Integrated Speech Therapy

09/05/2022

PLAY….the key to the foundations of all developmental milestones!!!

While American youngsters learn how to read, kindergarten students in Finland play.

04/17/2022

Teach this concept to the kids but also so important the other way around as well. Responding to our kids fosters positive social emotional interactions in the moment and for future interactions.

Often what we are responding to is NOT our child's behaviour but our own exhaustion or a wound we have not healed within ourself.

01/08/2022

So so important and unfortunately is missed often.

09/27/2021

Words of wisdom from moms who live this journey everyday, every hour and every minute. I am in awe of parents every day.

This afternoon, I met with the mom of a very little one who has just been identified as autistic. After talking for a while, I shared with her one of the most pivotal insights that Luau and I had when Brooke was younger. I thought perhaps it might be helpful to share here as well.

It took us a long time to figure out that Brooke didn't understand that anything was finite.

She believed - truly, viscerally understood the world in such a way that to her the word "No" meant "Not ever," and, conversely, the concept of doing something meant "We're going to be doing this thing forever."

When she kicked and screamed and physically resisted sitting at the dinner table, she was fighting against the concept of sitting at that table FOREVER. Think about that. Read it again. Literally.

When she melted down when we put away her magic markers, she was overwhelmed with grief from her belief that she would never draw with them nor see them ever again.

That understanding - seeing that little piece of the world from HER perspective, changed everything.

We began to use visual schedules, showing her what would come next. Proving to her that there WAS a next. We used "First / then" language to explain that we would do this first and then that. Reminding her that there would be a that. We gave her choices wherever we could so that she could have some sense of control over what happened when.

And we began slowly, gently, unraveling the idea that ‘not now’ means ‘never,’ in far more ways than one.

Originally posted Sept 27, 2016

{image is a photo of Brooke and me on the beach around the time this post was written. I’m cracking up and she is smiling knowingly, as though she’s very pleased with herself. It’s an utterly delicious picture that has nothing to do with the post, but it popped up in my FB memories last night and I love it.}

05/14/2021

Not very often do we get feedback from our students but today was a special day with this young man. We have worked together from 6th-8th grade using the social thinking treatment framework. For graduation he had to present a portfolio to his family and teachers summarizing his work and his growth throughout middle school. Part of his presentation was about our work and here is the text. Needless to say I was blown away and thankfully tissues were on the table.

04/15/2021

If only this was a current report card for kindergarten.

Kindergarten Expectations in 1954!

02/21/2021

Great visual that shows the neurological differences.

Autistic VS non-autistic brain scans. Yes, autistic people really do perceive and interact with the world differently from non-autistic people.

These have been floating around the internet for a LONG time. . . High Definition Fiber Tracking - This is a brain scan of Dr. Temple Grandin, left, compared to someone without autism. Grandin's visual output area is much larger than a typical person's. (Photo: Walt Schneider, University of Pittsburgh)

11/23/2020

Strength to all the forever moms. You are the heroes that walk among us daily.

Forever Mother [ for·​ev·​er moth·​er ]: a mother who will spend the rest of her life taking care of her child’s day-to-day financial and health care needs. She will arrange appointments, oversee medical care, and manage bank accounts long into his adulthood. I’m not sure when I started...

10/19/2020

Awesome visual!

Love this!

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