The ABA Speech Podcast - Easy Strategies For Parents and Professionals

Dr. Lisa Audet is an extremely knowledgeable special education teacher, SLP, and professor at Kent State. In fact, over 20 years ago she was my professor! She specializes in communication and independence for autistic adults, works with these individuals on her campus, and has a unique viewpoint for those of us working with younger adults with autism at the middle and high school level. Because socially and academically the needs are very different from high school to college or work-based settings, it can be hard for parents and professionals to identify the needs of students preparing for transitions. Dr. Audet identifies these needs as learning a sense of self, self-care skills, and understanding their strengths. As therapists, we often focus on students' needs and teach them new skills, but approaching therapy with a strength-based model can help students self-identify and determine jobs and settings that best suit them. Self-monitoring is so important for everyone. For autistic individuals, this can provide success in a variety of ways. This means understanding when they are uncomfortable, when they have a need, or how to understand and repair a relationship or situation when they’ve missed a boundary. Dr. Audet uses the Stop-Think-Make a Plan method for her students to teach them to assess their situation and determine solutions before a problem arises.Older autistic students in high school may be preparing for college or for placement in a work setting. Dr. Audet talks about the ways we can not only set up the student for success but educate employers on the individuals in the work environment. Students should be entering work environments that align with their interests, strengths, and desires, not what “makes sense” to the providers they work with. Alternatively, there is work to be done in the education of employers because many times fear of hurt feelings prevents great learning and developmental opportunities from taking place. As a professor at Kent State, Dr. Audet has a great understanding of what Ohio has to offer its young autistic adults as well as other individuals with other disorders. The Office for Ohioans with Disabilities has a vocational counselor on every state campus. She shares all of the great resources they can provide to students who voluntarily seek their assistance. The Organization for Autism Research has a book that is a great resource for college-bound individuals with autism. There is a lot to be done to support and initiate success for young autistic adults, especially with their varying places on the spectrum. Every state varies on the resources they provide, so be sure to look into all of the resources and options available locally to you! #autism #speechtherapy What’s Inside:Developing a sense of self within autistic young adults.Self-care and self-advocacy for autistic individuals.The importance of a strength-based therapy model.Self-monitoring for success.Transitioning from an educational environment to a post-secondary environment.Communication in the workplace with autistic adults.Mentioned In This Episode:Working with toddlers and preschool-aged autistic learners - Start Communicating Today Autism CourseWorking with school-aged autistic learners - Help Me Find My Voice ABA Speech: Home

One out of four typical children will develop a pediatric feeding disorder. Does that statistic shock you or does it feel extremely relatable? Melanie Potock of Munch Bug is an SLP and Pediatric Feeding Expert. She has written 6 books on feeding, speaks around the world, and is a coach to parents and children struggling with picky eating. Picky eating is a wide, all-encompassing umbrella term that spans many many feeding issues from babies to school-aged kids. A point Melanie really drives home during this interview is that feeding is developmental. Just as you would be concerned if your child was not hitting their other milestones, feeding issues should receive the same concern. So much goes into feeding including cognitive, motor, and even parenting skills.How can you start strong? Can feeding be a joyous experience? Feeding when speaking about food variety and solids begin at 6 months old. This is a really crucial time to learn babies' cues; when are they hungry? When are they done? When are they satisfied? This type of communication between baby and parent is called responsive feeding. A topic in which Melanie has devoted an entire book to!For toddlers and school-aged children who may be showing signs of picky eating are not ruined by good eating habits, remember to shift your mindset. Children grow at an extremely rapid rate from birth to about 18 months when it begins to slow down. A child who may have been eating everything in sight may suddenly not need as much to fuel their body. This is OK. The key at this age is to continuously try new things, in a positive way. What about the age-old trick of sneaking veggies into dessert? Have you ever made avocado pudding or black bean brownies to get that extra nutrition in for your toddler or young child? Melanie’s advice is to take the words trick or sneak out of your vocabulary when it comes to feeding. Did you sneak the black beans in or did you try a fun new recipe? Let kids know what’s in their food