Pediatric Speech, Language, and Hearing Therapy

Resources

Online Resources

  • Resources for Parents

  • Resources for Students

    • Scholastic - Targets a variety of receptive and expressive language skills; vocabulary; synonyms; problem solving.
      • Fun Brain - Online education games for children of all ages.
    • Read - Write - Think - What’s in the Bag? A guessing game that targets adjectives and categories.
    • Juniors Web - Educational games for children 2-15 years; link for speech games including memory, puzzles and challenge levels .
    • StarFall - Materials are designed for first grade, but are also useful for pre-k, kindergarten and second grade; features include interactive books, activities, movies, and worksheets.

Developmental Milestones

  • 1-2 years

    • Points to a few body parts when asked.
    • Follows simple commands and understands simple questions ("Roll the ball," "Where's your shoe?").
    • Listens to simple stories, songs, and rhymes.
    • Points to pictures in a book when named.
    • Says more words every month.
    • Uses some one- or two- word questions ("Where kitty?" "Go bye-bye?" "What's that?").
    • Puts two words together ("more cookie," "no juice," "mommy book").
    • Uses many different consonant sounds at the beginning of words.

  • 2-3 years

    • Understands differences in meaning ("go-stop," "in-on," "big-little," "up-down").
    • Follows two requests ("Get the book and put it on the table").
    • Has a word for almost everything.
    • Uses two- or three- word "sentences" to talk about and ask for things.
    • Speech is understood by familiar listeners most of the time.
    • Often asks for or directs attention to objects by naming them.

  • 3-4 years

    • Hears you when you call from another room.
    • Understands simple "wh" (who, what, where, why) questions.
    • Talks about activities at school or at friends' homes.
    • Speaks clearly enough that people outside of the family usually understand his or her speech.
    • Uses a lot of sentences that have four or more words.
    • Usually talks easily without repeating syllables or words.

  • 4-5 years

    • 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.
    • 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.
    • Uses the same grammar as the rest of the family.

At Home Activities

  • Ideas for Promoting Speech/Language Skills at Home

    Working with your child at home is a great way to practice what your child learned during therapy. Here are some of our favorite at home activities that help practice speech and language outside of the therapy room!
    • Look for the target sound in children's books. Read with your child and have them repeat words or sentences with the target sound after you (Ex: Good Night Moon)
    • Choose nursery rhymes, songs, or poems containing the target sound. Have your child listen to you produce the sound and then have them try to produce the sound.
    • Make a "Sound Notebook" by gluing pictures containing the target sound in the book. For example, if your child is working on the /g/ sound include pictures of gum, games, glue, grains, etc.
    • Make flash cards using pictures containing the target sound. Print the pictures from your computer (Google images is a good source) and then use these cards to practice with your child.
    • Throw a ball back and forth and say a target word each time you throw the ball.
    • Choose a "word of the day" containing the target sound. Work it into your activities all day long.
    • Use family games to practice. For example, if you are playing Candyland, have each person say a target word before he gets to spin.
    • Go Fish, Guess Who, Guess Where, Secret Squares and Apples to Apples Jr. are good choices for games that target receptive and expressive language skills.
    • When speaking with your child, encourage topic maintenance. Set time aside during the day to practice. Pick a topic and talk about it for a set number of minutes, increasing the time as the task is mastered. For example, talk about school for three minutes. Encourage your child to only talk about the set topic.
    • Use comic strips that present a series of minimally contrasting actions in a series of frames. Use the comic strips to show contrasting sentence structures. For example, while showing your child a comic strip, say, “Show me where the Garfield is going to eat the food,” and “Show me where Garfield has already eaten the food.”

