Friendly reminder to all our families, the SLP Center will be closed on Monday, October 10, 2022 in observation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
Please call the office with any questions or schedule changes!
SLP Center will be CLOSED for Labor Day
Friendly reminder to all our families, the SLP Center will be closed on Monday, September 5th, 2022 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!
Fun with /r/!
The /r/ sound can be very challenging for children to learn. One of the things that makes it difficult to master is comprehending the position of the tongue.
A fun way to teach tongue positioning can be done through using play dough. Regular play dough can be used again and again, but if you want to create a model that will harden, consider using “Model Magic” dough by Crayola.
The /r/ sound can be made in two different ways: bunched and retroflexed. Before completing this activity, have your child’s speech therapist confirm with you which position you child has the most success with. Once you have determined which position to practice, grab some dough and follow the steps below:
Bunched Position: First, roll the dough into a ball and then use your palm to squish the play dough flat. Make sure the back of the tongue is wider than the front. Then, place the wider/ back side of the tongue on the table and gently push apply pressure downward. When you are done, the back sides of the tongue should be lifted upward. Remind your child the sides of the tongue should touch the insides of the back teeth.
Retroflexed Position:Follow the same instructions from the bunched position, but add the following step: curl the tip of the tongue so that it is pointing backwards.
In addition to visualizing /r/ with the use of play dough, consider using some of the following books which are loaded with /r/ words to practice:
/r/ at the beginning of words (initial /r/)
Robert the Rose Horse by Joan Heilbroner
Rosie Revere Engineer by Andrea Beaty
/r/ in the middle of words (medial /r/)
Clark the Shark by Bruce Hale
Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes
/r/ at the end of words (final /r/)
Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee
If you feel like your child or someone you know is in need of therapy services in the areas of speech, language or feeding, please don’t hesitate to call and speak to a clinician today. You can also visit our “Free Screener” tab to answer a few questions and determine if these services may be right for you and your family! We are here to help in any way possible!
Summer Reading Fun for Everyone!
Wishing you all a wonderful start to school vacation. Kick off the summer with the fun book ideas below! Comment with your favorite summer books!
Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae
This book is a wonderful collection of short poems/rhymes about animals that live in or around the ocean. Perfect for early language learners! Talk about the fun, colorful cartoon pictures as you or your child points to them to introduce ocean animal vocabulary. Repeat key words over and over. Copy and add to what your child says. For example, if your child points to a crab and says “crab,” add an early concept (numbers, colors, -ing verbs, plural -s, etc.) to what they said: “Red crab.” “One, two, three crabs.” “Crabs are walking.” Encourage your child to help turn the pages as you read. As you read the book more times, test your child’s understanding of vocabulary by asking simple questions (yes/no, who, what, what doing, where). Example: “Is this a dolphin? – No, it’s a shark!” or “Where is the penguin? – He’s on the snow!”
Bear’s New Friend by Karma Wilson
Bear and his friends are spending time together on a hot, summer day while a new animal friend hides nearby. Bear and his friends try to find out who is hiding! This book is perfect for early language learners and families, alike. Each page has a repeating word. After multiple pages, see if your child can fill in the repeated word. With bright and colorful pictures of nature, you can introduce new vocabulary and concepts on every page!
A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen
Mr. Magee and his dog, Dee take a summer camping trip to the mountains where a silly, exciting, and eventful weekend takes place. Perfect for elementary-aged children! Have your child identify story grammar elements as you are reading (characters, setting, kick-off, feelings, plan, action, resolution.). See if your child can answer prediction questions about what might happen next. When you are done, have your child retell the story including all the important elements. Encourage them to use transitions words such as “first,” “then,” “next,” and “last.”
If you feel like your child or someone you know is in need of therapy services in the areas of speech, language or feeding, please don’t hesitate to call and speak to a clinician today. You can also visit our “Free Screener” tab to answer a few questions and determine if these services may be right for you and your family! We are here to help in any way possible!
