Tag Archives : Parents

Seven Keys For a Successful School Year {Parents}

On a Mission {Build Successful Lives}

Hey there! I just got back to Atlanta yesterday from an awesome weekend trip to Dallas, Texas! It was my first time visiting the state and was impressed with the beauty and diversity of the area. The people were quite friendly as well.  This was a great way to finish my summer break as I return to work full time tomorrow! 

Here is a picture of me in Uptown aka West Village. 

By the way the pizza at Union Bear is delicious! Everyone in Dallas loves this place. 

Here is a picture of my friend and I visiting the African American History Museum. 

This is a must see and has great history about the community of North Dallas.  

Dallas Skyline

Learning Disorders {Parent Resources}

There are many children and adolescents that have learning disorders. Their challenges may impact their ability with language processing, reading, writing, and math. Learning disabilities is another term that is synonymous with learning disorders. According to the National Center of Learning Disabilities “LD is more than a difference or difficulty with learning-it’s a neurological disorder that affects the brain’s ability to receive, process, store, and respond to information.”

Many students with receptive (listening comprehension) and expressive (oral) language disorders are also diagnosed with a co-occuring language based learning disability in the school setting. Why? A child’s ability to listen, comprehend, and explain information directly relates to their ability to read  and write. Literacy skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are all interrelated skills.

In the area of reading, a child may have difficulty decoding or sounding out words, reading fluently, and/or understanding what they read. This contributes to a child reading below grade level in elementary, middle, high school, and beyond. Therefore, it is critical that children with reading disorders are identified quickly and receive intensive intervention from a reading specialist or special education teacher. Dyslexia is a term used frequently by professionals to describe students with reading disorders. However, not all children with reading difficulties have dyslexia.

In the area of math, students who struggle with reading will have difficulty understanding and solving math word problems and other reasoning tasks.  A child may also have dyscalculia or difficulty learning math concepts. A child may struggle with recognizing numbers and symbols, learning and remembering math facts, or difficulty coming up with a plan to solve math word problems. The NCLD gives a more in depth description of dyscalculia here: http://ncld.org/types-learning-disabilities/dyscalculia/understanding-dyscalculia?start=1#FOUR

The National Center for Learning Disability provides a great breakdown of the differences between dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia (written expression difficulties).

Here are some warning signs for dysgraphia courtesy of NCLD:

Just having bad handwriting doesn’t mean a person has dysgraphia. This is a processing disorder that may change throughout a person’s lifetime. Writing is a developmental process. Children learn the motor skills necessary to write while they learn the thinking and expressive language skills to communicate their ideas on paper.

Dygraphia: Warning Signs by Age

Reference: http://www.ncld.org/

Although this blog is geared towards pediatric communication and learning disorders, it is important to know that some adults continue to demonstrate characteristics of learning disorders. However, they can lead successful lives once they learn strategies to overcome their difficulties.

Developmental Disorders {Parent Resources}

Developmental disorders are also commonly known as neurodevelopmental disorders because they are a group of conditions that results from impairments in the brain or central nervous system that often begin at birth and continue as a child grows. These disorders negatively impact cognition, communication, motor, social/emotional, learning, and memory skills. These include a range of conditions from speech-language impairments, intellectual impairments, cerebral palsy, attention deficit disorder, autism, and challenges with executive functioning (e.g. problem solving/organization).

Some of these disorders are due to genetic abnormalities such as Down syndrome and Fragile X syndrome while others are due to toxic environmental factors such as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. 

The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder is on the rise as this has become a very common neurodevelopmental disorder. Current research is not conclusive as to the reason for the increase in the amount of cases of this disorder. Nevertheless, in March of 2014, The Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia confirmed that 1 in 68 children have been identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the occurrence is higher in boys (1 in 42) than girls (1 in 189).  The CDC also reports that 1 in 6 children in the U.S. have a developmental disorder. 

Those statistics are quite alarming! So, what is a solution? Early intervention and continued intervention from a variety of allied health professionals are necessary to optimize each child’s opportunity to learn and grow. These children and families need a committed team of caring pediatricians, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, nutritionists, etc. that will teach the tools the children need in life. 