and tell them that you are just as surprised as you are that it tastes so yummy. It is okay to experiment with foods and recipes, it's even normal, and that sets the stage for adventurous eating. So what are some characteristics of picky eating that need intervention? Look for rigid patterns such as not tolerating new food on their plate, not eating at the table most of the time, and not eating in a new environment (school, classroom, restaurants). Sometimes kids are being kids, but these are things that happen more frequently than not. You may also see irritability before, during, or after each feeding, taking a long time for feeding, coughing and gagging, more frequently, gurgling, or frequent vomiting. Any stall in the development of feeding warrants intervention.If you are feeling stressed about feeding, get help now. Even if it's just a consult or a few extra tips and slight changes to your existing feeding routine. The longer you wait to get help or make changes, the more unlearning that will need to take place and the chance of extensive feeding therapy in your future. Talk to your pediatrician, reach out to Melanie, or seek out other forms of feeding support.#autism #speechtherapy What’s Inside:What is picky eating?What are the characteristics of a picky eater?When do you need to get intervention for picky eating?Is feeding developmental?How to make feeding time a joyous experience?Feeding tips for babies, toddlers, and school-aged kids.Mentioned In This Episode:Melanie Potock Melanie Potock on InstagramTalkTools Virtual Conference Feeding First

Do you ever walk into a new gym class and feel uneasy or nervous? If you do, you're not unlike many kids who hesitate or resist transitions. Not all children with autism experience difficulty with transitions, but it is something many struggles with. In this interview with Dani LoVecchio from Bridge Kids of New York, we discuss tips and advice for making transitions smoother. Whether it be starting a new school or service, being away from the caregiver for the first time, or smaller transitions throughout your child’s day, there are ways to make it better for the parent, professional, and the child.Dani’s Tips for Smooth Transitions with Autistic Learners:Get prepared - What is the new transition? Start gathering all the information about this new place or activity and share it with your child. Expose them to the new faces and places they will see. Set positive expectations for the new transition. Utilize a visual schedule - A visual schedule can be different for every child. Some might just need a written schedule somewhere they can see. Others might need pictures or photos and a more detailed and personal schedule. Keep a comfort Item - Is there a stuffed animal, special picture, blanket, or toy that brings your child comfort? It is okay and even beneficial to let them bring this item into their new space.Practice time away - Time away can be scary for any parent, let alone a parent of a child with a disability. However, it is so important to prepare for separation that will take place during services and school by utilizing a well trusted and trained babysitter. Skip gradual introductions - Many centers and schools offer a slow or gradual introduction instead of jumping into 5 days a week. This can often create more stress and unknowns around the new transition and even take longer for the child to adapt. Go right to the full schedule to set a strong foundation.Routines and schedules are great for kids, especially kids with autism. They teach the learner what to expect and to trust what will be next. However, we all know there is no such thing as perfect and life happens. As the child gets older, be sure to prepare them for flexibility and what to do when a schedule change or a transition isn’t the same. Dani and I also touched on communication between providers and parents. This is always so important but even more so when working on new transitions. Be sure to have a clear communication plan in place so as the parent or professional, you’re on the same page and continuing support.Transitions are part of every single person's day. They aren't always big scary new ones, but they can feel that way to some autistic learners. I loved getting to talk to Dani today and hope you can put some of her great advice to use! #autism #speechtherapy What’s Inside:What are transitions and what do they look like for autistic learners? Tips for easing transitions, big and small.Can you keep routines and still be flexible?Determining a communication system between parents and providers.Mentioned In This Episode:ABA Speech: HomeBridge Kids of New YorkBridge Kids NY on Instagram (@bridgekidsny) Bridge Kids NY on Facebook

