Category Archives: Language

Family Focused Approach to Early Invervention

Hanen Program’s It Takes Two To Talk has earned world wide recognition for its family focused early intervention programs. The Hanen Centre’s mission is: “To provide the important people in a young child’s life with the knowledge and training they need to help the child develop the best possible language, social and literacy skills”.

Chatterboxes is proud to be a certified provider of the Hanen Centre’s programs and conducts regular training for families during our early intervention sessions.

It Takes Two to Talk® is a model of family-focused early language intervention for young children with expressive and/or receptive language delays. The program’s goal is to enable parents to become their child’s primary language facilitator, thereby maximizing the child’s opportunities for communication development in everyday situations. Three core program objectives:

1. Parent Education: Parents learn basic concepts about communication and language that are essential in helping their child’s communication develop. They learn about:

Development of communication (with an emphasis on nonverbal communication.
Differences between expressive and receptive language
Importance of a child’s active participation in frequent, extended turn-taking interactions in order to set the stage for language learning
How and why their child communicates
Child’s stage of communication development which facilitates the setting of realistic communication goals. It also enhances parents’ responsiveness to their children’s communicative attempts.

2. Early Language Intervention: Parents learn to apply language facilitation strategies flexibly across contexts so that intervention becomes a natural part of their daily interactions with their child. Strategies highlighted by the SLP for individual parents are specific to supporting their child’s communication goals. These goals are developed collaboratively with the parents and modified over the course of the program. Since effective and consistent strategy use by parents is critical to the child’s progress, video feedback sessions play a major role in helping parents see and modify their interactive behavior with their child.

3. Social Support: In It Takes Two to Talk, parents gain both formal and informal social support. The SLP, whose multi- faceted role includes that of group leader, interventionist, coach and counsellor provides more formal support. The parent group itself provides informal support through the sharing of experiences with individuals in similar situations. Parents report that this constitutes a vitally important component of the program.

My Son is 20 Months & Not Talking Much. Should I Worry?

By Chatterboxes

“My Son is 20 months old, and not talking much. Should I wait to give him some more time to catch up, or have him Evaluated by a Speech-Language Pathologist?”

There is great variation in language development, especially in children between one to two years of age. Is your son following directions? Does he appear to understand what you are saying? Does he have strong social-interaction skills? If you answered ‘yes’ to each of these questions, it’s possible that your son may have stronger receptive language abilities than expressive abilities. The ability to understand language, is known as receptive language while the ability to use language (produce words) is known as expressive language.

However, it is important to note that your son has surpassed the important milestone for language development of eighteen months. Between 18-24 months of age, a child is expected to have an expressive vocabulary of about 40-50 words, and to begin combining words into two-word combinations, e.g., “My ball.” That said, it would be beneficial to have your son evaluated by a Speech-Language Pathologist, to obtain a clear picture of where he stands in terms of his overall speech and language abilities and determine strategies for you to use with him at home, that will be beneficial for encouraging his language growth.

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

Language Development from Birth to 18 Months

By Chatterboxes

Infants don’t talk, or begin communicating until later on in their development, right?

Technically, speaking, most children won’t speak their first real word until around the time of their first birthday. Often times, it is when their child says their first word around 12 months, that parents begin tuning in to their child’s language development. Many parents don’t realize that their babies, from day one, are absorbing a tremendous amount of information from the world around them, and much of this information will serve as the cornerstone of language development.

Verbal vs. Non-Verbal

Communication and the development of language can be classified into verbal language, or the language and words that we speak and can also be classified as non-verbal communication or the messages that are sent by facial expressions, gestures, or body language. For example, babies gather information from birth based upon their parent’s facial expressions. By gazing into their parent’s eyes, babies are absorbing the emotions on their parent’s faces, and reading the messages that their parents are sending. These non-verbal attributes of communication, such as making eye contact, interpreting facial expressions and taking turns are precursors to conversational skills and language development. Generally speaking, a good conversationalist makes appropriate eye contact, offers good back-and-forth talk-time versus listen-time and is an active listener. These very skills can begin to be cultured with newborn babies during their daily care such as during mealtimes and bedtime routines.

Expressive & Receptive Language

Language is also classified as receptive and expressive language. Receptive language is the language that babies understand, and expressive language, is the language that babies use. For example, if you say to your baby, “Oh! Daddy’s home!” and your baby begins to react, or look around for Daddy, he or she has just shown the receptive understanding of your statement, Dad is home. Alternatively, if you call out your baby’s name and your baby replies vocally using jargon or vowels, “ooh-daahh,” although your baby’s sounds may not be ‘real words’, he or she has just responded to you using expressive language and in his or her own words said, “I’m over here, Mom!”

