Joanne Ravell Speech Language Pathologist

08/12/2025

Why can many children sing before they talk? Rhythm. Anticipation. Music. Repetition. Fun 🎵 get your child expressing and learning language follows 🎵🤗

08/12/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/16NoZK6Ten/?mibextid=wwXIfr

05/12/2025

You know who I’m talking about! 👃🏼 👃🏼👃🏼👃🏼

04/12/2025

Modeling with symbols & AAC propels concrete thought to abstract thought, and kickstarts the development of language from concrete to abstract, discussing people & items that aren’t present intervention

03/12/2025

02/12/2025

01/12/2025

Action reward action reward action reward ❌ Playing together in an activity that is a reward ✅

23/11/2025

🩵🩷🤍 Thank goodness, we have way more knowledge today, about movement and sensory needs, and table top work is almost never used in early intervention or with busy little bodies

https://www.facebook.com/share/1U2zLkdpNV/?mibextid=wwXIfre about tnti

One thing I wish my speech therapist had understood when I was growing up with childhood apraxia of speech is that I needed to move. Being restricted to a chair and pushed to maintain eye contact didn’t support my speech, it actually made it harder. I’m not autistic, but as someone with apraxia, eye contact can be challenging because my body naturally relies on movement and visual shifts to coordinate certain sounds. Motor supports motor. That’s true for so many of us with apraxia of speech.

When I wasn’t allowed to move, everything tightened. My speech got harder. My frustration climbed. Anxiety hit. And eventually I’d shut down altogether. As a kid, I didn’t have the language to explain any of this. I just knew that when I tried to move, my SLP redirected me toward what she saw as “socially appropriate” motions, tapping my hands or feet, which didn’t help me at all. To her, that was enough. To my nervous system, it wasn’t.

This is why I always come back to the importance of supporting the whole child. Apraxia of speech doesn’t exist in isolation, motor planning challenges often show up across the body. And practices that have been normalized for generations can still be harmful, even when rooted in good intentions.

When we know better, we do better. And kids deserve better.

-

13/11/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17ZMhnxW2Z/?mibextid=wwXIfr

11/11/2025

Our children love all things visual! 🔅🩵 Step one: enhance your daily routine with visual schedules (VS) songs and narration. This is “Language development 101” 🩵🔅. BUT a VS can also can support high anxiety by decreasing the “unknowns” in their little worlds and creating safety in predictability (according to the evidence and literature), so a VS can also be ANXIETY 101, AUTISM 101, NEURODIVERGENCE 101.

📚Course details in comments

11/11/2025

What a win! 🩷

10/11/2025

We recently created a new downloadable leaflet as a starting point for introducing the concept and importance of modelling for communication partners who are supporting someone learning to use symbol based AAC systems!

Download for free here: https://buff.ly/DnQJsb4