Whether you're working with a young child, teen, or adult, executive functioning skills are among the most critical and practical skills we need. In this interview with Sara Ward, an SLP specializing in executive function, she shares the unique background that makes this work so special to her, as well as some really interesting approaches to assessment and intervention.Many people have different explanations for executive functioning. Sara defines executive functioning for young children in the most basic form, sequencing. As you reach middle and high school, you’re continuing to plan with a window of time and space that is continuously growing. It’s very easy for parents and professionals to be a child’s “prosthetic frontal lobe”, we visualize the students through space and time and we at times over prompt. So in a neurotypical brain, this is the ability to visualize where you are in a future time or space.  90% of the time, task planning happens in a different place from where you execute the plan. Naturally, as you might plan your day and anticipate the tasks necessary to accomplish your daily routine, you may use gestures to prompt your steps. An intervention Sara uses that is really successful in young children is teaching them to gesture. So a child with really great executive functioning skills would use very specific verbs to describe the steps necessary for their future plans. With a child who is lacking in executive function, you might prompt them to show you with their hands. Oftentimes, when students are able to feel the steps with their hands, the attached verb comes. So there is this language and movement attached with task execution.How do you determine the need for executive functioning? Assessments are tricky because SLP’s are not licensed to administer tests related to neuro-capability. Evaluators tend to look at Executive Skills through observation and rating scales. Sara recommends the Barkley Attention Deficit Executive Function Scale, because of the way it differentiates between attention deficits in comparison to executive skills in the individual. CEFI, Clinical Executive Function Inventory, is an online tool that Sara suggests to accurately characterize kids' behaviors related to executive functioning. She also mentions several other tests and scales that can be used, in addition to looking at existing speech and language assessments with an executive functioning lens.Sara provides so many great suggestions and tools for working with students on executive functioning and the program she developed. As an experienced SLP, I myself found this information so enlightening. I cannot wait to take these tools to my next IEP meeting and to my therapy. I hope you found this just as helpful.#autism #speechtherapy  What’s Inside:What is executive functioning?Why are executive function skills important?Assessment and intervention for executive function skills.Executive functioning in young children, teens, and adults. Mentioned In This Episode:ABA Speech: HomeCognitive Connections: Executive Function

Welcome back to part 2 of my interview with Dr. Edythe Strand. If you haven’t listened to part 1, be sure to go back and listen to get the full scoop. Edythe is a very important leader in her field. In addition to the Dynamic Assessment, she also researched and developed a critical treatment for children with severe apraxia, Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing. DTTC, as it is known, is an innovative treatment in which a hierarchy of cues is used to demonstrate and initiate motor-speech skills in children with apraxia. In most therapies, we are constantly taking data, every meeting or every session. However, the Dynamic Assessment and DTTC is such an involved, hands-on, and therapist-led treatment data and scoring doesn’t need to take place at every visit. In Edythe’s work at Mayo, they would take data every 3 visits using multidimensional scoring. She notes that the importance of data is not as prevalent during an intensive treatment like this as opposed to when she is doing research. When working on something as important to communication as language, whether the child is typical or has autism, the type of language, the number of words, and the words that are chosen to work on are so important. Especially in the cases of students with severe apraxia and autism, functional and fundamental words during practice and DTTC are crucial.In this episode, Dr. Edythe Strand touches on the commonalities between apraxia and other diagnoses and disorders such as autism. She explains all of the research, practice, and genuine desire to help kids with severe apraxia that has gone into her work. She is such a wealth of information and has provided so many great links and references for this episode, so be sure to check them out!What’s Inside:What is DTTC Treatment?Taking data with DTTC and Dynamic Assessment.Choosing important words for treatment.Is there a connection between Apraxia and Autism?  Mentioned In This Episode:ABA Speech: HomeChild Apraxia TreatmentApraxia-kids: HomeVideos for Parents and Clinicians:Overview of possible causes and types of problems in speech developmentDefinitions and Descriptions of Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)Examples of different levels of severity in Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)Differentiating Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) from other types of speech sound disordersDiagnosis of Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) Treatment of Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)How parents can help their child with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS): Other resourcesChildhood Apraxia of Speech:  Information for Parents5-hour general course on CAS or the Once Upon a Time Foundation, through the University of Texas, Dallas.Childhood Apraxia of Speech -- by Dr. Edythe Strand, Ph.d. View video FOR FREE and receive ASHA CEUs! www.utdallas.edu/calliercenter/events/CAS/ 

