Category Archives: Autism

What is Lego based Therapy?

Lego based therapy is a collaborative play based therapy approach in which children with high functioning ASD work together to build LEGO models by working in pairs of 2 or more.

LEGO therapy encourages both nonverbal and verbal communication skills including: collaboration, joint attention, joint accomplishment, division of labor, sharing, turn taking, eye contact, gaze following, learning to be flexible thinkers, problem solving skills, and conflict resolution skills.

The communication and social bonding occurs as a result of the joint focus on a common goal: LEGO building!.

Ages for Lego groups: Groups can start as early as preschool age to adolescent years.

Criterion for Lego group:

  1. The child must be able to sit in a chair at the table and not attempt to escape, etc.
  1. The child should be able to respond to verbal instructions and nonverbal prompts, including pointing and gaze direction,  imitating LEGO-building basic activities as demonstrated, with or without verbal prompting.
  1. Follow simple visual instructions
  1. Have the fine and gross motor skills to combine pieces/build structures.
  1. The child should be able to receptively and expressively communicate with peers effectively, either verbally or nonverbally.
  1. Does not does aggressive/disruptive behaviors

Lego Group size:

There is a minimum of 2 children per group. Group sizes can range up to 6 children, however, we prefer a maximum of 3-4 children per group to ensure highly individualized care.

* Please Note: Children with severe ASD would not be a good fit for these groups. Lego groups seem to work best with children with PDD/Aspergers/high functioning autism that can already demonstrate the skills mentioned above.

Group Mechanics: How does it work?

Group of 2 children: One child is the “engineer” who gives verbal instructions of the pieces needed and directions for assembling them. The “builder” follow his/her directions, and collects and puts pieces together. The roles are then switched.

Groups of 3: Each child has a role. The “engineer” describes instructions, “supplier” finds the correct pieces, and the “builder” puts the pieces and then they switch roles.

SLP’s role:

The Speech Pathologist is focused on highlighting the presence of particular issues or problems as they arise. The Speech Pathologist works to facilitate ho  the children themselves can brainstorm their own solutions and resolve issues. The SLP focuses on positive behaviors rather than negative.

Interested in enrolling or learning if your child is a candidate for Lego Therapy?

Contact Us at 617-969-8255 or megan@teamchatterboxes.com

Summer Speech & Language Sessions!

 

Avoid the Summer Slump and enroll in Chatterboxes Summer Speech & Language Therapy Program!

Our Sessions are designed to encourage pragmatic & social skills, language learning, and basic concepts via visual supports, music, gestures, and other multi-sensory based activities in a peer driven environment.

Schedules are flexible: Your child may attend 1-5 sessions a week based on your preference. Each session is 45 minutes; Contact us below for more schedule details.

Each session focuses on your child’s individual goals, new vocabulary, sounds & words, and language concepts. Our play-based space presents an ideal environment for children to be exposed to opportunities to use their newly acquired and emerging speech & language skills.

All sessions are lead by top-rated ASHA Certified Speech Language Pathologists.

Ready to Learn More? Click Here

8 Awesome Blogs for Parents of Kids with Autism

 

We thought it would be a great opportunity to share some of these awesome blogs with our readers.

We’ve seen MANY autism blogs, and these were some that stood out to us.

Check them out, and enjoy!

First up, Autism and Oughtisms! This blog is a great read for any parent of a child with autism, or multiple children. Many of the posts are centered around parenting, sharing stories, or views about autism, and makes for an insightful and unique read from many other autism blogs.

 

Next, Autism with a Side of Fries is as interesting as its title! Eileen “Mama Fry” Shaklee is an honest, fierce, loving mom who doesn’t sugar coat autism; but she always looks on the positive side! Her blog is a great read for everyone, and is very relatable and refreshing.   

 

The Autism Daddy is our next awesome blog. This Sesame Street dad has a 13 year old son with autism, and has been blogging since 2011! Read about how he manages his home and work life and the interesting ways that they collide.

 

Next up: Confessions of an Aspergers Mom. This mom is a master at sharing her feelings and experiences through her writing. As a parent with a child, autism or not, she is very relatable and has a great writing style!

 

All About Boog is another great read! Mom Amanda Lynn is a proud advocate for her son, Boog, and autism in general. Her blog includes everything from short posts about things she likes, stories about Boog, and her thoughts on autism and how it’s viewed.

 

Next, Four Plus an Angel is a blog authored by mom Jessica, who has four kids of varying ages but lots of love to go around. Her oldest was diagnosed with autism, but her blog content is about so much more too. If you’re a parent, have a busy schedule, and rely on coffee…this blog is for you!

