delicious foods and of course – memories!

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.

Practice Makes Permanent!

It’s the final countdown until the big day (cue Europe’s 1986 hit song). The lists have been checked twice, the stockings are hung by the chimney with care, and all that’s left is the wait……the long wait until we can rip open those gifts!

And when those gifts are torn into, we wait with baited breath willing and hoping our loved ones not only enjoy the gifts, but remember to say “Thank you” or at the very least acknowledge the others in the room.  Nothing says holiday fun like demanding your child say ‘Thank you’ to Auntie dear for the lovely footie pajamas and your child erupts into a stream of whining crying excuses while he/she will never wear them and how hot those PJs make their feet.

Give yourself an early gift this year, take a few moments and share with your loved ones your expected behaviors during the holidays.  Sometimes it just needs to be laid out there for everyone to realize it IS expected and no one, big or small, is exempt.

Greetings – for the most part, this one is pretty easy, HOWEVER, given the excitement of the day, simple reminders are good.  Practice walking into a room or through the front door and saying ‘Hi’ with your loved ones. If eye contact isn’t the best, coach your loved one to look at the person’s chin or hair.   If your loved one is non-verbal, practice waving or the sign for ‘Hi’ or a simple smile may be just as effective. Hiding behind you is NOT an expected behavior. Running in the door and hiding under the table is NOT an expected behavior. Spell out these unexpected behaviors very clearly.

Hugs, handshakes and the like – for some this is nothing short of a fingernails down a chalkboard moment. Give your loved one alternatives to hugging if that’s NOT the preferred choice of interaction.  Fist bumps, high fives, and waving are all expected behaviors everyone can live with. If there are  relatives that would be offended if they didn’t get a hug, take a few seconds before the holiday and explain to them why this is difficult.  Tell THEM what to expect and WHY you need their support.

Disappointment when opening gifts – this is something not foreign to most of us.  Practice expected reactions by opening ‘gifts’ of spoons or rocks or paper towels.  Smile and say ‘Thank you’. Smile and say ‘Thank you’. Make a game plan for when a gift is opened that your loved one already owns.  Make-up a simple gesture (channel your inner baseball coach) that tells your loved one, “I know you already have that. We will exchange this one and you can get something else. Smile and say Thank you.” . Once you have the gesture established, practice.  Wrap up current belongings and practice

In all of these cases, practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanent….something that is more applicable for everyone.

And please, through it all, expected or unexpected find the joy. Find something to laugh about. Find those moments that fill your heart.

Happiest of Holidays!

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.

Holiday Prep – Part II

In a few days we will gather with family and friends to be thankful for all we have our lives. The days leading up to Thanksgiving (or any holiday) can be exciting, yet filled with anxiety, which could result in unexpected behaviors and reactions for some of our loved ones.

We talked about making changes in the actual celebration to better support your loved ones.  We need to focus on preparing them for what they might experience – the different smells, sounds and expectations – during the Thanksgiving celebration.

Social Stories:  These tools help by creating a simple straightforward explanation of what will happen during or leading up to an event, as well as behavior expectations.  Ideally social stories should be reviewed multiple times prior to an event and directly before. Bring the social story to the event and reread it in a quiet place. This may help to decrease the stress and refocus behaviors.  Please feel free to print and use these social stories or you may find some free by searching the web.

Visual Schedule:  Enjoying a relaxed unscheduled day may sound perfect, however your loved one may need to ‘see’ his/her day to decrease anxiety and unexpected behaviors.  A visual schedule may prove to be the needed tool. Visual schedules are helpful for all family members. You can use actual photos, simple stick-figure drawings or icons to depict your daily events.  You may choose to split the day by listing the AM schedule first and then changing it to the PM schedule at a natural break. You may choose to list the entire day and have your loved one remove the icon/picture as each part of the day is completed. Please feel free to print and use these icons to create a visual schedule of your loved one’s day.

First-Then cards: First-Then cards may be a new tool in your toolbox.  These cards use the same icons or pictures as a visual schedule, however are presented two at a time.  This tools gives your loved one a focused message of the immediate expected event or behavior and what will directly follow.  You may consider following a non-preferred activity with a ‘break’ or ‘leisure choice’ to increase his/her attention to the non-preferred activity.  For example, First: eating dinner – Then: going outside to swing. Please feel free to print and used these materials to create a First-Then card for your loved one.

Remember to take a moment to step back and truly see all the beauty that surrounds you.  Cherish your time with family and friends. We at Lakeshore Speech Therapy are thankful for our Lakeshore families.  We wish you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving day filled with laughter and happiness.

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC

Dress for Fall

Fall is officially upon us!  Crunching leaves, cooler air, pumpkin spiced everything.  There’s no denying it, Fall is here! For those who appreciate a cup of hot cocoa, the changing of the leaves and busting out the sweaters and long pants, your time has arrived.  Living in Northeast Ohio poses some issues when it comes to predicting Fall weather. We experience Spring, Summer and Heat Wave all in span of 3 days. Adjusting our wardrobes to match this  temperature roller coaster can also create issues for those who don’t understand what is going on with Mother Nature or those who are very sensitive to what they wear.

The “battle of the outfit” does not have to be a daily event. Using simple materials around your home, you can focus less on getting your loved one in  clothes to match the weather. These techniques not only bridge the gap of the daily runway, but promote vocabulary growth, inferencing, and reasoning.

Materials you will need to gather:

Items: 

Pictures of (at least 2 copies of each): 

  • Long sleeved shirt & short sleeved shirt                
  • Long pants & shorts
  • Sweatshirt or sweater
  • Socks and shoes
  • Sandals or flip flops
  • Lightweight Jacket
  • Heavier jacket/winter jacket

Resources:

  • Fliers from department stores and catalogues are great resources
  • Free icons @ www.flaticon.com
  • Free icons @ www.do2learn
  • Images from the internet

Items:

Pictures of weather/temperature:

  • Sun (3)
  • Cloudy (3)
  • Rain (3)
  • Warm (3)
  • Cold (3)

Resources:

Items:

Blank week calendar (large enough to hold 2-3 pictures)

Resources:

Items:

Glue, scissors, velcro or funtack, blank paper/cardstock

Resource:

Around the house (or in the ‘junk drawer’)

The overall goal is for the adult to indicate the weather and temperature on a specific day (using the weather temperature pictures) as well as the type of clothing needed for that day (using the clothing pictures).  Eventually, the individual may want to fill in the calendar with the corresponding pictures, but initially, this is intended to be a visual cue to decrease misunderstandings, etc. Too often the beautiful sun is shining but it’s nowhere near a day for flip-flops and shorts.

Please feel free to discuss creating this type of visual cue for your loved one with your Speech-Language Pathologist. If you would like more information, please feel free to call us at Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy