Howdy all,

Well I am now the proud mother of two beautiful children. Our little boy Liam was born on the 30th of March and he has certainly been a lovely addition to our family. Though I can hardly say ‘little’ as he weighed in at 4.45 kg, which is nearly 10 pounds! Eek…poor me

Anyway we are enjoying him immensely as there is nothing quite like a cuddle form a newborn baby.

In my last blog post we looked at some of the main things to think about and some key questions that you should ask any speech pathologist before employing their services to help your child with autism.

After you’ve been working with your therapist for a few months you’ll want to know if the therapy is actually making a difference and that you child is making some real progress. This depends greatly on how good a ‘match’ your therapist (and the therapy) is for your child.

So today (as promised) I’d like to share with you some of the warning signs that may indicate that it’s time to find another speech pathologist who is ‘a better match’ for your child.
» Continue reading “Signs That Your Speech Pathologist may not be a “Good Match” for Your Child”

I’m now past my due date for our baby boy to arrive and since I’m just sitting around waiting for him to come I thought I’d quickly take a few minutes and share some more thoughts with you…

It’s very important when finding a speech pathologist for your child that you get the ‘just right fit’.

Here’s why it’s so important…

Just as there are many areas of specialty for doctors (orthopedics, pediatrics, geriatrics, cardiologists, neorologists, etc) the same applies for speech pathologists. Areas of specialty can include stuttering, articulation, literacy, hearing impairment, language disorders, voice disorders, strokes, laryngectomies etc, etc… the list is very extensive!

But the thing that completely baffles me is that some speech pathologists say that they have 5-8 or more “Areas of Specialty”! To me this suggests that they do not specialise at all, and are more of a ‘generalist’ speech pathologist (like a GP is a generalist doctor). Some therapists even say that they ’specialise’ in autism when they may have treated only 10-20 children on the autism spectrum.
» Continue reading “What you should know before choosing a speech pathologist for your child with autism”

Hi everyone,

I have to say I’m finding video to be a great way of explaining all of the concepts and techniques that I have to share with you and also for bringing to life many of the examples that will help with applying these tips to your own situation. So I hope you’re enjoying them too!

This week’s tip focuses on how you can improve your child’s articulation and speech clarity skills using a technique called Video Modeling. There are many ways to improve articulation, but Video Modeling is one technique that I’ve found to be very effective over the years with the children I treat. » Continue reading “Improving Speech and Language in Children with Autism using Video Modeling”