Local Cooking Classes and Camps for Kids!
If you are looking for something for your child to do this summer, check out Mix It Up Kitchen! They are located in Duxbury, MA and will be hosting a variety of classes, short camps, and events for children of all ages. They even have adult workshops, too! See the full list of classes here
Cooking is an excellent, hands-on way to get children involved with food. If a child is cooking with a food they won’t eat, they are still getting great exposure to how it looks, feels, and smells. Cooking is a low-pressure way to introduce these foods without any demands to eat in that moment. In addition, cooking offers a great way to introduce any speech and language topics your child may need more practice with. Think about how many directions need to be followed and how many actions and concepts you may use to follow a recipe!
The following excerpts are from Mix It Up Kitchen’s website and provide information regarding their workshops for all ages!
“Tweens & Teens, After School Series: Students tackle more complex skills with an emphasis on kitchen safety, knife skills, various cooking techniques, seasoning and plating. Workshops typically culminate with a seated meal.
Weekend Workshops & Special Events: Workshops are offered before all major holidays and also periodically throughout the year. Please refer to our calendar for specific ages groups.
Child & Caregiver: Cooking inspires curiosity and helps with many early academic skills like counting, colors, shapes and following directions. Periodically we offer caregiver and child classes where an adult and child participate together (but we encourage children to do age appropriate tasks on their own).”
If you don’t want to enroll your child in any structured workshops, no problem! Consider adding a “cooking class” at home every week or two. Below are some ideas on how to connect their speech and language goals to the cooking task at hand. And don’t forget to have fun!
Following directions - present one-step, two-step, or even three-step directions to your sous chef to work on this receptive language skill. Following directions is especially crucial in the kitchen.
Sequencing - review the recipe steps with your child. While preparing the meal, encourage your child to determine “what’s next” in the cooking process.
Problem Solving and Safety – what would happen if you skipped a step? Or missed an ingredient? Use cooking class as an opportunity to present “what if” scenarios and problem solving/safety topics.
Expressive language - describe and/or ask your child to describe the different foods and textures that you’re experiencing while cooking. What color, shape, and texture do they have? How are the ingredients the same or different? Cooking allows you to “get your hands dirty” and experience foods with all of your senses.
Vocabulary - be sure to review each food item and cooking instrument you use during your recipe! Cooking with your children allows you to build a new vocabulary set during a fun and functional activity!
Basic Concepts – following directions seldom goes without understanding and using basic concepts. Put the water IN the measuring cup, mix the dry ingredients TOGETHER, cut the apple into SMALL pieces, etc. Over emphasize the important concepts in each step. Maybe cut the apple into big pieces and see if your child notices that you missed that concept!
Speech Sound Practice - if your child has target goals for the “ch” sound, consider making chocolate chip cookies or cherry cheesecake! If your child has target goals for the “b” sound, consider making buttermilk biscuits or blueberry bagels. Choosing main ingredients with your target sound is sure to result in lots and lots of practice!
Cooking is fun and learning can be fun, too!
If you feel like your child or someone you know is in need of therapy services in the areas of feeding, speech, or language, please don’t hesitate to call and speak to a clinician today. You can also visit our “Free Screener” tab to answer a few questions and determine if these services may be right for you and your family! We are here to help in any way possible!
Celebrate Your Family Structure!
Father’s day is coming up this weekend. While many plan to celebrate with their fathers, father figures, grandfathers, and/or uncles, we also recognize this as an opportunity to shed light on the diversity of each and every family structure.
Below are some books that celebrate different family structures. While reading with your child, you can target family/relationship vocabulary by having them identify who is in their own family and who is in the characters’ families. For younger children, you can target receptive vocabulary by having them point to animals, places, vehicles, colors, characters, etc. as you name them. After you finish a page, or before you start reading the next page, leave a pause to allow your child to comment on what they see or what they heard. Stories also lend themselves to emotion vocabulary, conflict resolution, and theory of mind skills. Books can be used to support language development in so many ways! Pick one, a few, or all of them and get reading! Be sure to let us know your favorites!