Welcome to part one of my interview with Dr. Edythe Strand. Edythe was a professor at Mayo College, former head of Division of Speech Pathology, Department of Neurology at the Mayo Clinic, and a practicing Speech Pathologist and clinician. Her research has focused on developmental, acquired, and progressive Apraxia speech.What are the characteristics of Apraxia? Edythe noted that Apraxia is not a medical diagnosis but rather a label for a speech sound disorder. Different from other speech disorders, Apraxia affects the movement needed to make a sound. Characteristics might include, difficulty programming and planning, movement gestures, awkward movement through a movement transition, mistiming, blending of manner, distorted sounds, intrusive schwa, inconsistency in the context of repeated production. Therapy for students with Apraxia looks a lot different than other language disorders. Speech-Language Pathologists typically go straight for phonemes and articulation. However, Edythe further drives home that Apraxia treatment is focused on movement. So instead of enunciating letter sounds and syllables, the clinician is going to emphasize the movement that creates the sound. This is called Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing, or DTTC, treatment. Dynamic Assessments are the best evaluations for students with Apraxia and are really different from a lot of the typical assessments in speech pathology. It involves a hierarchy of cueing, and scoring is based on response to that cueing. Versus in Static Assessment, typically there is a picture or a question; the child responds once and the clinician notes the response. Edythe Strand developed her own Dynamic Assessment, DEMS  (Dynamic Evaluation of Motor-speech Skill). She shares some examples of who and how this assessment would be used. The benefits of Dynamic Assessment include knowledge of a child's preferred cueing and an understanding of the severity of the disorder. Be sure to check out the amazing resources from Dr. Edythe Strand and stay tuned for part two of this really interesting interview!#autism #speechtherapyWhat’s Inside:The characteristics of Apraxia.What is Dynamic Assessment?How to approach therapy with students who have Apraxia?What is DTTC treatment? Mentioned In This Episode:Child Apraxia TreatmentApraxia-kids: Home Videos for Parents and Clinicians:Overview of possible causes and types of problems in speech developmentDefinitions and Descriptions of Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)Examples of different levels of severity in Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)Differentiating Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) from other types of speech sound disordersDiagnosis of Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) Treatment of Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) How parents can help their child with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS): Other resourcesChildhood Apraxia of Speech:  Information for Parents5-hour general course on CASChildhood Apraxia of Speech -- by Dr. Edythe Strand, Ph.d. View video FOR FREE and receive ASHA CEUs! www.utdallas.edu/calliercenter/events/CAS

In this interview, Dr. Kerry Magro, one of the first speakers who is also autistic,  shares his communication journey.  Kerry was non-speaking at 2.5 and received an official autism diagnosis at 4. Despite not speaking in full sentences until 7 and facing a variety of sensory challenges, the support of his loving family and over 15 years of a multitude of therapies helped him overcome many of his barriers. All of these paved the way for his achievement in a degree in sports management before he realized his true passion for disability advocacy and received his Ph.D.  We discuss how, with the right support in place, anyone can find their voice.Kerry describes his early speech behavior as non-speaking versus non-verbal because of the sounds he was making. While they weren’t words, these sounds turned into pronunciations and through speech therapy broke ground to start communicating, in any way possible. I work with a lot of students who are not yet spontaneously communicating, and it is always my focus to create budding communication. Kerry describes the two biggest things that helped him grow from non-speaking to a professional speaker were speech therapy and music therapy. When you receive a diagnosis of autism for your child, sharing this information with them can seem scary or overwhelming, especially when a child is young. Kerry shares how his parents told him after a fun game at school where the teacher told him he was special and wanted to know why. His parents told him that he has autism and that it meant he learned differently, but that he was no less of a person than others. While that may seem simple, Kerry says it was life-changing for him as he grew older and began to understand his disability, sit in on IEP meetings, and become an advocate for himself. Leaving the support of the elementary, middle, and high school and moving on to college is quite a transition, whether you’re a typical learner or not. Kerry says for him, the best support for him as he entered college was understanding his accommodations, understanding his needs to succeed academically. For him specifically, he needed more time on tests, a private room due to sensory needs, and a note taker due to his dysgraphia.  