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Co-mmunicate With Me, LLC, Covington, LA (2025)

06/27/2023

✨ It’s TIP TUESDAY! ✨

I’m back with more information on one of my favorite topics— play! The difference with the post today is that it’s all about play that requires minimal thinking and very minimal materials. This type of play is called people play. It’s called people play because you are removing toys and facilitating language with nothing but you and your child (with the help of some items that are likely in your home right now). There are several benefits to this type of play including: it incorporates movement, taps into their sensory systems for regulation, builds their sustained attention, helps continue building your connection with your child, and an easy way to target high-frequency everyday language (“go, stop, my turn, that’s fun, I like this/I don’t like this, wee, oh no, again, more,” etc…).

Below are a few examples of people play. You will notice they all include some sort of movement. Movement is critical for language learning! People games are repetitive activities/games that have a familiar routine to them. Here is an example of how the interaction can look and sound like with rocking in a chair:
⭐️ Start with telling your child “go! Let’s rock!”
⭐️ Use sing-song voice “rocking, rocking, rocking, rocking, I am rocking, and now I stop!” *In the tune to a familiar nursery rhyme.
⭐️ After stopping the rocking chair, use a pause to allow your child the opportunity to request to go again.
⭐️ Repeat
⭐️ Continue until your child indicates with a sound, word(s), gesture, sign language, etc that they are finished with the activity.

I bet y’all have intuitively done some of these people games! I encourage y’all to continue with this play! Your child loves it.

I hope y’all have a great week ahead 🤩.

05/18/2023

Listen, y’all. I’ve said this thousands of times and I’ll say it again… I have the coolest job on the planet. Giving the gift of communication (and so much more) is humbling and incredibly rewarding. To support access to wants/needs, to learn how to self-advocate, to tell a joke, to say “I love you,” to say their name for the first time, to genuinely connect with the people around them, to safely consume food and drink, to learn how to read— the list goes on and on (literally because our scope of practice is humongous) are just a few reasons why I wouldn’t trade what I do for the world!

To all SLPs near and far— Happy National Speech-Language Pathologist Day!! The world is a better place with you in it ☀️.

04/11/2023

✨ TIP TUESDAY ✨ and another CWM graduate! Nicholas received speech services a few years back, but needed some additional support with mastering all R sounds. This is often a super tricky sound for kids, because they can’t really see where the sound is made— they typically have to rely on how it feels instead. With a lot of hard work, dedication, and sports analogies, he mastered a tough sound and graduated from speech services!

If you feel your child is difficult to understand when they’re speaking, reach out to an SLP. When kids can’t be understood, it can lead to increased frustration, decreased abilities to get what they want and need, and as they reach school-age, their speech can impact their learning and academics (specifically reading and writing). There are resources available to you, as a parent/caregiver, for your child’s speech development.

Hope y’all are having an awesome week! ☀️

*picture and text posted with both parent and client permission*

01/10/2023

I’m back with a ✨TIP TUESDAY✨ right after the holidays!

So you and your child have played with all the toys your child got over the holiday season about 100 times over. Here are some ways to change it up and add to the play with these toys— to make them feel new again and to extend the play.

🌈 Combine the new toy with an old toy. This is great for introducing and supporting combinatory play. For example, if your child received new magnetic or wooden blocks over the holiday season, build towers and put existing items/objects on top and knock them down.

🌈 Where you can— include pretend play. For example, building blocks can be turned into houses or schools, which can be turned into a whole city; new kitchen food can be prepared and served to existing dolls/figurines; and even the boxes the new toys came in can be sat in and used as a pretend car!

🌈 If the toy is battery operated, turn it off here and there and you and your child make the sounds of the toy, instead of the toy doing it for you!

I hope you all enjoyed the holidays! As always, reach out for support! ✨

11/01/2022

It’s TIP TUESDAY!

My first CWM friend has graduated from speech 😭♥️💃🏻! She worked so diligent and hard to remediate some residual speech errors!

The tip today is to trust your instincts! Madison’s mom initially reached out and reported concerns about her daughters speech. In the past, her concerns were written off, but she persistently advocated for her child. Sure enough- Madison DID need speech services.

Moral of this story— trust your instincts if you feel your child needs support with their communication, because YOU know YOUR child BEST!

