May 13, 2014
Tongue-tie, or what is commonly referred to in the medical community as ankyloglossia, is a partial or total fusion of the tongue to the floor of the mouth due to an abnormality of the lingual frenulum. It is present at birth.
April 30, 2014
Do you see your child or someone else’s child sitting with their bottom on the floor and their legs out beside them, forming a “W” shape? This is commonly called “W sitting.” You may think “wow, look how flexible they are.” Although flexibility in your muscles is a good thing, “W” sitting is not.
April 21, 2014
Shoes or no shoes? This is a question many parents of young children who are learning to walk will eventually ask. Do shoes make their child more stable? Or, will shoes hinder their ability to progress? Varying opinions of friends and family may add to the confusion.
April 19, 2014
Early Intervention Resources & Services in Your State Much has been written about the importance of a child’s first five years of life. What a baby […]
April 19, 2014
We constantly strive to gather a useful collection of resources and links to help parents with questions on child development delays, early intervention, social and emotional […]
April 14, 2014
The type of hearing loss involved with getting a cochlear implant is called sensorineural, which means that there are abnormalities in the hair cells in the cochlea. With this type of loss, sound cannot reach the auditory nerve. With a cochlear implant, sound bypasses the damaged parts of the ear and reaches the auditory nerve.
April 3, 2014
Communication comes in many forms. From a cry to express hunger to rhythmic kicks of their feet to show excitement, children begin communicating in the earliest years of their life. For most, communication continues to develop and becomes an everyday effortless activity; however, for individuals with disabilities, communication can be a constant obstacle.
March 27, 2014
Parents and their children are actually participating in oral motor activities and modeling oral motor skills during their daily routines without even being aware of it. Here are some fun ways to target oral motor skills during play and daily routines with your child that provide multiple opportunities to practice each skill and are fun for everyone!
March 20, 2014
In my profession as a pediatric dietitian I frequently have parents ask, “How do I change my child’s eating habits?” Some parents would like their child to eat more, some to eat less, others to eat healthier and others just to include more variety. We have all heard the traditional response that as a parent we should model good eating habits. Sometimes that just isn’t enough. I always include trying to make healthy eating fun for your children.
March 18, 2014
During early childhood, there is an important progression of oral motor skills that a child gains in order to move on to each set of new foods. One of the most significant of these oral motor skills is tongue lateralization, or the movement of the tongue from side to side inside the mouth.
March 13, 2014
An airplane flies overhead. Your toddler looks up into the sky with large eyes, looks quickly to you, then looks back toward the sky. It takes no words, no description, but language is not driving this interaction. Your child just used a method of communication known as joint attention.
March 11, 2014
The practice of ABA seeks to determine the “who, what, where, and why” of behaviors in order to develop methods to both teach new skills and replace problem behaviors with positive ones. ABA is used to teach a wide variety of skills such as play skills, communication, self-help skills, and social skills.
March 6, 2014
As therapists working with our families in their natural environments, we have the ability to choose from many different approaches to autism spectrum therapy as well as identify appropriate structures for interventions that can be implemented. One such approach is called “The PLAY Project” (Play and Language for the Autistic Youngster).
March 4, 2014
Many parents wonder when their child will begin to demonstrate an obvious hand preference, or hand dominance. There can be a lot of variability in the age of the child when this happens, and this should not cause parents to worry.
February 28, 2014
Many parents and therapists alike can be perplexed by whether or not a child’s behaviors are resulting from sensory processing dysfunction or behavior driven. When living or working with infants or toddlers, this can be especially difficult until they are able to express their wants or needs by actions or words.
February 26, 2014
What is stuttering? Stuttering is a speech disorder that affects the normal flow of speech. People who stutter often exhibit part-word repetitions (d-d-d-dog), whole-word repetitions (dog dog dog), breaks in speech, interjections (um, er), and/or prolongations of sounds (DDDog).
February 19, 2014
As children grow and develop, their literacy grows with them! It is never too early to start. Here are just a few ideas to help you get your journey started.
February 18, 2014
Dropping off your child at day care is never easy. Here are a few tips to ease the day care drop off transition.
February 13, 2014
My five year old grandson started kindergarten, he recently started to bite on his sleeves, jacket tie straps and biting on my shirt. He is one of the youngest kids in school and does not do well when kids pick on or bully him.
February 11, 2014
In typical development, we expect that by about 12 months of age, our babies will be able to pinch small objects using the tip of the index finger and the thumb.
February 6, 2014
What strategies can you recommend to stop biting? I'm working as an additional educator in a child care centre with a boy with autism that bites when someone is in his space.
February 4, 2014
Parenting a toddler is a challenge, even more so if you already have older or younger children in your home. Many parents often wish that their children ages 12-36 months would just “stay still” for a bit so they could catch a break.
January 30, 2014
There are many advantages to being bilingual. The American Speech-Language Hearing Association suggests that some advantages may include: learning new words more easily, playing rhyming games, putting words into categories, increasing problem solving skills, and improving listening skills.
January 28, 2014
Did you know that early, age-appropriate music experiences can enrich a child’s language, literacy, social development, cognition, attention span, mathematical, motor and self-regulation skills?
January 23, 2014
I have a 6.5 month old (she was 5 weeks early). She didn’t start lifting during tummy time until 2.5-3 months and she struggles to push […]
January 21, 2014
My son turned 9 months today, and he is not babbling consonants yet. He tries really hard to talk but all he can come up with […]
January 16, 2014
Aside from cognitive delays, there are varying levels of speech and language delays associated with FXS (more so in males).
January 14, 2014
A child that is diagnosed with a hearing loss may have one of several types of hearing losses: conductive, sensorineural or mixed hearing loss.
January 9, 2014
Is Head Banging Indicative of Need for Intervention? As a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and Developmental Therapist (DV), I hear a lot of questions about […]
January 7, 2014
“Toddlers aren’t mini-adults, or even mini-big kids. They’re more like uncivilized little cave-kids.” – The Happiest Toddler on the Block How to Successfully Communicate with […]