Delaney loves to be busy and is a part of the Communications Honors Society Lambda Pi Eta, the Student Government Association, and is a photographer for the student newspaper. She is also a member and Captain of the field hockey team and has played the sport for 12 years. In her free time, she enjoys reading, going on adventures with friends, and kayaking.  

Delaney is from Chelmsford, MA and is excited to get to know and work with Lexington and its surrounding communities. She is very excited to partner with Chatterboxes and have the opportunity to gain first hand experience in public relations and marketing.

We pride ourselves in highly-customized therapy. Have a lover of red-cars or a particular character? We’ll incorporate your child’s interests into his or her therapy program.

It is our belief that there is not a “one-size-fits-all” action plan that works for kids on the spectrum.

Rather, we believe that it is our responsibility as therapists to design and implement a customized medley of communication approaches which emphasize your child’s strengths and support his/her weaknesses to support the end goal:  Robust Communication Skills.

We work alongside parents to collaboratively develop a therapy plan. Once developed, we introduce concepts and skills via play-based therapy techniques. An emphasis is placed on home programs and parent/caregiver training. 

The following principles may be incorporated into your child’s therapy plan:

• Communication of basic wants & needs
• Verbal Language
• Sign Language
• Pictures/Visual Supports
• Augmentative Alternative Communication
• Social Pragmatics
• Social Stories
• Video Modeling
• Visual Supports
• Peer Interaction
• Play-based therapy
• Develop Joint Attention
• Conversational Skills
• Perspective Taking
• Generalization of newly learned skills outside of the therapy environment
• Parent/Caregiver Training
• Home Programs/Materials for practice
• Teacher Trainings/Classroom Consultations

Interested in a Complimentary Consultation?  We love to help. Contact us today!

The Hidden Benefits of Pretend Play

Pretend play is an important part of childhood. You begin to see pretend play as early as the toddler stage. Young children are learning about themselves, their families, and the world around them when they pretend play. Children are not just discovering creativity when they let their imaginations take over in play—they are learning many important skills. Below are some of the skills children can learn from pretend play:

#1 Social-Emotional Skills – When children play together, they practice sharing, turn-taking, and negotiating. In addition, children can better understand and manage their feelings by acting out certain experiences. Pretend play also develops children’s ability to empathize, because they have to consider the way others act, think, and feel.

#2 Language and Vocabulary Skills – Children have a variety of experiences to share with each other, and when they talk and play together, they are actually teaching and learning new vocabulary. They are improving their language skills when they have to communicate with one another in a clear and effective manner—for example, when they are explaining a story which requires a logical plot and sequence of events.

#3 Problem-Solving Skills – Children can come up with complex plans and solve difficult problems as they play. They have to determine who is going to play which role, where the adventure is going to take place, and what events will happen along the way. If a problem arises during their journey, the children have to rethink the story and negotiate a new situation to reach a final goal that is agreed upon by everyone. Pretend play also develops abstract-thinking skills, which are higher-level thinking skills, for example, using a prop, such as a spoon, as a symbol for something else, such as a microphone.

#4  Disciplinary Skills – Children practice rules when playing. A girl might put her doll in time-out for not cleaning up a mess she made. The girl is more likely to discipline herself and follow the rules given by others having been a disciplinarian herself.

Ideas to Encourage Pretend Play:

• Show that play is valuable by playing with your children. Children realize that play is important if adults pay attention to them while they are playing and even engage with them in play.
• Appreciate and talk to your children about their play. We • often say, “You are doing a great job working,” but we may never say, “You are doing a great job playing!”
• Create an environment for play. It is important for adults to provide materials t• that children can explore and adapt in play, and it is also great if adults can provide a special “play place” or designated area for the pretend play and all the inspiring props.
• Adults should monitor play, so that when play appears to be “stuck” or  unproductive, they can suggest new character roles, offer new props, or provide new adventures to inspire ideas, such as a trip to the park, aquarium, or museum.

Children get ideas for their play from books, movies, field trips, and everyday life, so if your children are interested in a particular topic, such as animals, take them to the zoo, read them a book about farm animals, or watch a movie about animals—they will be filled with

The Loved Child and Chatterboxes are proud to announce Complimentary Speech & Language Screenings! 

January 6, 2017 at 9:30am

173 Belmont Street Belmont MA 02478

RSVP to Jennifer via Phone: 617-336-3231 or email: jennifergillette@thelovedchild.net 

Are you concerned if your child is meeting their speech & language developmental milestones?  

Is your child’s speech difficult for you or others to understand?  

Are expressive and/or receptive language (use and understanding of words, phrases and sentence) capabilities consistent with that of their peers?  

If you are unsure, a speech-language screening for your child can help answer your questions. Please read on for common questions about the screening process.

Q: What is a speech-language screening?

A: A speech-language screening is a brief, relaxed and simple process. It is conducted by a Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist and is prompted by parental and/or teacher concerns as to whether their child is meeting certain developmental milestones.  The screening itself does not identify any problems, but rather identifies those children who may benefit from a more thorough and formal Speech-Language Evaluation.

Q: How long does it last?

A: Typically, a screening will last approximately 15 minutes. You are welcome to remain with your child during the screening, although we ask you do not “help” your child during specific tasks.

Q: How will I receive the results of my child’s screening?

A: The Speech-Language Pathologist who administers the speech-language screening will provide you with a Screening Report Summary which will highlight your child’s strengths & weaknesses and recommendations.

Screenings Location & Date:

 January 6, 2017 at 9:30am

 The Loved Child: 173 Belmont Street Belmont MA 02478

RSVP to Jennifer via Phone: 617-336-3231 or email: jennifergillette@thelovedchild.net 

Curious about our mission to help kids be their very best? Visit:  www.Try.TeamChatterboxes.com.

Homework can be a useful way to be sure kids understand topics introduced at school, but has it gone to far? Parents are often hovering over their child trying to assist, but are parents using the same teaching methods being taught at school? Would kids benefit the next day at school instead from more free playtime and outside exercise?

THESE SCHOOLS VOTED TO BAN HOMEWORK. HERE’S WHY

South Burlington School Bans Homework, Urges Kids to Play

Many Parents at Orchard Elementary in Vermont also agree that their kids don’t need to do a second round of academic work after school.

Portland Elementary School Bans Homework

“We find that homework really increases that inequity,” Barker said. “It provides a barrier to our students who need the most support.”

Homework is banned at this Massachusetts School

At this Massachusetts school, teachers are advocating that kids spend more time playing, chatting with parents about their day, and getting to bed early.

Cathy Vatterott, Author of Rethinking Homework: Best Practices the Support Diverse Needs, notes, “There’s a growing suspicion that something is wrong with homework” In her book, Cathy Vatterortt discusses how various factors such as family life, the media, and the “balance movement” can affect a student’s learning.

At Chatterboxes Speech-Language Pathology we are huge advocates of Play. We also love it when people ‘talk-back!’ Sign Up for our Newsletter (scroll to bottom of page) and Let Us Know What you Think!

With the start of the new school year just around the corner, here are some helpful tips to set you and your child up for a successful transition back to school!

Gradually restart school year routines and schedules – This means going to bed earlier, waking up earlier, introducing healthier foods back into the diet, decreasing caffeine intake, etc. Make sure you do this gradually, not overnight! You don’t want to overwhelm yourself or your child by trying to tackle all of these at once. Make sure to take some time to talk about school day activities and re-familiarize your child with what their school day may look like.

Play games to get your child thinking academically and to wake their brain up without losing the summer fun. – Try to find games that incorporate numbers and/or language that your student is familiar with and can review in a fun way before the year starts. 

Familiarize your child with their new school/classroom/teacher. – Make sure to take advantage of orientation days, reach out to the school to see if you can come by and take a tour/visit the classroom, and see if you can set up a meeting with your child’s teacher so they can meet and begin to bond. Try to talk about teacher at home so your child becomes more familiar/comfortable with them in a “safe” environment like home.

