From our family at SLP Center to you & yours:
Our office will be closed Thursday and Friday - November 26th and 27th. Please call should you need any assistance with scheduling. We hope you enjoy a safe and healthy holiday weekend!
What is Executive Functioning?
Find some helpful articles on this site for information and tips on executive functioning skills.
“Executive functions are cognitive skills we all use to analyze tasks, break them into steps, and keep them in mind until we get things done. These skills allow us to manage our time effectively, memorize facts, understand what we read, solve multi-step problems, and organize our thoughts in writing.”
If your child struggles in any of these areas, call the SLP Center to speak to a speech therapist today!
November is National Family Caregivers Month!
In honor of National Family Caregiver Month, we want to recognize the individuals who provide physical and/or emotional care for elderly ill or disabled loved ones. These individuals often take on roles that are unfamiliar territory for them. For example, providing household assistance, medical assistance, personal care, emotional support, and becoming an advocate. These selfless caregivers often prioritize another’s needs before their own in an effort to take care of the ones they love. We think it is essential that they seek assistance and support when needed. There are an abundance of senior support groups in the South Shore area. Please feel free to look through the attached list and reach out to a group near you!
Mindfulness For Kids!
“When we teach mindfulness to kids, we give them the tools they need to build confidence, cope with stress, and relate to uncomfortable or challenging moments. The earlier we do so in their young lives, the greater the opportunity to help them cultivate resilience and develop and refine their mindfulness practice as they mature.”
Mindful.org offers great resources, including an introduction to mindfulness, guided meditations, and at-home tips and activities for the whole family.
November 11th, Veterans Day - We will be OPEN!
The SLP Center will be OPEN for normal business hours next Wednesday, November 11th.
Please inform your therapist of any schedule adjustments that you may need. Thanks!
Masks & Communicating With Deaf or Hard of Hearing People
“During a health threat such as a coronavirus, people should wear masks in public. Wearing masks gives people some protection. At the same time, many masks hide the lips and half of the face, which makes it harder to understand speech. It is also hard to understand sign language when the person is wearing a mask. Facial expressions are an important part of sign language. It is very important to wear masks to stay safe during a pandemic, but also very important that deaf and hard of hearing people can understand what everyone is saying.
Our guidelines explain the best ways to communicate with deaf and hard of hearing people while following health recommendations. Our guidelines do not explain how much each mask or face shield protects people from any virus.”
Resuming Regularly Scheduled Snack Time
In light of the start of school, you may have realized that your children’s eating habits look very different now versus one year ago. If you’re finding it hard to get back on track in terms of meals and snack times, check out the New York Times article linked here. The author shares insights regarding her own children’s current eating schedules and tips on how to regain a meal and snack time schedule.
Last Chance for AAC Savings!
Many amazing companies have offered generous discounts up to 50% off applications in celebration of AAC Awareness Month. These companies include Avaz Inc., AssistiveWare, and PRC-Saltillo. These discounts will expire today or in the next few days. Visit our website for more information on all the available sales and how to act now!
Wrapping Up AAC Awareness Month Discounts - PRC-Saltillo Sale, October 14 - 18!
PRC-Saltillo is joining in on the AAC Awareness Month discount fun! Enjoy 50% off all AAC applications, including TouchChat and LAMP Words For Life, from October 14-18!
More AAC Deals! AssistiveWare Sale October 12-16!
AssistiveWare will be offering 50% off all AAC applications, including Proloquo2Go. This sale will run from October 12-16 in the app store - no code required!
SLP Center will be CLOSED on Monday, October 12
Friendly reminder to all our families, the SLP Center will be closed on Monday, October 12, 2020 in observation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Please call the office with any questions or schedule changes!
Save the Date, October 1-15: Aviz AAC Deals!
To celebrate the start of AAC Awareness Month, Avaz Inc. will be offering 50% off all AAC products from October 1 - 15, 2020. Visit their website so you don’t miss this amazing sale!
Back to School Books
Check out this awesome list of “back to school” books for children! No matter what your school schedule looks like this year, the transition from summer to fall can only be helped with these cute stories. Supplement your children’s speech and language goals by practicing words with their target speech sounds, pointing out vocabulary, and discussing personal connections to the book.
Virtual Learning Resources
Back-to-school season is here! Even though learning might be looking a little different this year, there are plenty of resources to help students, teachers, and families along the way. This website is here to help! Click below to get started. Happy learning!
Helping Children With Speech & Language Disorders in Virtual or Modified In-Person Classrooms
“As the new school year nears, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is offering advice for parents of the more than 1 million U.S. children who receive school-based treatment for speech and language disorders to help their children perform and adjust to new virtual and modified in-person learning environments.”
SLP Center will be CLOSED for Labor Day
Friendly reminder to all our families, the SLP Center will be closed on Monday, September 7th, 2020 in observation of Labor Day. We hope you all enjoy the final long weekend of summer! Please call the office with any questions or schedule changes!
How To Turn Your Backyard Into a Wildlife Sanctuary!
“From honeybees to beautiful birds, it’s easy to make changes to your backyard that will attract wildlife. Our guide explains how you can transform your backyard and turn it into your very own wildlife sanctuary.” Click the link below and have fun!
22 Best Scavenger Hunt Ideas!
Scavenger hunts are a fun and easy summer activity – they’re inexpensive, entertaining for the whole family, and can be done no matter the location (indoors, outside, at the beach, etc.). Check out this website for free, printable scavenger hunts or get creative and make your own!
Here are some ideas on how you can tailor your scavenger hunt to practice speech and language skills:
Articulation: Put together a list of items that contain your child’s speech sound. For example, if your child is working on the /l/ sound, you could include words like leaf, log, caterpillar, dandelion, and snail for a backyard scavenger hunt.
Language: You can use scavenger hunts to target a number of concepts your child is working on, such as shapes, letters, descriptors (e.g., soft vs. hard, tall vs. short), categories, etc. The opportunities are endless!
New Insight About How Dogs Process Speech!
If you are a dog lover, you will enjoy this new study! “Humans keep talking to dogs whose sensitivity to human communicative signs is well known. Both the words what we say and the intonation how we say them carry information for them. For example, when we tell ‘sit’ many dogs can sit down. Similarly, when we praise dogs with a high toned voice, they may notice the positive intent. We know very little, however, on what is going on in their brains during these.” Researchers are using MRIs to study how dogs are processing speech and findings indicate plenty of similarities with how humans process speech! Read the article here!
Beat the Heat!
The hottest part of summer has definitely arrived and your stay-at-home activities may have slowly dried up… Never fear! Click here for fun summer activities to keep cool and work on speech and language at the same time. We love the ideas of ice sensory play and smoothie making to target your child’s specific speech and language goals. Stay cool!