Communicate & Connect Therapy, LLC

10/24/2025

🛒🎒  Real-Life Literacy Activity: Make a List!

Let your child take the lead with shopping and packing lists — a simple way to practice real-life writing with purpose! 📝✨

🛍️ Shopping List:
Put your child in charge of writing down their favorite snacks, treats, or items to pick up at the store.
– Encourage sounding out words as they write
– Use multilinguistic strategies (phonology, spelling patterns, meaning, etc.) for tricky words
– Take time to double-check spelling afterward
– Sort by category (fruit, dairy, snacks)
– Encourage clear, legible handwriting

🎒 Packing List:
Getting ready for a trip or activity? Have your child list what they want to bring — books, toys, clothes, or comfort items.
– Prioritize & organize items
– Use bullet points or checkboxes
– Add adjectives to describe what they want (e.g., “blue swimsuit,” “chapter books”)

✅ Supports:
– Functional writing
– Organization & planning
– Vocabulary development
– Independence!

📦 Pro tip: Let them check off items as they shop or pack —  excellent executive functioning practice!

10/18/2025

🧠❓ Play 20 Questions — With a Language-Boosting Spin!

👓 Start with a Category:
Animals, foods, household items, people, places — naming a category helps organize thinking and build meaningful connections between words!

🗣️ Use Describing Language:
As your child asks questions or gives clues, encourage use of:
– Category (Is it a fruit?)
– Function (Do you eat it?)
– Parts (Does it have legs?)
– Location (Do you find it outside?)
– Size/Color/Texture (Is it soft? Is it red?)
– Opposites (Is it not alive?)

🧩 Model and Expand:
If your child struggles, model a question and talk through your reasoning. Focus on how they’re thinking and building their language—not just whether they guess correctly.

✍️ Add a Literacy Challenge:
Try a “silent mode” where questions and answers are written instead of spoken. This supports sentence formation, grammar, spelling, and clear communication!

💡 Bonus Tip:
Keep a “word detective journal” to jot down strong questions or new words — great for reflection and vocabulary growth. 🕵️‍♀️📓

🎯 Supports:
– Semantic mapping and deepening word meaning
– Flexible, organized thinking
– Listening and reading comprehension
– Expressive and written language skills

 

10/11/2025

🎲🎨  Build Rhyming Skills with DIY Word UNO!

Turn up the fun and strengthen phonological awareness with this playful, hands-on game you can make at home! ✍️💡

Why we love it:

✅ Builds rhyming skills & awareness of speech sounds
✅ Reinforces word families & spelling patterns
✅ Encourages quick thinking & language flexibility
✅ Fun for the whole family!

🧠 How to Make Your Deck:

🔷 Pick 5–10 rimes—that is, the string of sounds starting with the vowel and any following consonant that follow in a single-syllable word (e.g., -art, -ark, -arm, -ard or -ain, -ane, -ail, -ale) 
🔷 Write 4–10 words per rime on index cards (e.g., bang, clang, hang)
🔷 Add 12–24 action cards (Draw 2, Skip, Reverse)
🔷 Add 8 wild cards (Wild, Wild Draw 4)
🔷 Use 4 colors to mark your cards into “suits”

🎲 How to Play:

– Play just like UNO!
– Match by color or by rime (rhyming pattern).
– Bonus rule: If your card matches by rime instead of color, you get to play again! If not, the turn moves to the next player.

📖 Literacy skills + family fun =  a win every time! 🏆😎💬

10/06/2025

📚🧠 Executive Function Tip: Use a Planner to Build Independence!

An agenda or planner isn’t just a notebook — it’s a power tool for building independence and reducing school-year stress! 💥✍️

Here’s how using an agenda supports executive functioning:

🗓️ Planning Ahead
– Write down homework, tests, projects, and events
– Break big tasks into smaller steps
– Avoid last-minute panic!

⏰ Time Management
– Practice estimating how long tasks will take
– Schedule time for work and play
– Learn to prioritize!

🧠 Working Memory
– Offload mental clutter by writing things down
– Visual reminders reduce forgetfulness

✅ Task Initiation & Completion
– Creates clear goals for the day
– Crossing off tasks gives a dopamine boost and sense of achievement!

🧍‍♂️ Independence & Confidence
– Builds daily routines
– Encourages responsibility and ownership over learning

💡 Pro tip: Let your child personalize their agenda — stickers, color coding, or a favorite pen can increase engagement!

✏️ Establish a daily routine for checking the planner — after school or after dinner works well for many families.

🧍‍♀️ Parents can help early on by modeling how to use the planner and gradually shifting responsibility to the child.

Small daily habits lead to big gains in organization, independence, and school success!

We recommend planners from the following companies:
- Global Datebooks
- Elan Publishing Company
- Order Out of Chaos Academic Planners
- Aesthetic Student Planner by Zicoto
- Student Planner by Mailbox
- Homework Planner by Teacher Print

Reach out to your child’s treating therapist directly to get personalized recommendations and implementation guidelines!

 

09/09/2025

🌍📚 Happy International Literacy Day!