He is actually working on a book about the transition from high school to college with advice and experience from many autistic voices.As a professional in this field, my goal is always to support my students, but sometimes it can be hard to know what language is preferred. Kerry talks about the importance of letting neurodivergent individuals and self-advocates identify themselves. It’s really not up to a professional to dictate the preferred language of someone else. Many are taught to use the label, a person with autism, but Kerry prefers the language, autistic individual.  He also stresses that parents and professionals should stop using functioning labels. The best way to describe your child is to list their strengths and weaknesses. Autism is such a wide spectrum, so person-centered approaches are essential to the autism community. If you’ve met one autistic individual, you’ve met one.Be on the lookout for Kerry’s contribution to the book Life After the Lockdown: Resetting Perceptions on Autism, just released this September. This fall, he is gearing up for many speeches for National Bullying Prevention Month and National Disability Employment Awareness Month, as well as the spring release of his book Autistics on Autism for World Autism Month, in which 100% of the proceeds will go into his scholarship fund. #autism #speechtherapy What’s Inside:Dr. Kerry Magro’s communication journey.The importance of speech and music therapy.Non-speaking to professional speaker.Telling your child their diagnosis. Autism and transitioning to college.Understanding preferred language and labels.

How are you utilizing effective communication with parents? Parents, how are you effectively communicating with the educators in your child's life? Ria Reive from HiMama is a former early childhood educator. She shares actionable tips to improve communication with parents and teachers. As well as the overall benefit from effective communication in a school setting. You may not see how impactful parent engagement can be in the day-to-day, but down the road, there is going to be an immense benefit when both the parent and the educator have the knowledge on both sides.What are Ria’s three big strategies for effective parent communication? It all starts with being yourself because you are starting the map of engagement from the get-go.Continue to be a source of knowledge for the parent. Be that stepping stone when a parent is ready for help, they may not be accepted right away, but if you continue to be that source, you may be surprised by what they are taking in. Seek professional development on communicating with parents, take the time to invest in yourself, and you will find those interactions and engagement are a lot more successful.So what kind of daily information are you providing parents on a day-to-day basis? For Ria in the classroom working with younger kids, that's going to be feeding, naps, diaper changes, etc., and then kind of how their day went, did it go amazing, or maybe they had a rough day and some of that daily info can clue in on that. So when she was in the classroom, that was translated via paper. However, we talk a lot about how parents do not need one more piece of paper, and that's where HiMama comes in. HiMama provides a digital piece of communication for efficient, direct, dissemination of information between teachers and parents.What happens when there may be a problem or disagreement? Ria and I talk about the benefits of creating an action plan. Decide how you’re going to handle problems with parents and remain professional and supportive. Remember, there is a time and place,  during drop-off at the classroom door, probably isn't it. It takes a team to educate and support students with autism, and all students. Parent engagement and communication from both sides is a skill really integral to the success of the child at hand.#autism #speechtherapyWhat's Inside:The importance of effective communication with parents and teachers.Actionable tips for educators to improve communication.What kind of information should be communicated between parents and teachers?How to handle tough conversations.What is HiMama and how could it help your education communication?Mentioned In This Episode:HiMama - The Best Childcare App for Daycare CentersABA Speech: Home 

Have you ever wondered about how your child should be playing? Today Kayla Chalko,  SLP from Walkie Talkie, talks with me today about the importance of play for learning. We talk all about play milestones and the importance of parent-to-child connection in building up to those. What are the benefits of play? The amount of time that someone could spend doing formal instruction, versus the time spent playing while introducing content, much more information will stick. Shared activities with an adult and child or multiple children also bring impactful connections and social skills.Parents can get nervous when hearing the word milestones, especially if they find their child isn't measuring up. Milestones are a guideline and a point on which to work from. So what are some basic play milestones?6 months - 12 months: Engaging in social games such as peek-a-boo or patty cake, usually paired with words and songs. Silly games involving back and forth and imitation. 