The Speech Umbrella

This episode reviews Dr. Damon Korb’s book, Raising an Organized Child. Dr. Korb not only explains organized thinking in an accessible way, but has suggestions for how to get there, from birth through high school. He describes how to implement five steps for organized thinking for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, school aged children, and teens. The five steps are •    Be consistent •    Introduce...

 | We know how important it is to teach our clients to read social cues. But that’s so much easier said than done! Making the implicit explicit can be a real challenge for us.  Here’s how Episode 53 can help: You’ll find •    Several strategies for using books and video clips to teach social skills •    Ways to teach clients to understand what it means to “notice” social clues •    An explanation...

Wouldn’t it be handy to have a template for choosing the most effective books for therapy? That’s exactly what you’ll get in Episode 52, Choose Your Books Wisely. This episode covers: Four criteria for choosing an effective book What adds to a book’s complexity A comparison of two books, one that is effective and one that isn’t, and why.  But that’s not all— check out the Free Resource Library   o...

This episode covers four simple, but effective, ways to help children of all abilities learn. My guest, Jacquie Johnson, shares her recipe for success both in the classroom and at home. Plus she shares how SLP’s can collaborate effectively with classroom teachers. You don’t want to miss  Jacquie’s insights! --- Useful Links --- Episode 11: Tracking Phonological Awareness Episode 10: Under the Umbr...

If you’re looking for a method to teach natural, spontaneous conversation, look no further than The Conversation Game. This episode describes how to improve an often overlooked skill needed for conversation. 

What is Word Dancing? Possibly the single best thing families can do to dramatically and positively impact their children’s speech and language,  and their academic future. The research showing the relationship between word dancing and academic prowess is extremely robust. Find out more on Episode 49 of the The Mindful SLP. --- Useful Links --- A Parent, A child, and Autism, Interview with Rebecca...

What is a vital, but often overlook component of stuttering therapy? Do you feel like there’s a missing piece with some clients who stutter, but you can’t put your finger on it? Find that missing piece in Episode 48 of The Mindful SLP. --- Useful Links --- Treating the School Age Child Who Stutters by Carl W Dell Jr. Avoidance Reduction Therapy in a Group Setting, seminar by Vivian Sisken Dancing...

What do icebergs and the Macarena have to do with speech therapy? Episode 47 describes a case history of a fluency client, underlying issues that needed to be addressed before stuttering therapy could be effective, and how mindfulness can be one of your best tools.  

Let’s hear it for Narrative Intervention! Kids learn so much language with narrative therapy. But what if they seem ready for stories, but still can’t quite grasp narratives?  Even when you use the most basic story they still struggle. Maybe they need to work on sequencing. In this podcast we discuss how to get our not-quite-ready-clients from here to there, by following the narrative road. --- Po...

Basic listening skills are critical to language and reading development, but if they’re missing how do you begin to work on them? Episode 45, “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?” is full of ideas and activities for building this foundational skill. This is one of the most useful things I do with young clients! --- Podcast Links --- Phonological Awareness Tracking Form Simple Tools with Denise...

When a child has difficulty with listening skills, auditory processing and auditory memory, we could give it a lot of names, including Auditory Processing Disorder, or APD. But whether or not a client has an official APD diagnosis, SO many of them struggle in these areas. When it comes to working on listening, attention, and memory, you can’t start too soon, because improving listening and  proces...

It’s no secret that phonemic awareness plays a huge part in our clients’ success in both articulation and language. But what you may not know is just how specific and demanding the criteria for mastering phonemic awareness is. Typical assessments and programs don’t teach phonemic awareness in a way for our clients to reach the same level as their peers, and they may end up struggling for years to...

There are a lot of different treatment options in our profession, and let’s face it, often the experts don’t even agree. Added to that, every treatment choice comes with an opportunity cost.  I get it. It’s valuable to have different treatment approaches, BUT when it comes to helping our clients learn to make and reciprocate eye contact, I’m a dyed-in-the-wool believer. I’m such a firm believer th...

Does data get you down? Do you find yourself struggling to write easy to measure goals that are still meaningful? Have you ever found you were measuring the wrong thing when it comes to writing progress reports? If any of this sounds familiar, then this podcast is for you! Learn to make data a good servant, instead of a bad master. Helpful Links Challenges In Early Intervention Phonological Awaren...

Have you ever wondered what “complex target selection” means in the world of articulation therapy? Kelly Vess breaks it down for us episode 40 of The Mindful SLP.  You won’t want to miss Kelly’s insights on a working with preschools to create maximal change, and set them on a path to life long learning. Associated Links 4-Step Process to Selecting Complex Targets  Speech Sound Disorders: Comprehen...

Sometimes you need your client to buckle down, pay attention and work hard, but that’s the last thing they want to do. Here’s a way to motivate a reluctant child to try their hardest. 

When NOTHING works to elicit k or g, here’s a little something that may help. Join us as we discuss a client with a very complicated /k/.

Have you been thinking about starting your own speech therapy clinic but feel intimated by everything you need to do? Let us talk you through the first steps! In this podcast we cover legal requirement, business management, marketing, and setting up your clinic. 

Using sticky notes to help clients organize their written language reduces the cognitive load of word order and word recall, and at the same time eliminates the frustration of constant erasing. 

Celebrate with us! We are passing our one year anniversary and we couldn't be happier. We also passed our 2000th download this week. Thank you everyone, wherever you listen. 

Helping clients organize their language is a huge part of what we do. Using boxes to represent language concepts can help the abstract become concrete. In this podcast we describe many ways a box can take your therapy to the next level. 

Narrative language intervention with young adults can get complicated pretty fast, leaving therapists wondering how to intervene effectively. Join us as we take a deep dive into a case study with a young adult. Free downloadable resources for this age are available in the Free Resource Library. 

Early Intervention therapy can be challenging without good information on  the developmental order of foundational skills, such as gestures. This episode introduces a fantastic resource for clinicians and parents on gesture development and its connection to language. Find and download a free tracking chart for gestures in the Free Resource Library. 

Some children’s first spoken language is sound effects, and language therapy with a child like this might go nowhere fast unless the SLP recognizes and begins speaking their language. Tune into this episode and get some tips on how to treat these children.

Are you tearing your hair out over a persistent lisp? Do you have a client with a lateral lisp that resists correction? If so, then this podcast can help you understand what to look at in order to correct that lisp once and for all.