Reading is a hard thing to do. It often isn't until we have to help another person in our lives learn to read that we remember how hard it actually is. There's rules to follow to make it easier, but for every rule there seems to be about 1,000 exceptions. Not to mention all of the words in English that are just, well, weird! Restaurant? Why the heck is that U in there? People? Why don't we pronounce the O? Diphthongs, digraphs, sight words, prefixes, it's enough to make anyone's head spin. Let's talk about some good ways to help teach the basics to the young reader in your life!

I met some amazing tiny people with a ton of stuff to communicate, but didn't know how and that was the moment I knew what direction my life was going.

Today is world autism day. I thought about adding an exclamation mark after that sentence, but to a lot of people this is just another day. To a lot of people this isn't something they like to celebrate and I understand why. When you have a child with autism the only thing anyone tells you is the bad stuff, the scary stuff, the milestones they won't reach. As someone who deals with the scary stuff, but also the amazing stuff I've got news: they're selling your kid short.

I promise things will get better. It will be slow, it will be terrifying, and you're going to find out who your real friends are because everyone else might disappear. But nothing can replace the joy you'll see when your kid learns a new skill, joins in a game with others even if for just a few turns, uses more than one word on their AAC device, asks a question in a whole sentence, remembers the spatial concepts their SLP has been reviewing with them for months; I could go on forever.

I think autism is beautiful, but not everyone does because sometimes autism means it's not safe to drive. Sometimes it means feeding your child by hand longer than expected. Sometimes it means going into public less. Today I encourage you NOT to read the statistics. Instead, find a mom with a blog talking about her everyday. The little victories, the big messes, the funny stuff her kid does/says, and her immense love for her child who is different. That's the beautiful side of autism I wish everyone could see for themselves.

Times are kind of scary right now. There's uncertainty, panic, and anxiety. I encourage you to say "yes" to your kids more right now. Let them do the messy activities. Make the cake, decorate the cookies, paint with pudding, make the slime, find science experiments on YouTube. Just like the adults, the kids are trying to wrap their still-developing brains around what's happening in the world and it's HARD. Everyone deserves a whole BUNCH of grace right now while we're trying to figure out what is going on with this virus. So while you're trying to cling to some shred of structure and/or sanity in the coming weeks please try to say "yes."

With that, I give you your survival guide to entertain and educate your kids:

What is apraxia? Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder that makes it difficult for children to speak. Children with the diagnosis of apraxia of speech generally have a good understanding of language and know what they want to say. However, they have difficulty learning or carrying out the complex sequenced movements that are necessary for intelligible speech. (Taken from Apraxia Kids website: https://www.apraxia-kids.org/ )

Apraxia is a motor planning disorder. Like it was mentioned above, a kid knows what to say, they just can't seem to get it out. This is because there is a disconnect somewhere between the motor strip in their brain and the muscles in their tongue and mouth.

Apraxia is not just for kids, though! It frequently happens in adults after a stroke or traumatic brain injury (TBI).

(Image from https://www.depaulhearingandspeech.org/what-is-childhood-apraxia-of-speech/ )

You'll never guess....speech therapy! The American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA) recommends therapy begin with 3-5x per week and can be reduced as progress is made. During therapy clients learn to correct motor patterns and create clearer, more intelligible speech. This is typically done through visual and tactile (touch) cues instead of auditory cues.

Remember the disconnect in the motor path I talked about earlier? If you sit there and tell a kid to "say it like this" with no visual or tactile input, chances are you'll eventually rip your hair out because it just ain't happening without it.

Tactile cues and multi-sensory approaches are necessary for this population of people because of the disconnect in motor patterns. These different approaches allow the brain to build up motor patterns in different ways. Have you ever heard of neuroplasticity? This is the brain's way of "healing" itself. It finds different ways to make things happen when there has been damage or disruption to its usual pathway. It's essentially growing a muscle. Think of producing speech sounds as a squat or sit up and tactile cues as a weight or resistance band. It helps facilitate making the "muslce" bigger (or in this case more accurate), much faster than practicing without the extras.

If you know or love someone who has been diagnosed with Apraxia of Speech, you probably understand how frustrating it can be. I highly recommend finding some kind of support system whether it be another mom at the clinic you're attending, a Facebook group, a blog writer, etc. Here are some Facebook pages, blog posts, success stories, and other resources:

• Facebook Page: Fighting for my Voice: My life with Verbal Apraxia

  • (Image on the left from this page).