For example: “When you’re in Ms. Hansen’s class you’ll be able to read all your favorite books.” This way your child becomes familiar with the idea of their teacher and excited about the school year!

Anticipate and address your child’s (and your own) anxiety! – Be prepared for any/all emotional reactions. Make sure you and your child get a good night’s rest before the first day of school. Try to make the day positive and all about the child! It’s totally normal for you to be nervous too so it’s important you take some time to address your own needs as well so as to focus on your child’s needs as it gets closer to the first day of school.

Discuss change with your child. Keep lines of communication open and be open to talking to your child about the transition, the new school year, how they are feeling, etc.

Practice saying goodbyes. – You can start practicing goodbyes by working small goodbyes into everyday activities, talk about saying goodbye at school (in a positive way), and if you think your child is going to struggle with this then you should reach out and discuss it with their teacher before hand so you can work together to figure out a plan for the first day, or even week, of school.

Prepare for the first day. – Let your child pick out their school supplies, first day of school outfit, what they want to eat, among other small decisions so they feel more involved and excited about the new school year. Try to make sure you talk to your child about what their first day is going to look like. The more prepared they are, the less nervous they will be on the first day!

Here is a link to amazon’s best sellers for Going Back to School! https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Books-Childrens-First-Day-School/zgbs/books/1084236 

Pack their bag together the day before, making sure they have everything they need and can identify where in their backpack things are. The more prepared and confident they are approaching the first day the better.

Make sure your child knows (or can at least recognize) their name, address and phone number.

Be punctual with transitions! – Make sure to stay with your child until they can be handed off to a teacher, or a classmate/friend, and make sure to get to school or the bus stop to pick them up a few minutes early so they dont panic. Making sure you’re present during transitions is important so they can continue to feel safe as they become comfortable with being at school.

Try to set up playdates over the summer. – If you have an idea of who will be in your child’s classroom the next year try to set up playdates with them over the summer to help your child bond/make new friends/familiarize themselves with their future classmates. If your child is new to a school, see if you can find out if there are other new students starting as well so they can meet over the summer and make some friends before school starts.

Stay active!! – Your child is not going to want to give up on summer fun and freedom that quickly. Try to continue summer hobbies/activities through the first few weeks of September and plan on getting as much outside time in while the weather’s still warm as you can. Signing up for after school activities that incorporate new interests/summer hobbies is a great way to keep interests going and to make new friends!

What is a lisp?

A lisp is considered a “functional speech disorder” which means that a child has difficulty learning to make certain speech sounds but the cause of the disorder is not known. Common signs of a lisp include having problems saying /s/, /z/, /r/, /l/ and /th/ due to trouble achieving the correct tongue position for pronouncing the /s/ and /z/ sounds. This usually occurs as if the child is replacing the /s/ or /z/ sound with a /th/ sound.

Although having a lisp may not reduce the intelligibility of, or the ability to understand, what the child is saying, it may impact the way others see them or the way they see themselves.

Types of Lisps

There are four types of lisps: Interdental (frontal), Dentalised, Lateral, and Palatal lisps.

Interdental (frontal) lisps refer to when the tongue sticks out between the front teeth and air-flow is directed forward. This results in /s/ and /z/ sounding like /th/.

• Interdental /s/ – “sad” → “thad”, “missing” → “mithing”, “saw” → “thaw”, “grass” → “grath”
• Interdental /z/ – “zip” → “thip”, “easy” → “eathee”, “buzz” → “buth”, “ways” → “wathe”

Dentalised lisps refer to when the tongue rests on/pushes against the front teeth and the air-flow is directed forward. This creates a slightly muffled sound.

Lateral lisps refer to when the tongue position is similar to a typical /l/ sound position and the air-flow is directed over the sides of the tongue. This makes the sounds sound “wet”, “spitty” or “slushy”.

Palatal lisps refer to when the mid-section of the tongue comes in contact with the soft palate in the far back of the mouth.

