#Speech-Language Therapist Blog

[thelanguageloft]

Speech & Language Therapy | Speech-Language Therapist Blog

 Did you know? Speech & Language Therapy isn't just about correcting speech. It helps individuals of all ages improve their ability to understand, express, and interact with the world. Whether it's helping a child overcome a stutter, assisting someone with aphasia after a stroke, or supporting non-verbal communication through AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication), Speech & Language Therapists make a difference every day.

👂🗣️ Empower communication. Transform lives.

#SpeechTherapy #LanguageDevelopment #CommunicationMatters #SLP

[birdofmay]

What's the difference between nonverbal and nonspeaking?

I have posts about nonverbal autism, but none about the single topic "What's the difference between nonverbal and nonspeaking?" So this will be a handy linked blog entry for my pinned post.

All summed up: There is no real difference, it's a matter of preference. Please ask us what term we prefer and respect that choice. It's a sensitive topic because there has been a lot of discourse around it ☝🏼

Alright. First things first: Nonverbal is a medical term not exclusively for autism. In the medical field, "nonverbal" simply means that your speech is extremely impaired or fully absent. Yes, there are many meanings of "nonverbal", but this is what doctors mean. Did you know that there's nonverbal cerebral palsy too? (External link)

But let's focus on autism. Autistics who can't speak are said to have "nonverbal autism".

Discourse #1 - the mind is intact

There are many reasons why some autistics never learn to speak. One reason can be non-acquired apraxia (i.e. not due to a stroke, TBI, Alzheimer's, etc.), which leads to limited motor control. If it affects the mouth and throat only, individuals "know what they want to say", but their mouth doesn't cooperate. They either struggle to get words out clearly/don't get anything out at all, or their mouth seems to have "a mind of its own" - they say things they didn't want to say. If apraxia affects the whole body, this goes for actions too. Either they can't make their body do what they want to do (e.g. they want to point at a ball but their arm won't move) or their body does things they didn't want to do (e.g. they want to point at the ball but instead their finger points at the floor).

As you can imagine, this situation is really unfortunate when a therapist wants to test your intelligence. You can't get words out, so they ask you to show them what a triangle is. You know what a triangle is, but your body does its own thing. You point at the circle instead of the triangle, and your therapist concludes that you don't understand simple instructions. They assume intellectual disability. You're misunderstood all your life and everyone thinks that you can't learn to communicate, that you don't understand language. You're frustrated.

Luckily, at some point some people realised that these autistics CAN learn to communicate and in fact are very capable and understand language just fine. That was when apraxic autistics talked about this misunderstanding online. They talked about how they were mistreated and underestimated, that people should always "presume competence". They coined a new term for themselves: "Nonspeaking". In their opinion, "nonverbal" doesn't describe their experience and makes it sound like they can't learn to read or write. "My mind is intact, I can make intelligent choices about my life!" (External link)

Sounds good? Well, it may be surprising to know that most of us on Tumblr who can't speak either don't mind being called "nonverbal" or actively prefer nonverbal over nonspeaking. How can that be?

Discourse #2 - the mind isn't always intact

There are other reasons why some autistics never learn how to speak. Most of the time, in contrast to "nonspeaking self-advocates", we do struggle to understand language and our mind is not "intact". We have language disorders, brain damage, slow processing speed, often ID. The latter is why most of us aren't on any social media. My ability to communicate isn't average for us, it's an exception!

When the "say nonspeaking" wave reached Tumblr, I think at first most of us who are on social media liked that idea. We spread awareness about how terminology is a preference thing, that "nonspeaking" is about overcoming years of mistreatment and about empowerment. That some of us think that "nonverbal" sounds like we can't communicate and can't understand language, when that's not true. But, as I said, most autistics who never learned how to speak aren't online and therefore can't participate in this discourse. "Nonspeaking self-advocates", on the other hand, are on social media and love to participate. But they are a minority among those who can't speak.

The result? At some point it got a little ableist. The mindset "We are intelligent and understand language" turned into "You guys with ID and language disorders make us look bad" and THAT turned into speaking over and ignoring us. Or harassing even. "You have to call yourself nonspeaking, otherwise you're a bad person!" and so on. We responded "No, you say you're intelligent and your mind is intact. Good for you, but ours isn't. You erase our existence and we don't relate to your experience. We don't identify with your word." It was worse on other platforms, at some point the term "nonspeaking supremacist" was coined similar to "aspie supremacist".

Discourse #3 - free interpretation of a term that's NOT loosely defined??!

And last year, a really strange thing happened: Speaking autistics somehow mixed up the "To me personally, nonverbal sounds like I can't learn to communicate and don't understand language at all" and incorrectly informed others "So there's a difference between nonverbal and nonspeaking. Nonspeaking means that you can't speak and nonverbal means that you also can't communicate in other ways".

They took it as a fact and informed us that we "by definition" actually are nonspeaking because we can communicate via text. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I repeat: Most of us who can't speak aren't on social media. So this misinformation again spread everywhere because we weren't enough, we weren't loud enough. We can't ever be loud enough because, exactly: Most of us aren't on social media.

Now we weren't harassed by fellow nonverbal/nonspeaking autistics, nope, NOW suddenly speaking autistics from ALL over the world tried to inform us that we shouldn't call ourselves nonverbal - NOT aware that by now "nonspeaking" got a slightly ableist connotation in the process 😵

Here's an example of how wild things were last year...

And that's not enough: Suddenly everyone assumed that autistics who can't speak due to apraxia MUST call themselves nonspeaking because that's where the movement started. No, even apraxic autistics sometimes prefer "nonverbal", and they have every right to do so!

As things are now...

So, that's why most of us on Tumblr prefer nonverbal. Oh, and by the way:

Whenever someone isn't aware of this and makes a "To me, nonverbal means..." post, all I think is "Oh, not again, please not again", and I see this war flashback meme in my mind's eye 😅

Every "To me, nonverbal means..." post that ends with "And that's why I prefer nonspeaking" has the potential to get loud and start this harassment and misinformation all over.

Every new post that tries to define nonverbal and nonspeaking could start this all over again.

Because nonspeaking supremacists are very very loud. And speaking autistics are usually very very uninformed about us. And most nonverbal/nonspeaking autistics aren't on any social media.

[languageswithhomer]

❀𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒚𝒃𝒍𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐❀

Hi there! My name is Phi, I’m from the UK and I’m currently studying a Linguistics and Languages degree. My dream is to become a Speech Therapist (also an author, translator and language teacher on the side - I have a lot of dreams, and most of them are about words!) ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

why have I made this blog?

Since I am a distance-learning student, it can sometimes be difficult to find the motivation to study so I really hope this blog will hold me accountable and keep me productive.

I also really admire the studyblr & langblr communities and hope to make some friends who are similarly passionate about all things languages! ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

what languages will I post about?

Languages I speak/ am currently learning:

♡ English (Native/ C2)

Posts will be tagged #english and/or #english resources

♡ Castilian Spanish (intermediate to advanced/ B2 -> C1)

Posts will be tagged #castellano and/or #recursos castellano

Please note: I refer to the language as Castilian/ castellano instead of Spanish/ español out of respect for the co-official languages of Spain and also to recognise the language’s divergence from its Latin American variants

♡ German (Beginner/ A2)

Posts will be tagged #deutsch and/or #deutsche Ressourcen

⭒ I will make posts expanding on my background with each language soon ⭒

Languages I hope to start studying soon:

♡ Scottish Gaelic

I intend to begin independent study of Gàidhlig in September - October 2024 and I’m so excited!

♡ Russian

My friend and I are going to begin buddy learning Russian in March 2025 and I can’t wait!

♡ Catalan

I’m so excited to learn Catalan but, given its similarities with Spanish, I don’t want to confuse myself. So I intend to start learning it when I have finished my degree in May 2027!

⭒ If you have any questions or advice for me based on these languages, please don’t hesitate to drop me an ask or a message ⭒

Other languages I’m interested in (warning: there’s a lot):

♡ Irish, Welsh, Scots, Cornish, Manx, Greek, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, Dutch, Italian (especially Sicilian), Cherokee, Navajo, Guarani, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Korean, Yiddish, Hebrew, Bengali, Basque, French, Monegasque, Portuguese, Arabic, Ladino, Old/ Middle English, Hawaiian, Cantonese

What are my other passions?

♡ Books and poetry (I have a book blog @phireads if you’re interested)

♡ Writing

♡ Fibre arts (mainly knitting, crochet and sewing - though I really want to try embroidery and beading)

♡ Baking

♡ Reading

♡ Language conservation

♡ Wildlife (especially British, especially birds)

♡ Period Dramas

♡ History (with a focus on fashion history)

♡ Classics (as in Greco-Roman, my study buddy is a marble bust of the Greek poet, Homer, who is the namesake of this blog)

⭒ That’s all for now, I’ll be regularly posting study content at the end of September with the start of the academic year. So excited to meet you all! ⭒

[lunarubra]

Life update

This past week has been incredibly tough for me, and I'm using this blog to vent and release the sadness, frustration, and grief I've been feeling. It's like therapy, but cheaper.

If you'd rather skip the heavy stuff, feel free, I don't want to bore no one. And I fell this might be a long one.

Lately, life has been intense both at work (I teach at a language Gymnasium) and in my personal life. I'm already stretched thin trying to balance everything, and then unexpected things happen that make me feel silly for thinking my own issues are significant.

Just two days ago, one of my students tragically passed away. The weather had finally turned nice, and he and a friend went for a bike ride. He lost control and fell down a steep slope at the side of the road.

After teaching him for two years and seeing him and his classmates every day, I can't help but feel a sense of responsibility. While I'm not their parent and I'm not much older than them, most of the time, I feel more like an older sibling than a professor. Even though I sometimes jokingly refer to them as a "herd of dunderheads," they mean a lot to me, and I deeply care about them—they are my kiddos. It's tough witnessing his classmates' reactions to what happened; they're devastated. Despite wanting to support them and be there for them, I find myself at a loss for big speeches or grand gestures.

I'm well aware of the larger issues in the world, but this loss really shook me. Returning to work afterward felt daunting, and even though I discussed it with friends and colleagues, it almost feels like old news already.

Teaching often feels like an uphill battle. You see so much potential in your students, but then they hit the teenage years and start doing the same silly stuff you did at their age, which brings a smile to your face. You try your best to support them in a world that isn't always kind to young people, encouraging them to appreciate the beauty around them and stay connected. And let's not forget, you still have to actually teach them something—it's your job, after all, not just babysitting. Balancing all these roles can feel like a constant struggle, but those moments when you really connect with them, when you witness their growth and development—those moments are pure magic.

Maybe that's why this loss hit me so hard. I saw so much potential in him, and now it feels wasted.

On top of everything, my partner got accepted to a prestigious hospital in Sweden for her specialization in pediatric surgery. I'm incredibly proud of her and fully support her dream, but her leaving means big changes for us. Maybe because of the recent loss or maybe just because it's been a rough time, I find myself slipping into old thought patterns that scare me.

Right now, I'm feeling sad, overwhelmed, and at my limit. I'm not sure how to handle it all. I think I need to start therapy soon, although it's not easy finding a good therapist here in Italy.

So, if you notice I'm not as active as usual, that's why. I already wasn't very active, but if I'm even quieter than usual, I apologize. I just don't have the energy or enthusiasm right now. It feels like I'm avoiding dealing with what happened.

Monday is the funeral, and I don't know how I'll be afterward. I'll probably take a break from blogging and writing for a while.

To my friends here, I always appreciate your messages and your support. I might not be super responsive, but I value each and every one of you. <3

[redhead-reporter]

º ✧ 。updates to mj's insomniac canon !

PLEASE ONLY READ IF YOU'VE FINISHED SM2 OR ARE OK WITH SPOILERS (and don't click on my blog either, bc my banner image is a spoiler too)

º ✧ 。yes, it's true - everyone's favorite journalist told jameson to, and i quote "KISS MY ASS" and quit her job at the bugle. no paycheck is worth writing things she doesn't believe in to appease a man she DESPISES. she is now the host of a new podcast called the new normal and occasionally helps peter with administrative work for the emily may foundation º ✧ 。unless otherwise specified ? mj lives in the house in queens with peter. once she got her security deposit back and they sold all her apartment furniture, they used the funds to do a few cosmetic changes - nothing TOO crazy, since they want the house to still feel like itself. but a fresh coat of paint (that they did themselves with a liiiiiittle help from pete's spiderbots), money to repair the broken front window, and a new big bed for the primary bedroom went a LONG way to making it feel like home º ✧ 。mj was always a BADASS, but now it's official - hell yeah she was trained by silver sable while in symkaria, learning not only the language but how to FIGHT (aka drop mfers in close combat with an upgraded stun gun) and ride a motorcycle. though she doesn't plan on entering any amateur boxing matches, both she and peter feel a LOT better about her having the proper tools to defend herself if anything else should happen º ✧ 。mj visits harry at LEAST once a week, sometimes more if she can swing it. she updates him on how life is going, plays new episodes of her podcast before they release to 'get his opinion', reads him books - anything just to keep TALKING to him, to not give up on the hope that one day he'll open his eyes and answer her º ✧ 。of COURSE she has nightmares about the symbiote - feeling like she's still being chased through the tunnel in the dark, feeling those tendrils wrap around her ankle and drag her across the floor, waking in a cold sweat CONVINCED she got consumed by it once more and screaming to be released. who wouldn't? unfortunately seeing a professional therapist isn't exactly in the FREELANCE budget she and pete are on these days, but they do have each other. they're both open and honest about their STRUGGLES and it makes the whole thing easier. º ✧ 。speaking of NIGHTMARES - peter literally dying in her arms? yeah, it's up there vying for top spot on the REPLAYS list. sometimes she can still hear the speech he gave her, how he tried to apologize and say his goodbyes, and it makes her physically ILL. if you thought she was defensive of him before? needy before? LOL MEET NEW AND TRAUMATIZED MJ she quite literally never lets go of him if she can help it º ✧ 。pete might've stepped back from suiting up, but he and mj are still VERY MUCH on team spidey - right now it's mostly in a support role, having miles and ganke (and hailey and rio sometimes) over to the house as often as they can. occassionally they talk shop, trading insights the couple has from their almost DECADE of experience with pete wearing the suit solo, but honestly? mostly it's just to talk about life - how high school/college is going, always feeding the BROKE students like they wish someone would've done for them. taking care of pete's little brother like FAMILY. º ✧ 。when coney island reopened? pete and mj waited HOURS in line to make sure they were two of the first people to ride the speed demon - it's STILL her favorite ride, after all. and YES this is fucking important information to know get away from me

[unpickled-olive]

brain is healing

I've always been depressed, but before grad school, I had interests. I was teaching myself woodworking, building things, drawing plans, and restoring rusty hand planes. I had bought my first ever digital microphone and was recording (bad) music. I was practicing the violin on a semi-regular basis.

I also had hyperfixations. I always loved the experience of being obsessed with something for a few weeks at a time, even if I felt empty when the feeling passed. Spending three weeks learning about homesteading, or being a travel therapist, or rollerskating, or learning Arabic.

Grad school wasn't a decision I made out of passion but out of necessity. After getting my Bachelor's in Linguistics (not a hireable degree but an extremely interesting one), I went as far I could with entry-level jobs before going broke and having a mental breakdown. So I decided that if I couldn't find a job I was passionate about, I would get one that where I could 1. decently support myself, 2. do something meaningful for others, and 3. have the freedom to pursue passions outside of work. My dream job became one where I worked 3.5 days a week.

The conclusion was to build upon my background in linguistics and go into healthcare via speech-language pathology.

But when grad school started, I noticed how quickly all of my passion evaporated. Over night, there was suddenly no more planning, drawing, violin-making.