• Apraxia Kids

  • https://www.apraxia-kids.org/

• "How My Child with Speech Apraxia Says I Love You"

  • https://themighty.com/2017/12/child-with-apraxia-says-i-love-you/

• "Waiting on Words"

  • https://waitingonwords.wordpress.com/

• "SLP Mommy of Apraxia"

  • http://slpmommyofapraxia.com/

Parents please know: you're doing a GOOD job. Stop beating yourself up.

Hey friends! I definitely slacked on my Valentine's post, BUT two weeks really isn't much time if you think about it....yeah I knew it sounded wrong as I was typing it. However, Just because Valentine's Day has passed does not mean we should stop talking about and teaching the importance of love and kindness to our kids! I definitely felt some love real hard this week from some of my favorite tiny humans. I'm very lucky to work with such SWEET families! Anyway, enough about me. Let's get to it:

I'm not sure about y'all but this month was LONG. Here are some more ideas to help you kickstart February and keep your kids moving and entertained!

Let's be honest, staying on track and sticking to your goals is HARD. I'd be lying if I said I haven't slipped up in making changes in the first 20-ish days of the new year. (Donuts are my favorite thing on this earth). BUT hopefully my next round of tips and activities can make your journey a little easier!

So it’s almost week 3 of January, and if you’re like me you’re still in denial about the “fact” that THIS is the year you’ll actually stick to your healthy eating/exercising more resolution. Then you go to the gym you just joined for $10 with three thousand other people who did the same and you become overwhelmed and annoyed. (I ate a salad today, so I’m still on track, right?)

Your resolutions are obviously yours and I hope you reach all your goals this new year! However, think about bringing your kids into the picture on this one. (Like they don’t take up enough of your time, right?) Stay with me. Make YOUR healthy habits THEIR healthy habits! In my experience kids are great accountability partners because they remember literally everything. To promote healthy and safe habits as a family, here are some activities to get your little ones thinking about and beginning healthy habits:

Early exposure to literacy is one of the best ways to help your child learn. Even if they like to rip books apart, keep reading! Even if you are just talking about the pictures--kids are still learning about literacy. It helps parent-child bonding, joint attention (the basis for verbal communication), letter identification, and print awareness.

Any kind of books or puzzles that have movement pieces/lift-a-flap keeps kids engaged and gives opportunities to practice using their pointer fingers.

Another inexpensive idea is to personalize a book for your child buy printing pictures of them and put them in a photo album or binder. Kids love to look at themselves doing things because by nature, kids are self-centered. Thinking of other people is a skill they will not master for a long time, so use that to your advantage! Make a book of a vacation they went on, their first year of school/their birthday, etc. and TALK about it.

If they insist on reading it over and over again that's FINE. That helps them solidify information and concepts like remembering and re-telling stories. These are awesome auditory discrimination/comprehension skills they will need for when they start school and begin reading independently.

• The Snowbelly Family of Chillyville Inn: This book is good for kids working on /l/. It has really fun pictures to talk about and it also has lots of rhyming words--good for auditory discrimination.

• Corduroy's Christmas: It’s interactive! It has flaps for kids to lift, which is really good for kids who can’t sit still for a long time. It has lots of opportunities to work on spatial concepts and prepositions as well as holiday vocabulary kids may not get to use very often.

• There was a Cold Lady who Swallowed Some Snow: This is part of a series of books, and these are fun because you can sing the children’s song that goes with it. This is a good strategy for kids who have trouble paying attention. It has lots of opportunities to work on /s/ blends. It’s a silly book which is great for kids who love absurdities, or for the kids who have a hard time understanding what's real and what's not. It’s great for yes/no questions! (Do we REALLY swallow rocks? NO!)

• If You Take a Mouse to the Movies: This book has lots of Christmas vocabulary, and it’s good for working on /m/ sounds and /s/ sound at ends of the word. Work on finding the mouse on each page to help with spatial concepts!

• Llamma Llamma Jingle Bells: This book is good for kids working on /l/ sounds and rhyming. This one also has Christmas vocabulary.

• The Snowy Day: This is simpler story and it’s great to target /s/ blends. This book is also good for teaching pronouns because the story is about a real boy instead of an animal, which can sometimes be tricky for kids to understand.

• Duck & Goose it's time for Christmas: This book is good for kids working on /k/ and /g/ in various word positions, and it’s great for teaching negatives in sentences (i.e. no, not). It’s also great to target verbs.

• Red Sled: This is more of a wordless picture book. This one is good for kids to work on story telling or topic maintenance. (We’re only talking about THIS page right now). This one is also good for kids who are working on their sounds in conversation who need to just work on carry-over.

• Bear Stays Up: This book is good for targeting spatial and size concepts, rhyming, /b/ sounds, and Christmas vocabulary. It is also good for introducing forest animal vocabulary since kids are more exposed to zoo and farm animals.