Author Archives: chatterboxes

The SOS (Sequential Oral Sensory) Approach to Feeding

By Chatterboxes 

Chatterboxes’ Speech Language Pathologists are trained to utilize the SOS (Sequential Oral Sensory) Approach to Feeding, a family-centered treatment method to address pediatric feeding difficulties.
Feeding is one of the most complicated tasks your child will ever complete and a skill that takes most children at least two years to learn. To eat an age appropriate diet that meets his or her nutritional needs, your child’s internal organs, sensory system, and oral-motor muscles must all be developing appropriately and working together. Given the complexity of feeding, it is no wonder that roughly 25% of children struggle with eating at some point in their lives.
The SOS treatment approach takes the complexity of feeding into account, assessing the “whole child” to identify specific skills such as biting, chewing, and sensory modulation and regulation with which a child may be struggling. Often problematic feeding behaviors develop as a result of skills deficits and can be eliminated by building a child’s feeding abilities. For example, a toddler with weak oral motor skills who has difficulty chewing will learn quickly that tough-to-chew foods like meats and raw vegetable do not work for her mouth; she may develop problem behaviors such as running from the table or tossing her plate on the floor to avoid taking a bite of these challenging foods. Similarly, a child with Autism who is unable to recognize his favorite yogurt when it’s not presented in its usual container may scream and cry when it’s presented in a new bowl. Identifying the underlying cause of these behaviors allows our clinicians to develop a treatment plan specifically tailored to your child’s unique needs.

During the therapy process, the SOS Approach uses systematic desensitization to enhance a child’s ability to explore and tolerate novel foods, by providing him or her opportunities to interact with new foods in increasingly complex ways. For example, a child who initially is not able to tolerate the sight of a certain food on the table will be taught through play to touch the food, kiss the food, lick the food, and ultimately taste, chew, and swallow it- all while having fun in an encouraging and relaxed environment. Using play-based therapy techniques and positive reinforcement, children are taught the necessary skills they need to broaden the range of foods they consume and engage in positive mealtime behaviors. To ensure carryover to the home environment, clinicians work closely with parents and caregivers, offering detailed strategies to help children transfer skills from the therapy room to the dinner table.

Contact Chatterboxes to learn more or click here: www.sosapproach-conferences.com/about-us/sos-approach-to-feeding

5 Simple Ways to Make Play More Effective

By Chatterboxes 


Research has clearly proven the power of play in young children; particularly the impact of play on a child’s first 3 years of life. Play allows children to explore the world, while developing expressive and receptive language, social skills, fine and gross motor skills, and imagination, all while developing new skills and acquiring basic concepts.

When you sit down to play with your child, the direct 1:1 time that you have to spend undivided attention may be limited. So, here are some tried and true techniques to make the undivided playtime you offer to your child to be as effective as possible.
 
1) Follow your Child’s Lead

Let your child be in charge of showing YOU how to play with a toy, or object. Let him lead, as if you were playing follow the leader. Please don’t feel the need to be the ‘teacher’ all the time. Letting him lead the play will peak his interest, keep him engaged, and generally be more fun! Once your child has taken the lead, you might comment on what he is doing in his play with a few simple words. Here’s an Example:
 
Child’s (Leader) Action: Child pick up blocks and begins banging two blocks together.

Parent Response: “Blocks! Bang, Bang!”

Parent’s Action: Parent now picks up 2 blocks and bangs blocks together.


2) Repeat, Repeat, Repeat then…. Wait.


Modeling the sounds or language of play with a very high frequency of repetition is critical to a new language learner. When modeling with repetition, be sure to use inflection in your voice, or make up a rhythm. After modeling a sound, word, or phrase a number of times; wait. Give your child ample time to process this stimuli and have a chance to imitate. Here’s an Example:

Child’s (Leader) Action: Child puts a ball on a ramp. Ball rolls down ramp

Parent Response: “Doooown!” “Doooown!” “Doooown!” “Doooown!” (Each time ball rolls down ramp)

Parent’s Action: Parent holds the ball at the top of the ramp and WAITS; Giving child ample time to  attempt the word “down!”


3) Eye Level Positioning

 

Nothing is more powerful in communication than face to face exposure.  This might mean laying down on your stomach to face your child on the floor, or squatting down to your toddler as he stands. Face to face positioning allows for us to maintain eye contact, for us to ‘read’ one another, see facial expressions, gestures and one another’s general affect. It also allows for the child to optimally observe your articulators (mouth, tongue, teeth, lips) during speech production.
 

4) Read Your Child’s Non-Verbal Cues

 

Learn to be sensitive to his cues to see when he has had enough. It’s just as important to have the balance of being able to calm down and rest, both mentally and physically as it is to play with excitement and fun! This is especially important, as your child may not yet have the words to tell you he has had enough. Signs he is ready for a brake include: Acting distracted, becoming fussy, avoiding eye contact, or rubbing his eyes. Reassure your child you will play again very soon!

5) Special Toys… Not Required!

 

Play can happen at anytime with almost anything during the day! Please don’t feel the need to purchase specific toys, and feel like play can only happen in a perfect environment. Busy parents can learn to incorporate play into daily routines, such as bathtime or other daily chores, such as packing a lunch or walking the dog. For example, during bathtime:


Child’s (Leader) Action: Child splashes bubbles in tub

Parent Response: “bubble!” (splash, splash) “bubble!” (splash, splash) “bubble!” (splash, splash)
 

Even if it is for only a short time each day, your child makes amazing strides with your playful interactions. Through play you are helping your child to increase his self-confidence, brain development, social skills, as well as speech and language development.
 

Your play-time and love makes all the difference in the world to your child.

