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

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.

The PROMPT Approach

By Chatterboxes

PROMPT is a multidimensional approach to treat speech production disorders. PROMPT is an acronym for PROMPTS for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets and this approach incorporates the well-known physical-sensory aspects of motor performance with the cognitive-linguistic and the social-emotional aspects. PROMPT is a program to develop motor skill in the development of language for interaction through facilitating oral-motor skills and the production of individual sounds or phonemes.

Children struggling with a speech production disorder can benefit from the PROMPT approach. The delay or disorder may present with challenges in:

Stuttering
Language formation
Syntax
Motor control or planning
Phonological learning
Auditory processing
Production
General cognitive or global delays

Regardless of the manifestation of the speech production disorder, the PROMPT approach allows children to respond to tactile cues to produce, revise or change production, and integrate motor production of sounds with their cognitive-linguistic function. Prompts are designed to help a child get a feel for the movement, the muscles required, the manner of production, and the combining of movements to form words and phrases.

The PROMPT approach helps clients gain the voluntary control of motor-speech systems as well as understand the link between the necessary motor movements and the functional use of words and phrases in communication. The clinicians help to manually guide articulators to produce specific sounds and words through touch pressure, kinesthetic, and proprioceptive cues.

Check out this video of one of our Speech-Language Pathologists using PROMPT touch cues.

The Orton-Gillingham Approach

By Chatterboxes

The Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators developed the Orton-Gillingham Approach which is an instructional approach intended primarily for use with persons who have difficulty with reading, spelling, and writing of the sort associated with dyslexia.

The Orton-Gillingham Approach is focused upon the learning needs of the individual child. Children with dyslexia need to master the same basic knowledge about language and its relationship to our writing system as any who seek to become competent readers and writers. However, because of their dyslexia, they need more help than most people in sorting, recognizing, and organizing the raw materials of language for thinking and use. Language elements that non-dyslexic learners acquire easily must be taught directly and systematically.

The Orton-Gillingham Approach has been rightfully described as language-based, multisensory, structured, sequential, cumulative, cognitive, and flexible. The attributes of this approach include the following:

Linguistic competence by stressing language patterns that determine word order and sentence structure as well as the meaning of words and phrases.
Multisensory teaching by using all the leaning pathways: seeing, hearing, feeling, and awareness of motion.
Information is presented in an ordered and structured way that indicates the relationship between the material taught and past material taught.
Step by step leaners move from the simple, well-learned material to that which is more and more complex using a sequential, incremental, and cumulative approach.
From a cognitive approach, students gain confidence as they improve in their ability to apply newly gained knowledge about and knowledge how to develop their skills with reading, spelling, and writing.
The teacher presentations employ lesson formats which ensure that the student approaches the learning experience understanding what is to be learned, why it is to be learned, and how it is to be learned.

The basic purpose of everything that is done in the Orton-Gillingham Approach is assisting the student to become a competent reader, writer and independent learner.

Private OG Sessions available in Lexington

What’s Your Play Style?

By Chatterboxes

The Hanen Program’s recent publication, Make Play R.O.C.K. developed by Fern Sussman and Elaine Weitzman includes a parent-classifying system which helps parents learn more about their interaction style with their children.

The Hanen Program notes there are four common parenting play-styles. The Hanen Program believes that knowing your play-style will empower parents to employ simple strategies that will enhance their child’s speech and language development through play. The Four Parenting Play Styles are described below.

Take The Quiz: What’s My Play Style and learn more about your Parenting Style!

1) The Helper or Teacher Style:

All parents need to be helpers or teachers from time to time; however, if you most often direct your child in play, chances are they are not able to have a chance to show you what they know and have the ability to explore the world according to their own interests.

If you responded to the quiz that you usually decide what your child will play and show them what do do or say, You have a Helper or Teacher Style of Play.

2) The Do Not Disturb Style:

You like to let your child play alone most of the time. While all kids need some time alone, kids also need to learn to play with others.

If you responded to the quiz that you rarely show or tell your child what to do and you prefer to watch your child from the sidelines, you have a Do Not Disturb Style of Play.

3) The Cheerleader Style:

Do you make play super-fun and exciting for your child? You love to use a loud excited voice and lots of gestures! Kids love being around you. Just remember that at times this very fun type of play can be overwhelming at times; especially for sensitive kids or kids who have a calm personality.

If responded to the quiz that you like to decide what and how to play with your child; and that you act like a kid during play, while greeting very animated, you have a Cheerleader Style of Play.

4) The Responsive Style:

Parents who know how to adapt their interactions based on their child’s feelings, actions and communication are called Responsive. They can judge when they need to be more like a Cheerleader, and when then need to be calm and present.