  • Ideas for Promoting Speech/Language Skills at the Park/Playgrounds

    Parks and playgrounds are a wonderful natural environment for carrying over work on speech/language skills with little ones. Often, a small child is highly motivated and interested in this type of play and, as a result, parents have a great opportunity to introduce new vocabulary and use this play experience to address other skills we are working on. Here are some ideas for how you can reinforce speech/language skills while your kiddo is "hard at play!"
    • Talk about what your child is doing in short 1-3 word sentences depending on the level of your child. Emphasize new vocabulary words your child may not hear every day and model those great environmental sounds that your child will love repeating ("Whee" as they go down the slide, "Beep beep" as they turn the wheel, "Look, Johnny, Swing." "You are climbing, up, up, up").
    • Pay attention to the directions you give your child at play. Focus on using simple directions, 1-2 steps, based on your child's level, related to what they see at the park. ("Slide down," "Let's dig in the sand," "Sara, get the ball and kick it to me").
    • You know your child best, so when you figure out which aspects of the park/playground are their favorite, use that activity to help motivate them to use their words (while pushing child on the swing, pause during the swings and encourage words for "more," "swing, and/or "push"). Encourage asking for "help," when they need assistance. Remember repetition is key so be consistent with the words you model and give the child plenty of opportunities to use them!
    • Go on a scavenger hunt around the park and collect items in a bag/bucket or your child's pocket. Ask the child to find objects by name ("Let's find a rock. Do you see one?") to work on building their understanding of objects labels and label objects your child discovers ("Look you found a leaf") to work on building their expressive vocabulary.
    • Incorporate imitation games. Follow your child's lead whenever possible. Examples, stomp your feet on the bridge, pat your hands on the park bench, and pause to allow your child to take a turn. Remember, encouraging imitation of motor actions is a great warm up for imitating new words!
    • Introduce pretend play... show your child how to make a "mulch ice cream sundae" and order your favorite flavor at the drive up window! Take a nap in your new bed (a.k.a. the tube slide) and have your child knock on the door to wake you up!
    • Take pictures while you are there and use the photos later to help "review" with your child all the fun you had, again focusing on basic vocabulary in simple sentences. Encourage your child to point to items named in the pictures and comment on what he/she was doing.

Speech and Language Applications

  • iPad Applications

    We are very interested in how the iPad or iPhone can assist in a child's education. We have come up with a list of applications that we have found useful and fun!