September 8 is a day to celebrate the power of reading and writing to change lives, open doors, and build brighter futures. ✨✏️Literacy is more than decoding words — it’s about:

💬 Communicating ideas
🧠 Building critical thinking
🤝 Connecting with others
🎨 Expressing ideas  and creativity

Whether you’re exploring a new book, playing word games, or writing shopping lists together, every little moment builds a child’s literacy journey. 💛

🎯 Literacy supports:
– Academic success
– Emotional expression and empathy
– Confidence and independence
– Life-long learning

📖 Today, celebrate by:
– Visiting your local library
– Reading together as a family
– Donating books to a community program
– Writing a note, card, or email to someone special

Let’s keep turning pages — and turning possibilities into reality. 🌟

08/27/2025

📆✨ Fall Is Here — Is Your Spot Reserved? 

The school year is just around the corner! If you haven’t confirmed your child’s weekly therapy slot yet, now’s the time — just a few spaces remain for the fall. 🌱📚 

💻  Prefer virtual sessions? 
We offer engaging, high-quality therapy online: 

🎯 Same personalized care 
🏠 From the comfort of home 
📲 Flexible & convenient 
⭐ Our entire team is specially trained to deliver engaging, motivating virtual therapy that supports meaningful progress — wherever you are! 

Whether you choose in-person or online, we’re here to support your child’s growth in the way that works best for your family.  

📩 Email your child’s SLP or visit our website to get started! 

08/08/2025

📬✨ Summer Fun Literacy Activity: Send a Card! 

Nothing beats the joy of a surprise card in the mail — and it’s a fun way to sneak in some writing and social-emotional learning! 💌✍️ 

Here’s how to turn card-writing into a meaningful literacy boost: 

🧠 Think Before You Write 
– Choose someone to send a card to: a family member, friend, teacher… or even someone you don’t know, like a frontline worker or soldier! 🇺🇸💗 
– Talk about why you’re sending it. 

🎨 Get Creative 
– Pick a card at the store OR make one with paper and art supplies! 

📝 Plan Your Message 
– Draft your message on scratch paper 
– Use CHOPS to revise your writing: 
 Capitalization Handwriting Organization Punctuation Spelling 
– Then neatly write it on the card 

📮 Bonus Literacy Points: 
Have your child help address the envelope and add the stamp too! 🧑‍💼📫 

This activity supports: 
🔤 Writing mechanics 
🧠 Planning and organizing thoughts 
💌 Empathy and perspective-taking 
📖 Vocabulary and sentence structure 

08/01/2025

🎉 Silly Games, Serious Skills! ☀️📚 
Want a screen-free activity that builds reading & writing skills and delivers big laughs? Try MAD LIBS! 🤪✍️ 

This silly fill-in-the-blank game helps kids:

🔤 Practice Reading & Writing 
🧠 Build Vocabulary & Spelling Skills 
📚 Learn Parts of Speech 
🔎 Spot Word Patterns & Suffixes 

👉 Try these learning tips while you play: 
✔️ Ask family members to suggest words — your child writes them down while sounding out each word 
✔️ Check spelling together 🕵️ 
✔️ Identify word types: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs 
✔️ Notice suffixes! 
* Adjectives: -ous, -able/ible, -al, -ful, -ic, -ive, -less 
* Adverbs: -ly, -wards, -wise, -ily, -ally 
✔️ Have your child read the final story aloud and enjoy the giggles! 😂📖 

💡 Pro tip: Play at the park, on road trips, or even at dinner! 

06/02/2025

It's Research Tuesday! Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) may be misidentified if they also have ADHD or Dyslexia. Read this article from AJSLP that highlights the relationship between word reading and ADHD in children with DLD and Dyslexia: https://at.asha.org/El

05/16/2025

🎉 Happy Speech-Language Pathologist Appreciation Day! 🎉

While the official day isn’t until May 18th, we couldn’t wait to start celebrating the amazing SLPs at Communicate and Connect Therapy!

Whether you're supporting speech, language, or literacy skills, your work helps kids thrive—not just in the classroom, but in every part of life. Your expertise, compassion, and dedication open doors to meaningful communication, academic success, and a lifelong love of learning.

We’re so grateful for all that you do!

05/15/2025

We’re proud to celebrate 10 years as a SPELL-Links Certified Center!

For a decade, Communicate & Connect Therapy has been committed to evidence-based literacy intervention—and we’re so honored to be part of this incredible community. 💬📚

A heartfelt thank you to SPELL-Links|Learning By Design, Inc. for the kind words —we’re grateful for your support!

We are thrilled to announce that Communicate & Connect Therapy, LLC, under the direction and supervision of Adria Leno, MS, CCC-SLP, has been a SPELL-Links Certified Center for 10 years! YAY! HOORAY! WOO-HOO! 🙌 🙌 🙌

05/14/2025

📣 Curious about your child’s speech and language milestones?
From cooing to conversations, communication development in the early years lays the foundation for lifelong learning.

🎥 Check out this free video from ASHA that walks you through typical communication development from birth to age five — and when to seek help:
🔗 https://stream.asha.org/your-childs-communication-development-birth-to-five-years

Whether you're a parent, caregiver, or educator, this is a great resource to better understand how young children learn to communicate.

How does a child’s communication skills develop in their first five years of life? What milestones...