If you responded “sometimes” to the majority of the quiz answers, you most likely have a Responsive Play Style.

Do You Know a Cooper?

By Chatterboxes

Cooper is a quiet two-year-old who loves the parking garage set he received from his Aunt Shelly for his birthday. At times, Cooper will sit softly humming for extended period of time as he moves the cars in particular parking spaces in the garage. Cooper becomes very upset when Mom or Dad parks a car in the ‘wrong’ spot or if his parents model driving the cars in a different way. Cooper’s mother is concerned because her friends’ two-year-olds have more advanced language skills than he does and she’s worried that preschool is right around the corner.

Cooper’s Parents enrolled him in therapy two times a week focusing on social communication skills. Cooper’s parents chose to receive home-visits so that he could be in his natural environment, as they felt he’d be most comfortable at home. The Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) modeled techniques to enhance Cooper’s social communication and expressive and receptive language.

The SLP worked closely with Cooper’s parents so they could take turns using the techniques during their usual morning and evening activities. After 6 months, Cooper’s vocalizations have increased in frequency and complexity. Cooper and his SLP continue to work on his use of gesture/signs paired with vocalizations to increase his expressive language skills. His parents are very proud of his progress. At his last session, he even waved and said “bye-bye!”

The Four Most Common Tongue Thrust Characteristics

By Chatterboxes

Tongue Thrust is the frontal thrust or strong contact of the teeth during swallowing, in addition to inadequate lip closure, or incorrect lingual-mandibular resting posture.
The most common characteristics of a tongue thrust swallow pattern include one or more of the following:

During the initiation of the swallow, the tongue moves forward between the anterior incisors, so that the tongue tip contacts the lower lip.
During speech production, the tongue moves forward between the anterior incisors, with the mandible turned open (in phonetic contexts that do not require such placement of the articulators)
- e.g., /sh/ sounds more like a voiceless /th/ sound, e.g., “thoe”/ ‘shoe’
At rest, the tongue is carried forward in the oral cavity with the mandible slightly open and the tongue tip resting between the anterior incisors.

What causes Tongue Thrust?

A “tongue thrust” swallow is typical for infants and slowly matures as a child ages. Most children should develop a normal swallow pattern by 4 years, 6 months of age, however, it often takes longer (up to 6 or 7).

The most common causes include:

Improper infant feeding (e.g., bottle feeding past 12 months, difficulty transitioning to table food, etc.)
allergies (nasal obstruction causes mouth breathing and tongue to rest further forward in the mouth)
enlarged tonsils and adenoids, or frequent sore throats, (causing difficulty swallowing)
Mouth breathing
thumb and finger sucking
prolonged pacifier use
genetic factors (inherited tendencies toward malocclusion)
Tongue tie (short lingual frenulum)

Articulation Testing: What to Expect

By Chatterboxes

The process of testing of any kind can be nerve-racking, especially when you have concerns about your child’s development. Knowing what to expect can help ease your worries and in turn, you can help your child understand and be prepared for the testing process.

If you have concerns regarding your child’s speech/articulation skills (i.e. the way in which he pronounces words, sounds, phrases and sentences), it is likely your child’s therapist will select the Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation, or (GFTA-2). Here’s a more in-depth look at the GFTA-2:

The Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation- Second Edition (GFTA-2):

The GFTA provides a wide range of information by sampling both spontaneous and imitative sound production. This includes single words and conversational speech. Descriptive information about the individual’s articulation skills is obtained through three sections of the GFTA-2, which include: Sounds-in-Words, Sounds-in-Sentences, and Stimulability.

Sounds-in-Words uses 34 picture plates and 53 target words to elicit the articulation of 61 consonant sounds in the initial, medial, and/or final position, as well as 16 consonant blends (groups of two or three consonants in words that makes a distinct consonant sound, such as “bl”) in the initial position.

Sounds-in-Sentences provides a semi-structured observation of the individual’s spontaneous sound production used in connected speech by asking him/her to retell one or two simple, picture-based stories that the speech-language pathologist has previously read aloud.

Stimulability can be used to assess the individual’s ability to correctly produce a previously misarticulated sound when asked to watch and listen to the examiner’s production of the sound.

This test can provide a record of growth in articulation skills across a broad time span. The wide range allows tracking articulation skills from preschool through primary and secondary school years and into young adulthood with the same instrument.

A significant milestone in the normal language development of very young children is their ability to produce at appropriate ages the various consonant sounds. When screening preschool children, speech-language pathologists use the first level of testing and the colorful, appealing pictures of Sounds-in-Words. This gives the speech-language pathologist the ability to screen very young children for possible delays in the development of articulation skills.