From week 2 to week 100 of school, I didn't have any thoughts about it. I was emotionally drained and too busy to think about enjoying life. I felt like I'd sold my soul for a stable job and when summer and, winter breaks didn't allow me to do anything but sleep, I figured I would be like that forever.

The one creative thing I did that entire time was write a short little sci-fi story. While trying to read a research paper in the student lounge, I suddenly had an idea and deleted the notes I was taking. For three hours, I did nothing but sit there and type. But due to how inundated in academia I was, it was both super morbid (a story about how Earth is the only planet where life degrades and dies due to ageing) and super academic (it took the form of a research paper written by horrified alien observers). I was so in that world that the only thing I could write had an abstract, an intro, a methodology, a results section, and a discussion.

I'm currently 4 months free of grad school (I say like I'm in recovery), and I've noticed that passion and interest are slowly dripping back into my life. I've spent the last few days reading about Proto-Indo-Europeans, just for fun. I read a BOOK. I'm contemplating building an English joiner's bench. I'm even motivated enough to post something personal on a blog no one will ever read.

These days, learning feels like it takes more effort than it did before. I have this feeling that there isn't room in my brain for any more things, so I shouldn't get too excited. It feels like that, and like the inertia of not having exercised in so long. But I notice this feeling lessening with each month.

This is all to say: grad school couldn't kill my soul forever—it could only kill it for two and a half years.

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Hey there I got my autism and adhd diagnosis a few months ago and since then most people I've told didn't believe that I have autism. I have my school therapist tell me that he believes that I got misdiagnosed. People told me that I don't seem autistic because I don't fit into the stereotypes and have gotten very good at making. It can be very frustrating when people don't believe you even though you have medical conversation.

So I just wanted to say thank you for sharing more information on the topic it helps me understand myself more and it helps others understand.

I also wanted to ask if you have any resources on Dyslexia since I have that as well. I can't really find much information on it and it would help. (If you don't that's also totally fine)

thank's

Hi there,

I’m glad my blog has been helping you. :)

I’ll leave some information about dyslexia below. This first excerpt comes from the Mayo Clinic:

Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding). Also called a reading disability, dyslexia is a result of individual differences in areas of the brain that process language.

The article will be below, as it goes into the symptoms for children, teens, and adults.

This next excerpt comes from the International Dyslexia Association:

Dyslexia refers to a cluster of symptoms, which result in people having difficulties with specific language skills, particularly reading. Students with dyslexia usually experience difficulties with other language skills such as spelling, writing, and pronouncing words. Dyslexia affects individuals throughout their lives; however, its impact can change at different stages in a person’s life. It is referred to as a learning disability because dyslexia can make it very difficult for a student to succeed academically in the typical instructional environment, and in its more severe forms, will qualify a student for special education, special accommodations, or extra support services.

This article will be below too if you’d like to read it.

I hope these sources help you. Thank you for the inbox. I hope you have a wonderful day/night. ❤️

[theravenflies]

Pinned

Storm was right in what she said to Rogue about the cure and I will fight people on this.

My name is Raven, he/him, I'm 20, and this is my disability blog. I am a multiple disabled person who has a bad job, has not yet learned how to drive, certainly can't live on my own, and I write and reblog posts. Please do not mock the spelling, language, grammar, punctuation, or whatever else of me or anyone I reblog here. This blog will focus mostly on autism and autistic voices, but I'll post about a whole spectrum. Mainly the ones listed below

I have autism, light-moderate support needs, medium moderate support needs when accounting for everything else. Hyperempathy, hypersensitivity to my senses, emotion regulation issues, find it near impossible to understand people when they aren't being up-front about what they mean, need reminders for actions of daily living (including eating) but can do them on my own when reminded. Should not be managing my own money. I am fully verbal, but with a lot of speech disability. I get overwhelmed extremely easily and when that happens, I completely freak out. I also have some kinds of cognitive and developmental disabilities but am not intellectually disabled.

I have a lisp, a permanent slur, trouble pronouncing crunchy consonants or words that start with a vowel (can do it, just takes my mouth a second to work,) and I talk very slowly. There's probably more and I just don't know it. Apparently my speech is so bad that the speech therapist in kindergarten said that there was so much wrong with my speech that it couldn't possibly be fixed. Also often tend to speak without thinking, which I can't really help.

I have severe ADHD, mostly inattentive, dyslexia, dysgraphia, articulatory initiation anomia, dyspraxia, TBI from when I was a baby, migraines (all kinds, including ACM,) sensory processing disorder, chronic daily headache, myofascial pain syndrome, chronic fatigue, anxiety, depression, PTSD, OCD, and some other stuff.

Recovering from kleptomania and compulsive lying.

Warning

- I lost a friend to ABA. He's dead because of ABA. There is no ABA positivity here. I will be hating on it.

- I talk about ableism a lot. All posts will be tagged as ableism

- I am transgender

I DO answer both educational and writing questions.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Long-ish personal story about my job and about music and it sort of slightly connects back to comedy at the end, but only a bit (and unlike most of my personal posts lately, this one isn't even about how difficult it is to not drink alcohol, though it is a story that I'm writing on a Saturday night to distract myself from wanting to drink alcohol, so not entirely unrelated). Regular comedy posting will resume shortly.

There’s this SMBC comic that I really love:

(Source)

I’ve been thinking about this comic lately in a weird way, as I’m nearly six months into this job as a therapist for autistic kids. I don’t write much about my job, partly because it doesn’t have anything to do with the general topic of the blog, partly because I try not to talk about my job much in general due to confidentiality. But we are technically allowed to talk about it in ways that don’t give identifying details, and I have a story I really want to tell, and I don’t think anyone is going to be able to work out which of the hundreds of thousands of kids in Canada I’m talking about from this post on an anonymous blog.

There’s one kid I work with for three hours, three nights a week. He’s ten years old and he’s quite severely impaired in a number of ways; he’s not completely non-verbal but he can only say a few words and doesn’t have the cognitive capacity to express himself well, he understands more words than he can say but he still doesn’t understand anything beyond simple sentences, we’re trying to teach him to read but it’s at extremely early stages, he mostly doesn’t understand what’s happening. He semi-regularly has meltdowns during which he mostly just cries and tries to hurt himself, but can be aggressive against other people too.

He’s someone that people mean when they talk about “low-functioning autistic people” (I know the language is loaded an complicated, but there’s no term for it that isn’t loaded and complicated so I’m going with the clearest one). Most of the clients I work with are. They’re in the “low-functioning autistic” category that I usually hear referenced as a way to invalidate the neurodiversity movement. You know, when higher-functioning autistic people try to claim that autistic people should be treated as fully human and able to self-advocate, and then people will reply that this only applies to high-functioning autistics, but actually there are lots of low-functioning autistics and they’re not fully human, they can’t even talk or understand speech or read or write or dress themselves.

Sometimes I see people reply that of course autistic people can do all those things, and I’m not sure that’s always a helpful reply, because there lots of them who can’t do those things. Who can’t join the neurodiversity movement and self-advocate because they don’t have the cognitive capacity, who do actually need to be taken care of full-time for their own safety and well-being. But I think what we should be arguing is those people are still fully human, it matters how they think and feel, we can still make an effort to not just keep them alive and in line, but to understand them and meet them where they are and see that they have preferences and personalities like anyone else.

When I started this job in August and was trained to take over from this kid’s previous therapist, I was told that music can sometimes keep him in a good mood, so I should bring the centre’s laptop in the room during my sessions with him and play kids’ songs on YouTube sometimes. I asked if they had to be kids songs and was told no, I can experiment and see what he enjoys, the only rule is the lyrics should be clean.

I started this with fairly selfish intentions: I don’t enjoy listening to children’s songs all the time, so I thought I’d see if he liked anything else. I’m not completely selfish; if he’d hated the other stuff, I’d have played the kids’ songs that he likes. But on my first day with him, I put on a couple of the more upbeat and accessible Lennie Gallant songs, and had the absolute pleasure of watching his eyes light up with delight. I could see every tiny moment of the music hitting him, of him processing this thing he’d never heard before, this huge smile spread across his face and he got up and danced. When the song ended, he used one of the very few phrases that he’s able to consistently say with full understanding of what it means: “Put the music back on.”

