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.

3 Steps for Using Wait Time to Improve Treatment Outcomes
Wait … what?! Working with children with speech and language delays can require significant patience. Sometimes expressing this patience translates into waiting—I mean a bit longer than we normally do—for the student to respond. Children benefit from extended wait time to allow them to process. Let’s look at the positive outcomes associated with increased wait time. How much time is enough time? Classroom teachers rarely wait more than one second after asking a question for a student response. However, when they wait three to five seconds, teachers see a higher accuracy in responses, decreased “I don’t know�...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - May 22, 2019 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Klaire Brumbaugh Tags: Academia & Research Private Practice Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology Language Disorders Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs

Why Join SIG 3, Voice and Upper Airway Disorders?
Consider becoming a SIG 3 affiliate to connect with peers who share a passion for treating voice and upper airway disorders. What would you say to encourage other colleagues to join SIG 3? SIG 3 provides valuable opportunities to discuss clinical practice and research in voice and upper airway disorders, get advice from colleagues, and form lasting relationships with other clinicians with similar interests. If you have a strong interest in voice and upper airway disorders and want to expand your knowledge and your practice, it is an excellent resource. How has your involvement in this SIG improved your understanding of...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - May 17, 2019 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Maia Braden Tags: Academia & Research Health Care Private Practice Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology Speech Disorders upper airway disorders voice Voice Disorders voice therapy voice training Source Type: blogs

5 Tips to Share With Parents of Preschoolers Who Stutter
As a speech-language pathologist who works with preschool children who stutter, I often hear the same questions from parents: Is there anything I can do to improve my child’s chance of outgrowing stuttering? Although stuttering is not caused by ways parents interact with their child, I can certainly recommend interaction strategies for SLPs to share with parents of their clients or students. Parents can incorporate these supports at the guidance of their SLP once their child starts showing signs of childhood-onset stuttering. These five tips allow parents to support their child in facilitating confident verbal expression...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - May 15, 2019 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Alexander Whelan Tags: Private Practice Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology Early Intervention Fluency Disorders Speech Disorders stuttering Source Type: blogs

Amazing Organisms and the Lessons They Can Teach Us
What do you have in common with rodents, birds, and reptiles? A lot more than you might think. These creatures have organs and body systems very similar to our own: a skeleton, digestive tract, brain, nervous system, heart, network of blood vessels, and more. Even so-called “simple” organisms such as insects and worms use essentially the same genetic and molecular pathways we do. Studying these organisms provides a deeper understanding of human biology in health and disease, and makes possible new ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat a wide range of conditions. Historically, scientists have relied on a few key organ...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - May 15, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Genes Biofilms Cool Creatures Diseases Evolution Modeling Neurobiology Regeneration Research Organisms Wound Healing Source Type: blogs

The Best Toys for SLPs Are the Toys That Do Nothing
Pediatric speech-language pathologists often get asked about toy recommendations for young children. It makes sense because we often use toys in sessions to keep children engaged in learning. So, which toys should we recommend to parents? A recent study by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) compared traditional toys to electronic toys. The report concludes—not surprisingly—that traditional toys result in better child-caregiver interactions. These interactions provide multiple communication-learning opportunities. So how can we help parents look beyond advertising that promises toys will teach children ABCs, num...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - May 13, 2019 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Emily Ferjencik Tags: Private Practice Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology Early Intervention Language Disorders Speech Disorders stuttering Source Type: blogs

Steps for Keeping Students ’ Skills Sharp Over Summer
Speech-language pathologists understand the havoc transitions can wreak on speech-language progress and performance. Everything from weather to a change in routine can produce obstacles to generalizing skills or bolstering performance. So when summer comes around, it’s key to give students tools to minimize the disruption caused by a few months away from treatment. Empowering our students and their families with creative, functional ideas to maintain and generalize skills into their daily routines can help them keep up skills over the summer break. Here are three steps that work for me in tackling the summer transition f...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - April 29, 2019 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Kristina Peterkin Tags: Private Practice Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology Early Intervention Language Disorders Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs

World Health Organization Recommends Against Screen Time for Infants
Screen-time guidance is a first for the World Health Organization (WHO). As part of a larger report on the risks of physical inactivity and sleep deprivation for children under age 5, WHO recommends no solitary, sedentary screen time at all for infants up to age 1, and only an hour a day for children ages 1 to 5. Editor’s note: As always, children who use low- and high-tech augmentative and alternative communication devices (AAC) should continue to use them at all times—and in an interactive way. The guidelines say infants should get at least 30 minutes each day—spread throughout the day—on their stomachs, as well...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - April 26, 2019 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Shelley D. Hutchins Tags: Audiology News Private Practice Slider Speech-Language Pathology Augmentative Alternative Communication Early Intervention Language Disorders Professional Development social skills Speech Disorders Technology Source Type: blogs

10 Strategies to Train Parents on Using AAC at Home
As a speech-language pathologist in the field of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) since 2001, I’ve experienced working with different disciplines and in many different contexts. Many times, when I visit schools as an AAC consultant, school-based SLPs and other school staff report carryover in AAC from school to home as their biggest challenge in helping a student become a more independent communicator. Why is facilitating carryover such a challenge? I found one important factor to be parent or caregiver training. Often, SLPs and educators include parents in deciding what AAC system to use, but not in trai...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - April 1, 2019 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Rebecca Eisenberg Tags: Private Practice Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology AAC Augmentative Alternative Communication autism Autism Spectrum Disorder Early Intervention Language Disorders Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs

Shareable Strategies for Working With Preschool Children With DLD
Preschool children seem to learn best when given routine and consistency. Children with a diagnosis of developmental language delay (DLD) are no exception, and may even need the routine and consistency more than their peers. Collaboration among all adults who interact with any child, but especially a child with DLD, helps create crucial consistency. When collaborating with other professionals and parents, I find it helpful to share the strategies I use with these children. Shareable strategies I created a mnemonic device that parents and teachers can use in any setting. Keeping the strategies short, simple and easy to reme...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - March 27, 2019 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Amy Mentrasti Tags: Health Care Private Practice Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology developmental language delay Language Disorders Source Type: blogs

Postdoc Positions in Cognitive Neuroscience of Communication at the University of Connecticut
The Cognitive Neuroscience of Communication-CT program is funded by a T32 Institutional Research Service Award from the NIH (Inge-Marie Eigsti& Emily Myers, Program Directors). The goal of this program is to provide targeted training in the cognitive neuroscience of communication disorders to predoctoral and postdoctoral scholars. We invite applications for two-year postdoctoral fellowships, to begin in the Fall of 2019.Postdoctoral trainees will work under the supervision of one or more mentors on the CNC-CT team. These mentors are: Richard Aslin (Haskins Labs and University of Connecticut), Inge-Marie Eigsti, D...
Source: Talking Brains - March 26, 2019 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Greg Hickok Source Type: blogs

Simple Ways To Boost Health Care Access for People With Communication Disorders
The objectives—and perhaps even more interesting, the disparities within the objectives according to sex, educational attainment and disability status—are tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics. We can search the CDC’s database by topic area for additional data on health care disparities. While the government works toward the Healthy People initiative, we can help improve health care access for those with communication disorders in our communities. I started by considering people’s social determinants of health in my community and surrounding areas....
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - March 25, 2019 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Shelley D. Hutchins Tags: Audiology Health Care Private Practice Slider Speech-Language Pathology hearing loss Language Disorders Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs

Super Bowl Stuttering Slight Should Not Go Unnoticed
Super Bowl LIII opened with four and a half minutes of Peyton Manning plugging his creative genius—a scene featuring gladiators—to a room of executives who seem doubtful of his brilliant idea. He proceeds to tell them he’s already rented the Colosseum for the actual shoot. Then John Malkovich, standing in the middle of the Colosseum, enters via video call and begins talking about what a trite concept Manning is proposing. Before Malkovich begins his rant, however, one of the executives exclaims in disbelief that John Malkovich is actually at the Roman Colosseum, Peyton Manning states condescendingly, “Of course ...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - February 25, 2019 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Ana Paula Mumy Tags: Academia & Research Advocacy Health Care Private Practice Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology Fluency Disorders Speech Disorders stuttering Source Type: blogs

Big Changes in Life Resulted in One SLP Creating ‘Small Steps in Speech’
February 12 is a day anyone who was privileged to know Marc Small will never forget. On that day in 2009, Marc—then my fiancé—lost his life in Afghanistan serving our nation as an Army Special Forces medical sergeant. Instead of planning our wedding, I launched a nonprofit in his memory called Small Steps in Speech. I shared the story of launching the organization in a Leader article, which also explains how Marc thought of the name originally for my future private practice. Jumping forward 10 years…. the legacy of Marc Small has changed the lives of children and their families across the country. Small Steps in Spe...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - February 19, 2019 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Amanda Charney-Berardi Tags: Audiology Health Care Slider Speech-Language Pathology Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs

How I Learned to Embrace Technology in a School-Based Setting
Let’s face it: Technology makes everything easier. But what are students really learning when they use apps or online games? And what is the best way to target speech and language goals using tech? I interned during the 2017–-2018 school year as a student speech-language pathologist at an elementary school for K–5 students. All the sweet children I saw loved technology, having been born into a digital world. Our main source of technology at this school was a single tablet specific for the speech-language pathology department. This tablet had tons of apps, some for articulation, some for language and some for educati...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - February 6, 2019 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Rachel Allen-Newton Tags: Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology Language Disorders Speech Disorders Source Type: blogs

Spotlight on Special Interest Group 13, Swallowing and Swallowing Disorders (Dysphagia)
By Megan Urban When did you join your SIG—and what made you want to join? I’ve been a SIG 13 member since at least 2010. At that time, I had recently been promoted from clinician to manager and sought increased opportunities for networking and continuing education to stay current with changes in the field. I found that SIG 13 provides a community for dedicated clinicians who are especially interested in swallowing and swallowing disorders. How has your involvement with the SIG helped you in your career? SIG 13 has provided the opportunity to earn low-cost, high-quality ASHA CEUs by reading Perspectives arti...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - January 28, 2019 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Megan Urban Tags: Academia & Research Health Care Private Practice Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology Dysphagia Speech Disorders Swallowing Disorders Source Type: blogs