Category Archives: Play

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:

The child must be able to sit in a chair at the table and not attempt to escape, etc.

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.

Follow simple visual instructions

Have the fine and gross motor skills to combine pieces/build structures.

The child should be able to receptively and expressively communicate with peers effectively, either verbally or nonverbally.

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?

All About Preschool: Enrolling, Adjusting, and Choosing

By Chatterboxes

Is your kiddo entering preschool this school year? Are you on the fence about enrolling your child? Don’t know which preschool to choose? We’ve found some great websites and articles to prep you and answer your preschool questions!

To preschool or not preschool?

Not sure if you should enroll in preschool? Think about potty training, promoting independence, and getting your kiddos ready for school in the future! Parents.com has a great article by Anne Zachry about why preschool is a great choice for kids! She expresses that it teaches new skills and prepares them for the coming school years. We love that Zachry also talks about how preschool is beneficial for communication and developing social skills!

Growth, growth, growth! GreatSchools.org is another awesome article that will give you some important reasons why you should enroll your kiddo in preschool! They make some great points regarding the focus of bettering skills and promoting social and emotional development. They also discuss that preschool is an excellent way to give your child more independence by giving them the opportunity to make their own choices!

How do we adjust to preschool?

Nervous about the transition? KidsHealth.org offers a great perspective on adjusting to preschool. They understand that preschool is a big change, and can be scary or confusing for some kiddos. Get your child used to the idea of going to preschool! Ease them into it so they know what to expect, and turn the unfamiliar into familiar! Your kiddo’s teacher is a big resource that you shouldn’t overlook – they’re used to it, and will be happy to help! This article offers up some tips on how to ease the transition and make their first day count!

ZerotoThree.org is also all about preparing for preschool, and has awesome tips and tricks to get your little one ready! We love that they suggest using books and play to get toddlers ready for the transition. Using play and other resources to get your little one familiar with the idea of preschool will be a powerful tool in making the transition into preschool fun and natural. This article even offers a super helpful timeline for you to try out!

How do I choose the right one?

GreatSchools.org wants to make sure you pick the right fit for you and your child! Want to know what’s important when looking for a great preschool? Look no further than this smart list that provides questions to consider and why they’re important. They talk teachers, making smart choices for your family, meeting the needs of your child, parental involvement, and more!

Chatterboxes Private Speech Therapy Services

By Chatterboxes

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:

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.

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!

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

Proudly Serving Massachusetts via our two easy access locations:

35 Bedford Street Lexington MA 02420

10 Langley Road, Newton Centre 02459

Cozy Up with Your Kids & Read these 10 Festive Christmas Books!

By Chatterboxes

1. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss:

This holiday classic follows the Grinch, a grouchy, solitary creature who attempts to put an end to Christmas by stealing Christmas-themed items from the homes of the nearby town Whoville on Christmas Eve.

Written in rhymed verse, the language is lively and engaging. With bright and colorful illustrations, there is plenty for you and your child to look at and talk about

2. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Rick Bunsen: Children ages 3-6 will love to read this book retelling of the classic 1964 holiday TV special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

All of the other reindeer make fun of Rudolph and won’t let him play in their reindeer games because he’s different. But when Christmas is almost cancelled because of a huge snowstorm, Rudolph comes to the rescue with his wonderful shiny red nose.

3. The Bernstein Bears and the Joy of Giving by Jan and Mike Bernstein: Brother and Sister Bear can’t wait for Christmas and all the presents they will open. But during the Christmas Eve pageant, something special happens! The Bear cubs learn a very valuable lesson about the joy of giving to others. This book is great to read to your child as a reminder of what is important this holiday season

4. A Wish to Be a Christmas Tree by Colleen Monroe and Illustrated by Michael Glen Monroe:

This charming tale of an overgrown pine always being passed by for Christmas, and what his woodland friends do to help him, is sure to become a Christmas classic.

With delightful illustrations by wildlife artist Michael Monroe and enchanting text from Colleen Monroe, the birds, deer and squirrel of this story help make their special friend’s wish come true.

5. Olive, the Other Reindeer by Vivian Walsh and Illustrated by J. Otto Seibold: Olive is merrily preparing for Christmas when suddenly she realizes “Olive… the other Reindeer… I thought I was a dog. Hmmm, I must be a Reindeer!” So she quickly hops aboard the polar express and heads to the North Pole. And while Santa and the other reindeer are a bit surprised that a dog wants to join their team, in the end Olive and her unusual reindeer skills are just what Santa and his veteran reindeer team need. Colorful graphic illustrations accompany this zany dog story from the well-known author and artist team, Vivian and J. Otto Seibold.