Lennie Gallant is a folk singer from Rustico, Prince Edward Island, who now lives in Nova Scotia, and those are all places on the East Coast of Canada. Canada’s East Coast has a huge folk music tradition, including a lot of Celtic music that comes from the Celtic immigrants there (by and large, Scottish immigrants to Nova Scotia, particularly the island of Cape Breton off the Nova Scotian coast, and Irish immigrants to Newfoundland), but also a lot of stuff that’s developed in its own way in Canada. From when I was very young, my dad raised me on Canadian folk music in general, but particularly a lot of East Coast music, I’ve gone to folk festivals with him every summer since I was too young to talk. Lennie Gallant has been one of my favourite singers for nearly 25 years. To give an idea of how true this is, my parents currently have a cat named Rustico, because they let me name it, and I went with Lennie Gallant’s hometown as my inspiration.

I remember the first time I heard Lennie Gallant. I was nine years old, we were sitting in the living room, my dad put on the new Lennie Gallant Live album and Pull of the Fundy Tide started playing. And I remember how it felt. It felt like I’d never heard anything like it. There was so much going on. I closed my eyes and couldn’t process how much I liked it, and I made him play it again. If I try really hard when I put the song on now, I can still feel that.

It was so fucking cool to watch the same thing happen to this kid on that night, but this time I was on the other side of it. I watched him struggle to take it in, to have a whole new concept of what music can be opened up to him. He wanted to hear it over and over. I kept playing different Lennie Gallant songs, he kept playing and smiling and dancing.

In folk music there's a basic dichotomy between the stuff that's more trad or less trad (I mean, I guess that's true in any genre), more trad meaning less production and either no lyrics or very traditional lyrics and less of a beat and lots of other factors. So I figured as long as I stick to the less trad side of my collection, I can play this kid anything, I don't need to make it children's music. Over the next few weeks, I kept playing him my more accessible stuff. This, for example, was his favourite:

Another great Nova Scotia singer, Dave Gunning, has a couple of Christmas albums, which I figured are good crossover between folk music and music that's for kids. So I started playing him some of Dave Gunning's Christmas songs, which he also loved. Then one day, while trying to navigate back to the Christmas album, I accidentally touched this song, and put it on:

It's a medley of fiddle tunes off this great album that Dave Gunning did called A Tribute to John Allan Cameron, John Allan Cameron being a legendary Cape Breton singer who popularized traditional Celtic music in Canada, so a lot of that album is further to the trad side than most other stuff Dave Gunning does. When I accidentally put on the medley of fiddle tunes for a ten-year-old I was trying to entertain, I quickly realized my mistake and went to pause it until I could find the Christmas stuff.

But in that moment I saw his face, and a whole new sense of recognition was spreading across it again. Just like that first day when I put on music for him, like he couldn't believe what he was hearing, but loved it. Breaking slowly into a huge smile, snapping his fingers along to it. When I pressed pause, he said "Put the music back on," so I did.

After that, I set out to find just how trad I can go with this kid. I found out, pretty fucking far. Butterfingers Medley is actually pretty accessible as far as medleys of fiddle tunes go, but I tried playing him slower and more complicated and/or traditional fiddle tunes, and he enjoyed all of them. Then I tried playing Gaelic-language stuff, and this induced a whole new wave of shock and amazement at how beautiful it was, he could not get enough. One day he was "scripting" - which is the word for when autistic kids will repeat phrases they've previously heard (usually from a TV show or more likely a YouTube show these days, sometimes they repeat phrases that their parents or teachers have said, it can be anything they've heard before) under his breath around another therapist, and she asked me if I knew what he was saying because she couldn't figure it out, so I got closer to him to listen, and then had to tell her that the reason she couldn't understand him is he was speaking Gaelic. Specifically, scripting the lyrics to this beautiful song by Cape Breton band The Rankin Family:

I tried as hard as I could to go too trad for this kid, just because I was curious to see what the boundaries were. I played him the most out-there thing in my music collection, which was the Barra MacNeils' (another great Cape Breton band) Mouth Music, and he fucking loved it:

This kid is the best. At some point I did abandon my quest to find the boundaries of what music he'll like, and just started trying to put together a playlist of his favourite stuff. Because he doesn't indiscriminately love everything. Sometimes I'll put stuff on and he won't be that into it, and there is a pattern to what he likes and what he doesn't, but the pattern isn't, as I'd initially expected, that he likes the most accessible stuff and dislikes the most traditional stuff. Or that he likes the faster stuff and dislikes the slower stuff (if anything, it tends to be the opposite of that). The pattern is that he likes some things in music more than others, just like any other person does, and even if he can't have conversations about that more complex than just saying "Put the music back on" after songs he likes and not saying that after songs he dislikes, that is still enough for him to communicate those preferences. Which is where I come back to the idea that even the "low-functioning" people still have fully formed personalities, which obviously I knew full well before I played some music for a kid at work, but this sort of thing seems like a good example for people who don't know it already.

He's got a fairly broad palette, though, and it does include some of the faster songs that sound like the sort of thing a kid would be into. I wish I could have legally taken a picture of his face (I can't because confidentiality) the day I first played him this one:

My job is stressful and scary, both due to the nature of the job and due to the nature of me, specifically the part of my nature that gets easily overwhelmed and I am constantly terrified that the next day will be too much and I'll have a panic attack at work from the social overload and then I'll get fired. It's not easy, and I haven't managed to find a lot of the "rewarding" parts of an allegedly rewarding job like this, because I'm so focused on just getting through the day. But this is one part of the job that I have really, really loved. I love getting to play music for this kid and watch him be amazed at the existence of something he never knew about before.

And that's what makes me think of the SMBC comic. I've actually been thinking a lot lately about my own dad, how he raised me on this music. How he took me to a folk festival every year since before my first birthday, and he played me his favourite music in the living room when I was too young to know the words to have a conversation with him about it, but I'm sure my body language let him know what I liked, just like this kid does with me. Some of my earliest memories are of my dad singing me to sleep with folk songs when I was three and four years old, because I refused to sleep due to "the world going upside down and almost explode" every time I closed my eyes (I was first diagnosed with an anxiety disorder at age 8, which seems young until you consider that it was four years after I started telling my parents that I can't sleep at night because it makes me feel like the world is going upside down and is about to explode). My dad's singing got me to sleep, it got into every aspect of my head.

I've always been really grateful to my dad for the way he introduced me to music so early, gave me a love of it. I feel lucky that I get to trace my favourite music back through my whole life. My favourite songs and artists and albums from when I was five years old, and eight years old, and ten years old, and twelve years old, and fifteen years old, are still among my favourites today.

When I play music for this kid, I bring back my early memories, of the first time I heard my favourite songs, when I was young and everything still felt new to me. I remember the amazement that music could sound like this, that something this good could exist, that the range of potential human feelings included all these new things that I was experiencing for the first time because of this song. I remember that, and I know from the look on his face that that's what this kid is feeling right now, as I play him a new song for the first time.

But I also bring back my early memories of my dad. I remember the look on his face as I ran around the living room dancing to The Rankins and The Barra MacNeils and The Irish Descendants when I was a kid. I remember his smile, how proud he looked when I liked stuff, how he'd dance with me, he'd excitedly tell me to listen closely before putting on the next song, because he couldn't wait to see my reaction. I don't think I understood until this year how special that was for him too, to get to share this with me. Because it's the way I feel when the smile of amazement passes across this kid's face during a new song.

And of course it was amazing for my dad to get to share that with me! We all love that! This is everyone is desperate to give music recommendations to anyone who will listen, because it feels really, really good to take something that induced a good feeling in you and watch it induce that same feeling in someone else, especially if you can know you're the reason why that's happened. I am currently writing an entire post just as an excuse to give people a bunch of recs for my favourite music (and to avoid thinking about wanting a drink). Of course that feeling is special. Of course it made my dad happy to do that for me. Zach Weinersmith of SMBC comics wrote that nice comic strip about how that's one of the best parts of being a parent.

