It Takes Two to Talk Workbook and DVD for Parents

Our therapists work very closely with parents to encourage the carryover of newly acquired skills in therapy. One of the home programs we employ is “It Takes Two to Talk” by Hanen. The program is designed particularly to help parents boost their child’s language and uses the following principles:

1. Learning happens naturally - Children learn language best during everyday routines and conversations with the important people in their lives
2. Parents are their child's most important language teachers
3. The earlier a child receives the extra help he needs, the more his language skills will improve

The guidebook and companion DVD work together to supply parents with information and strategies for improving the child’s language and communication. Videos on the DVD correspond with the chapters in the guidebook, allowing the parent to see real-life uses of the strategies listed in the book.

Here are some sample pages from the book:

Mobile Speech and Language Apps

Mobile Speech and Language Apps

Chatterboxes' Speech-Language Pathologists often integrate iPad applications into therapy sessions in order to target specific speech, languge and articulation or communication goals. Children often find the technology of the iPad apps to be extremely motivating. Many of the apps used in therapy sessions can be used at home as well for increased carryover of newly acquired skills!

Educational, speech & language based apps can transform the iPad into a language-learning tool, a augmentative communication device, a series of flashcards for articulation drills, or an interactive story book just to name a few!

 

Apps often used in our therapy sessions include:

 

Little Bella's I Close My Eyes HD

Peek-A-Zoo 

Milo Sequencing

Old Macdonald

Articulation Station

Proloquo2go

Artik Pix

Milo Prepositions

Tips for Using your Device with Your Little One

• Try Bub Caps! This is a product designed to be placed over the home button to prevent children from exiting out of programs during use (available in various strengths).
• Protect your device during playtime with Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Apptivity Case: For iPad and iPhone. This is a great product for playing Apps, but also for FaceTime!

More Recommended Speech, Language & Learning Apps:

• Autism Apps - Free (clearinghouse listing of apps for Autism/communication)
• Kiddie Countdown - Free - visual timer
• DbVolmMeter - 99 cents- visual tool for increasing/decreasing vocal intensity during structured/unstructured practice activities.
• Speech Tutor- 9.99- Can record and view spectrograph of clinician's vs. Pt's production. Great visual measure of progress & accuracy. Allows Pt. to view cross section or forward facing production of the sound.
• Beginning sounds- 99 cents- Initial phoneme identification skills
• Rhyming words - Free- Rhyming matches
• Letter School- $2.99- Letter recognition (upper and lower case), phoneme-grapheme correspondence, & letter writing practice (in scaffold way).
• Phonics Tic Tac Toe- Free- Phonological awareness activities
• Toca Hair Salon- $1.99- Great for work with various language concepts, question forms, pronouns, feelings, etc. (Also see: Toca store & Toca Kitchen)
• Fun With Directions HD- $9.99- Listening, following directions, memory, & basic concept comprehension.
• My Play Home - $3.99- Interactive play surface including rooms of a house. Allows Pt. to move items around, make things happen, give directions/explanations, etc.
• Toontastic- Free- Can use to create short stories, commercials, cartoons (great for social skills, storytelling, articulation & expressive language).
• IThoughts HD- $9.99- A graphic organizer tool which targets curricular concepts, problem-solving, narrative mapping, etc. Maps can be printed/e-mailed.
• Booksy - Free- Early literacy support.

Go Away, Big Green Monster! Storytelling Puppet Kit

Engage expressive and receptive language skills with this adorable Green Monster StoryTelling puppet kit. As children follow along with the story, skills such as body parts, prepositions, descriptive language and WH questions can be naturally incorporated! This hands on story is always a hit!

Available at Lakeshore Learning. 

Articulation Station for the iPad

Check out one of our favorite iPad apps for articulation therapy - Articulation Station by Little Bee Speech!

Here are some features of the app:

Flashcards - Flashcards, with high-quality images that children will enjoy, help target sounds. Children can tap the card if they don't remember the word, and the app can repeat the word to serve as auditory reinforcement.

Rotating sentences - These sentences are sentences that repeat, with only the target word changing. Each sentence has picture prompts and audio reinforcement.

Unique sentences - The unique sentences are new sentences for every target word in the application, which adds up to over 1,300 unique sentences. Each unique sentence has on average 3 words with the target sound in it. For example in the sentence, “Penny rode the pony in the park.” “Pony” is the target word but the initial p sound can also be practiced on “Penny” and “park.”

Level 1 stories -  Repetitive stories are paired with picture prompts and audio reinforcement. Each story has multiple target words which maximizes practice opportunities of the target sound in a story environment. At the end of each story there are comprehension questions which helps the child with spontaneous speech.

Level 2 stories - These stories are designed for more advanced readers. They are longer stories with larger vocabulary and provide even more opportunities to practice the target sound in a story environment.

Data collection - The data collection feature makes tracking your child's progress a breeze. You can sort scores based on date, sound and position, passed, or notes taken. You can also access specific session details and repeat words, sentences, or stories not passed in that session.

Links:
Mommy Speech Therapy's app details
App store

Speech stickers

Check out this new iPad application from Serious Tree called Speech Stickers. Fun characters and a simple interface make this app great for helping young children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech or severe articulation disorders. The app works on the most basic phonemes as well as CV and VC syllables.

Read more details and a review of the app here: http://consonantlyspeaking.com/posts/2012/06/abcs-4-slps-a-is-for-appsapraxia-of-speech-speech-stickers-review

Tips for managing picky eaters

Many parents experience the woes of picky eating at some point in their child's development.

A child's negative eating behavior can adversely affect the mealtime experience and can have a

detrimental effect on the child's health and development. There are a number of strategies that can be utilized to best manage picky eaters, including:

• When introducing a new food, it's OK if your child is not ready to eat it. Try encouraging him to interact with the food in a less invasive way. Consider introducing a food interaction hierarchy for introduction of novel foods. Gradually progress through the following levels: tolerating on the table/plate, touching, smelling, kissing, licking, biting, chewing, and swallowing.
•  Create eating tasks that are challenging yet accomplishable so that your child can experience success. For instance, with a novel food, encourage your child to start with kisses and licks instead of bites.
•  Gradually increase demands of eating tasks over time. For example, while your child’s first interaction with a novel food may be taking five licks, her next interaction may be two bites.
•  Introduce an “all done” bowl. Do not allow your child to leave the table until all of the food on his plate is either ingested or interacted with (pick up, kiss, lick, etc.) and placed into the all done bowl.
• Continue offering new foods many times, even if these foods were refused in the past. It may take children longer than expected to become comfortable with new foods. Be patient and persistent.
• Verbally praise all positive mealtime behaviors. These can include sitting at the table, picking up a spoon, tasting a new food, or taking bites of a preferred food.
• Ignore any negative mealtime behaviors. These include verbal protesting, pushing foods away, letting food fall to the floor, etc. Use timeouts when necessary in the event of disruptive mealtime behaviors.
• Use a timer or visual schedule to encourage your child to stay at the table for the duration of the meal.
• Make sure that all family members are on board with strategies used at home. The more consistent the mealtime rules and routines are, the more effective they will be in promoting positive feeding behavior.

Laugh & Learn Apptivity Case for the iPad

Does your baby want to play with your newest toy? Try out the new Laugh & Learn Apptivity Case for the iPad, and now everyone can play with it!

The sturdy case will protect your iPad from dribbles, drool, and sticky little fingers. Busy beads and a handle are great for go-anywhere play, and free Laugh & Learn apps mean plenty of learning fun!

Check it out here: http://www.fisher-price.com/en_us/brands/babytoys/products/66016