building speech & language skills in everyday experiences
With the holidays here, the last couple weeks I have shared three posts for you with my gift ideas to help with speech & language skills. However some of my fellow SLP friends (And one of my Occupational therapy friends!) have ALSO shared their gift ideas for speech, language, social and sensory development! I wanted to provide you all with ALL these AMAZING gift guides in ONE PLACE for your shopping convenience…so here they are! In addition…since so many of {Read More}
With Christmas just around the corner, we are all thinking about what to get our little ones. I don’t know about you but I find stocking stuffers to be a bit challenging! Kids don’t always love getting socks and underwear in there and I don’t want to fill them up with candy either! So I thought I would expand on my list of 25+ Gift Ideas to Expand Speech (& Language) Skills in young children with some socking stuffer ideas that {Read More}
On Monday I shared my tips for selecting quality toys this holiday season to expand your child’s speech & language development. In that post, I also shared some of my favorite toy brands, including Melissa & Doug. In fact, several of my 25 Best Gift suggestions to expand speech and language skills are made by Melissa & Doug. So when I heard they were doing a “25 Days of Terrific 25” Giveaway on their Facebook page to celebrate their Terrific 25 Gift List (the “best {Read More}
I am often asked as an SLP what types of toys and gifts I would recommend to help expand speech and language development in young children. If you have been a reader for a while, you probably already know that I am huge supporter of PLAY and the use of open ended toys as well as providing multi sensory learning and play experiences for our little ones. Yesterday, I shared my Tips for Selecting Quality Toys this Holiday Season and {Read More}
With the holidays here the shopping has commenced. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends are busy trying to find good, quality toys to give as gifts to the children in their lives. As a pediatric speech language pathologist, I happen to be very passionate about this subject. I am a firm believer that PLAY is at the core of our children’s overall development, especially when it comes to speech and language development. Play is the work of children and much {Read More}
I’m over at the Friendship Circle Blog today sharing my 10 tips for selecting toys for your speech delayed chid. I get asked ALL THE TIME about what toys are the best for speech and language development. In one word: SIMPLE! Here is a little sneak peak of what I am sharing over there…. 1. Ditch the Batteries My first recommendation, is to skip the batteries. If the toy requires batteries, you probably don’t want it. OR…if it takes batteries, {Read More}
If you’ve been following my blog for nay length of time, you know how passionate I am about children’s toys . I have written many posts on on the subject of toys and language learning and have more in the works. So, I was BEYOND excited when my friend Christie from MamaOT, a pediatric occupational therapist, contacted me about collaborating on a post all about the importance of baby dolls in children’s development. Especially in respect to boys having dolls. Together {Read More}
Have you been to a toddler’s birthday party recently? Have you been there to watch the birthday boy or girl open the presents? (Ok…let’s face it….often it’s the parents opening the presents…but I digress…) If so…You have probably seen them. The bright, talking, light up, toys that move and sing. “Activity tables” and “books” and pull toys…even stacking toys, rattles, teethers, and balls….all that are hard, plastic, and make noise. Yes, even the teethers are “educational.” Aren’t teethers supposed to {Read More}
I’ve written many posts about the different toys and games that I recommend for both parents and SLPs to use to work on speech and language skills both in therapy sessions and in the home. One of the games that I have gotten a TON of use out over the years is Buckaroo. That is, until he stopped working! That was a sad, sad day my friends. Especially for my little friends who loved playing. So you can imagine my {Read More}
All of a sudden…it’s raining. After a very dry winter, spring has finally brought us rain! I actually LOVE LOVE LOVE rain. I always have. I am an odd one who gets all excited when I wake up to clouds and gloom. Except that this time the rain has come and ruined our plans two weekends in a row. Sigh. Last weekend we made use of the rain and got a TON of spring cleaning done around the house (did {Read More}
Welcome to the final of my Top Toys series! To read more about why I am doing this series, please check out Part One HERE. You can also check out part two HERE and part three HERE. I am writing these posts to help parents pick good, quality toys for their infants, toddlers and preschoolers that can be used to help support speech and language development. As I share with you my personal top picks for toys for infants, toddlers {Read More}
Welcome to part three of four of my Top Toys series! To read more about why I am doing this series, please check out Part One HERE. You can also check out part two HERE. I am writing these posts to help parents pick good, quality toys for their infants, toddlers and preschoolers that can be used to help support speech and language development. As I share with you my personal top picks for toys for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, {Read More}
Happy New Year! 
Barrier Games: Great for Language Enrichment 
50 Ways to Keep Your Toddler or Preschooler Busy on a Plane {or Elsewhere} 
Freebie Friday: Penguin Memory/Describing Cards 
The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick Activities 
Articulation Development: What's normal? {& What Isn't} 
How To Elicit (Teach) the K & G Sounds {Part Two: Materials and Products for K & G} 
Speech Development: Phonological Processes and Phonological Delay 
Five Playful Ways to Work on Listening and Following Directions 
Food for Thought Friday (And my Favorite Sites for Kid's Crafts too!) 