Language Milestones

Speech-Language Pathologists often use developmental milestones to determine if children are meeting specific receptive and expressive language milestones. Knowing these general guidelines may be helpful for parents to gather more information about their child’s language skills The American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) offers the following milestones. The ASHA milestones are as follows:

Birth to 3 Months: (Receptive)

§ Will startle to loud sounds

§ Smile or quiet down when spoken to

§ Seems to recognize parent’s voice

§ May increase or decrease sucking behavior in response to sound.

Birth to 3 Months: (Expressive)

§ Makes sounds of pleasure, like cooing.

§ Cries differently depending on needs, (hunger, tired)

§ Smiles when sees parents

4 to 6 Months: (Receptive)

§ Moves eyes in the direction of sound

§ Responds to changes in your voice

§ Attends to music and toys that make sounds

4 to 6 Months: (Expressive)

§ Babbling with more consonant sounds (p,b,m)

§ Laughs

§ Vocalizes to show excitement

7 to 12 Months: (Receptive)

§ Likes people games, like peek-a-boo

§ Turns to locate sounds

§ Recognizes common words (shoe, cup)

7 to 12 Months: (Expressive)

§ Babbling using vowels and consonants in long and short bursts

§ Uses sounds to get attention, rather than crying

§ Uses gestures, such as two arms up to indicate “pick me up!”

§ Has 1-2 single words, such as Momma, or Hi!

One to Two Years: (Receptive)

§ When asked, can point to several body parts

§ Follows simple 1 step command “Give me the ball”

§ Listens to simple stories, and songs

§ Points to pictures in a book when named

One to Two Years: (Expressive)

§ Says more single words every month

§ Uses some 2 word combinations, (more milk)

§ Uses many different consonant sounds at the beginning of words.

A Parent’s Role

Parents can begin to encourage their baby’s language development by using a variety of techniques. Often times, these strategies can be employed during everyday activities. Some examples of how parents can help are as follows

Get down to your baby’s level. This may mean sitting or laying on the floor so that you and your baby can be face to face.
Follow your child’s lead; tune into his or her interests. Your child will be more motivated to communicate when engaged with something that interests him or her. It does not need to be a toy and can be something as unconventional as opening and closing a box or looking out the window.
Simplify your language; match it to your child’s language. Use language at a level or slightly above your child’s level.
Add melody to your language to make it more fun and interesting.
Imitate what your child does or says to keep the interaction going.
Repeatedly model simple words or fun sounds for your child to imitate.
Teach your child to use signs. Pair signs with words to facilitate development of single words.
Teach your child the power of communication: require him or her to communicate in order to get what he or she wants. This could be simply making eye contact, signing, or saying a single word.
Expand on your child’s utterances to help them get to the next level. For example, if your child says “more,” you can respond with “more juice.

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

Understanding Your Child’s Standardized Test Scores

By Chatterboxes

Understanding speech and language testing scores takes you back to the basics of statistics and the bell curve. Typically, speech-language testing scores are based on normative sampling in which test makers administer the test to a large group of children. Your child’s scores are compared to the sample to see how their skills compare to peers. With most speech-language tests, you can expect to derive the following scores:

Raw Score: The raw score is typically either the total number correct or the total number of errors.

Standard Score: The standard score is determined by the raw score and is a conversion that allows for comparison to the normative sample. The median standard score is 100. The standard score and percentile rank essentially provide the same information, but most people find the percentile rank to provide a clearer benchmark for their child.

Percentile Rank: The percentile rank is also determined by the raw score. It tells you the percentage of peers your child scored above. For example, a percentile rank of 40% means that your child performed higher than 40% of peers. The median percentile rank is 50%. The following guideline can be used for understanding the significance of percentile ranks:

1-16%	Below Average	Your child may have a severe delay.
17-49%	Low Average	Your child may have a mild or moderate delay.
50-99%	High/Above Average	Your child does not have a delay.

Test Age-Equivalent: A test age equivalent is also derived from the raw score. It indicates the age to which your child’s skills can best be most compared. This score should be interpreted with some caution since sometimes a delay in skills also involves a difference in skills. For instance, a child who is 4 years old and receives an age-equivalency of 3 years old may present differently than a typical 3-year-old child. Age equivalencies are best used as severity measures for this reason.

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

Classroom Strategies For Bilingual/Multilingual Newcomers:

By Chatterboxes

For newcomers who speak little to no English, you might first introduce colors, numbers, shapes, body parts, and survival vocabulary. Once your new students know these words they can do a variety of classroom activities.

