Speech with Simone

10/06/2021

It took much longer than expected, and it was a challenge at times, but our Lego group finished our project! So proud of all the hard work the kids put into this.

08/04/2021

People often ask me about the negatives of bilingualism. Will my child have trouble learning to talk? Will they be behind in school? Won't it be confusing for them? Here's a true negative: when your child is bilingual in German and English, and they know "nackedei" to mean naked, you might find yourself with a naked toddler tearing through your house screaming "Die! Die! Die!" at the top of her lungs. Very confusing for monolingual English speakers.

07/13/2021

It's official! While I am still doing some tele-therapy (mostly with adult voice clients), I have taken down my green screen. I actually didn't hate tele-therapy as much as I thought I would... and it works, even with preschoolers, but glad that things are getting back to "normal."

05/15/2021

I know I sound like a broken record on this, but ALL kids can be bilingual. There's also a lot of research that shows the benefits of being multi-lingual: increased flexibility, better inhibition, and lower chance of dementia in old age.

Here are answers to some of the most common questions to explain why children should be encouraged to speak the home language.

05/08/2021

"Friendship with neurotypical peers is not more valuable than friendship with anyone else."
"Autism isn’t a disorder, but a neurotype. It has a culture and an identity to be understood, accepted, and embraced."

What if instead of advising autistic children to make friends neurotypical-style, we ask what they want from friendship? A CSD researcher shares what she’s learned.

04/30/2021

I just listened to this podcast (yes, I am a podcast nerd) and found my mind continually wandering back to my work with autistic kids. I operate in a similar framework as this podcast discusses—conversational styles are usually a subtext of which we are unaware, so if we build awareness of the unconscious thoughts and assumptions, we will have better conversations with fewer misunderstandings. My job as an SLP is to teach the meta-level of social interactions. What are the hidden rules? What thoughts is your conversation partner having? What feelings might these thoughts bring forth? Based on that knowledge, you can then make decisions about your own words and actions—do you mask your repetitive behavior in a “socially acceptable” way? Do you run your fingers through your hair repetitively rather than rocking your body back and forth? Or do you do what feels best, knowing that the other person might feel uncomfortable? Teaching social dynamics, social norms, and how conversations work gives the autonomy back to the autistic person. This starts at a young age. For example, I don’t address eye contact goals because I don’t think eye contact is necessary for communication—there are many cultures around the world where direct eye contact is deemed disrespectful, and the lack of eye contact does not prevent communication from being successful. So why should I force a preschooler to “look at me” when this is just for my comfort alone?

Do you ever struggle to communicate with your mom? Or feel like you and your spouse sometimes speak different languages? We talk with linguist Deborah Tannen about how our conversational styles can cause unintended conflicts, and what we can do to communicate more effectively with the people in our....

04/27/2021

This podcast resonated with me... English is my second (but dominant) language. I love the spaces between languages and how languages influence each other.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/04/25/989765565/tower-of-babble-non-native-speakers-navigate-the-world-of-good-and-bad-english?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews&fbclid=IwAR2ZFvpw1iemyTF1G3SMQ8BKQdrB-AkGBhcPhAJIDqPuH3m8LlUqsaU6aIE

The demand for "proper" English can be used to shut people out of spaces and opportunities. The folks at NPR's "Rough Translation" podcast have a story to tell.

03/15/2021

03/15/2021

Love these ideas! The best "speech therapy" does not require any specific toys/materials. All it takes is joining the child's interest and being present in the moment to meet the child's needs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2huVA76nt4

Also see Learn With Less for more ideas on doing more with less: https://learnwithless.com

Learn With Less is the place for parents to help their infants and toddlers learn and develop through high-quality, evidence-based resources, and connections to other families and professionals.

02/18/2021

Recently completed my CPR recertification... I seriously doubt that the artist for the infant section has ever interacted with any actual children. Why do they look like miniature old men?!?

02/16/2021

Yay for codeswitching! Here's a powerful poet talking about her different versions fo English. Warning: has some language; make sure no little ears are listening.

02/09/2021

Is your child struggling with reading? It might be dyslexia... or it might just be bad instruction. It's not the teachers fault (most teachers are told what curriculum to use and reading instruction is not adequately taught in many education programs). This video really explains the problem. Check out part two of the video as well:

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently helping our 1st grade daughter through distance learning. This has opened our eyes to the ways that kids are b...