A child may have more than one disorder such as a communication disorder, learning disorder, and attention deficit disorder (ADD). In the school setting, the child’s special education teacher, speech-language pathologist, psychologist, and parents work together to evaluate and develop an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) to address specific areas of need that are having a negative impact on the child’s academic and social success at school. In doing so, a child with a developmental disorder can gain access to achieve gains where they demonstrate challenges. 

References: 

http://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/content.aspx?bookid=556&sectionid=41101757
http://www.apadivisions.org/division-16/publications/newsletters/school-psychologist/2012/04/neurodevelopmental-disorder-implications.aspx

http://aadmd.org/articles/causes-complications-and-consequences-neurodevelopmental-disorders

Developmental Milestones {Parent Resources}

Developmental milestones are the specific skills related to communication, fine motor, gross motor, cognitive (e.g. thinking), and self help (e.g. feeding/dressing) that children acquire as they grow and learn.  A child’s genetics and environment will play a role in the rate and extent of a child’s development. Early intervention is critical if a parent or caregiver notices that certain skills are not present by a certain age. However, these milestones are a guideline and does not confirm that your child has a speech-language disorder if a skill is not yet developed. The American Speech-Language Hearing Association provides an excellent overview of typical speech-language development for children from birth-age 5:

What should my child be able to do?

1 year- 2 years of age

2 years-3 years of age

Driven by Innovation

On Sunday, I went to one of my favorite places in Atlanta, The High Museum. In fact, I love it so much I have an annual membership that I purchased for a steal back in September! The museum’s latest major exhibition is Dream Cars that features unique and imaginative cars that were designed in the 1930s through the present by Ferrari, Buggatti, General Motors, and Porsche. These automakers designed cars that changed the industry by challenging what was possible both technologically and stylistically. 

Here are a few photos from my visit. 

This made me think about the field of speech-language pathology and education. What are these industries doing to challenge the notion of what is possible for students’ communication and academic successes? What are speech-language pathologists and educators doing to modify how they assess students and implement therapy sessions and instruction? In recent years, I think SLPs and educators have done and continue to do a TREMENDOUS amount of preparation to select evidence based materials, evaluate what children already know, teach, and evaluate again to see what children learned. 

Common Core Standards and differentiated instruction are terms that I hear frequently while working as a school based speech-language pathologist. There are many people on both the pros and cons side of the Common Core Standards discussion and I’ll spare you the debate here. However, I like the accountability piece that the common core standards creates for school districts that use these standards to guide instruction. 

In the same manner, I believe that differentiated instruction, in which a teacher modifies how they teach, what they teach, and how they assess children is an essential shift in the style from traditional teaching. I also think that it should be best practice for all educators to implement curriculum design based on Grant Wiggins’ notion of creating a solid assessment before instructing students so that you know clearly what and how you expect them to demonstrate mastery of specific learning standards. 

As far as technology goes, there has been a significant increase in the amount of technology that SLPs and educators use to select lessons that drive children’s learning while implementing new techniques that assist in delivering results. The use of interactive SMART boards, IPads, Mimio Boards, and computer based therapeutic/educational program are engaging for children and contribute to learning when implemented effectively.  Additionally, teachers and SLPs are able to collaborate with other professionals not only at their school, but also nationwide and globally through the use of online blogs, discussion boards, Twitter, Pinterest, and other forms of social media. Children and adolescents in today’s society are very technologically savvy and I have observed that they love creative and innovative lessons rather than the same old therapy and education styles from even 5 to 10 years ago. 

What are ways that you implement creativity and innovation in your speech language therapy sessions or classroom? I’d love to hear! 

Tamara Anderson, Ed.S., CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Education Specialist
Writer

Build Successful Lives- The Gift of Hearing

Yesterday, I heard about a toddler from Dallas, Texas who recently had a cochlear implant
surgically placed. Izzy Baker was born with a severe hearing loss that led
to her challenges with communication. She currently communicates with sign
language.  A friend of mine shared this
video story with me after it was shown on NBC in  my hometown of Miami, FL. It was
a short segment, but it was definitely one of those feel good stories. You know the ones that just pull at your heart strings. 

I hope this
story made you smile! Have a great day. Remember to do what you can to build
successful lives through service to others! This little girl now has access to hear and communicate in
new ways that would not have been possible without her cochlear implant,
family, and team of hearing professionals! 

It Takes A Village!

When I woke up this morning, I was so excited thinking about all that I wanted to share with you all today. There were so many things that flooded my mind. Do you know what stuck out the most? I kept saying it over and over. Do you know what it is? I am sure you guessed it by now. It Takes A Village! 