 


 

5 Easy Methods to Target Irregular Past Tense Verbs with Dollhouse Play

By Chatterboxes 

 
Many children exhibit difficulty learning irregular past tense verbs, because they don’t follow the typical “-ed” past tense rule. You might choose to incorporate targeting irregular past tense verbs into your play with your child for just 15-20 minutes each day, or you might repeat the target irregular past tense verbs frequently throughout the day, during conversation or daily routines. Try to focus on only a few verbs at a time (or just one at a time, if your child is exhibiting more difficulty).

5 Play Scenarios that Target Irregular Past Tense Verbs, Using a Toy Dollhouse:

 

1) Mealtime– It’s time to eat! Set up each wooden figurine around the family dinner table, while targeting the following irregular past tense verbs:
 
brought, ate, drank, made, fell, took   
 
2) Bedtime– Pretend putting each family member to sleep for the night. You might model your child’s bedtime routine during play in order to practice the following irregular past tense verbs:
 
slept, woke, read
 
3) Outdoor Play– Have the family go outside to play while focusing on the following irregular past tense verbs:
 
slid, ran, caught, hid, swing, threw
 
4) Grocery Store– Pretend the family hops into the car and drives from the dollhouse to the pretend grocery store, focusing on the following words:
 
wrote (list), drove, bought, chose, found, saw

The Top 8 Signs 👌🏼to Teach Your Child!

By Chatterboxes 

Is your toddler crying and whining to communicate what he wants?

 

It might be helpful to introduce a few functional signs. Signs can help children express themselves, reducing communicative frustration. Signs are considered to be words that are produced with the hands instead of the speech mechanism.

 

They are easier for children to use that orally produced words and have been evidenced to facilitate speech production and oral word use, especially when paired with spoken words.
 

When introducing signs, start with just one or two signs for the purpose of requesting, e.g., signs for more and please. Use hand-over-hand modeling to teach the signs, e.g., taking your child’s hands and performing the sign for him or her. Over time, fade the level of support you provide your child to facilitate their use of the signs.

After your child becomes proficient with a requesting sign, introduce early vocabulary items, e.g., ball, car, train, music, open, eat, drink, milk, cookie, cracker, all done, help and thank you.

 

1) More

The ‘more’ sign is an amazing tool for your child to be able to request food, actions, drinks, toys, books and anything really he or she would like to experience again!

 

2) Help

Is your child stuck? Did their toy break or drop? Did they loose their shoe? Encouraging your child to ask for help will allow him or her to understand they can shape their environment with the power of communication; rather than crying, fussing or yelling.

 

3) Want

Encourage your child to ask for what he or she wants! This will help you child build vocabulary into moving into short phrases, such as “I want juice!” or “I want Mommy!”

4) Open

Empower your child ask you to Open the door, Open their snack, Open the book, Open a toy, Open your bag!

5) All Done

Finished playing with a toy? Sign All Done when cleaning it up. Is your child done with lunch? Help them sign, All Done.  your child will learn to tell you when they don’t like something, or prefer to be finished.

6) Mom:

  Dad:

Make it necessary that your child asks for you! Pretend you don’t know who they want! Help them answer who questions; and identify turn taking. Whose turn is it? Mommy’s Turn!

 

7) Eat

Knowing the sign to eat will help your child be able to tell you when they are hungry, and continue to build vocabulary. What do you want? Do you want to Eat or Play? Let your child choose from different responses and continue to build language.

8) Milk

Give your child a word for the drink they love and request they use it before they are given the milk or their bottle. Make your child request it; each and every time!

When practicing, especially when introducing a new sign, have two adults working with your child, in that one person holds the toy/object that your child is requesting and the other person does hand-over- hand modeling of the sign. The person holding the toy/object sits across from your child, at eye level with him/her, and the other person sits behind him/her, taking his/her  hands to help him/her physically produce the sign.

10 Most Common Articulation Sound Errors In Kids Under 5

By Chatterboxes 


Most children make errors in articulation, when they are learning to talk. Many children naturally outgrow these articulation errors or error patterns.

 
When a child does not outgrow particular error(s) or error pattern(s), he or she may be at risk for an Articulation Disorder. Therefore, if the following errors are noticed past the age of natural suppression, it is important the child see a Speech-Language Pathologist, so they and their parents can learn the strategies and exercises necessary to help remediate their error(s) or error pattern(s), and increase their intelligibility (ability to be understood by others).

The top ten articulation errors and error patterns that we have observed at Chatterboxes, in children under 5 are as follows:
 
1) Cluster Reduction, e.g., “poon” for ‘spoon’

    Naturally suppresses by age 4
 
2) Velar Fronting, e.g., “tup” for ‘cup’
    Naturally suppresses by 3 years, 6 months
 
3) Interdental Lisping, e.g., “thit” for  ‘sit’
    Developmentally appropriate until age 4 years, 6 months
 
4) Final Consonant Deletion, e.g., “Da” for ‘Dad’
    Naturally suppresses by age 3 years, 3 months
 
5) Stopping of Voiced Sounds /th/, e.g., “dat” for ‘that’
    Naturally suppresses by age 5
   
6) Palatal Fronting, e.g., “seep” for ‘sheep’
    Naturally suppresses by age 3 years, 6 months
 
7) Gliding of /r/, e.g., “wing” for ‘ring’
    Naturally suppresses by age 5
    
8) Gliding of /l/, e.g., “wamp” for ‘lamp,’ or “yike” for ‘like’
    Naturally suppresses by age 5
 
9) Weak Syllable Deletion, e.g., “tehphone” for ‘telephone’
    Naturally suppresses by age 4
    
10) Consonant Harmony, e.g., “mime” for ‘mine’
    Naturally suppresses by age 3 years, 9 months