All posts tagged: speech

Apraxia Monday but on a Talking Tuesday: Leslie Lindsay, Author of Speaking of Apraxia, Narrates Audiobook

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By Leslie Lindsay You guys! May has been a huge month for me. I am so grateful, honored, and humbled to have had the opportunity to record the audio version of Speaking of Apraxia: A Parents’ Guide to Childhood Apraxia of Speech. A Timeline of SPEAKING OF APRAXIA: When my first-born wasn’t speaking like other children her age, I worried. When her pediatrician said, “I think she might need an assessment from a speech-language pathologist (SLP), I gulped. Really?! Not my kid. Just shy of her third birthday, she was diagnosed with moderate-severe Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS). What is CAS? Quick definition: a neurologically-based motor speech disorder in which kids know what they want to say, but have have difficulty organizing the movements needed for speech. It is not something kids outgrow, but requires frequent, intense speech language therapy, often for many years. I wanted a book. Few were available, with the exception of some graduate-level textbooks, a chapter here and there, a mention in parenting or child development book. I wanted a book …

Hands-on, no art skills needed, Claynguage is a multi-sensory approach designed by a semi-retired, school-based SLP, Hinda Rubin, to elicit language development with…clay

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By Leslie Lindsay A multi-sensory clay-based–and evidence-based!–approach to speech-language therapy. ~ApRaXiA MoNdAy|ALWAYS WITH A BOOK~ Special Guest: Hinda Rubin Merging Pottery Skills with Language Development I am so delighted to welcome the lovely and talented Hinda Rubin, CCC-SLP to the Apraxia Monday Series. Hinda first trained as a medical SLP. As a school-based SLP, she provided evidence-based speech and language therapy to help improve articulation, receptive and expressive language skills, pragmatic language skills, auditory processing skills, fluency and voice. But she’s also a ceramicist, Bubby (aka Grandma), loves reading, exercising, and crafting. She believes that children need to see parents balance work and family while making family a priority. Sharing Claynguage with them, as well as with the children in a variety of daycares and preschools, is truly a passion. A bit about Claynguage: Claynguage activities were founded in an art classroom and provide a meaningful, fun, and naturalistic context in which children learn new words and improve speech and language skills. Claynguage® is guided by several evidence-based strategies used by speech-language pathologists to enhance children’s language …

Apraxia MondaY: Keeping kids engaged with speech-language therapy after the therapy session through reading, I-Spy, Scrabble, more, plus tips on apraxia, teletherapy, more.

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By Leslie Lindsay  Speech-language therapy doesn’t stop at the speech clinic. Here are some ways you can enhance & support what your child is working on at home.  ~APRAXIA MONDAY|ALWAYS WITH A BOOK~ Spotlight: BETTER SPEECH.COM EXTENDING SPEECH WORK IN EVERYDAY PLAY & GAMES I’m so delighted to welcome this guest piece from the folks at Better Speech, an online portal for speech-language teletherapy, recognized by American Speech-Hearing Association (ASHA). As most you know, I am a big proponent of making speech fun while working it into everyday routines. There is so much that can be expressed and taught in your own home, out-and-about town, and even in nature. That said, we’re all spending much more time at home–not just because of the pandemic, but because it’s winter and the middle of the school year. Here are some great tips and ideas of things you can do right at home, probably with items you already have.  5 Ways to Support Your Child’s Speech Therapy at Home When your child is working with a licensed speech therapist, speech …

Apraxia Monday: TALK YOGA creators Amy Roberts & Kim Hughes, both speech-language pathologists and certified yoga intructors talk about the value of kids, speech, & yoga

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By Leslie Lindsay  Yoga + Kids + Speech = some of my very favorite things.  ~APRAXIA MONDAY|ALWAYS WITH A BOOK~ Spotlight: TALK YOGA  I am so delighted to introduce you to two fabulous speech-language pathologists, Kim Hughes and Amy Roberts, both certified yoga instructors and pediatric SLPs. Their practice, TalkYoga is mentioned in the updated, 2nd edition of SPEAKING OF APRAXIA (Woodbine House, 2020) and with good reason—I love yoga! For years, I have practiced, but it wasn’t until the last five years or so that I really became a yogi. Before that, my daughter, Kate, now 15 with resolving CAS, participated in yoga-like poses during her combined ST/OT sessions. Kate is what we might call a ‘sensory seeker’ and so the movement—and the dedication—yoga provided important feedback and stimulation. Here, I ask Kim and Amy a few questions about how yoga practice can help kids with speech development. Please join us! Leslie Lindsay: Kim and Amy—welcome! I am so pumped about your yoga for kids, TalkYoga program. Can you tell us a bit about …