 

Stimeyland is a great blog that had us laughing out loud. Stimey is a mom of three who herself was diagnosed with autism in 2012. Not only is her story unique and quirky, but her writing style and storytelling abilities are awesome and will have you in (happy) tears!

 

Last but not least, The Autism Dad is a blog all about raising three children with autism. Rob Gorski is super relatable, down to earth, and blogs about all things autism, kids, marriage, and life in general. Great read for parents!

Now We’re Talking | A Blog About Raising My Autistic Son

For our next chapter in the “Now We’re Talking” blog series, we interviewed Lynne from A Blog About Raising My Autistic Son. Her blog title, chosen by her son, is very self explanatory and readers can find all kinds of great posts about family life, autism, Aspergers, and more! We think Lynne’s blog is a great read for parents; its full of honest accounts, heartwarming and funny family stories, and lots of valuable advice.

Thank you to Lynne and her family, and please enjoy this installment of “Now We’re Talking”!

Q: Tell us a little about you and your family.

A: I’m married to Nick and we have four children, including one set of twins, aged 12 to 18. Our eldest son, Edward, was diagnosed with Asperger’s in 2009 when he was 8 years old.

I’m a speech and language therapist working with severe/profoundly deaf adults on a cochlear implant program in the UK. I spent the first few years of my career working with children who had a wide range of communication difficulties, including children who had Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD), however once I started my own family, I made the switch to working with adults.

Q: What made you want to share your story through a blog?

A: After a few failed attempts at writing a book in 2015, a friend suggested blogging, and I haven’t really looked back since then. We’re now in a good place as a family and Edward is thriving.  I wanted to share our story, including the ups and downs, to give some hope and practical ideas for other parents out there who are new to the role of raising children with ASD.

My blog is called “A blog about Raising My Autistic Son” and Edward was the one who chose the name – he said it should say exactly what it was and rejected all my other proposed titles! He also insisted that we use pseudonyms and no family photos – so apologies for the cartoon image!

Q: What was it like when you first realized that your son had autism?

A: Due to my professional background, I’d had hunches that there was something a bit different about Edward from a very early age. For example his eye contact was fleeting and he could concentrate for hours on one thing without getting distracted or bored. However, he also could do some things (such as show affection and play imaginatively) which didn’t fit with my stereotype of what a child with ASD was like.

I spent years yo yo-ing between thinking he had autism and thinking I was being overly analytical of his every move. It was a long journey recognizing that the evidence was pointing towards the fact that my son was on the autistic spectrum. I then had to convince Nick that it was a good idea for us to have Edward assessed, and after getting him on board, I had to persuade our general practitioner to refer Edward for an ASD assessment. It then took another 18 months before we were finally told that Edward had Asperger’s Syndrome (now called ASD).

To be honest by the time that day came, I felt relieved and vindicated. A diagnosis meant I could ask for more support at school and advocate for Edward with more credibility and authority. I also felt relieved for Edward who was already becoming aware that he was different from the other kids at school. Being able to tell him he had Asperger’s, and explaining both the strengths and weaknesses that come with it, helped him to understand himself better.

Q: How has ASD affected your family life?

A: Over the years, we’ve grown to understand how best to communicate with Edward and how he communicates with us, so that the strategies we use have become second nature.

Here’s a few examples:

Edward understands language very literally, so if we want him to understand something, we have to say exactly what we mean. This sounds so simple, but it’s actually quite a challenge to do that in practice. When Edward was little, he would sometimes tap his glass with his knife as he liked the sound it made – the rest of the family hated it. If we said “stop making that noise!” He would just start banging his knife against the plate (making a slightly different noise). However if we said, “stop making noises with the cutlery and start eating your dinner” he’d nearly always do what we asked. We learned that in order to make things easier for him to understand, we had to use more words and be very explicit in what we wanted him to do. Now that he’s older, we don’t have to be quite as literal, as he has learned a lot of metaphors and understands that language can be used creatively.

We also learned not to rush (ok to be honest I’m still trying to learn this one). Trying to do things in a hurry just lead to a lot of anxiety and things would invariably end up taking longer! Planning ahead is really helpful – knowing what is going to happen and what helps Edward to stay calm and function better. If I realize there’s going to be something on TV that Edward and I would enjoy watching together, I can’t spontaneously suggest we watch it there and then, as it’ll interfere with his pre-planned schedule for the evening and he finds it hard to change his plans at short notice. I need to book in a time to watch a program with him!

We’ve also learned that Edward is listening to us even when his body language and eye contact (or lack of it) indicates otherwise.  Edward can look at us when we speak to him but this uses more effort and can make it harder for him to process what we are saying.