Hope y’all are having a great week! ☀️

*picture and text posted with Margaret Foley Whiteman and client permission*

09/06/2022

It’s TIP TUESDAY!! ✨

I’ve been MIA with the start of the school year, but I’m back with some tips!

If you have recently been referred to a speech-language pathologist, if you are seeking one for your child, or wanting to find another SLP, I have some quick tips to ensure your child receives the best care under the right SLP for them!

🦋 respecting boundaries: such as gauging when the child needs more/less support in the moment, allowing the child to protest “no,” and physical boundaries (not touching the child without their contest).

🦋 honoring all forms/types of communication: communication goes well beyond spoken words— your child should be given access to and allowed to use other types of communication (gestures, sign language, pictures, sounds, etc).

🦋 building an authentic relationship: therapy should be light-hearted, engaging, and fun and to lay the groundwork to ensure this— your child and their SLP should have a great connection and relationship.

🦋 following their lead: as stated above— therapy should be fun because that’s when active learning occurs. The SLP should be willing to follow your child’s lead and allow your child to control most aspects and direction of the therapy.

🦋 including their interests: we all learn best when things are relatable and interesting to us. Therapy should be meaningful, personally-relevant, and interest based. That’s what makes the most connections in the brain to aid in the learning process!

I hope this is helpful! Reach out if you need supports or resources on your journey to finding an SLP to assist in your child’s development!

Have a great week ahead! ✨

07/19/2022

It's Tuesday, so y'all know what that means... TIP TUESDAY!

The tip today is all about storage of the toys in your home.

⭐️ Clear bins or bags: this can help reduce ripping, pulling, and dumping all kinds of toys. This allows your child to SEE what toys are where and can ease selection of toys (and the clean-up process!)

⭐️ At eye-level: reduces the possibility of climbing to reach toys. This can improve safety for your child.

⭐️ Labeled: now I recognize that not all children can read, but this allows kids to start to recognize print (written words) which is a skill required for school and academics. Label bins with letter stickers, post it note, sharpie, etc with the name of the items found in the bins.

⭐️ Easy access: again, for safety reasons, and to also allow your child to gain independence during play.

That's all I have for you guys today! I hope y'all have a great week ahead!

07/05/2022

What's up, guys! It's TIP TUESDAY!

Today I'm sharing some pointers on reading books with your kids. Reading a book to a child is easy, right? Definitely, but let's change it up! Below you will find some tips to help elevate the story time experience!

🌸 Find items and toys around your home that are also found in the book you're reading. For example- if you're reading a story about dinosaurs, look through the toys in your home and find a few toy dinosaurs.

🌸 After you have the book and toys/items that are similar, related, and/or found in the book, use these items interactively while you're reading. Use these toys alongside the story-- every action, event, or happening in the story can be acted out with the items/toys!

*** Here's a more in depth example with the familiar story Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? Gather stuffed animals, plastic figurines, magnets, etc of the animals that are found in this story (i.e. bear, frog, bird, dog, duck, horse). As you read the story, make it interactive by: matching the toy animal to the pictures in the story, recreating a scene from the story with the toys, holding up the toy animal that is found on the current page and making its animal sound, pretending to be the animal found on each page, and at the end of the story- use the toy animals to review all the animals that were found in the story.

🌸 This allows your child to start to recognize that pictures represented in the book are real things that are also found in their world.

🌸 Repetition is GREAT for learning. Don't be afraid to read the same book over and over again!

Let me know if any of these new ideas enhance story time with your child! Catch y'all on another Tuesday for more tips!

06/21/2022

✨It's TIP TUESDAY, my friends!✨

The tip today is on transitions-- such as going from place to place or activity to activity. Some of our friends need some support with one or both of these. If your child needs help with cleaning up their toys after playing, going from playtime to mealtime, leaving home to go to the grocery, or entering stores while on errands, see the tips below to help with the transition period.

Don't forget to give kids the grace they deserve, since they are kids after all!

☀️Use visual supports (i.e. a timer on your phone, or a small sand timer). These are both great visual tools to allow the child to SEE how much time is left.

☀️Use verbal reminders (i.e. “We have 2 minutes left before we clean-up."). This allows them to HEAR how much time they have left.

