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Reading is a simple, but very effective way to target speech and language development with your child! Targeting Speech: Find a book that includes as many of your child’s target speech sounds as you can. While practicing those sounds, you can grab a small mirror for visual feedback (or if the book has a mirror – even better!). As your

The recommended age range to begin weaning your baby off the bottle is anywhere between 9 to 12 months of age. One reason for this is that the older the baby is, the harder it will be to wean your baby off the bottle. Additionally, prolonged bottle feeding can contribute to low and forward tongue resting posture. This tongue resting

Aphasia results from damage to the parts of the brain that are responsible for language. Aphasia can affect expressive language, reading and writing, and understanding language. The most common cause of aphasia is stroke. Additionally, aphasia could be caused by a traumatic brain injury or a neurological disorder. What are the different types of aphasia? There are two categories of

AAC stands for augmentative and alternative communication. In other words, it is a system that can help support communication. An AAC system can be used for many different types of communication breakdowns. It can be helpful for people of all ages who may be non-verbal, have word finding difficulties, or are hard to understand. AAC systems can be broken down

Dysphonia refers to having an abnormal voice which can be described as hoarse, rough, raspy, strained, weak, breathy, or gravely. There can be many causes of dysphonia including muscle tension, injury, irritation, nodules/polyps on the vocal folds, etc. Someone with dysphonia may even complain of pain with speaking or singing and difficulty with intonation and loudness. This can be frustrating

In the SOS Approach, the feeding problem is conceptualized as the tip of an iceberg. The child’s difficulties with eating and gaining weight is what everybody sees, but similar to an iceberg, it is what is under the water that crashes the boat. The SOS Approach to Feeding stands for Sequential-Oral-Sensory because these are the major components of the program.

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a speech disorder in which children have difficulty producing the precise movements required for speech production. In children with CAS, the brain has difficulty developing the motor plan necessary for speech. Therefore, the child’s speech muscles are not weak, but speech is not accurately produced due to significant difficulty coordinating the articulators. According to

Dysphonia is a medical term used to describe various voice disorders. Functional dysphonia, specifically, refers to difficulties with voice production in the absence of any anatomical or physiological abnormalities. Some of the main signs/symptoms of this type of disorder include a breathy, rough, or hoarse vocal quality and/ or frequent vocal fatigue. Types of Functional Dysphonia: 1. Hypofunctional Dysphonia- This

Vocal nodules are benign (noncancerous) growths that form on the vocal cords. Over time, these growths become hard and thick, similar to calluses that can form on the hands. Vocal nodules can result in a person’s voice sounding hoarse, breathy, and lower in pitch. Vocal abuse may cause vocal nodules and continuing vocal abuse may exacerbate the growths over time.