I’ve also written a lot more about how we’ve adapted our communication and how we helped Edward develop his communication skills in my blog.

Q: Are there any resources that more people should know about?

A: Reading “Asperger’s Syndrome: A guide for Parents and Professionals” by Tony Atwood was very helpful in giving us the confidence to seek an assessment for Edward.  We also found “Can I tell you about Asperger’s Syndrome?” by Jude Welton very useful. This slim line, easy to read book was one that we loaned out to family friends (adults and children). It explains very simply what it is like for a child to have Asperger’s Syndrome.

Blogs didn’t even exist in 2008/09, but if they had I’d have tried to find one which gave me some practical ideas and hope. Many of the books I read when Edward was little painted a very bleak future for him; one of social isolation, mental health problems, and school refusal. I would have loved to read about some more optimistic outcomes, and have heard directly from autistic people and other parents about things which had helped them make family life flow more smoothly.

Q: Did you and your son utilize speech therapy? If so, please tell us about it. 

A: Like many children who have Asperger’s Syndrome, Edward developed speech and language fairly typically. In fact, his vocabulary was very advanced for his age. However, he didn’t always communicate as you’d expect. At times, he was apparently not aware of family and friends or their greetings, or even that a response from him was expected. However, he could also talk at length about a subject of interest to him with little awareness of whether or not the other person was interested in what he was saying.  He did see a speech and language therapist as part of his assessment for ASD, and she focused primarily on his social use of language. She saw him mainly at school and gave advice to his teachers.

In my current role working with deafened adults, I do a lot of work on psychosocial communication. This approach helps people to identify why communication has broken down and helps them to develop the skills and confidence required to repair communication breakdowns. Over the years I’ve taken this approach home and used it with Edward to help him learn to think more consciously about communication and the things he can do to make it work well. I’m a great believer in using role play as a way of practicing and trying out new communication strategies, and so our family has role played a lot of different scenarios with Edward over the years.

Q: What advice would you give to a parent who is in a similar situation?

A: As a parent, you are the best advocate for your child. Seek out all the support available and learn as much as you can about your child’s condition at a pace you can manage, and find help from other parents, support groups, and professionals. Don’t start viewing your child as someone with a problem to be solved – have fun with them, spend time with them, and keep your expectations for them as high as possible.

If you have a child with ASD, you’ll need to develop a thick skin so you don’t take things too personally – you will be raising a child who is absolutely committed to saying what they believe to be true at any one time, with no social filtering or softening.  If you are raising a child with ASD, there will undoubtedly be times where social rules have been broken on all sorts of levels, leading to very embarrassing moments. Take time to use these moments to educate your child (after the event) but also find someone who you can laugh with about these excruciating moments – it’ll make you feel a lot better.

Q: If you could travel back in time, what would you tell yourself when you first realized that your son had ASD?

A: I think I’d have pushed for an earlier diagnosis. Prior to diagnosis, Edward was beginning to be viewed by people as a difficult child, and all this negativity meant that Edward started to view himself as being a ‘bad’ person. Once we had the diagnosis, it reframed everything; it didn’t excuse unacceptable behavior, but it made sense of why things were often challenging. Edward started to view himself more positively- he wasn’t bad; he was autistic. He was different but not in any way less.

Chatterboxes Private Speech Therapy Services

 

Better Speech Therapy

No, We don’t Accept Insurance Directly for Speech Therapy:

See Why Parents & Kids Love It

Prior to her work at Chatterboxes, our founder, Megan Rozantes., M.S., CCC-SLP used to provide insurance-based speech therapy services.

She knows first hand the differences between Insurance-Based and Out-of-Network Speech Therapy. Based on her previous insurance-based experience as a speech therapist, Megan learned everything she didn’t want in a private speech therapy practice, and everything she did want!

Our practice’s mission is to shine the therapy spotlight directly on each child, every time. We’ve alleviated administrative duties, external challenges, red tape and time constraints for our therapists, so our therapists have the ability to focus intensely on each child’s needs and abilities. This is truly the cornerstone of Chatterboxes. Our support staff ensures that each speech-language-pathologist has the administrative support, time and resources she needs in order to maximize her clinical impact, allowing therapists to work smarter, not harder.

Now, more families are choosing the Out-of-Network and Private Pay model for Speech Therapy. Here’s Why:

Speech Therapy Low Caseloads

Low Caseloads

Speech therapy services are in demand! The average Speech Therapist is helping so many more kids than is reasonable for her schedule. At Chatterboxes, our caseloads are 50% lower than industry average so that we are able to devote more time to each child’s therapy session each and every time.

