Let's Talk: Word Finding

"It's on the tip of my tongue!" "Oh, what's the word...!" We all know that feeling. You know there is a perfect word for what you want to say. It is a word you have used a multitude of times - and appropriately, too. You might remember what sound it starts with. But at this precise moment for some reason you cannot dig it out of your brain to send to your mouth to be spoken. So you end up talking around it; describing/defining the word or using a less precise word to continue your conversation. It happens to all of us.

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1-2-3 Just Play With Me {a review}

I first heard about 1-2-3 Just Play With Me (from Milestones & Miracles) last fall when I read this review by fellow pediatric speech-language pathologist Katie at Playing With Words 365. I was immediately intrigued! And excited - I had just found my Christmas gift to my soon-to-be-born niece (and brother and sister-in-law).

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AAC: No good reason to wait!

"...AAC is a means to an end, not the end and not the last resort ... Not the thing we turn to in the end, but something we can start with..."

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Receptive, Expressive; Oral, Written - The L in SLP

Speech-Language Pathologist is a mouthful. Which often leads to the use of terms like 'speech therapy', 'speech therapist' or 'speech teacher'. Which in turn (unfortunately) perpetuates the idea that SLPs only work with kids who struggle to say their /r/, /s/ or /l/ correctly. However, speech disorders are only part of what the field of speech-language pathology covers. Some SLPs do choose to focus on speech (e.g. specialize in treating apraxia or stuttering). In reality, it only makes up a small percentage of what I do.

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“Casey do.” Waiting for Pronouns

I have pronouns on the brain. Recently, I have had questions from friends and family about “when should” their little one be using pronouns correctly. Just this morning I saw a post on Facebook questioning “why (we) educators refer to ourselves and others in the 3rd person when working with young children?” Pronouns are actually quite complex to learn. They change meaning depending upon who is talking and the ‘cast of characters’ involved.

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