Jenny Olson

I had to choose Otitis Media because that is my son and how my love for speech all began.  Owens states, "Many young children suffer from chronic otitis media.  In general, the cumulative effect of recurrent hearing loss can be a significant factor in delayed language development.  Although otitis media is a factor in language disorder, children with otitis media do not constitute a separate category.  Otitis media may co-occur with categories discussed previous, such as DLD" (p. 97).

My son had chronic ear infections starting at a very young age.  He had 2 sets of ear tubes and his adenoids taken out.  The second set of ear tubes were the ones that helped the most, even though they fell out quickly also.  He was finally able to have good balance and equilibrium to help him walk and he started attempting to talk more.  Between being soft spoken, articulation and language issues, everyone looked to me to be his translator and this became very frustrating to him.  At his 2 year check up, his pediatrician referred us to an early intervention center and he was enrolled in Speech Therapy Services.  That's where my love started and my life was changed being able to fully communicate with him and others were starting to understand him more also.  

Owens talked about early communication and intervention.  This is where I was able to learn a little more about speech and apply it into our daily lives.  He talks about teaching adults strategies that they can do with the children and this helps the SLP's not overwhelm caregivers with too many intervention tasks.  Owen states, "Parent training should include the following steps:  Teach a specific strategy rather than several strategies, and provide a rationale, examples, and a time for practice.  Demonstrate, practice, coach, and critique, including asking how parent feels about the training and the strategy being taught" (p. 137).

Roberts and Hunter (2002) states, "OM occurs most often during the first three years of life, a time that is most important for early language development."  They continued to say, "Despite a considerable number of studies conducted during the past three decades on whether children with frequent OME in early childhood score lower on measures of speech, language, and academic achievement than children without such a history, the literature is still controversial. There are, however, some areas of consensus within the literature. Several prospective studies (where a group of children are followed over time with a pre-determined protocol) have found a relationship between a history of OM in early childhood and later of receptive and expressive language, syntax, vocabulary, and narratives during the preschool and early elementary school years."  

My son has been in speech since he was two years old.  He has graduated from articulation and is working on language goals now.  As someone who has seen it first hand, otitis media did affect my son's speech and language.  I am so thankful for all the SLPs who have worked with him throughout his life! 

Instagram. (n.d.).  https://www.instagram.com/superherospeech/p/DDXzYs5qmzD/?img_index=2

Owens, R. E. (2024). Language Disorders. A Functional Approach to Assessment and Intervention in Children. (7th ed.). Plural Publishing Inc.

Roberts, J., & Hunter, L. (2002). Otitis Media and children’s language and learning. ASHA Leader, 7(18), 6–19. https://doi.org/10.1044/leader.ftr2.07182002.6

By Skylar Stringer

Early intervention has become increasingly popular to treat children with ASD in the last 20 years. I am to explore the empirical evidence of early intervention to treat ASD, specifically as it relates to language skills. 

Marchi (2015)  conducted a meta-analysis of research for the effectiveness of early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) for children with ASD. EIBI in this case is associated with ABA therapy, but it's basic principles involve early intervention in which education is transferred in a natural environment to promote generalization. It also includes caregiver training. Results of this analysis show improvement in adaptive behavior, IQ, expressive & receptive language, general communication skills, social competence, and daily living skills following EIBI (Marchi, 2015)

Maksimović et. al. (2023) conducted a study comparing the effectiveness of ASD intervention in two different age groups: 36-47 months and 48-60 months. Specific symptoms of ASD that were assessed prior to and after early intervention included repetitive behavior, social interaction, social communication, and emotional relationships. Results of this study showed that early intervention was more effective in children aged 36-47 months as compaired to those aged 48-60 months (Maksimović et. al., 2023).

References:

Marchi, A. R. (2015). The Importance of Early Intensive Behavioural Intervention in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Psychiatry, 18(5). https://doi.org/10.4172/2378-5756.1000317

Slavica Maksimović, Maša Marisavljević, Stanojević, N., Milica Ćirović, Punišić, S., Tatjana Adamović, Jelena Đorđević, Krgović, I., & Miško Subotić. (2023). Importance of Early Intervention in Reducing Autistic Symptoms and Speech–Language Deficits in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Children, 10(1), 122–122. https://doi.org/10.3390/children10010122

What is Autism Spectrum Disorder? 

