Teach Me To Talk with Laura and Friends

Join pediatric speech-language pathologist Laura Mize, M.S., CCC-SLP of www.teachmetotalk.com as she gives a mom guidance and ideas for working on improving her vocabulary. Mom's questions are below. Since this mom has previously purchased Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual, we'll be elaborating on ideas from the book and giving her specific page numbers for directions. If you have a child who is at the 18 month to 24 month language level but is having a hard time learning to use phrases and seems to say more words than he/she really understands, then this show is for you! 

Join pediatric SLP, Laura Mize, M.S., CCC-SLP, of teachmetotalk.com as she answers a mom's questions about her 27 month old with autism. 

Join pediatric speech-language pathologist Laura Mize, M.S., CCC-SLP of teachmetotalk.com as she discusses ideas for a 3 year old client with autism who does not play with toys. In the last show # #271, we discussed factors that contributed to and created this issue. We began to talk about the treatment strategies we used to help him move toward playing with toys and more importantly, tie those activities to our long term goal for him, which is to communicate. In this week's show I'll finish up by talking about the steps we implemented to target play with toys, as well as his other needs. Read the written summary here:  

Join pediatric speech-language pathologist Laura Mize, M.S., CCC-SLP of teachmetotalk.com as she discusses ideas for a 3 year old client with autism who does not play with toys. We'll discuss the factors that contribute to and created this issue and the treatment strategies we've used to help him move toward playing with toys and more importantly, tie those activities to our long term goal for him, which is to communicate.  When I first started talking with his parents about play, their conclusion was: He doesn't like toys. That may be true, but it's not the REAL reason he's not playing. The truth is, he doesn't know how to play with toys. When any of us don't know how to do something, the likelihood that we will actually do it declines greatly. In the show, we'll talk about the steps we implemented to target play with toys, as well as his other needs. Read the written summary here: http://teachmetotalk.com/2015/10/18/271-ideas-to-try-when-a-toddler-hates-toys/  

Join pediatric speech-language pathologist Laura Mize, M.S., CCC-SLP from teachmetotalk.com as she talks about all of the skills you can observe in just a few minutes using a wind up toy. Read the full summary here:

Join pediatric speech-language pathologist Laura Mize, M.S., CCC-SLP of www.teachmetotalk.com for a discussion for ideas for teaching toddlers early pronouns. This is a continuation of show #268. Listen to that one first for background!     

Join pediatric speech-language pathologist Laura Mize, M.S., CCC-SLP as she answers questions from this mom about her daughter's difficulty learning to use the pronouns "I" and "me" to refer to herself when she's talking. We'll discuss how pronoun usage develops in toddlers and why pronouns are so hard for kids with language delays/disorders to master. I"ll also provide some general advice and tips for teaching pronouns in every day routines as well as several successful therapy activities I've used to help parents work on pronouns at home. 

Join speech-language pathologist Laura Mize, M.S., CCC-SLP of www.teachmetotalk.com for this week's podcast.  Today's guest is Monae Mayurama, SLP from Las Vegas. She's developed her own interactive books that she uses in small group sessions with preschoolers. I learned about Monae from an SLP I met several years ago while teaching one of my courses in Georgia. She sent me this glowing email about Monae's work: "I started to work in the schools this year and work with an amazing speech therapist Monae. She has taught me so much about working with autistic children, especially in a small group setting.  This has always been a challenge for me, but she has a true gift. She has authored and designed an entire series of interactive  books and uses them so beautifully in small group lessons to target so many language goals. She has an amazing way of including imitation and receptive targets in her group sessions. I told her about the work that you do... I also thought she would be an AMAZING guest on your podcast to explain how she is able to target language goals in a group setting and how she is able to work with children on so many levels at once since this is an area of difficulty for many of us."  I'm excited to hear Monae's strategies and I know you will be too!  Here's the post at teachmetotalk.com with more information about her books and favorite songs:   http://teachmetotalk.com/2015/08/17/266-treating-small-groups-of-young-children-with-autism/    

Ideas for Helping a Toddler Produce More Consonant Sounds Join pediatric speech-language pathologist Laura Mize, M.S., CCC-SLP of teachmetotalk.com as she talks with an SLP about one of her most challenging clients who produces only 3 approximations for consonant sounds: /m/ in Mama, /w/ in wow, and a pharyngeal approximation that sounds more like a gag. What would you recommend she try? Join us to see if our ideas match!