That's all been happening for months now, and the kid has heard most of my best stuff. I've developed a couple of playlists for him - one for when I want to get his energy up and put on something upbeat, and one for when I want him calmer. It has a range of stuff, and I try to mix it up. I know his preferences now, I know what his favourite songs are and what they have in common so how to guess if he'll like a new one or not. And he doesn't look amazed when they play anymore, because he now knows that music like this exists. But he still smiles, and dances, and says "Put the music back on", and loves them.

One day last week, he was struggling hard. Crying off and on, and I was doing all the things that normally help: turning down the lights in the room, stepping back to give him space, soft and soothing music. But he kept getting upset.

I was alone in the gym with him when he had a meltdown that was worse than any I'd dealt with before. He started banging his head against the wall, and it scared the hell out of me, because of course I don't want him to hurt himself. I blocked it with a mat and he came after me, scratching my arms and hitting me. He pushed away and screamed.

I turned the lights down and grabbed my phone to try some music. Music had gotten us out of bad situations before. During the worst meltdown I'd seen him have before last week, I finally got him to calm down by putting on The Mingulay Boat Song off Dave Gunning's John Allan Cameron album, I just played it on a loop until he sat down on his knees and closed his eyes to take in the music and slowly stopped crying:

But since then I've played that song for him lots, it doesn't have the same impact as it did when it was a novelty. It worked the first time because I was able to induce that "Wow, I didn't know music could sound like this" feeling in him, and that'll distract a person from anything. But he knows music can sound like that now. He knows all my music, or at least, all my music that could be at all appropriate for this situation.

Well, he knows almost all my music. Because as I was starting to panic and look to my phone to decide what to play for this kid who was scratching at me and posed a threat to his own safety (because "head banging" sounds like one of the less severe behaviours, at least compared to behaviours that involve committing violence against others, until you actually see a kid do it and realize how badly they can hurt themselves if you don't block it), I realized I did have a new folder in there.

And this is where the post comes back around to my usual topic. Did you think I'd finally taken a break from the constant posts about John Robins to write a heartfelt story about my history with music and connecting with a child at my job? Nope! This was secretly a John Robins post all along.

So, in one of the radio episodes, John Robins listed his top five favourite albums of all time. Van Morrisson's Astral Weeks at number one (Elis specifically checked with him that he really means number one of all time, better than all Queen albums, and he said yes), and 2-5 were: In the Aeroplane over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel, I See a Darkness by Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Ghosts of the Great Highway by Sun Kil Moon, and Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven by Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Obviously I wrote all those down and downloaded them, because I am a normal person who is not too far down a fandom rabbit hole.

Van Morrisson, weirdly, was actually my first ever favourite singer. In that when I was three years old, the first time I was old enough to have any kind of preference, my favourite thing to do was run around the living room dancing to this album called Irish Heartbeat by Van Morrisson & The Chieftains. My favourite song on the album was Step Be Gaily, a song that is actually called Marie's Wedding, but when I was three I called it Step Be Gaily because that's how the first line of the chorus sounded to me (it's actually "Step we gaily"), so my whole family still calls the song Step Be Gaily. The song is still in my music collection and it's still great.

I spent years listing Van Morrisson as a singer I very much liked. Until I was about ten, and my parents told me that since I like Van Morrisson so much, they'll play me some of his other stuff. And I quickly learned that actually, I do not like Van Morrisson. What I like is a Celtic folk band called The Chieftains, and the one album they made in collaboration with Van Morrisson, who is otherwise quite a blues-y and R&B-type singer and I'm not into that. I did try the Astral Weeks album on John Robins' recommendation, and I did not like it, because that's not my kind of music, but I'm glad the people who like it are having a good time.

The other four albums were different, though. I already knew some of the songs off the Bonnie 'Prince' Billy one, but listening to the whole album turned out to be a great idea, I've added it into my common rotation. Neutral Milk Hotel was exactly what I'd always assumed Neutral Milk Hotel would be, from years of vaguely hearing about them but not actually hearing them, which was ranging from all right to pretty good. The Sun Kil Moon album I quite like, and I'm still in the process of listening to some of its songs again because I feel like it's the sort of thing that rewards repeat listens.

The Godspeed You! Black Emperor album was exactly as weird as you'd expect from a band with a punctuation mark in the middle of their name, that made an album with four tracks that are 20-ish minutes each. Experimental music isn't normally my sort of thing, but I gave it a shot because John Robins told me to, and I was glad I did.

I tried listening to the first track while on a break at work, lying in the hammock that they have in their gym, closed the doors and closed my eyes and played my noise canceling headphones and tried to feel like I was at home so that I could recharge my social battery a bit and lessen the risk of overloading to the point where I have a panic attack at work and get fired. This song started and it was all weird and experimental and I didn't know what to make of it, but as it went a bit further in (like I said, each track is around twenty minutes so there are lots of changes throughout each one), it got to a part that was really lovely and relaxing. I closed my eyes and let it wash over me and it did, actually, help me to stop feeling all the stress of the job and transport me to some state of mind where this wasn't happening and it was okay.

I probably don't really have to write the rest of this story, because now that I've written the various parts of the backstory, I'm sure you can guess the ending. I needed a song that a kid who loves music would find beautiful and relaxing enough to calm him down, but the regular ones weren't working because he was too upset, and I thought the only way to solve it might be to induce that feeling of "Oh my God I had no idea music could sound like this", to distract him with the shock of novelty. I also had a song that I'd never played for him before because even I had only recently discovered it, and I barely knew what to make of it, but I did know it was amazingly relaxing.

So I put it on, and he stopped in his tracks, and I watched him tilt his head while he considered what he was hearing, and in that moment of quiet I managed to get him to sit down on the hammock, and I turned the lights all the way down and closed the doors to the gym, and I sat in front of him and rocked him very slowly and gently, and then of his own accord he went from sitting in the hammock to lying in it, and I played the music softly. After a few minutes he stopped crying altogether, and I hit pause on my phone, and he said "Put the music back on," so I did, playing that section of the song over for half an hour, just me and him sitting the gym listening to this weird band I got from a comedian on the radio, blood drying on my hands and my arms from where he'd scratched me, until his dad came to pick him up.

And that's my story. I wrote this instead of drinking alcohol. Sometimes my job is fulfilling. Autistic people are people, even the ones with a significantly lower cognitive capacity than neurotypical people. John Robins' taste in music is a mixed bag. I hope everyone is having a good night.

[mollysworldfair]

Probably going to see a practicum therapist regularly soon which I'm feeling hopeful about, things have been a real struggle the past few weeks so been wanting to have someone I can talk to/self-reflect/plan more deliberately on a more consistent basis. Also been looking into speech language pathologists to help with voice training that I've really struggled to commit to/keep up with, feel like having someone to teach me and that I meet with once a month can help me commit to/keep up with it better. They are fairly expensive though so will have to look at my budget and will probably not be able to keep it up for lo9ng (might only need it starting out).

Kind of want to use this blog more / post stuff that would be fun for me and not too stressful, like worldbuilding brainstorms or Let's Plays of journalling games that seem neat (like Thousand Year Old Vampire or Anamnesis, had an idea for the former starting in 12th century Constantinople), and thoughts on things I've been reading (pretty much fiction these days). Tumblr feels a bit more manageable to me and Twitter hasn't been very good for my mental health/felt scary to be on so want to use this platform more when I'm able to.

[phonologix-1]

From Playtime to Progress: How Speech Therapy Blends Learning and Fun

Speech therapy for kids is often associated with structured sessions and formal exercises. However, one of its most powerful tools is play. For children, play is not just a pastime—it’s how they explore the world, develop skills, and communicate. Speech therapists understand this and incorporate play into therapy to make learning enjoyable and effective.

In this blog, we’ll explore why play is so integral to speech therapy, how it fosters progress, and fun activities that blend learning seamlessly.

