Speech and Language Disorders Blogs This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.

Tips for Prompting Students With Autism to Initiate Communication
Autism is a spectrum of behaviors and characteristics, as well as of language and communication abilities. Some individuals with autism use minimal or no verbal language, and some use long chunks of verbal language taken from movies or other aspects of their environment. Others imitate verbal language but rarely, if ever, use this language functionally for communication. In many ways, this group presents the most challenges. Although these children may be viewed as verbal, they are not using verbal language spontaneously and meaningfully for communication. The PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) protocol is a mea...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - April 14, 2016 Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Lauren Cernaro Tags: Speech-Language Pathology Augmentative Alternative Communication Autism Spectrum Disorder Language Disorders Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs

Know These 4 Areas of Typical Second-Language ‘Errors’
As the number of bilingual students in the U.S. grows, we greatly benefit from a basic understanding of typical patterns of second-language acquirement and errors. I say greatly because: We can assess more accurately when we understand which patterns in bilingual development are typical, even in terms of errors, versus those that might indicate a language impairment. We can treat students more successfully by focusing on goals related to their language disorder rather than those geared toward “correcting” second-language patterns. Let’s take a look at four areas of language where ESL students commonly make error...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - April 12, 2016 Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Scott Prath Tags: Speech-Language Pathology bilingual service delivery English as a second langauge Language Disorders Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs

4 Pragmatic Language Activities for Older Students
While the majority of my caseload is language-based, I tend to have at least one or two students with pragmatic language difficulties each year. I often struggle with what to work on with these students, especially if they demonstrate good academic skills. In addition, if I can’t place them in an appropriate existing group, I often treat them individually, which doesn’t help generalize skills they learn. Many of these students struggle with maintaining and forming friendships. During our sessions, they tell me all the right things, but when it comes to interacting with their peers, they don’t quite get it. I use the ...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - April 7, 2016 Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Gabriella Schecter Tags: Speech-Language Pathology Language Disorders Schools social skils Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs

An SLP Helps a Child With Autism; a Mother is Grateful
Editor’s note: Mauricer Marshall lives in St. Kitts and is the mother of a child with autism. She wrote this blog post to share her experience of working with Florida-based SLP Sheryl Rosin, who treated her son and is the focus of “A Meeting of Cultures” in the April issue of The ASHA Leader. The article includes links to two short videos of Mathieu’s first and last sessions with Rosin. Loving, patient, kind and extraordinary—those are the words that best described the friend I had the pleasure to meet in January 2014. —— was introduced to my family by a mutual friend, Warren Ross. He describ...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - April 5, 2016 Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Shelley D. Hutchins Tags: Speech-Language Pathology Autism Spectrum Disorder Early Intervention Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs

Giving Children a Voice With Assistive Technology – Part 2
A previous blog discussed the general process for who completes an assistive technology (AT) assessment and what to look for during this process. In part two of this AT series, let’s discuss the next steps for incorporating AT into the child’s school day. If a child qualifies for AT services, the school creates an IEP with AT as one of the related services or adds AT services to an existing IEP. Who provides the AT services? As discussed in part one, two speech-language pathologists usually work together to help the child use AT. An SLP trained in AT collaborates with the school-based SLP, who regularly works with th...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - March 29, 2016 Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Hallie Bulkin Tags: Speech-Language Pathology Augmentative Alternative Communication Language Disorders Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs

From Peace Corps to SLP in 20 Years
I was definitely not a little girl who knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. My interests varied from becoming an astronaut to writing scripts and performing mini-plays. I was creative, yet practical, and by the time I graduated from high school I was ready to leave Oregon far behind and travel the world! In college I chose communications, because the department included theater majors. However, my classes morphed into cross-cultural ethnographies and culminated with a six-month internship in Manila, Philippines. While there, I lived among squatter communities and volunteered with a micro-finance loan organizati...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - March 22, 2016 Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Genealle Visagorskis Tags: Speech-Language Pathology Autism Spectrum Disorder Cultural Diversity Language Disorders Schools Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs

Why Use Rubrics to Measure Communication Goals?
How do you generate and measure communication goals for your students? If speech-language pathologists need to focus on a communication area with black-and-white criteria such as articulation—correct versus incorrect production of a target sound, for example—we usually find it simple to generate goals and measure results. But what about goals for communication areas in gray areas, such as those for pragmatic language skills? Try rubrics as one option to set and measure social language goals. Instead of measuring a skill with a correct/incorrect scoring criterion, rubrics let us describe skills in a more holistic and na...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - March 15, 2016 Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Lisa Kathman Tags: Speech-Language Pathology Language Disorders Schools social skils Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs

Zimbabwe Needs SLPs in Public Hospitals
Zimbabwe desperately needs speech-language pathologists, according to the Africa Health Network in an article on Voice of America. State-owned hospitals and other public health organizations—especially those in the capital city of Harare—can’t keep SLPs employed. Government officials say this occurred primarily because of low salaries. “Right now there is not a single speech therapist working in public service in Zimbabwe,” says Michele Angeletti, country representative of Christian Blind Mission. This was confirmed by the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr. Gerald Gwinji, who says t...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - March 9, 2016 Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Shelley D. Hutchins Tags: News Autism Spectrum Disorder Speech Disorders speech-language pathology Swallowing Disorders Traumatic Brain Injury Source Type: blogs

