Tag Archives: speech

Toddler Speech Evaluations

My son had a speech evaluation this past week. It has been determined that he needs to attend speech therapy twice a week. My cousin attended speech therapy when he was my son’s age. From what I’ve heard, speech therapy is very helpful for late talkers. I was very apprehensive before my son’s evaluation. I didn’t know what to expect. I went to the speech and hearing center, which is on a college campus about fifteen miles from our home. I took my son in and filled out the registration papers. When it was time for us to go back … Continue reading →

The Move to Technology

Technology is a good thing. Airplanes fly, e-mail doesn’t require a stamp, and finding information doesn’t require a trip to the library (or even the bookshelf) because of the internet and the computer. In education the move to technology has also brought many improvements and benefits to older ways of doing things (I would not have completed a masters thesis if not for the modern word processor as a typewriter would have driven me mad). There are downsides to technology though. Oftentimes digital presentation software will replace the skill of speaking (both for teacher lectures and student presentations). When I … Continue reading →

Toddler Talk

Because my son’s name is Jake, I call his toddler speech “Jakelish” because it is part English and part something I do not understand. We joke about “Jakelish” because we can’t make out what my son is saying. “Toddler talk” can sometimes be hard to distinguish. The problem is that my son talks too fast sometimes. He doesn’t slow down to speak. He is talking, but he isn’t speaking clearly enough for us to understand him. I would consider it cause for concern except that I’ve never really been able to understand any toddler when he/she talks. I have looked … Continue reading →

Maybe We Shouldn’t Worry So Much About How Kids Respond

I am not going to lie here, I would like my kids to appreciate me and respond with manners and glowing love when I interact with them. But, in all honesty, that’s not the way it happens much of the time. In fact, with teenagers (and younger children too), the reaction we get from our children is seldom glowing or what we imagine would happen in the Cleaver household! AND, if we get too caught up in how our children our responding to us, we can lose the calm, detached, confident stance that makes parenting effective. I think that sometimes … Continue reading →

12 Signs That Your Child Is Trying to Tell You Something

Children who are non-verbal or have language difficulties exhibit many behaviors in an effort to try to communicate. Sometimes these attempts to “tell you something” can be misunderstood. It might seem like your son or daughter is just being evasive, annoying, or naughty. But it’s important to recognize that children who have difficulty with speech struggle with a whole lot of frustration. When my son Kyle was a preschooler, his tantrums were incredibly severe because he could not adequately communicate his desires. I’m sure he sometimes felt like a tourist in a foreign country, getting a whole lot of blank … Continue reading →

The Power of the Tongue

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” How sadly untrue this statement is! Anyone who’s endured verbal and emotional abuse will likely say otherwise. There is so much power in our words. It’s not dirty looks or gestures that are likely to start wars. As far as I’ve known, wars have started over words; disputes, arguments, etc… Bible teacher and author Joyce Meyer has a book with a title I couldn’t resist called, Me and My Big Mouth! Your Answer is Right Under Your Nose. This book takes you through the scriptures of the … Continue reading →

The Big Impact of the Little Things

There are some many things good people do in their lives everyday they that probably do not even think about because these things are simply part of who they are. These things make up the character of the man or woman. What if this “good person” is a Christian? There are qualities of their character they should possess as a man or woman living for the Lord. These little things or qualities should be part of who the Christian man or woman is. These little things should come naturally (or eventually come naturally) to the Christian. These little things a … Continue reading →

Why – A Child’s Favorite Word

If you have a child that is around the age of two to three, chances are you have heard the question “Why” more times, than you would like. It seems as if everything conversation is riddled with “why…why…why”. Although exasperating, it is important to understand that children at this age are simply curious with their little brains are like sponges, absorbing everything heard and seen. As your child’s language skills begin to expand, and the mind begins to comprehend more and more, your chills is going to want to know everything. For one thing, this situation is frustrating to the … Continue reading →

“Leave Me ALONE!” The Child Who Seeks Emotional Isolation

Some children become so discouraged with their sense of self that they simply withdraw. Rather than compete with other kids, which they feel they can’t do because of their many inadequacies, they choose not to participate. And rather than disappoint the adults in their lives, they choose to build a wall of silence. These are the students who sit in the corner, fiddling with a pencil, refusing to raise their hand or join the group. They often feel frustrated by adult attempts to engage them in conversation or to force them to participate. As I have noted in previous blogs, … Continue reading →

Echolalia: Repeat After Me

About seventy-five percent of children on the autism spectrum use echolalia in some form. Echolalia is the tendency to repeat back, or “echo” what someone else has said. It’s also sometimes referred to as “parroting,” because of the way that parrots mimic human speech. For some time it was thought that this echoing of speech by children on the spectrum was completely nonsensical. But we’ve now determined that there usually is the intent to communicate, but the delivery gets confused along the way. Immediate Echolalia There are two types of echolalia: immediate and delayed. With immediate echolalia, the child will … Continue reading →