Why Play Matters in Speech Therapy

Engages Attention: Children are naturally drawn to play, making it easier for therapists to capture and sustain their focus during sessions.

Encourages Communication: Play creates opportunities for kids to practice speaking, listening, and interacting in a relaxed, pressure-free environment.

Builds Confidence: When children achieve small milestones through play, they feel accomplished, boosting their self-esteem.

Fosters Creativity: Play allows children to experiment with language, sounds, and social scenarios, helping them develop critical thinking and communication skills.

Mimics Real-Life Situations: Play often replicates real-world interactions, helping children generalize speech skills to their everyday lives.

How Speech Therapy Incorporates Play

Speech therapists integrate play in therapy sessions through activities that are not only fun but also target specific speech and language goals.

1. Role-Playing Games

Pretend play, such as acting out a visit to the doctor or a day at the zoo, helps children practice vocabulary, sentence structure, and conversational skills.

Example Activity:

Use toy animals or dolls to role-play a story. Encourage the child to narrate, ask questions, and respond in character.

2. Storytelling with Props

Props like puppets, toy sets, or picture cards make storytelling interactive and engaging. This activity enhances vocabulary, sequencing, and narrative skills.

Example Activity:

Create a "make-your-own-story" game where the child picks props from a box and builds a story around them.

3. Board Games and Puzzles

Games like Guess Who?, Candy Land, or puzzles provide opportunities for turn-taking, following instructions, and practicing target sounds.

Example Activity:

Use a puzzle and make the child request each piece by saying its color, shape, or name, targeting articulation goals.

4. Songs and Rhymes

Music and rhythm are excellent for children to practice sounds, syllables, and fluency. Repeating lyrics or rhymes reinforces language patterns in a fun way.

Example Activity:

Sing songs with actions, like The Wheels on the Bus, and encourage the child to mimic and add their own verses.

5. Arts and Crafts

Craft activities promote following directions, describing actions, and learning new vocabulary.

Example Activity:

Create a “speech tree” where the child adds a leaf for every word or sound they master.

6. Digital and Gamified Therapy

Apps and digital games designed for speech therapy combine technology with play, keeping children motivated and engaged.

Popular Apps:

Speech Blubs for articulation.

Proloquo2Go for non-verbal communication.

Toca Boca for interactive pretend play.

Tips for Parents to Blend Play and Therapy at Home

Choose Play Activities Your Child Loves: Whether it’s building with blocks or playing dress-up, integrate speech goals into their favorite games.

Model Speech Goals: During play, model correct sounds, words, or phrases and encourage your child to repeat them.

Praise Effort, Not Just Success: Celebrate attempts and progress to keep your child motivated.

Make Playtime Interactive: Ask open-ended questions, encourage turn-taking, and engage in conversations to build language skills.

Follow a Routine: Incorporate speech-focused play into your daily schedule, like during bath time or before bed.

The Power of Fun in Progress

Blending play with therapy isn’t just a technique; it’s a way of transforming learning into a joyful experience. Through games, stories, and creative activities, children don’t just practice speech—they discover the power of communication.

When children laugh, explore, and create during therapy, they’re more likely to stay motivated and embrace challenges. As their speech improves, they gain the confidence to connect with the world around them.

Final Thoughts

Speech therapy doesn’t have to feel like work. By incorporating play, therapists and parents can turn everyday moments into opportunities for growth. Whether in a clinic, at home, or online, the key is to make learning so much fun that progress feels like a natural part of playtime.

Are you looking for specific games or tools to use with your child? Let us know, and we’d be happy to help!

[boxhillsuperclinicaustralia]

Prioritising Children's Health: The Importance of Consulting Specialists

Children's health is a paramount concern for parents, caregivers, and healthcare providers alike. Ensuring that children grow up healthy and happy involves a comprehensive approach that addresses both physical and mental health needs. At Box Hill Super Clinic, we understand that early intervention and expert guidance can make a significant difference in a child's overall health and development. This blog will explore key aspects of children's health and the critical role of consulting specialists in promoting well-being.

The Importance of Child Health

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), child health is a vital aspect of public health that encompasses the physical, mental, and social well-being of children. Ensuring that children receive appropriate healthcare from an early age is crucial for their long-term health outcomes. Proper nutrition, vaccinations, and regular check-ups form the foundation of a healthy childhood.

In many cases, children may encounter specific health challenges that require the expertise of specialists. These can include developmental disorders, chronic illnesses, and mental health concerns. Consulting with specialists can provide tailored approaches to diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing care, ultimately leading to better health outcomes for children.

Common Children's Health Issues

Several common health issues can affect children, highlighting the need for expert consultation and intervention:

Asthma and Respiratory Conditions: Asthma is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions among children. Symptoms may include wheezing, coughing, and difficulty breathing. Consulting a paediatric respiratory specialist can help manage asthma through appropriate medication, lifestyle changes, and education for both parents and children.

Obesity and Nutritional Disorders: Childhood obesity has reached alarming levels globally, leading to an increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and other health issues. Consulting a nutritionist or paediatric dietitian can provide valuable guidance on healthy eating habits, physical activity, and behaviour modification techniques to promote a healthier lifestyle.

Developmental Delays and Disorders: Early identification of developmental delays is essential for effective intervention. Specialists such as child psychologists, speech therapists, and occupational therapists can help address various developmental challenges, from speech and language delays to motor skill difficulties. By working with these professionals, parents can ensure their children receive the necessary support for optimal growth.

Mental Health Concerns: Mental health issues in children, such as anxiety and depression, are increasingly recognised as significant health concerns. Consulting with child psychologists or psychiatrists can provide essential support and interventions, helping children develop coping strategies and resilience. Early intervention can make a substantial difference in a child's emotional and psychological well-being.

Infectious Diseases and Vaccinations: Vaccinations are a critical component of preventive healthcare for children. Consulting with paediatricians ensures that children receive the recommended vaccines on time, protecting them from various infectious diseases. In the case of outbreaks or unusual symptoms, a specialist may provide further assessment and treatment options.

The Role of Consulting Specialists in Children's Health

Consulting specialists is essential for several reasons:

Expertise and Knowledge: Specialists possess in-depth knowledge and training in specific areas of child health. They are equipped to diagnose complex conditions, recommend appropriate treatments, and provide evidence-based care tailored to each child's unique needs.

Comprehensive Care: Working with specialists allows for a more holistic approach to healthcare. Collaboration among various professionals, including paediatricians, nutritionists, mental health experts, and therapists, ensures that all aspects of a child's health are addressed.

Early Intervention: Many childhood conditions are more effectively managed when identified early. Consulting specialists can lead to timely interventions, reducing the risk of long-term complications and improving overall health outcomes.

Family Support: Specialists not only focus on the child but also provide support and guidance to families. They can educate parents about specific health concerns, answer questions, and offer resources to help manage their child's condition.

Promoting Children's Health at Box Hill Super Clinic

At Box Hill Super Clinic, we are committed to promoting children's health through comprehensive care and access to consulting specialists. Our team of healthcare professionals is dedicated to providing personalised support to children and their families.

We encourage parents to schedule regular check-ups for their children, where our paediatricians can assess growth and development, provide vaccinations, and address any health concerns. If specialised care is required, we can facilitate referrals to trusted specialists within our network, ensuring a seamless transition to expert care.

Conclusion

Children's health is a vital aspect of society, and prioritising it can have lasting benefits for individuals and communities. Consulting specialists plays a critical role in addressing specific health issues and ensuring that children receive the best possible care.

At Box Hill Super Clinic, we are here to support families on their health journeys, offering the resources, expertise, and compassion needed to promote children's well-being. For more information about our children's health services or to schedule an appointment, please contact us at 03 9899 8668 or visit our website.

Reference URL on Prioritising Children's Health: The Importance of Consulting Specialists

[brainlightcenter]

Speech Therapy: When and Why Your Child Might Need It

Speech and communication skills are foundational to a child’s ability to express themselves, interact with others, and succeed in social and academic settings. While every child develops at their own pace, some children may experience delays or challenges with speech and language skills. In these cases, speech therapy can provide crucial support. In this blog, we’ll explore when speech therapy might be necessary and why it can make a meaningful difference in your child’s life.