It really does especially when working with children, adolescents, and often adults with special needs. This is why I work primarily as a school based speech language pathologist so that I may have the pleasure of making an influence in the lives of children with communication and learning challenges. Developing effective communication skills is the foundation of a child’s learning and social interactions with  his or her family, friends, teachers, and people in the community. Many children naturally learn to communicate, but children with developmental delays and neurological impairments need direct intervention services from a speech language pathologist to gain these skills. 

The village is a community that builds successful lives. For  a child with special needs, it includes the child, parents, speech-language pathologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, pediatrician, psychologist, teacher, administrator, friends, family, and other community workers that interact with each other for a shared purpose of positively influencing the life of a child. 

I am glad that you are taking the time to read this blog today and I challenge you to join this community. Stay connected with this blog and you will receive valuable information about assisting children with communication disorders, learning disabilities, and students without learning challenges. Even if you don’t work directly with children, you most likely will read something that will be beneficial in caring for your own children or that you can share with a family member or friend. Remember, It Takes a Village! 

You don’t want to miss this opportunity to learn about educational/therapy resources for children and take part in something BIG! It Takes a Village to positively influence the life of a child starting with the day he or she is born and continuing as he or she begins elementary school, graduates from high school, decides on a college/career path, and enters the work force. 

Thanks for visiting today. See you next time. Stay connected! Just click on the social media circular buttons at the top of the blog or the links below.

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Have a wonderful day! 

Tamara Anderson, Ed.S., CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Education Specialist
Writer

Pediatric Hearing Disorders

Hearing is one of the five senses and I believe that the ability to hear is truly a gift that God provides. Some people may not view hearing as a special ability because they may have the mind set that most people can hear, see, touch, taste, and smell. However, there are many children and adults that are a born unable to hear or have an acquired hearing loss due to an accident or medical condition. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 2-3 infants out of 1000 in the United States are born deaf or with hearing loss.  Here in the U.S., most babies receive a newborn hearing screening in the hospital before they go home. If the baby does not pass the screening, they are scheduled for a repeat screening or a more in depth hearing assessment by an audiologist or a licensed healthcare professional who assesses, diagnoses, and provides treatment for such individuals. School aged children also receive hearing screenings at school and there are audiologists who are available to provide services as needed.

Children diagnosed by an audiologist with a pediatric hearing disorder may have hearing disorders ranging from mild to severe hearing loss. The hearing loss may be unilateral (present in one ear) or bilateral (present in both ears). Parents often feel varied emotions when they find out that their child has a hearing loss. However, it is important for them to know that such a diagnosis does not prevent their child’s ability to be successful in life. Instead, due to hearing limitations they may very well become more resilient than a typical child because they very likely will have a different path to learn how to communicate, academic content at school, social skills, and life skills.

I believe that it is important for parents with children with hearing disorders to take an active role in advocating for their child’s hearing needs. This includes being proactive about selecting hearing aids for their child or connecting them with others in the Deaf community if their hearing can not be remediated by a hearing aid or cochlear implant. A cochlear implant is a device that is surgically implanted that provides direct stimulation of the auditory nerve in the inner ear that allows a person who is profoundly Deaf to hear. For more info about this implant you may click on this link: http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/pages/coch.aspx
Here is a picture.

As far as communication abilities for children who have hearing disorders, these skills range based on the severity of the hearing loss. Some children will have substantial hearing that enables them to acquire spoken language, others will learn to communicate via sign language, and some children will communicate verbally and with sign language.

A few years ago, I worked at a middle school where I provided speech-language services for children who had varying degrees of hearing loss. They communicated verbally, with American Sign Language (ASL), and Signed Exact English (SEE). The teachers who taught them were excellent educators who were able to teach them not only the academic content, but also provided valuable tools to improve their confidence as a middle school student who was Deaf or had a hearing disorder. They taught the students that despite their hearing challenges, they can still strive for excellence in all that they do. I enjoyed providing speech-language services for these students. In graduate school, I took courses in American Sign Language and then I took refresher courses that were offered through my church’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing Ministry while working at the school. It was a joy for me to assist my students improve their communication and language skills they needed to succeed at school and in life. I recently saw one of my students who is now in high school at a community Nutcracker ballet recital. We were both excited and surprised to see each other and communicated with sign language. I was happy to hear that she is now a senior and is doing well in school.