☀️Try putting a clean-up song into place. While singing, tell each toy “bye” as you pick up, or a personal favorite of some of my friends, “sneeze” each toy back into the bin to clean-up.

☀️Transitions while in public: pack one or two of their favorite toys/items (i.e. favorite stuffed animal, toy car, pens, etc) and allow your child to hold this item as you are going to and from. Their favorite item/toy can be a source of support while going into public, which can be a time of uncertainty and unpredictability. Their toy is unchanging and predictable, so this can help ease any of their discomfort.

Follow along for more Tip Tuesday's! Drop some ideas below if you need support in other areas! ☀️

06/07/2022

One of the most fulfilling parts of my job is getting to coach and educate caregivers. Coaching caregivers allows them to feel empowered and equipped to support their child. Progress in therapy happens with not only the SLP, but also with the buy-in and support from caregivers. With that said, I want to provide caregivers near and far with support on various topics/areas via Tip Tuesday: where I introduce a topic and provided a few ideas for support.

The first Tip Tuesday is on PLAY! Personally, a favorite topic of mine, and often an area that caregivers have lots of questions about. Play IS learning, not the absence of it, and it's really essential to your child's growth.

✨Follow your child's lead: it’s all about creating genuine connections with our kids, and this is one of the best ways of doing so. Join in their play!

✨Make more comments: involves changing questions and turning them into comments. So instead of asking "what's this?" or "what color is this?" change it to a comment such as "It's a __." or "I see a __."

✨Limiting the "say" cue: communication should never feel pressuring for kids, and this well intended cue can cause pressure. For example, instead of telling a child "say hi!" I recommend showing them what it looks like by saying "hi" and waving.

✨Mimic (imitate) your child: imitation is a key skill for language learning. Kids learn by watching adults/peers and then doing it themselves. A great way to help build this skill is to get on their level during play and imitate the actions/events they are doing within their play.

✨ Adding toys/items to expand play: a way to introduce new concepts and ideas into their pre-existing play. If your child is playing with kitchen toys, introduce a doll, stuffed animal, or action figure and have your child “feed” the toy with the “food” they’re making with the kitchen toys.

More Tip Tuesday's to come! If there is a topic you feel you need more support on to better help your child- let me know!

05/31/2022

Since Better Hearing and Speech Month (BHSM) is ending, I wanted to share the scope of practice as an SLP.

SLPs collaborate, counsel, prevent, screen, assess, and treat across a variety of differences and/or disorders and across the lifespan.

Our scope of practice is vast, so here is a quick synopsis of what we do:

🗣 Speech sound: involving sounds and how we put them together.

🌎 Language: in the simplest terms- how well we understand to navigate in the world around us and what we can express to achieve our wants and needs.

📚 Literacy: our ability to read and write.

🎤 Voice: the quality of our voice and how it sounds.

😮‍💨 Fluency: the flow and rate of our speech.

🧠 Cognitive-communication: our brains are responsible for thinking, attending, problem solving, sequencing, self-regulating, organizing, rationalizing, and so many other functions that are necessary for both speech and language skills.

🍽 Feeding and swallowing: our ability to eat and safely swallow.

🦻🏼 Auditory Habilitation/Rehabilitation: communication and listening skills impacted by hearing loss.

Whether you are near or far— let’s connect if you have concerns for your child in any of the areas stated above. I would love to provide resources and support where I can! ☀️

05/01/2022

The American Speech–Language–Hearing Association (ASHA), an SLPs governing body, recognizes the month of May as Better Hearing and Speech Month (BHSM). ASHA states that BHSM “provides an opportunity to raise awareness about communication disorders and the role of ASHA members in providing life-altering treatment.”

A month dedicated to bringing awareness and advocating for all things communication and hearing? Yes, please! I’ll never pass up the opportunity to shed some light on our field. An SLPs scope of practice is HUGE and often misunderstood. More information to come in upcoming posts related to the scope of practice and our roles as an SLP.

Some of my favorite aspects of my job are educating, advocating, and empowering. Educating the people in the child’s life (caregiver, parent, teacher, etc) about their unique communication needs, advocating for the field itself and the value of our services, and empowering each and every child to support their journey to becoming happy, healthy, and successful people. ✨

Co-mmunicate With Me, LLC

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