Understanding Speech Therapy

Speech therapy is a specialized field aimed at helping individuals overcome communication challenges. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) work with children to improve their ability to speak clearly, understand language, and develop the social skills needed for effective communication. Through targeted exercises, activities, and therapeutic techniques, speech therapists guide children in building the skills they need to communicate confidently.

When Might a Child Need Speech Therapy?

Every child develops at their own pace, but there are certain milestones that can help you determine if your child may benefit from speech therapy. Here are some signs that may indicate a need for support:

Delayed Speech and Language Milestones If your child isn’t meeting typical milestones—like babbling by six months, saying their first words around twelve months, or forming short sentences by age two—these may be signs of a speech delay. Speech therapy can help children catch up and develop the language skills necessary for their age.

Difficulty Being Understood If your child struggles with clear articulation or often uses sounds incorrectly, they may have an articulation or phonological disorder. These issues make it hard for others to understand them, which can lead to frustration and impact social interactions.

Stuttering or Disfluency Issues Some children may experience speech disfluencies, such as stuttering, which can affect their ability to speak fluently. Stuttering is characterized by the repetition or prolongation of sounds, syllables, or words, and it may make a child self-conscious. Speech therapy provides techniques to help manage disfluency and increase fluency.

Problems with Voice or Resonance Children with voice disorder may speak with an abnormal pitch, volume, or resonance. This can stem from vocal cord misuse, overuse, or even physical abnormalities. A speech therapist can help children with vocal exercises to produce a clearer, more natural voice.

Challenges in Understanding or Expressing Language If your child has difficulty following directions, understanding questions, or expressing their needs and ideas, they may benefit from therapy to improve receptive and expressive language skills. This helps children communicate effectively in social and educational settings.

Difficulty with Social Communication Skills Pragmatic language, or social communication, involves understanding how to use language in social contexts, including conversational skills, body language, and eye contact. Speech therapy can help children who struggle in these areas, teaching them how to engage appropriately with others.

Hearing Impairments and Speech Development Hearing impairments can significantly impact speech and language development. If your child has a hearing impairment, they may require specialized support to develop clear speech and language skills, often in coordination with hearing aids or other auditory support.

Why Speech Therapy is Important

Improves Communication Skills Speech therapy enables children to communicate their thoughts and feelings effectively, reducing frustration and boosting confidence. By improving articulation, language understanding, and social skills, children can interact more easily with family, friends, and teachers.

Enhances Academic Success Strong language and communication skills are critical for academic success. Children who receive speech therapy often find it easier to follow directions, participate in classroom discussions, and express their thoughts in writing, all of which support learning and achievement in school.

Builds Social and Emotional Confidence Communication challenges can make children feel isolated or misunderstood. Speech therapy helps children build confidence by providing tools to interact successfully with peers. This, in turn, boosts their self-esteem and emotional well-being.

Promotes Early Intervention and Better Outcomes Early intervention is key to addressing speech and language issues before they become more challenging. The earlier a child begins speech therapy, the greater their chances of catching up to developmental milestones, making it easier for them to integrate and succeed in school and social settings.

What to Expect in Speech Therapy

In speech therapy, a qualified speech-language pathologist will assess your child’s specific needs and create a personalized plan. Therapy may include:

Articulation Therapy: Practicing specific sounds to improve clarity.

Language Building Activities: Exercises that build vocabulary, sentence structure, and understanding.

Fluency Techniques: Strategies to manage stuttering and increase smoothness in speech.

Social Communication Practice: Role-playing and interactive exercises to help children with social interactions.

Parent Involvement: Techniques and strategies for parents to reinforce skills at home.

Each session is designed to make learning engaging and supportive, helping children feel comfortable as they work toward their goals.

Final Thoughts

Speech therapy is an invaluable tool that can help children overcome communication barriers, improving their ability to connect with others, succeed in school, and build self-confidence. If you’re concerned about your child’s speech and language development, consulting with a speech-language pathologist can provide clarity and help you take the next steps. With the right support, your child can thrive, finding their voice and building the skills they need for a bright future.

If you’d like to know more about how speech therapy could help your child, feel free to reach out to us at Brain Light Child Development Center in Greater Noida. We’re here to support your child’s journey toward confident communication! Also Read about The Importance of Occupational Therapy: Enhancing Lives and Promoting Independence

[evolvebehavioral]

Benefits of Early Intervention ABA Therapy in Children with Autism in Raleigh

With the right support system and ABA therapy techniques at home, every child has the ability to overcome challenges and grow into a happy, independent individual.

ASD is a childhood neurological disorder that affects an individual's communication and or behavior. Autism spectrum disorder affects approximately one in 44 children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Consequently, more parents with children in Raleigh, North Carolina are searching for good therapeutic treatment for Autism.

This blog discusses the importance of early intervention ABA and behavioral serviceslike Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy in improving outcomes for kids with Autism in Raleigh. It highlights how Raleigh-based providers like Evolve Behavioral are helping children through individualized ABA programs.

Benefits of Early Intervention ABA Therapy

Studies have indicated that when users of ABA are placed on early and intensive therapy, there are statistically significant gains in communication, social skills, selfcare, and even IQ compared to other treatment packages. Here are some of the major benefits:

Improved Language and Communication: ABA focuses on teaching foundational skills like joint attention, responding to names, and following simple instructions, which lays the groundwork for developing speech.

Enhanced Social Skills: Therapists use discrete trial training and role-playing to teach skills like taking turns, sharing, and appropriate greetings, which are critical for social-emotional development.

Better Behavior Regulation: Problem behaviors are reduced using techniques like functional behavior assessment to address the underlying cause and replace them with more positive coping mechanisms.

Generalized Learning: Discrete trial practice is combined with natural environment training to help children apply their new abilities across settings like home, school, and community.

To get all the benefits of ABA therapy, it is necessary to start it as soon as possible. Some experts recommend immediate diagnosis of the disorder. Further, extinct look indicates that kids that begin before the age of 5 require fewer therapy hours for them to gain development than children of older ages.

Finding the best ABA therapy in Raleigh

More families in the Raleigh area are seeking out providers of the best ABA therapy in Raleigh for their young children with ASD after understanding the importance of early intervention. Here are a few things to keep in head when selecting a therapy program:

Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) Oversight: Look for providers with BCBAs who will supervise the clinical team and treatment plans.

Individualized Treatment Plans: Programs should assess each child separately and create goals tailored to their unique profile and family priorities.

Skill Progression: Make sure the curriculum systematically builds from foundational to more advanced skills over time based on the child's progress.

Data-Driven Approach: Well-designed programs frequently collect, analyze, and act upon observational data to optimize results on an ongoing basis.

Family Training: In-home therapy allows training caregivers to carry over strategies across environments for better generalization of skills.

One such highly-rated provider in Raleigh offering ABA therapy in Raleigh is Evolve Behavioral. They follow a clinically sophisticated yet family-centered approach to deliver individualized ABA therapy.

The Path to Effective ABA Therapy with Evolve Behavioral

For any family looking to start intensive ABA intervention for their child with ASD, here are the key steps in Evolve Behavioral's treatment process:

Scheduling the Diagnostic Assessment

The first step is obtaining an official diagnosis of ASD from a qualified clinician if one is not already in place. Evolve's referral coordinator assists with insurance pre-authorization and scheduling the initial assessment.

Conducting the Diagnostic Evaluation

Evolve's expert clinicians will conduct a comprehensive clinical evaluation at home in a comfortable environment. This involves standardized assessments, interviews, and direct observations of skills and behaviors to determine needs.

Creating an Individualized Treatment Plan

Based on the evaluation results, the team develops a detailed ABA therapy program targeting specific skill areas defined by measurable objectives and data collection methods.