‘Stutterer’ Wins Oscar
At the 88th Academy Awards last Sunday, the film “Stutterer” won the Short Film (Live Action) category. The 12-minute film follows a typographer, known only as Greenwood, who lives as a recluse because of his severe stutter. Although he loves words, Greenwood’s so afraid to speak that he learns sign language to communicate. Greenwood develops an online relationship, and the movie focuses on his reaction when the woman he’s been corresponding with wants to meet him. Tension builds as the London meeting approaches. Greenwood worries that she’ll break things off when she finds out about his stutter. In addition...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - March 2, 2016 Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Shelley D. Hutchins Tags: News Fluency Disorders Language Disorders Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs

How to Recognize Auditory Processing Disorder in Children
Editor’s Note: This post was excerpted from Audiology Island’s blog. What is an auditory processing disorder? The simplest way to explain what defines an auditory processing disorder (APD) is to realize the role of the central nervous system, or CNS, in APD. The CNS malfunctions and causes an uncoordinated relationship between the ears and the nervous system’s ability to fully process sounds and language. APD causes issues with: Understanding language Remembering information Processing conversation However, several other disorders share these hallmark symptoms. Similar disorders that might get mistaken for...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - March 1, 2016 Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Zhanneta Shapiro Tags: Audiology auditory processing disorder Hearing Assistive Technology hearing loss hearing protection Source Type: blogs

Using Presidential Debates to Teach Social Language Concepts
—— As a speech-language pathologist fascinated by social language, I recently thought about how I might incorporate the language from the presidential debates into treatment. The debates and campaign ads provide an engaging way to work with older students on reading nonverbal language, identifying emotions and connecting the race to the Common Core State Standards, particularly in social studies. You can search YouTube (of course, preview videos first!) for local and national campaign commercials or the complete debates. Watch and then use these timely videos to create activities aligned with the Common Core for stu...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - February 25, 2016 Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Heidi Britz Tags: Speech-Language Pathology Autism Spectrum Disorder Language Disorders social skils Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs

Helping Parents Build Their Youngsters’ Vocabulary
Recently, my friend Tonia shared an impressive conversation she had with her 3-year-old daughter. Naya: Mommy, what are you doing? Tonia: Collapsing moving boxes. Naya: Collapsing? Ah yes, like an umbrella at the beach. Tonia: Yes, exactly. Just like an umbrella at the beach. Do you want to help? Naya: No, I’m busy. You have to make an appointment. I thought about the connection Naya made between collapsing moving boxes and an umbrella. Her parents clearly used “collapsing” while packing up at the beach and Naya retained the word. I wondered if Naya helped to collapse the umbrella, if Tonia explained what collapsing...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - February 23, 2016 Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Stephanie Sigal Tags: Speech-Language Pathology Early Intervention Language Disorders Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs

Giving Children a Voice With Assistive Technology
A child in the public school setting might benefit from various forms of assistive technology (AT). School-based SLPs should work as part of a team with parents, teacher(s) and private SLPs or other clinicians to determine the best use of AT in school as well as external environments like the home. So what is AT? The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) defines AT as “any item, piece of equipment or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified or customized, used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability.” IDEA also r...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - February 16, 2016 Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Hallie Bulkin Tags: Audiology Speech-Language Pathology assistive technology Augmentative Alternative Communication Autism Spectrum Disorder Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs

What’s the right hemisphere doing? [Guest Post by William Matchin]
Guest post by William Matchin:What's the right hemisphere doing?This is a question that has been bothering me for about two years, emerging from the results of an fMRI experiment that I performed in the twilight of graduate school, and recently butting into my consciousness again after Greg and I finally published the paper. The paper is called “‘Syntactic perturbation’ activates the right IFG, but not Broca’s area or the ATL”, recently published in Frontiers in Psychology as part of a special topic on “Components of the Language-Ready Brain” edited by Cedric Boeckx and Antonio Benítez-Burraco. The title is ...
Source: Talking Brains - February 15, 2016 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Greg Hickok Source Type: blogs

What ’s the right hemisphere doing? [Guest Post by William Matchin]
< div class="MsoNormal" > < br / > < /div > < div class="MsoNormal" > Guest post by William Matchin: < /div > < div class="MsoNormal" > < br / > < /div > < div class="MsoNormal" > What's the right hemisphere doing? < /div > < div class="MsoNormal" > < br / > < /div > < div class="MsoNormal" > This is a question that has been bothering me for about two years, emerging from the results of an fMRI experiment that I performed in the twilight of graduate school, and recently butting into my consciousness again after Greg and I finally published the paper. The paper is called < a href="http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3...
Source: Talking Brains - February 15, 2016 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Greg Hickok Source Type: blogs