Check out your local library to see if they have any of these books available:
· Who's In My Family?: All About Our Families by Robie H. Harris
· Sometimes It's Grandmas and Grandpas: Not Mommies and Daddies by Gayle Byrne
· My Friends and Me: A Celebration of Different Kinds of Families by Stephanie Stansbie
· Fred Stays With Me! By Nancy Coffelt
· A Family Is a Family Is a Family by Sara O’Leary
· Stella Brings the Family by Miriam B. Schiffer
· In Our Mothers' House by Patricia Polacco
· Two Is Enough by Janna Matthies
· In Every House on Every Street by Jess Hitchman
· We Are Family by Patricia Hegarty
VOTE NOW! SLP Center is a Finalist for Family Favorites of 2022!
Thanks to your support, the Speech Language Pathology Center of Norwell is a top nominee! Please go to the following link to cast your final vote at “Boston Parent Paper’s Best”. Final voting is open until June 1st!
Click "Health" then "Speech Language Therapy". You'll see SLP Center listed alphabetically! Simply click to vote. We appreciate you taking a minute out of your day to help spread the word about our commitment to families in need of therapy!
Spotlight on AAC: Meet Bobby!
We specialize in augmentative and alternative communication for a total communication approach!
Meet Bobby! Bobby is a 22-year old young man with Down syndrome. He is social, engaging, and hardworking. Bobby has a complex medical history and as a result, he’s experienced delays and difficulties across development of his speech and language skills. For the past several months, Bobby has been training with use of an alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) device. Bobby has shown strong emerging skills to use his device to supplement when his verbal communication is not sufficient to meet his needs. Recently, Bobby used his AAC device with the help of his mother to voice his opinion and stance at a town meeting. We are so proud of all of Bobby’s hard work! Seeing him use his device in the community to advocate for himself is exactly why we love this field! Way to go, Bobby!
Visit our Facebook page here to watch the video! If you feel as though AAC could aid you or someone you know, please don’t hesitate to give us a call. We’d love to answer your questions!
*This information was shared with permission.
Get Outside to Foster Speech & Language Development!
Now that warmer weather has finally arrived, it’s time to get outside and play! Here are a few ideas to foster speech and language skills while playing outside:
Hopscotch:
- All you need is some sidewalk chalk and a pebble or two! While drawing the hopscotch board you can practice vocabulary for colors (make each box a different color) and numbers. You can also switch it up and put letters in the boxes instead of numbers. If your child is working on speech production, you could even put words containing the sounds they’re practicing in each box instead. Then, when they hop on each word have them say it aloud to get ample practice in a fun way.
Nature walk:
- While walking outside, you can ask a variety of “wh-“ questions (e.g., What is the squirrel doing? Where is the airplane flying? Who is on the playground?, etc.). You can also practice describing things you find, such as flowers, rocks, leaves, animals, sticks, etc. Compare and contrast what you find. For example, if your child picks up a rough rock, find a smooth one so that they can feel the difference in the textures to build a better understanding of the differences.
Scavenger hunts:
- Set up a scavenger hunt in your backyard. For younger children, print out a list of things to find using pictures instead of words. They can practice labeling the pictures on the list and then finding them outside. Give them a carrier phrase to use, such as “I found…” if they’re working on expanding their utterance length or using complete sentences. For older children, or children who can read, print out a list of things for them to find or descriptions of what they need to find. This way they can practice identifying objects by features, as well as using specific vocabulary.
Spring Sensory Bins for Speech and Language!
Spring is here and so is the opportunity to introduce new vocabulary and concepts to your child!
Sensory bins are the perfect activity to motivate your child to work on their speech and language goals at home. Sensory bins help children explore and learn through a hands-on, tactile experience. While they play, there will be natural opportunities to facilitate language. Some ideas are outlined below! Visit here to see a full list of ideas with pictures!