Matching with a Clinical Team

The program matches each child with a dedicated team of 2-3 experienced therapists based on traits, schedules, and family dynamics to foster collaboration.

Starting ABA Intervention

Therapy begins in natural contexts like home and community settings. Family training allows caregivers to become active participants, extending learning throughout the day.

Monitoring Ongoing Progress

Data is reviewed regularly to refine the program, increase difficulty, generalize skills, and ensure each child is progressing at their maximum capacity.

Evolve Behavioral promotes a differentiated, their best ABA therapy in Raleighmodel, fulfilling its mission to empower individuals on the autism spectrum towards greater independence.

Final Words

Overall, early and intensive ABA therapy is invaluable for developing core functional skills in children with Autism and setting them up for a brighter future. With expert centers like Evolve Behavioral providing individualized treatment for Autism Spectrum Disorder in Raleigh, more families have access to services empowering each child to reach their highest potential.

[mordorintelligencemarketresearch]

The Speech Therapy Services Market: Trends, Opportunities, and Growth 

The speech therapy services market is estimated to reach USD 11.90 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow to USD 15.88 billion by 2029, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.94% during this forecast period. This growth is driven by increasing awareness of communication disorders and the vital role speech therapists play in improving individuals' quality of life. In this blog, we will explore the current trends, opportunities, and challenges within the speech therapy services industry, providing insights into its future trajectory. 

Market Overview 

The global speech therapy services market is experiencing significant expansion, fueled by an aging population, rising incidences of speech and language disorders, and advancements in therapy technologies. As healthcare systems increasingly prioritize mental health and rehabilitation, the demand for qualified speech therapists continues to rise. 

Key Trends 

Teletherapy Expansion: The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of telehealth services, including speech therapy. Patients are now more open to receiving therapy remotely, allowing practitioners to expand their reach and provide services to underserved areas. 

Integration of Technology: Innovative tools and apps are being developed to help in speech therapy, offering interactive and engaging methods for therapists and patients. These technologies include AI-driven speech analysis, gamification, and virtual reality environments that enhance learning experiences. 

Focus on Pediatric Services: A significant portion of the demand for speech therapy services comes from children with developmental disorders. Early intervention programs are being prioritized, which is crucial for effective treatment and long-term outcomes. 

Holistic Approaches: There’s a growing recognition of the need for a holistic approach to speech therapy, integrating physical, occupational, and behavioral therapies. This multidisciplinary approach helps address the comprehensive needs of patients, particularly those with complex conditions. 

Opportunities 

Aging Population: With an increasing elderly population, there is a rising prevalence of conditions that can affect communication, such as stroke and dementia. Speech therapy is essential in rehabilitation, creating a substantial market opportunity. 

Rising Awareness: Public awareness campaigns about the importance of early diagnosis and treatment of speech disorders are gaining traction. Increased awareness can lead to earlier interventions and a greater demand for speech therapy services. 

Insurance Coverage Expansion: As more insurance providers begin to recognize speech therapy as a necessary medical service, accessibility and affordability for patients will improve, driving market growth. 

Challenges 

Regulatory Hurdles: The speech therapy industry is subject to various regulations and licensing requirements that can vary by region. Navigating these can pose challenges for new entrants and existing providers. 

Workforce Shortages: There is a growing demand for speech therapists, but many regions face workforce shortages. This can limit access to care and impact the quality of services provided. 

Market Competition: As the market expands, competition among providers is intensifying. Companies must differentiate themselves through innovative services, customer experience, and effective marketing strategies. 

Future Outlook 

The speech therapy services market is poised for significant growth in the coming years. As technology continues to evolve and the demand for personalized, accessible therapy increases, providers who adapt to these changes will likely thrive. 

Investing in teletherapy capabilities, staying updated with technological advancements, and fostering partnerships with other healthcare providers can enhance service offerings and improve patient outcomes. 

Conclusion 

The speech therapy services market presents a wealth of opportunities driven by societal changes and technological advancements. By addressing current challenges and embracing innovation, stakeholders in the industry can play a crucial role in enhancing the lives of those with communication disorders. As awareness and acceptance continue to grow, the future of speech therapy looks promising, paving the way for better accessibility and effectiveness in care delivery. 

For a detailed overview and more insights, you can refer to the full market research report by Mordor Intelligence https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/speech-therapy-services-market   

[waytogrowspeechtherapy]

Best Speech Therapists in Greater Noida: Way To Grow - by Dr. Shalinee Yadav

When it comes to addressing speech and communication challenges, finding the right therapist is crucial. For families in Greater Noida seeking top-notch speech therapy services, Way To Grow - Speech Therapy and Special Education Center, led by Dr. Shalinee Yadav, stands out as a premier choice. This blog explores why Way To Grow is recognized as one of the best speech therapists in Greater Noida and how Dr. Shalinee Yadav’s expertise makes a significant difference in the lives of her clients.

The Importance of Speech Therapy

Speech therapy is essential for individuals who struggle with communication disorders. These disorders can affect speech clarity, language development, fluency, and overall communication skills. Effective speech therapy can greatly improve a person's ability to communicate, thereby enhancing their quality of life and social interactions. For those searching for the best speech therapists in Greater Noida, finding a center that offers personalized and evidence-based approaches is crucial.

Way To Grow: A Leader Among the Best Speech Therapists in Greater Noida

Way To Grow - Speech Therapy and Special Education Center, under the leadership of Dr. Shalinee Yadav, is renowned for its excellence in providing spe   ech therapy services. As one of the Best Speech Therapists in Greater Noida, Dr. Yadav and her team are committed to offering high-quality, individualized care that addresses each client’s unique needs. Their holistic approach ensures comprehensive support for individuals with various speech and language disorders.

Why Choose Way To Grow?

Expertise of Dr. Shalinee Yadav: Dr. Shalinee Yadav is widely recognized as one of the best speech therapists in Greater Noida. With extensive experience and a deep understanding of speech disorders, she provides exceptional therapy services that lead to meaningful improvements in her clients’ communication skills.

Personalized Treatment Plans: At Way To Grow, every client receives a tailored treatment plan designed to address their specific speech and language challenges. This personalized approach ensures that therapy is both effective and relevant to each individual’s needs.

Innovative Therapy Techniques: The center employs a range of advanced and evidence-based therapy techniques. Dr. Yadav’s commitment to staying updated with the latest research and methodologies ensures that clients benefit from the most effective treatment options available.

Supportive Environment: Way To Grow fosters a supportive and encouraging environment that helps clients feel comfortable and motivated during their therapy sessions. The compassionate approach of Dr. Yadav and her team plays a crucial role in the success of the therapy process.

Specialized Services: In addition to speech therapy, Way To Grow offers special education services that complement the therapy process. This integrated approach supports overall development and enhances the effectiveness of speech therapy.

Success Stories from Way To Grow

Numerous families in Greater Noida have benefited from the exceptional services of Way To Grow. Success stories of improved communication skills and enhanced quality of life highlight the center's effectiveness. Clients of Dr. Shalinee Yadav have reported significant progress in speech clarity, language development, and social interactions, demonstrating the high standards of care provided.

Why Way To Grow Stands Out

Among the best speech therapists in Greater Noida, Way To Grow distinguishes itself through its dedication to individualized care and commitment to therapeutic excellence. Dr. Shalinee Yadav’s expertise and personalized approach make a profound impact on the lives of those seeking to overcome speech and language challenges. The center’s holistic and supportive environment further enhances the therapy experience, leading to successful outcomes for clients of all ages.

Conclusion

For families seeking the Best Speech Therapists in Greater Noida , Way To Grow - Speech Therapy and Special Education Center, led by Dr. Shalinee Yadav, offers unparalleled expertise and exceptional care. The center’s commitment to personalized treatment, innovative techniques, and a supportive environment makes it a top choice for effective speech therapy services. By choosing Way To Grow, clients gain access to a dedicated team that prioritizes their communication goals and overall development.

If you or a loved one is in need of speech therapy services in Greater Noida, Way To Grow is the trusted partner you can rely on for professional and compassionate care.