6. Dream Snow by Eric Carle (Board Book): It’s December 24th, and the old farmer settles down for a winter’s nap, wondering how Christmas can come when there is no snow! In his dream he imagines a snowstorm covering him and his animals in a snowy blanket.

But when the farmer awakens, he finds that it has really snowed outside, and now he remembers something! Putting on his red suit, he goes outside & places gifts under the tree for his animals, bringing holiday cheer to all.

7. Olivia Helps With Christmas by Ian Falconer: Christmas is coming, and Olivia is incredibly busy.

She has to wait for Santa, make sure Dad sets up the tree, watch Mom make the Christmas dinner, oversee the care with which the stockings are hung, and, of course, open her presents! Whew, being helpful during the holidays is exhausting!

8. The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett: This year, Santa asks Teeka to get his reindeer ready to fly on Christmas Eve. She’s happy but a little worried, too. She’s never worked with the reindeer before and she’s not sure they’ll want to come in from the tundra, where they run wild and free. Once she finds them, Teeka’s strong hand does more harm than good, and soon the reindeer are wilder than they were before she began training them. How will she ever get them ready to pull Santa’s sleigh on time?

9. Santa Mouse by Michael Brown and Illustrated by Elfrieda De Witt: We love this charming story about a tiny mouse with no name who lived a very lonely life in a very big house. He loved Christmas dearly and had a special present for Santa, but how could he possibly give it to him?

After all, he’s only a mouse. And how did a little ordinary mouse become Santa Mouse, the helper Santa could never do without? Find out by reading this adorable book with your child.

10. A Charlie Brown Christmas Adapted by Tina Gallo and Illustrated by Scott Jeralds The beloved Peanuts holiday special about Charlie Brown, his friend Linus, a sad Christmas tree that’s rescued, and the meaning of Christmas first aired on television in 1965. As 2015 marks the 50^th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas TV Special, this charming, full-color abridgment of the animated classic is the perfect book to read with your child this Christmas.

Pediatrician’s Developmental Stages of Play: Desk Reference

By Chatterboxes

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

The Business of Play

By Chatterboxes

Play is a powerful vehicle for learning in the early childhood years and a critical source for expanding cognitive, language, motor and play skills. Play is an activity that children do naturally at home, at school and in the community, as it is highly motivating and fun! For these reasons, Chatterboxes SLP’s feel that play is an ideal platform for speech and language therapy for young children.

Play-based therapy is a model of intervention that targets speech and language objectives within the context of play. Therapeutic play, such as this, is characterized by the use of toys and play scenarios within the context of play. Therapy occurs in a natural context, which often facilitates increased generalization of speech and language skills. Play-based therapy is often times less structured than other more standard approaches, and requires creative and flexible thinking on behalf of the SLP (Speech-Language Pathologist). It’s these quick thinking SLP’s that truly make play-based therapy a success for kids, as they transform arising play scenarios into learning experiences.

The following example of Play-Based Speech & Language Therapy can be illustrated via a previous session with a child whom we’ll call Tommy: (Note: One of Tommy’s Speech-Language Goals is to begin to use the pronoun “I” in connected speech).

First, Tommy chooses a toy from those available in the SLP’s room. Today, Tommy chooses the Farm Set. Tommy, a creative and playful boy, who loves pretend play takes the lead. He implies that all of the farm animals want to play in the mud! The SLP sees an instant opportunity to target Tommy’s goal of using the pronoun, “I.”

The SLP notes, “All the animals are going to take turns jumping into the mud!” From here, the child and SLP say with great animation, “I jump in the mud!!” as each animal independently jumps into the mud. The animals love playing in the mud and, the SLP explains, “OH NO! The animals are so dirty; They need to take a bath!” As each animal gets in the bathtub he says, “I take a bath!” or “I need soap!” and then “I dry off!”

Aside from using the the pronoun “I” in the context of the play-sequence, the child is learning to take turns, (a precursor to conversational skills), while using imagination and higher levels of thought processes.

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

Such a play-based scenario promotes carryover of skills learned in therapy to everyday life.

Communication Milestones (Ages 4 to 5 Years)

By Chatterboxes

RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE:

• Pays attention to a short story and answers simple questions about it.
• Hears and understands most of what is said at home and in school.

EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE

• Makes voice sounds clear like other children’s.
• Uses sentences that give lots of details (e.g., “I like to read my books”).
• Tells stories that stick to topic.
• Communicates easily with other children and adults.
• Says most sounds correctly (except a few including l, s, r, v, z, ch, sh, th).
•Uses the same grammar as the rest of the family.

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.