Materials
Base: beans, lentils, sand, crinkle paper, beads, pom poms, etc.
Objects: anything spring related (e.g., eggs to hide items in, flowers, flower pots, gummy worms, bugs, butterflies, sheep, rabbits, ducklings, etc.)
Tools: hand shovels, rakes, straws, spoons, etc.
Speech and Language Connections:
-Vocabulary building for nouns: eggs, bugs, butterfly, flowers, birds, pot, shovel, rake, etc.
-Vocabulary building for verbs: open, dig, pour, push, look, see, hop, fly, smell, feel, plant, grow, etc.
-Vocabulary building for adjectives: smooth, rough, spotted, striped, soft, hard, shiny, etc.
-Understanding and using concepts: in, out, under, on top, in front, behind, same, different, colors, numbers
-Following directions: “open the egg,” “pick up the bunny and give it to me,” “show me the blue egg,” etc.
-Answering questions: Who lays eggs? What does a bunny do? Where do you find worms? When do flowers start to grow? Why do we wear a raincoats? etc.
-Practicing speech sounds: bilabials (butterfly, basket, bud, blossom, pink, puddle, more, my, me, May, etc.), velars (grow, go, can, grass, kite, etc.), consonant blends (tree, green, cloud, smell, flower, smile, sprout, etc.), /l/ words (leaf, April, daffodil, lily, puddle, baseball, etc.), /r/ words (rain, raincoat, umbrella, rainbow, garden, etc.), and so many more!
April is World Autism Month!
What is World Autism Month?
Every April, Autism Speaks celebrates World Autism Month, beginning with World Autism Awareness Day on April 2. Throughout the month, we focus on sharing stories and providing opportunities to increase understanding and acceptance of people with autism, fostering worldwide support. This year, we are committed to creating a world where all people with autism can reach their full potential.
AssistiveWare's AAC App Sale 3/29 - 4/4!
“Our AAC apps are the solution used by thousands of children and adults with autism to communicate with the world. To expand access to AAC to families, individuals, and schools on a tight budget, once again we are offering our 50% discount on a number of apps and AAC learning solutions.”
Click the link below to see which apps will be included in the sale, worldwide from March 29th through April 4th. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to discuss with your clinician or call our office to inquire!
South Shore St. Patrick's Day Parade on March 20th!
Not only is the parade a fun activity for the family, but it also serves as a great, natural environment for language!
Play language games, such as I-Spy to expand utterances and build receptive (guessing based on attributes) and expressive (describing) language skills. If your child is an early language learner then you can model, model, model! Talk about what you see as it goes by, label what they point to, point and direct their attention to something they haven’t seen yet (e.g., “Look! It’s a leprechaun.”). Get your child excited about what they’re seeing and experiencing by having them interact by waving to the people in the parade, commenting (e.g., “Whoa!” “Wow!” “No way!”), dancing to music that’s playing, etc.
After the parade, for preschool children and older, recap who and what you saw to support narrative skills. You can support expanding your child’s narrative by retelling the experience with them (e.g., “After the giant clover we saw…”).
Enjoy the spring weather and help those language skills bloom!
PRC Saltillo's LAMP AAC App Sale 4/1 - 4/7!
“In recognition of Autism Acceptance Month, we’re putting our industry-leading LAMP Words for Life® iOS app on sale again! Purchase the app for 50% OFF from April 1 - 7, 2022.”
A Summer Camp For Kids Who Stutter! August 2022
“Camp Words Unspoken is a fun-filled experience for youths and teens who stutter to come together, to create memories and to foster friendships that can last a lifetime!”
Who: Ages 8-18 welcome
When: August 19-24, 2022
Where: Camp Winadu, Pittsfield, MA
Suggested Cost: $600
Registration and contact information at the link below!
Special Olympics Resources
In the spirit of the Winter Olympics, check out Special Olympics Massachusetts for ideas about how to get your child engaged and active. They provide a number of resources, as well as host weekly fitness classes on Zoom.