Autism Spectrum Disorder is  disorder in reciprocal social interaction, characterized by restricted and repetitive interests or behaviors. 

Core Characteristics:  

• Social emotional difficulties: Difficulty initiating or responding to social interactions.

• Non verbal communication challenges : Difficulty using or understanding gestures. 

• Relationship development Issues: Struggles with forming and maintaining friendships.

• Restricted Repetitive Patterns:  Stereotyped movements, insistence on sameness.

Communication is the foundation in connection. It is the exchange of information including ideas, needs, desires, and feelings. Each child is unique and we must avoid assumptions or stereotypes. For some , speech and language may be delayed or may not develop. 

4 ways SLPs can make a difference:

By Mindy Wender

Selective mutism is an anxiety disorder that affects pragmatic language. Individuals with selective mutism are more comfortable speaking in certain situations. The diagnosis of selective mutism is typical to be given when the child starts school. This is because in school there is an expectation for speaking which can exacerbate the selective mutism (ASHA, n.d.).

Signs of selective mutism include when the child is comfortable speaking with the immediate family members but not the extended family members. They may feel uncomfortable speaking to immediate family members when visitors are present and avoid social situations. When outside of their home in school and the community they may exhibit the fight, flight, or freeze response. In addition, they may have trouble with language processing because of their increased anxiety. These individuals may not communicate outside of the home even with people that they are comfortable with (ASHA, n.d.).

Selective mutism is rare and occurs in less than 1% of the population. It is thought to occur more often in females; however, studies are not conclusive and may be skewed (Cleveland Clinic, 2024).

A few treatment methods for selective mutism are stimulus fading, shaping, and self-modeling. Stimulus fading is when the child converses freely with someone they are comfortable with and then slowly a new person is brought into the room. Shaping is encouraging and praising all communicative efforts of the child such as gestures and whispering until audible speech is attained. Self-modeling is when the child watches a video of themselves conversing in a comfortable setting (ASHA, n.d.).

Selective mutism can adversely affect a child’s academic performance and social standing in school. Therefore, it is imperative to treat. Selective mutism can co-occur with a speech and/or language disorder. Research shows that some children have selective mutism because they are afraid others will tease their speech quality or sound (ASHA, n.d.). interestingly 30% to 50% of children with selective mutism have a language disorder (Owens, 2024).

References:

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (n.d.). Selective mutism. https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/selective-mutism/?srsltid=AfmBOorwJKw1ESj8AiyGWqfKdXQ3rG1J-qUAoDU7GTjjpDAFGD_oHQ-p#collapse_4 

Cleveland Clinic. (2024). Selective mutism. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/selective-mutism

Owens, R. E. (2024). Language disorders: A functional approach to assessment and intervention in children. (7th ed.). Plural Publishing Inc.

References: 

Ciolino, C., Hyter, Y. D., Suarez, M., & Bedrosian, J. (2021). Narrative and other pragmatic language abilities of children with a history of maltreatment. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 6(2), 230–241. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_persp-20-00136

Montgomery College. (n.d.). 7 Principles of Trauma-Informed Teaching. The Hub. https://mcblogs.montgomerycollege.edu/thehub/fundamentalsofteaching/7-principles-of-trauma-informed-teaching/

Owens, R. (2024). Language disorders: A functional approach to assessment and intervention in children (7th ed.). Plural Publishing, Inc.

Frances Jue

       The emergence of communication and language in a brand-new person is an incredible thing to witness. From the first true smiles, to seeing their face light up hearing a favorite song or familiar voice, those first communications are some of life’s sweetest moments. But for some families, the path to these cherished moments takes a detour through the world of cochlear implants, and successful communication requires a bit more professional cultivation. A cochlear implant is a two-part device that directly stimulates the auditory nerve to make acoustic information accessible (2025). This device benefits those with profound hearing loss due to cochlear damage by providing them access to acoustic signals, with patients being eligible for surgery at 10-12 months of age (2025). While cochlear implants give the patient access to auditory information, distinguishing speech sounds can still be a challenge and requires the help of speech pathologist.