What do lower caseloads mean? Plan, Prepare, Plan: We can provide twice the planning time and premium resources for rapid progress. It’s not uncommon for a Speech Therapist at Chatterboxes to plan for a 1-2 hours for a single 45 minute therapy session.

The more time our team puts in behind the scenes to prepare for each child’s visit, the better the therapy results. Why? because kids are engaged and it matches their needs. Know a lover of Paw Patrol or Red Matchbox Cars? We guarantee that our kids are super-motivated to participate, as we’ve thoughtfully crafted up a personalized session based on their interests every time.

Speech Therapy Fresh Top Talent

Fresh, Top Talent

We provide speech therapy with a personal connection and friendship, creating trust from which progress is built. We are not a factory. We do not churn out visits. That means, our talented private speech therapists are bright-eyed and are honored to be providing services to each child! Our Speech-Therapists are eager to share their clinical knowledge via in-person conferences, phone talks, countless emails and text messages,  highly customized home programs and family training to make a difference in each child’s abilities! 

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The Child’s Ecosystem & Skill Progression

In order for Speech Therapy to be effective, each child must be able to demonstrate skills outside of the therapy environment. Each child is surrounded by their own ecosystem. If the important adults in each child’s life are not trained in targeting speech therapy goals, progress will be affected. We train parents, teachers, grandparents, nannies, babysitters, etc in our vivid and clear home programs. Each adult has access to specific instructions and understands how to offer support to the child toward speech therapy goals. To keep everyone updated, we offer free speech therapy progress reports and phone conferences.

The Bottom Line

In Conclusion, at Chatterboxes, our team feels that Highly-Individualized speech therapy is not possible in an Insurance-accepted paradigm due to limitations on time and resources driven by financial constraints

Our mission at Chatterboxes is to increase each child’s ability to succeed with better speech therapy services and transform the process of speech therapy to be a highly-customized, delightful and effective experience for kids and parents.

Eager to learn more? Contact Heather for your Complimentary Initial Consultation at 617-969-8255, or visit us at www.TeamChatterboxes.com

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Proudly Serving Massachusetts via our two easy access locations:

35 Bedford Street Lexington MA 02420

 10 Langley Road, Newton Centre 02459

 

 

 

Social Thinking & Learning

 

friends

Social thinking happens every time we share space with others.

We consider the context, the thoughts, the emotions, and the intentions of the other person with whom we are interacting. This information informs how we respond and behave with another. Michelle Garcia Winner, the founder of Social Thinking, explains, “How we think about people affects how we behave, which in turn affects how others respond to us, which in turn affects our own emotional internal and external responses.”

This process is one that most of us take for granted; it happens naturally and is intuitive for most of us. Yet for children with social learning challenges, the process of thinking about what others are thinking or feeling is incredibly difficult. Without this information of another’s thoughts, emotions, or intentions, it is difficult to know what response or behavior is appropriate in the social interaction.

The Social Thinking treatment framework targets how to enhance and improve social thinking abilities to facilitate more natural and comfortable social interactions.

social thinking 1

 

Children with social learning challenges do not intuitively or naturally learn social information the same way other children do. They have to be cognitively taught how to think socially and understand the use of related social skills. By learning how other people think, children can understand others points of view and why specific social and communication skills are required in different situations.

social thinking

Social Thinking teaches us that how we think affects how we feel, and how we behave affects how others think and feel. We learn to make people comfortable around us by using our actions and our language.

 

iPad and Proloquo2Go AAC Therapy Session

Play-Based Augmentative Communication Session

Segment 1:

During our play based session, the clinician engages Erik with a favorite game (Candy Land Castle). While playing Candy Land, Erik is prompted to announce each player’s turn using his iPad via the Proloquo2Go app.  Yes/No questions are also targeted in part 1. Social Phrases, such as “Yes! A Match!” and “Oh No!” are included to promote social commenting.

Segment 2:

Where? Erik is concentrating on answering Where Questions in this segment using a magnet scene. The clinician also provides a visual cue for “Where.” Erik selects from pre-programed icons with prepositional phrases.

For more information on our Evaluations & Therapy, or to schedule a visit for your child, visit  www.TeamChatterboxes.com 

 

Private Speech Therapy vs School-Based Speech Therapy: How do they Stack Up? (Part 1 of 2)

 
“Should I Stay with School Therapy or Should I go Private?”  
 
Alot of parents are asking themselves this question at some point during their child’s speech therapy care. Parents may struggle to see progress with school speech therapy,  Yet, going to a Private Practice entails an increased cost when compared with school-based therapy.