Some children and adults who lisp may have other tongue placement problems that results in trouble pronouncing the /sh/, /ch/, /zh/, and /dg/ sounds.

What to do if your child has a lisp?

Functional speech disorders, such as a lisp, can be treated successfully in both children and adults by a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP). Although treatment is usually short-term at a young age, it can be longer and more difficult if left untreated for too long. Typically developing children may produce interdental or dentalised lisps during their developmental phase and tend to grow out of it as they get older. If the lisp continues until they are about 4 ½ years old it is recommended that they see an SLP to be assessed. If a child is producing a lateral or palatal lisp they should be assessed without delay as these are not typical during the developmental phase and could be harder to treat if it becomes habitual.

Typical assessment involves the SLP evaluating your child’s communication skills in different ways. This includes the quality and fluency of their voice, and their semantic and pragmatic skills. The SLP will also assess your child’s mouth, mouth movements, tongue placement, palate structure and the function of these structures. After taking speech and language samples to assess, the SLP can determine what needs to be worked on.

What happens in therapy?

Intervention for lisps typically focuses on re-training the tongue to assume the correct position when producing certain sounds in order for the sounds to be as precise and clear as possible. For instance, the clinician would work on re-training the tongue to assume a more back position instead of a frontal position for an interdental (frontal) lisp.

Intervention for an interdental (frontal) lisp working on the /s/ sound may follow these steps:

• The first step in intervention is determining if the child can accurately tell the difference between the /s/, /z/ and /th/ sounds. This means finding out if the child can correctly identify which of the following is the right way to say a word, such as “soup” vs. “thoop”.
• The next step is to teach the child how to correctly make the new sound. This usually starts by isolating the sound in broken syllables (/s/: s-ay, s-oh, s-ee), followed by syllables (/s/: say, soh, see), and then words with the targeted sound at the beginning, middle, and end (/s/: song, messy, glass).
• After working on words, the clinician will move onto sentences using the words they have been working on, controlled conversations by the clinician, and then in regular conversation while phasing out modelling and reinforcement until the sounds are produced automatically and the child can self-correct when needed.

Is your child entering Kindergarten this Fall? 

Wondering if your child is ready? Worry no more! The below checklist will help you understand and monitor your child’s speech, language and literacy milestones.

If you child receives 3 checks in a category on the Kindergarten Checklist, you may wish to consider looking into a consulting a local Speech-Language Pathologist.

TAKE ME TO THE KINDERGARTEN CHECKLIST! 

Most children make some mistakes as they learn to say new words. When these mistakes continue past a certain age, that is when a speech-sound disorder may be occurring. Every sound has a different range of ages when the child should make the sound correctly. See the chart below for typical speech sound development. Speech-sound disorders include problems with articulation, which is making sounds, and problems with phonological processes, which involves sound patterns.

An Articulation disorder involves problems making sounds. Sounds can be substituted, left off, added or changed; these errors may make it hard for people to understand what someone is saying. For example, many children make a “w” sound for an “r” sound such as “wabbit” for “rabbit” or may leave sounds out of words such as “nana” for “banana.” Treatment involves demonstrating how to produce the sound correctly, learning to recognize which sounds are correct and incorrect, and practicing sounds in different words.

A phonological process disorder involves patterns of sound errors. For example, substituting all sounds make it the back of the mouth like “k” and “g” for those in the front of the mouth like “t” and “d,” saying “tup” for “cup” or “das” for “gas.” Another pattern of sound errors is when children don’t follow the rule of speech that some words start with two consonants, such as broken or spoon. Instead, these children say only one of the sounds such as “boken” or “poon,” which makes it difficult for the listener to understand the child. Treatment involves teaching the rules of speech to children to help them say words correctly.

Many speech sound disorders occur without a known cause. A child may not learn how to produce sounds correctly or may not learn the rules of speech sounds on his or her own. Speech-language pathologists provide treatment to improve articulation of individual sounds, or to reduce errors in the production of sound patterns.