Next, start with the school environment vocabulary. You might make flash cards of the items they see in their classroom.

Perhaps assigning the new student with a buddy will help! The ideal situation would be to pair an older bilingual student with a same-language newcomer. During the adjustment phase, the buddy can explain what’s going on. This is a good self-esteem builder for a bilingual buddy and a new friend for the newcomer. You may want to rotate buddies so that students do not become too dependent on one person and the bilingual buddy does not miss too much work.

The newcomer’s buddy might:

Help them learn the classroom routine.
Sit with them at lunch.Learn how to communicate with them using gestures and short phrases.
Teach them the beginning vocabulary.
Include them in games on the playground.
Play student-made vocabulary games with them.
Learn a few words of the newcomer’s language

Make a picture dictionary. To make a picture dictionary, staple sheets of construction paper together and have students cut pictures out of magazines. Use categories which complement your curriculum. Encourage students to add to their Dictionary whenever possible. This is an excellent cooperative learning activity that mainstream students can also do!

Make a vocabulary poster. Have students work in groups. Assign each group to aparticular category. Have kids cut out pictures from magazines and label them to create large posters of categories of common vocabulary words. Categories might include food, clothing, body parts, colors, animals, playground scenes, family groups, classroom, street scenes, house and furniture, or transportation. Display the posters in your classroom

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.

Communication & Play Milestones: (Ages 2.5 to 3 Years)

By Chatterboxes

RECEPTIVE COMMUNICATION:

Understands the use of objects; for example:
- Show what you use to cook food or Show me what you watch.
- Show me what you can ride or Show me what you wear on your feet
Understands part/whole relationships, for example:
- The wheel on the bike
- The tail of the cat
Understands descriptive concepts, such as “big” “wet” and “little”
Follows 2 step related and unrelated commands, without cues:
- Get the cup and give it to me
- Take off your coat and hang it up.

EXPRESSIVE COMMUNICATION:

Uses Plurals, such as “horses” or “blocks” or “babies.”
Combines 3+ words in spontaneous speech.
Answers “What” and “Who” Questions
Uses Verb + ing
For example, “The girl is playing.”
Uses a variety of nouns, verbs, modifiers and pronouns in spontaneous utterances.
Uses prepositions
Understands the concepts of one vs. all. For example,
Give me just one block.
Put all of the blocks in the box.

PLAY:

Performs longer sequences of play activities
Acts out familiar routines
Pretends to perform the caregiver/parent routines.

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

Speech & Language Developmental Milestones

By Chatterboxes

Children’s Speech and Language Development follows a typical pattern of development. The below milestones are speech and language skills that children acquire starting as young as 6 months.

If you have concerns about your child’s speech and/or language development, please feel free to Contact our Team to talk in more detail about your child’s development.

The 4 Stages of the Learning Process

By Chatterboxes

When mastering new therapeutic skills or goals, your child typically advances through a predictable series of learning stages.

Initially, your child may be uncertain as he tries to use the target skill.

With his therapist’s feedback and lots of reinforcement, your child will become more fluent, accurate, and confident in using his new skill.

From a parent’s perspective, It can be very useful to think of these phases of learning as a hierarchy. The learning hierarchy (Haring, Lovitt, Eaton, & Hansen, 1978) has four stages: acquisition, fluency, generalization, and adaptation:

Stage 1: Acquisition:

Your child is starting to be able to complete the target skill correctly, but he is not yet accurate or fluent in the the skill.

The goal in therapy at this stage is to improve his accuracy.

Stage 2: Fluency:

Your child is now able to complete the target skill accurately, but he works slowly and thoughtfully in order to do so.

The goal of this phase in therapy is to increase the student’s speed of responding.

Stage 3: Generalization:

Your child is now accurate and fluent in using his new skill, but he will not typically do so in different settings/environments. Other times, your child may confuse this new target skill with other ‘similar’ skills.

The goal of this therapy phase is for your child to use the skill in the widest possible range of settings and situations, or to accurately discriminate between the target skill and ‘similar’ skills.

Stage 4: Adaptation:

Your child is accurate and fluent in using the target skill. He also uses the skill in many situations or settings. However, your child is not yet able to modify or adapt the skill to fit novel task-demands or situations.

The goal of this stage of therapy is for your child to be able to identify elements of previously learned skills that he can adapt to the new demands or situation.

Learn more about us at www.TeamChatterboxes.com

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

By Chatterboxes

“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