       For speech therapists working with this population, the overarching goal is total communication. Each client will come to the table with differing abilities depending on when their auditory functions required assistance in relation to when they received a cochlear implant. There are different challenges for adults whose hearing acuity was previously intact, versus a pediatric patient diagnosed with hearing loss during infancy. In pediatric populations, early intervention is crucial, and the focus is on aural habilitation. In adult populations, aural rehabilitation is often necessary. Speech pathologists working in this field are typically part of a care team, with heavy involvement in pre and post operative care (2025).

        There are different therapeutic approaches a speech pathologist can take with this population, including a multisensory approach or an auditory focused approach (Van Bogaert et al., 2023). A recent French study demonstrated better outcomes for clients who utilized cued speech (a multisensory approach combining manual and verbal cues) compared to only focusing on auditory input (Van Bogaert et al., 2023). Sing language, lip reading and cued speech can all be utilized to assist phonological discrimination in this population. Voice therapy and music training are also techniques that therapists can draw upon (2025). 

       Working as a speech therapist with this population would be incredibly rewarding. Speech pathologists would have the opportunity of seeing the fruits of their labors in a unique and special way as they help lay the foundation for a lifetime of language and communication success.

References

Van Bogaert, L., Machart, L., Gerber, S., Lœvenbruck, H., Vilain, A., & Consortium      

EULALIES (2023). Speech rehabilitation in children with cochlear implants using a 

multisensory (French Cued Speech) or a hearing-focused (Auditory Verbal Therapy) 

approach. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 17, 1152516. 

https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1152516

Working as an SLP with patients with cochlear implants. (2025). 

https://www.speechpathologygraduateprograms.org/patients-with-cochlear-implants/

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of disability and death in ages 0 to 4 years and 15 to 19 years old in the United States (Owens, 2024). TBI is caused by a physical force on the head leading to damage to the brain. This physical force can be caused by environmental factors such as a fall, motor vehicle accident (MVA), and/or a sports injury affecting males. Following a TBI a person may experience loss of consciousness, post-traumatic amnesia, disorientation and confusion, and neurological signs such as onset of seizures, visual field limitations, hemiparesis, or weakness on one side of the body, and/or injury evident on neuroimaging (Owens, 2024).  

Neurocognitive disorders acquired after a TBI can lead to cognitive deficits in attention, executive functioning, learning and memory, language, social cognition, and perceptual-motor. Typically, acquired language disorders can occur in children after an injury that is mild, moderate, or severe. The primary area of language affected after a TBI is usually pragmatics. There is a chance that phonological difficulties may occur due to TBI occasionally co-occurring with dysarthria or apraxia. Children with acquired TBI may also demonstrate poor auditory and reading comprehension.  

Researchers found that language difficulties can persist long-term after moderate to severe TBI (Liégeois et al., 2013). Liégeois et al. (2013) found sentence generation to be the most impaired language domain, with a third of participants with dysarthria demonstrating difficulties. This finding was determined by using short-term auditory-verbal memory, syntactic and semantic skills, and retrieval skills to formulate the sentence (Liégeois et al., 2013). A child with TBI would benefit from speech therapy to target higher-order functioning skills in conversational speech. Helping the child with their pragmatic deficits and language form, content, and use will have positive effects on their long-term goals in communication.  

References:

Owens, R. E. (2024). Language Disorders. A Functional Approach to Assessment and Intervention in Children. (7th ed.). Plural Publishing Inc.  

Liégeois, F. J., Mahony, K., Connelly, A., Pigdon, L., Tournier, J. D., & Morgan, A. T. (2013). Pediatric traumatic brain injury: Language outcomes and their relationship to the arcuate fasciculus. Elsevier. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3988975/