Working with children who are Deaf or have hearing loss is a special opportunity to plant seeds that will have long lasting blossoms.

For more resources about Pediatric Hearing Disorders, please visit these links:
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) 

http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/Pages/Default.aspx

American Society for Deaf Children (ASCD)
 
http://www.deafchildren.org/

Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
http://listeningandspokenlanguage.org/

Have an exceptional week!

Sincerely,

Tamara Anderson, Ed.S., CCC-SLP
Speech Language Pathologist

Pediatric Language Disorders

I enjoy providing interventions for children who have language disorders. Children with communication impairments may receive a diagnosis of receptive language disorder, expressive language disorder, or mixed receptive/expressive language disorder due to significant language challenges. Toddlers may experience delays in their language development that may be identified as a language disorder by the time they are in preschool. Other children may not be identified with a language disorder until they are attending elementary school. However, it is important to seek an evaluation by a speech-language pathologist if a parent, pediatrician, teacher, or guardian has concerns about a child’s language development. Children need to be provided access to speech language therapy services as soon as possible to optimize their ability to attain language skills that are lacking.

The majority of students on my caseload that I provide speech-language services for have language disorders that impact their ability to understand information and communicate their ideas clearly. This directly impacts their ability to learn and explain the academic curriculum at their grade level. Therefore, school aged children with language disorders require intervention from a speech language pathologist to foster growth in their area of need. Many of these students are also identified with a language based learning disability and receive literacy support in reading and writing instruction from a special education resource teacher.

Children with a receptive language disorder have difficulties with both listening and reading comprehension. They struggle with processing information that they hear or read in order to make meaning of the message that is being communicated. They benefit from short concise oral directions so that they can better understand language until they improve their ability to understand verbal directions. Students with receptive language difficulties need direct instruction in the areas of vocabulary such as basic concepts (e.g. sequential terms- first, spatial- prepositions, temporal- before/after, qualitative-adjectives), multiple meaning words, synonyms, antonyms, parts of speech terms (e.g. nouns, pronouns, verbs) and use of context clues to decipher the meanings of unknown words. They also need to improve their ability to comprehend and answer literal who, what, where, and when questions and inferential why and how questions. Additionally, children with receptive language disorders need to learn critical thinking skills essential to analyze language concepts such as compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution, fact/opinion, drawing conclusions/inferences etc.

There are so many language areas that a speech-language therapist provides interventions for children. Many of  these areas relate directly to the English/Language Arts curriculum standards in the school setting that are also reinforced by a child’s classroom teacher. However, the speech-language therapist provides specialized individualized or small group instruction while breaking down a skill in a manner that allows a child to adequately process and learn the information that is being taught.

Children with an expressive language disorder have significant challenges verbally communicating their thoughts. They may struggle with forming a complete sentence to express their basic wants or needs, retelling a fiction story, summarizing facts from nonfiction material, explaining the meanings of vocabulary, using correct grammar at the word level (e.g. using plural nouns, irregular past tense verbs), or using correct grammar at the sentence level.

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders typically have coexisting pragmatic language disorder. This means that they do not know how to independently use language in social settings. They are unable to read social cues about an appropriate time to start a conversation with a peer or adult, make comments related to the topic of conversation, or ask questions in conversation. Many children with autism who are able to communicate verbally talk about their areas of interest only and do not know how to consider another person’s perspective or area of interest in conversation. They only identify with language from their vantage point as they prefer to remain in their social world. A Speech-language pathologist provides direct instruction in pragmatic language so that these children can improve their abilities to begin conversations with others, make comments, take turns in conversation, etc.

This is Pediatric Language Disorders 101. Language skills are essential for children to understand and explain information. Children who have a disability in this area need intervention support from both a speech language pathologist and special education teacher to improve their language skills. Parents definitely can also participate in their children’s development by providing opportunities for them to engage in language activities at home and on family outings in the community. Language is everywhere!!! Everyday is an opportunity to promote increasing the receptive and expressive language skills for children. This sets them on the path of building a successful life.

Parents and professionals who would like more information on this topic may visit the American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA) resource page: http://www.asha.org/public/speech/

Have a great week!

Tamara Anderson, Ed.S., CCC-SLP