    Genre

    		 App Price Rating
    MUSIC and SOUNDS
    Magic Piano Free 4+
    Bus HD $1.99 4+
    Itsy Bitsy $1.99 4+
    Baa Baa $1.99 4+
    Fish School $1.99 4+
    Park Math $1.99 4+
    Old Mac $1.99 4+
    Peek-A-Zoo $.0.99 4+
    Sound Touch $4.99 4+
    Laugh n' Learn: Animal Sounds, Counting and Shapes FREE 4+
    Vocal Zoo FREE 4+
    WRITING and DRAWING
    GlowDraw Free 4+
    DoodleBuddy FREE 4+
    Answers HD $3.99 4+
    DODO HD FREE 4+
    Animal Fun FREE 4+
    Furry Friends FREE 4+
    Model Me Kids; Going Places FREE 4+
    Sonic Pics $2.99 4+
    Etch a Sketch $2.99 4+
    Handwriting; little sky writers $1.99 4+
    Spelling Magic (other apps to address different needs by same maker) FREE 4+
    READING
    Super Why $2.99 4+
    Moo Bala $3.99 4+
    MeeGenius FREE 4+
    Green Eggs and Ham (other books by Dr. Seuss available as well) $3.99 4+
    Disney Digital Books (when looking for a book search the character or movie title you are looking for) $4.99 4+
    Misc.
    Grover Peeks $2.99 4+
    Elmos Monster Maker $3.99 4+
    Preschool Adventure $0.99 4+
    Farm Flip FREE 4+
    Red Fish $9.99 4+
    Kidz Maze $0.99 4+
    Monkey Lunch Box $0.99 4+
    Shapes Toddler Preschool FREE 4+
    Wood Puzzle $1.99 4+
    Whimsy $0.99 4+
    Peekaboo Barn $1.99 4+
    ABC Magic FREE 4+
    Advent Calendar FREE 4+
    Woo! Button FREE 4+
    Mr. Giggle $1.99 4+
    Sneezies $0.99 4+
    Cookie Doodle $0.99 4+
    Planets FREE 4+
    More Cookies (there are other foods available) $0.99 4+
    MyPlayHome $2.99 4+
    My First 1,000 Words Free 4+
    ABA applications (many different categories) $0.99- $1.99 4+
    PCS apps (lots of options) Free 4+
    Play n' Say (vehicles and House) FREE 4+
    Puppet Pals FREE 4+
    Where's Mommy $1.99 4+
    Bubble Magic $2.99 4+
    Small Talk Phonemes FREE 4+
    I Hear Ewe FREE 4+
    Bubble Wrap Free 4+
    ARTICULATION
    TigaTalk $4.99 4+
    Articulation Station (have to buy the individual sounds) FREE 4+
    Pocket SLP $9.99 4+
    /r/ intensive SLP $19.99 4+
    R Apps for Parents $7.99 4+
    ArtikPix Free/ $29.99 4+
    LANGUAGE
    Mobile Education Tools; iBuilder (many different categories available for purchase to address individual needs) $5.99-$9.99 4+
    Milo (different apps for different areas of interest) $1.99 4+
    POTTY TRAINING
    I Love to Potty $2.99 4+
    My Potty Chart $0.99 4+
    It's Potty Time $0.99 4+
    I Earned That $1.99 4+
    SUPER DUPER
    Following Directions, Compare and Contrast, WH questions, Predictions, Inferences, Prepositions, Homophones, opposites, Story Starts and MORE! Free-$5.99 4+
    AAC
    Speak It $1.99 4+
    Proloquo2Go $189.99 4+
    SonoFlex $99.99 4+
    Icommunicate $49.99 4+
    Touch Chat $149.99 4+
    Touch Chat with WordPower $299.99 4+
    Custom Boards $89.99 4+
    Grace UNKNOWN 4+
    Speech Tree $169.99 4+
    Speak for Yourself $299.99 4+
    SIGN LANGUAGE
    Sign 4 Me $12.99 4+
    Baby Sign $1.99 4+
    Blogs for App information and Deals
    Moms with Apps Friday give codes for deals and free apps!
    Baby with Ipads Information and Deals
    SNApps4Kids Parents, teachers, doctors and therapists who share information on apps.

Testimonials

  • “Our son has not only improved in his speech and articulation, but in his self-confidence. He isn’t nervous speaking in front of others or worried that they won’t understand him. Thank you, Kathleen!”
    Sarah Awe
  • “Kathleen does a wonderful job of investing in her clients and helping guide them to success. A few weeks ago into his sessions, our 4-year-old always gets a big smile on his face when he hears it’s time to go to speech therapy. He thinks of it as special help with his sounds – in large part because Kathleen gives him encouragement and confidence and approaches her coaching from an asset-based mindset. We’re grateful for her and SPS for the support they provide!”
    Francesca Brady
  • “SPS and Beth Ann have done wonders for our son Beau’s development for his speech. We have seen great progress in pronunciation, sounds, vocabulary, and sentences. At 18 months old Beau was saying a handful of words, now at 3 ½ years old he has an expanded vocabulary and uses complete sentences! SPS does a great job of creating a specific plan to fit your child’s needs and work on building up their weaknesses. The staff and office are very warm and welcoming, our son Beau always looks forward to his weekly visits. Rest assured your child is in great hands with SPS, they will absolutely help them grow in numerous ways.”
    The Dant Family
  • IMG_3812When she began working with Cindy, Nora was able to produce only a handful of sounds.  Over the last 5 years, Nora has progressed tremendously.  Her sound production is now excellent, and her articulation and intelligibility continue to improve at a steady pace.  Cindy’s warm but authoritative instruction motivates and propels Nora to succeed in developing her speech and language skills.  Cindy also seeks to enhance Nora’s cognitive functioning through work on topics such as rhyming, matching/categorization, and reading comprehension.  We are indebted to Cindy for sharing her time and expertise – she has been absolutely wonderful for Nora!
    Melissa Danielson
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