APraxia Monday: Leslie LINDSAY & Daughter Kate in conversation about SPEAKING OF APRAXIA: A Parents’ guide to childhood apraxia of speech 1/2

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By Leslie Lindsay  Author’s 15-year old daughter interviews her mom on SPEAKING OF APRAXIA.  ~APRAXIA MONDAY|ALWAYS WITH A BOOK~ A Mother-Daughter Conversation about CAS Part 1 of 2 Now available in an updated, second edition, SPEAKING OF APRAXIA: A Parents’ Guide to Childhood Apraxia of Speech (Woodbine House, December 2020), is an award-winning resource on Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS). Eight years ago, when Leslie Lindsay, former Child & Adolescent Psychiatric R.N., and mother to a daughter with CAS—now resolved—couldn’t find any parent-friendly books to help her child and family with CAS, she wrote one. This updated, well-researched, and comprehensive work provides readers the benefit of her experience and perspective. It covers: introduction to speech, language & listening explanation of CAS what to do when you suspect your child has CAS getting a speech evaluation meeting with a speech-language pathologist getting the CAS diagnosis possible causes diagnoses related to CAS speech therapy best suited for CAS complementary & alternative approaches activities & materials to support therapy at home creating a language-rich environment for speech coping with …

THE GRINNY GRANNY DONKEY GREAT FOR RHYTHM, REPETITION, LAUGHS, SPEECH DEVELOPMENT, plus an activity

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By Leslie Lindsay Fun-loving, silly story incorporates repetition and rhyme for an endearing tale about grandparents and the children they love.  ~FUN Friday|ALWAYS WITH A BOOK~ Children’s Literature with Activity Another sequel to the laugh-out-loud viral sensation, THE WONKY DONKEY is here–just in time for the holidays from the internationally bestselling creators of The Wonky Donkey comes a third member of the family! There was a sweet donkey who lived on the heath.She was so funny with her false teeth…Hee Haw! This time, readers will meet Dinky Donkey’s grandma: a grinny granky plunky-plinky swanky clinky-clanky zonky dunky-drinky clunky donkey! Brought to life by Craig Smith’s signature playful verses and Katz Cowley’s charming illustrations, THE GRINNY GRANNY DONKEY (Scholastic, November 10; ages 3-5years) is just as fun as her off-spring. SPEECH-RICH ACTIVITY TO TRY:  Grab a little person in your life and read THE GRINNY GRANNY DONKEY together. Giggle and laugh and heck, read it again. Pay special attention to the silly, rhyming words, but also the repetition. Both rhyming and repetition are keys to driving home …

Mom, pediatric SLP, and author of THE MONKEY BALLOON Becca Eisenberg talks about using mealtime as a way to enhance speech and language skills, plus how pets are therapeutic, asking ‘what if’ questions and a GIVEAWAY!

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By Leslie Lindsay  What happens when a child lets go of a balloon? This bright and engaging story uses the imagination of a little girl and her father, exploring ‘what-if’ questions. **GIVE–AWAY!!** I’m passing along a complimentary gently-used copy of THE MONKEY BALLOON. Must reside in the continental U.S. to be eligible. Details below! (keep scrolling) ~APRAXIA/BOOKS on MONDAY~ Written by a parent, pediatric speech-language pathologist, and instructor Becca Eisenberg, M.S., CCC-SLP brings to life a very real–and all-too-common childhood experience of losing a balloon. Little Mimi and her father are at a local fair when she selects a balloon–a monkey balloon–from a vendor, but soon the balloon slips out her hand and into the sky. THE MONKEY BALLOON is gone, but Papa and Mimi make the most of it. They get ice cream–maybe the monkey balloon is there? They go to the park–could it be going down the slide? They see children riding the school bus, they discover colorful fish at the ocean…they look at the zoo…but no balloon. Mimi does not despair. In fact, she …

Apraxia Monday: Reader’s Theater

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  By Leslie Lindsay It’s been a busy and somewhat challenging 2nd grade year for 8 year old Kate, who suffers from Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS).  Having been dismissed from speech therapy during her tenure as a full-day kindergartner, we thought we were out of the woods.  But, those of you raising a child with CAS know that you may never truly, 100% be completely out of the woods.  There will likely be some twigs and branches that obstruct your view.  When Kate’s 2nd grade teacher mentioned Kate really enjoys participating in Reader’s Theater in the classroom setting, I cheered.  Fluency with reading is one of those “branches,” if you will that may leave your child with CAS lingering in the woods.  When the Reader’s Theater Club was forming, I promptly signed my daughter up. But wait–what is Reader’s Theater?  Simply stated, Reader’s Theater is practice reading scripts from traditional and well-loved childhood stories.  Or, you can choose your own–select stories which are lively in dialogue, have several characters, and can be fun to …