Presidents' Day - We are CLOSED!
In observation of Presidents’ Day, the SLP Center will be closed on Monday, February 21st. We will be open for the remainder of the week (February vacation week for schools). Please call the office at 781-792-2700 should you need any adjustments to you schedule. Thanks!
Sock Snowman Craft!
Sock Snowman
Is the snow too dry to make a snowman outside? That’s okay, we can make our own sock snowman at home! This simple craft is a fun and motivating way to target speech and language at home!
Materials: 1 white sock, 1 colored sock for the hat, rice, rubber bands (or hair ties), buttons (or dried beans), ribbons, scissors, glue gun, markers, and an orange pom pom (or goldfish) for the nose.
Instructions:
Fill your white sock with rice. Use a rolled-piece of paper to funnel the rice into the sock if needed.
Once filled, tie the top with a rubber band.
Place another rubber band in the middle to form a small head and a large body.
Glue buttons (or beans) on the bottom half of your snowman.
Draw eyes and a coal mouth onto the snowman’s head.
Glue an orange pom pom (or goldfish) on to the face for the nose.
Glue a ribbon around the snowman’s neck for a scarf.
Cut the toe end of the colored sock. Roll up at the bottom and place on the snowman’s head for a hat.
Speech and Language Connections:
Articulation – while making and playing with the snowman, keep an ear open for any words containing the speech sound your child is currently working on in therapy. Some examples include: rice, red, round, for targeting "r" or smile, snow, scarf, glue, for targeting consonant blends. It would be easy to target final consonant sounds and multi-syllable words (e.g.: gluing, filling, standing, smiling, drawing, cutting). Play activities are a great opportunity to target difficult speech sounds in a stress-free, natural environment.
Sequencing – review the steps of making the snowman with your child, and see if they can help figure out the next step while you are making it! Try to have the child use full sentences and incorporate transition words like "first,” "next," and “finally.”
Expressive/Receptive language – describe the snowman (e.g.: how it looks, feels, smells, etc.). Identify target vocabulary (e.g.: clothing, body parts, colors, etc.). Expand language using carrier phrases (e.g: “I want x,” “more x please”). Target concepts (e.g.: top, bottom, middle, big, small, etc.).
Following directions – have your child follow 1, 2, or 3 step directions while making your snowman (e.g,: "pick up the button,” "pick up the red button,” or “pick up the button and give it to me”).
Meet the Therapists Series - Let's meet Ashley!
Ashley joined the SLPC family in late November 2021 and has been an asset ever since! Read on to learn some fun facts about Ashley!
Where are you from? – I grew up in southern NH and then moved to upstate NY for undergraduate and graduate school. After graduate school, I moved to Boston. I now live in Cambridge and love exploring the different neighborhoods!
What do you like most about Boston? – I love that there are so many different things to do in Boston! I enjoy being able to walk to most places I need/want to go to and having the Charles River nearby to walk along on sunny days.
How did you decide to become an SLP? – During undergrad, I knew I wanted to work in health care but wasn’t quite sure in which profession. I saw presentations about each of the professions in the health sciences school and after seeing the one for speech-language pathology the decision was easy. Who wouldn’t want to help people enjoy two of the things that make life worth living…being able to communicate and eat safely!
What are your professional areas of interest? – This field is special because it allows us to work with a diverse population. I enjoy working with early language development, receptive and expressive language skills, and have a growing interest in AAC and cognition.
What do you like to do in your free time? – I like to read, garden, hike, go to the beach, try out new restaurants, and hang out with my family.
What is your favorite food? – Anything I don’t have to cook!...I love a good home-cooked meal followed by dessert.
What is an interesting or quirky fact about yourself? – I used to play on a competitive ultimate frisbee team.
Winter Skate at Patriot Place!
If you’ve got cabin fever and you’re looking for a fun way to get outside this winter, head over to Patriot Place for outdoor ice skating! Day and season passes are available! See the link below for details and pricing options. Have fun!