Join pediatric speech-language pathologist Laura Mize, M.S., CCC-SLP of www.teachmetotalk.com as she continues to talk with Laura from show #262 about her twin girls with autism. We discuss apraxia, dysarthria, and characteristics of autism as she asks her remaining questions. If you're a mom, you'll certainly identify with her as she shares what she struggles with parenting two children with two very different needs. As a therapist, you'll appreciate her honesty and gain new insights in to what parents feel and want to know as they're learning to work with their children at home. 

Join pediatric speech-language pathologist Laura Mize, M.S., CCC-SLP of www.teachmetotalk.com as she discusses her top 10 toys for first speech therapy sessions with toddlers. You can use these ideas for clinical settings, home visits, and even sessions when you're implementing a coaching model since most of these activities are with famliar toys or versions of toys most families already own.  For a complete listing of the toys, including links so you can SEE them, check out the post "First Sessions" Toy List. 

Join pediatric speech-language pathologist Laura Mize, M.S., CCC-SLP of www.teachmetotalk.com as she speaks with a mom with questions about her twin girls with autism. This mom shared her story from having no concerns about her girls, to wondering if something was wrong, to being defensive in hearing the doctor suggest autism, to searching for other answers to explain the delays, to hearing a final diagnosis. Her girls, fraternal twins, also have very different strengths and weaknesses, but have both been diagnosed with ASD, and this mom talks about coming to grips with that. We also discussed one of her twins' new diagnosis of "dyspraxia" from the OT, what that means for speech, and for what I recommended she do next for her to address her needs at home. It's a fantastic episode for parents who are grappling with an autism diagnosis and for therapists to help them understand EXACTLY what a parent experiences during this process.  This great mom originally emailed me months ago asking the question, "Will she ever talk?" You can read the beginnings of this dialogue here and join us today for her other questions.  Will She Ever Talk?  

Join pediatric speech-language pathologist Laura Mize, M.S., CCC-SLP as she answers a mother's questions about her little boy who is a "mystery" to his evaluators. Will NOT having a firm diagnosis negatively affect treatment outcomes? Can we select a treatment approach without a diagnosis? Listen in as we discuss her questions. Here's the link where the original question was posted so you can read my written response to her. The question was from May 20 from "Mom."  Have a Question? I'm Here to Help!

Join pediatric speech-language pathologist Laura Mize, M.S., CCC-SLP of www.teachmetotalk.com as she talks with a mom about prioritizing her 3 year old son's treatment plan. Here's part of her original question... Hi Laura. I have a 3 year old diagnosed with autism and is suspected to have apraxia. He doesn’t have much of a problem in the receptive language department, as he understands the majority of what is being asked of him. When he communicates, he usually uses some gestures or words/approximations. He has a little over 50 different words/approximations...but he has yet to say the majority of them accurately. He will verbally communicate what he wants on his own by pointing and naming objects, saying “opo” when he wants something open or “uhpah” for up if he wants to be held or get something out of reach. He does like to label objects, but knows their functions. For example, if he sees a crayon, he will point and say “cay” and if I ask what we do with crayon, he will say “dah” for draw. He will often say the first two letter sounds of words that are usually CV and VC. (ba – ball; pehpeh – pretzel; opo – open; ow – out). He also often deletes the final consonant....I replied to her questions down the thread in this post: Have A Question? I'm Here to Help! But today I'm giving her an "on air" consult, especially with models of how to do backward chaining with a toddler. Don't miss it!     

#259 Understanding the Chart from Building Verbal Imitation in Toddlers Book Join pediatric speech-language pathologist Laura Mize, M.S., CCC-SLP from teachmetotalk.com as she discusses issues related to toddlers with speech-language delays. Here's a question I receive at least weekly from a mom or an SLP: "Dear Laura.... I've purchased your Building Verbal Imitation in Toddlers book and am using it with a few of my kiddos. I've skimmed the entire book and  am having success with some of my harder clients that weren't making any progress before, but I don't understand when to progress a child to the next level. How long do I work on skills in one level before moving on? Can you point me to your specific criteria for each level in your book? I also think it would be helpful to list that information on your chart."  I wish it were that simple!! In this week's show, we'll discuss how I use "the chart" diagnostically with toddlers with expressive language delays and how to use the information to plan therapy goals and activities for sessions. Get the book Building Verbal Imitation Skills in Toddlers If you're a pediatric therapist, take the CE course Steps to Building Verbal Imitation in Toddlers!