The Speech Dynamic Blog

  As a Pediatric Speech Pathologist who specialized in working with young children, every day I get to work closely with toddlers and their families. The following are tips I consistently share with families to help their little ones as they are accomplishing the amazing task of learning language!   Use child directed speech: Talking […]

  Whether it’s your preschooler’s first time in a school setting or they are moving into a new class, transitions can be hard!  When a child has a speech and/or language delay, it can make the situation even more difficult. Not being able to communicate is frustrating and can lead to temper tantrums and meltdowns. […]

  If you have or work with toddlers, you know they have very little control over their little worlds! There are a few things they can control though and talking is one of them. When we insist a toddler “say a word,” we are teaching them how to repeat, not how to communicate (You can […]

  Speech therapy with little ones requires a little extra creativity!  Toddlers learn best when they are engaged and the learning is meaningful. This means ditching the flashcards!  Here are some of my favorite ways to elicit speech sounds during speech evaluations and speech therapy.   Feed the Dog: My kiddos love to feed this […]

Preschool Speech Therapy   As a Pediatric Speech Pathologist who sees children in their homes and preschools, I see the many benefits of seeing children in their natural environment. While working with children in their classrooms has its challenges, it provides wonderful opportunities for working on speech and language skills, especially social communication!   Working […]

“Use Your Words”   “Use your words” seems to be the slogan for preschoolers these days. Do we want children to use their words? Of course!  But this is a skill that needs to be taught. We need to show children how to use their words. In other words, we need to teach them the […]

Questions and Comments   One of the best ways to encourage language learning in toddlers is to balance questions with comments. Questions tend to be conversation stoppers. In other words, after the person answers the question, the conversation can end.   Comments, on the other hand, add information. When we comment, we add language to […]

  Language Development Around six months old, the coos and gurgles your infant makes start to give way to real, language-like sounds.  These sounds, known as babbing, are a huge leap forward in language development.  At this stage, babbling sounds like the same syllables over and over such as “bababa.” This is called reduplicated babbling. […]

“Late talkers” Late Talkers are a group of children who otherwise show age appropriate receptive language skills (understanding of language), nonverbal IQ, and typical social development/personality. However, these children are behind in their expressive language skills. In their book, “The Late Talker,” the authors report that by the age of 24 months, 15% of children […]