Home Team Pediatric Therapy

12/20/2025

Last Saturday we had our company client party and Santa stopped by to see all of us! 🎅🏼❤️🎄💚

12/15/2025

Interesting information and take on CAS.

This is the number one thing people don’t understand about Childhood Apraxia of Speech from my lived experience… we can experience cognitive overload from the speech demand itself. It’s not just anxiety. It’s not behavior. It’s not lack of effort. The very act of trying to speak, planning, sequencing, timing, and executing movements, can overload our brain. When that happens, speech can further break down, even though the desire to speak is there. The brain-to-mouth disconnection becomes harder under pressure, stress, or time demands.

During cognitive overload, you may see increased groping, long pauses, abandoned words, or a sudden drop in intelligibility. This is why speech can worsen when we’re anxious or put on the spot… not because we “forgot” how to talk, but because the system is overloaded and can’t hold the motor plan together anymore. The fear of going back into that overloaded state is real, and for me, it stuck with me for a long time.

That’s where, for me, avoidance of verbal tasks comes in. Avoidance isn’t laziness or defiance, it’s a coping mechanism. If speaking has repeatedly pushed someone into overload, their nervous system learns to protect them by pulling back. The problem is, when adults punish or force through that avoidance instead of understanding it, the cycle gets worse. We don’t need more pressure… we need better coping tools.

Overload in CAS often looks like for me frustration after repeated communication failures. Some people can act out because they can’t express themselves fast enough. Others go quiet and compliant, like I did as a child, which is more dangerous because adults assume they’re “fine” when they’re actually struggling internally.

What helps is lowering verbal demand while keeping communication access high. Honoring AAC for children without treating it as “giving up.” Slowing the rate. Reducing repetitions. Allowing real response time. Building in silent processing breaks.

CAS isn’t just about motor planning. It’s about capacity, regulation, and respecting the limits of a motor system under pressure.

When we stop blaming… we start supporting— and this includes with ourselves.

- Jordan Christian LeVan

12/12/2025

A Merry Christmasy Speech Time! 🎄 We’ve been baking cookies and enjoying our Gingerbread theme!

11/08/2025

Look for us in the Veteran’s Day parade!
Thank you Veterans for your service! 🇺🇸
❤️🤍💙

11/01/2025

Fun week of Halloween here at the clinic!🎃👻

10/23/2025

It’s almost Halloween week!!! 👻💀🎃

10/15/2025

This month we celebrate Home Team Pediatric Therapy being in business for a whole decade!!!

TEN years of helping others find their voice! 🥳

07/03/2025

Awesome opportunity!

📣 FREE Online ASL Classes Coming Soon! 🤟

Get ready to sign up for our upcoming American Sign Language (ASL) online classes from Oklahoma School for the Deaf!

Whether you're a beginner or looking to sharpen your skills, our ASL courses are designed to help you grow in language and connection with the Deaf community.

✅ Learn at your own pace, anytime, anywhere
✅ Designed for beginners and all skill levels
✅ Taught by certified ASL instructors
✅ Open to the public

🗓️ Enrollment opens soon – sign up to get alerts. https://courses.osd.k12.ok.us/pages/coming_soon

Take the first step toward learning ASL and building meaningful connections with the Deaf community — on your schedule!

06/26/2025

It’s Camping Week here at the speech therapy clinic! These little cubs are fishing out their articulation cards from a canoe, building fires, making s’mores, hanging out in the tent and more! 🛶 🔥 🍫 ⛺️ So much fun!

06/02/2025

Some great summer practice ideas! Practice practice!

03/02/2025

One of my amazing friends has a daughter that is a high school UIL state finalist for her documentary about her younger brother. She did an astounding job documenting their lives of loving someone with autism. Check it out below.

This story radiates a deep love and fierce protectiveness for a brother with autism, highlighting the importance of unwavering acceptance. The narrative show...

02/01/2025

Check out Super Duper Inc.’s Handy Handouts for Language Development Skills/Milestone recommendations for your child’s age!

https://www.handyhandouts.com/pdf/371_ChildsLanguageSkills.pdf

They have other speech and language development milestone recommendations for all areas—articulation, sign language, social, as well as other fun activities, and so much more.