The GFTA-2 also has the ability to screen for expressive language difficulties. The individual must retell the stories in the Sounds-in-Sentences section in their own words. During the duration of this task, the speech pathologist may become aware of deviations in an examinee’s vocabulary and syntax (structure of sentences) that indicate the need for an evaluation of language as well as articulation.

How to Prepare Your Child for Articulation Testing:

You can explain to your child that he will be asked to take a look at some pictures in a book of some very common objects (cup, girl, duck, etc). He will be asked to label these pictures, and may have to say the word a few times.

From there, (if age appropriate) he will be told a few short stories with pictures. He will be asked to retell the stories using the picture cues. The first story is about a little boy having a bad-day; and the second story is about a boy and girl who go fishing.

Finally, he may be asked to complete stimulability testing, whereas the therapist will model specific sounds and sound combinations to learn if your child can produce particular sounds with direct instruction.

The Chatterboxes Way:

At Chatterboxes, we feel an important piece of testing is to collect a Spontaneous Speech/Language Sample during play. That said, your child will be engaged with age-appropriate toys/materials either before or after the standardized testing described above. We feel the collection of this spontaneous speech & language sample should be analyzed and considered alongside of testing results in order to obtain a comprehensive clinical impression of the child’s articulation skills.

A typical evaluation may last 45 minutes, and parents may choose if they would prefer to be present in the room with their child, or wait in the waiting room. Following the testing, you will receive our initial clinical impressions as to their child’s articulation skills.

A comprehensive written report with specific sound errors and goals and strategies is shared with you 10 days following the evaluation. Your child’s therapist will then contact you to discuss the report, review the recommendations and answer your questions via scheduled phone conference. If therapy is indicated, and you would like to pursue services with our practice, visits can be scheduled at this time.

For more information, or to discuss your child’s articulation abilities, please contact Heather at anytime via email at Heather@teamchatterboxes.com or call our Newton Centre location at 617-969-8255.

Chatterboxes Wins Boston Parent’s Paper Best of Best 2015!

By Chatterboxes

Chatterboxes of Newton Centre and Lexington Centre won Boston Parent’s Paper’s Family Favorite Award for Best Speech & Language Practice in 2015. Each year, readers of Boston Parent’s Paper vote for their family favorite in a variety of categories, and the winners are published annually.

Chatterboxes’ mission is to provide best-in-class services to children and families dealing with Speech, Language & Feeding difficulties. Boston Parent’s Paper noted, “Parent’s who’s children have speech and language difficulties trust the passionate therapists at Chatterboxes. Each child benefits from a customized individual therapy plan that meets their needs in an environment that is calming and fun.”

Chatterboxes is honored to be presented with this amazing award and are so fortunate to be given the opportunity to develop relationships with local families and provide the best care possible within our scope of practice.

Chatterboxes offers two locations: Newton Centre and Lexington Center and have been in operation for over 8 years. For more information about our services, visit www.TeamChatterboxes.com, or call 617-969-8255.

Targeting Articulation with the Cycles Approach

By Chatterboxes

What is The Cycles Approach?

The Cycles Approach is designed for children who have multiple speech sound errors, exhibit patterns in sound errors, and are very difficult to understand. The goal is to facilitate the emergence of speech patterns. Carefully chosen target words are chosen to help children develop auditory (how it sounds) and kinesthetic (how it feels) models of target sounds and improve self-monitoring skills.

What is a cycle?

A cycle is the amount of time it takes for all targets to be practiced. A typical cycle may last weeks to months. Within each cycle, each sound within a pattern is targeted for about 60 minutes. At the end of each cycle, sounds/patterns are recycled: those that have been acquired are removed and new, more challenging sounds/patterns are added before the next cycle begins.

A typical session incorporating the Cycles Approach:

1) Review of the previous session’s target words.

2) Auditory Bombardment with amplification: The child listens to a list of 12 words through an amplification device. The child is not required to repeat the words, but simply listen to them attentively.

3) The child makes flashcards of the target words by coloring or pasting pictures representing the target words. The child produces the words during the activity.

4) Experiential Play or Language-Based Activity: The Child engages in a fun, motivating and meaningful play activity involving the target words. Activities are designed to facilitate both articulation and language skills.

5) Stimulability Probing: The child produces a list of potential target words for the next session. The sounds which are the easiest for the child to produce are chosen.

6) Amplified auditory bombardment is repeated with the same list of 12 words.

7) Home practice for a least 2 minutes per day is strongly recommended. This can include simply reading the target word list to the child and having him practice saying each of the words 1-2 times.

Family Focused Approach to Early Invervention

By Chatterboxes

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.