 

Training
 
Both a Private Speech-Language Pathologist and a School Based Speech Pathologist who are “CCC-SLP Certified” have the same level of educational training after all, so how can there be a difference in services?

 

Here’s why: The school SLP must work under the confines of her school district’s regulations. Due to the intense need for speech & language services at school, the Speech-Pathologist practicing in a Public School typically faces an ever-increasing set of demands during the school year; thus she’s presented with an expanded scope of practice. School SLP workload responsibilities include:
 
Therapy Timeline
 
By law, in Massachusetts, once the public school has received parental consent, the school has 30 working days to perform an Evaluation. Once the testing is complete, a team meeting must be scheduled within 45 school working days.
 
Time-Out. 75 Days? That’s a substantial period of ‘waiting’ time in a child’s academic school year.
 
In a private setting, an evaluation is typically scheduled within 1 week. The report is then produced in 7-10 days and therapy often begins the week after the evaluation.
 
Eligibility & Qualification
 
Your child needs to meet state issued eligibility standards to qualify for speech/language services in the Public Schools. In Massachusetts, “To be eligible for special education services, a student must first be found to have a  disability which is causal to an inability to make effective progress in school.”
 
In a Private Setting, your child does not need to be ‘eligible’ for our services. A parent calls with concern and we arrange for an Evaluation during a preferred time in your schedule.
 
The Evaluation Process
 
In a school-based testing situation, the SLP is confined to measuring performance solely based on standardized test results.
 
A private evaluation entails standardized testing (like in the schools), yet the Private Therapist has the discretion to include her Clinical Impressions. She has the ability to consider that your child may have had an off-day, or that he can exhibit a particular skill in play, but not during testing. You can also weigh in with your thoughts on your child’s performance, as chances are, you’re in the room.
 
With your parental consent, the private SLP can share her immediate impressions of your child’s evaluation results upon completion of the evaluation.
 
Therapeutic Environment
 
We all know that kids make progress when they are engaged and having fun. In a child- therapy situation one of the keys to success is the clinical environment. Do you know where your child’s school-therapy takes place? A hallway? A noisy classroom? An office? Background noise is distracting.

Interested in learning more about us? Visit: www.TeamChatterboxes.com

Private vs School Based Speech Therapy: How do they Compare? (Part 2 of 2)

Part 2 of 2
Three’s a Crowd & Four’s a Party
 

It’s most likely that if your child is receiving speech therapy services at school, they are doing so in a group setting. Kids in the group may or may not be targeting similar therapeutic goals.

Imagine hearing,  “Students: I’ll be modeling ‘How to Play Cards’ this session, but one of you will learn Gin Rummy, the other Poker, and Timmy, you’ll learn to play Hearts.”

 

Private speech sessions are typically one-to-one; whereas 100% of the SLP’s attention is focused on your child the entire 45-60 minute session. Home Programs, like these,  are included with each session. After the session, parents are walked through the homework, and given suggestions on how to implement strategies for increased carryover of newly learned skills.
 
 
Caseloads & Workloads
 
It wouldn’t be uncommon for a School-Based SLP to provide services to 95 children in one week. At Chatterboxes, a full-time therapist provides 25-30 visits per week on average.
 
Aside from designing and executing therapy to her caseload of 95 students, the School-Based SLP is also responsible for attending IEP meetings and writing and revising IEP Reports for each student. High caseloads reduce a therapist’s availability of time for planning.
 
 
Whole Child Approach
 
At Chatterboxes, our private model gives us the ability for our Speech-Pathologists to carry lower caseloads while allowing for the therapist to treat the ‘whole child.”
Whole Child Info Graphic.jpg
 
At Chatterboxes, we incorporate a child’s daily hobbies and interests, such as home-life, siblings, family happenings, into the child’s Weekly Therapy and Home Program.  
 
With parental permission, we involve the child’s teachers, babysitters, or siblings into our Therapy Program. Ensuring that all the people involved in the child’s life are educated on his or her goals and implementing strategies consistently provides the support a child needs to make progress.
 
While making therapy meaningful and relevant to a child’s interest and life from a subject perspective, our private-based model to treat the Whole-Child allows for a child to experience increased progress & carryover newly learned skills outside the therapy environment.   
 
_______________________________
 
“To the doctor, the child is a typhoid patient; to the playground supervisor, a first
baseman; to the teacher, a learner of arithmetic. At times, he may be different things to
each of these specialists, but too rarely is he a whole child to any of them.”
—From the 1930 report of the White House
Conference on Children and Youth

Interested in learning more about our practice? Visit: www.TeamChatterboxes.com