Using “DIP” With Your Child
By: Claire Slavik, M.A., CF-SLP WHAT is “DIP”? “DIP” stands for duration, intensity, and pitch. These features add meaning and variety to our words and help speech come to life! They are the qualities that can make our voice sound different from those around us. WHY is this important to use with my child? Showering…
It’s Not Just Play, It’s Hard Work!
It might look like your child is “just playing,” but did you know play is hard work? Play provides opportunities for children to learn, grow, and develop their language skills, social and emotional skills, and their creativity. See below to find out what your child may be learning, while they are “just playing.” Circle Time…
Making an Experience Book with Your Child
By: Claire Slavik, M.A., CF-SLP An experience book captures the everyday moments that your child finds important in their daily life. This is a homemade book put together by you and your child to help foster and guide conversation. All you need is some paper, a pen or crayons, and some creativity! How do we make one? Sit down…
Tantrums Vs. Meltdowns
By: Natalie Day, M.S., CCC-SLP Three of our talented speech therapists, Sarah Denman, Eileen Adamo, and Joelle Umstead, shared a presentation with our speech staff at a recent staff meeting! They taught us about tantrums versus meltdowns: how to recognize the difference, how to know when one is coming, and some strategies to prevent them…
Navigating the IEP Process
By: Lora McConnell, M.A., CCC-SLP What do you do if you have a concern about how your child is functioning at school? There are several specific steps you should follow and information you should know in order to get your child the help he/she might need. First, talk to his/her teacher and see how they…
When Do Children Develop Certain Speech Sounds?
By: Natalie Day, MS, CCC-SLP As children develop, so does their speech! It takes time for all speech sounds to be produced correctly, so it’s normal for some sounds to not be produced correctly in young children. But when should we expect sounds to develop? New research is available to guide our decision making about…
Visual Supports In The Classroom
By Julie Aills, M.S., CCC-SLP One of our wonderful and talented speech therapists, Danielle Nader, was a presenter at OCALICON this year. OCALICON is a 3- day conference for related professionals and families of individuals with autism, sensory disabilities, and low-incidence disabilities. One of Danielle’s presentations focused on the importance of using visuals aids in the…
Autism…It’s Different For Girls!
By Lauren Polster, M.S., CCC-SLP Approximately four boys for every one girl are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Therefore, scientists have focused their research on boys, and we have had little information about how autism might present differently in girls. New research suggests that methods currently used to diagnose autism can overlook girls. More…
E-I-E-I-O and Other Vowel Sounds
By Eileen Adamo, M.S., CCC-SLP When a child’s speech is difficult to understand, adults often assess what consonant sounds the child is or is not producing. However, when it comes to “speech intelligibility” (the ability to be understood), vowels have a major role in understanding the message. It is much easier to tell what a…
Why Early Intervention?
What is early intervention? Early intervention refers to a range of services to help children 0-3 years of age who have developmental delays or specific health conditions. This may include speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, etc. Services may be provided through a variety of sources, including Ohio’s statewide program called Ohio Early Intervention (Help…