18 months: Using tools to pretend actions like hammering, pouring and mixing. Playing with sensory items. Developing their imagination with more pretend play, they may pretend to feed dolls or mom. 2 years: Continuing pretend play. They may imitate normal activities from their home. They may play house, clean up, and imitate the caregivers. At this brainstage, they are ready to pretend based on their environment. Beginning to try joint play with other kids. Change your mindset from working specifically on milestones to genuine connection. Play can be an intimidating word for parents, but make it all about connection. What makes you and your kid feel silly? Start with something like that, loosen up and feel silly. Mindset is the most important piece; this is how you create connection with the child, and that's where those play skills will come through.Therapy should be fun for the child and for the clinician. Creating an atmosphere  that is fun and functional is important. A lot of therapists are eager for a list of toys for their therapy room. Kayla’s go-to toys are her balloon pump, a ball, markers, puppet books, and bubbles. However, she says regardless of toys, it is all about the mindset and connection. Sometimes your best toys are your hands, voice, and facial expressions. It doesn't matter what you’re playing with; it's how you're playing with it.Kayla’s closing advice is to get rid of the pressure and perfection. Stop worrying about milestones and connections. She says that if parents can focus purely on connection with their child for just a week, she guarantees that they will improve and learn so much more over the course of that time!#autism #speechtherapy What’s Inside:A breakdown of play skill milestones.What does play look like for children 6 months to 2 years of age?How parents and providers can support play skills.Mentioned In This Episode:Walkie Talkie Speech Therapy | Speech Therapy in San Diego

Ineffective communication in all humans, will affect how we behave. Children who cannot communicate, do not have the life experience to handle their feelings and situations and that presents in their behavior. Ashley Scott, SLP-BCBA, shares in this episode the ongoing and intentional processes of building expressive language in children. There is a difference between having vocabulary and functional language skills. A child may be able to count, say their ABCs, or identify color, but they may not be able to communicate. So they may know the color orange, but if they want an orange, can they say “mommy I want an orange”. Functional language is not just talking but using words to request, negotiate, and communicate with their parents and peers. It is not cut and dry, “a kid can talk so they start talking”. If you are working on getting a child to talk, there are so many things that need to be in place, so it is important to have less focus on words and more focus on foundational skills as simple as learning to sit. Ashley’s advice for parents is to ask fewer questions. Narrating is a key to building language skills and understanding the meaning behind words. Ask less questions and comment and narrate everything as you and your child are doing it. Pair everything you’re doing with real words, to build connections between the activity or item and the word. We want to expose kids to a rich vocabulary, but when kids aren't communicating, keep words simple. They don’t have to be long sentences, but instead small phrases and keywords. For example, you don’t need to say “you’re putting on your shoes” instead hold and point to the shoes and say “shoes on” or you don’t need to say “let’s open the door now” instead say “open” but say it a few times, clear and exaggerated.One of Ashley’s big questions for therapists and parents is, “how much are you facilitating?” Wait time is a big piece. It is critical to give children time to process and respond. One thing Ashley said that makes so much sense is working on language is an art form, a unique balance between foundational skills, modeling, narrating, and allowing silent time for processing language. Another key part of therapy is that the skills a child can perform in therapy should be able to be performed, across all of their environments  and with all people they interact with. It's important to create opportunities for communication. This differentiates the difference between can’t do or won’t do. Reinforcement is critical, modeling what it looks like to respond to a request. Repeating a request over and over is not effective. Say it one time, and if they do not comply, physically complete the request with them. For example, you don't need to say come here over and over. If they do not come the first time, show them what coming here looks like. Building expressive language is about building independence. There are so many teaching opportunities that are missed because as adults we meet the child’s needs that they can do themselves and we do not give them the opportunity to ask for help or demonstrate their knowledge. The biggest takeaway for parents and professionals here is language and communication is more than just talking. #autism #speechtherapy What's Inside:Getting started with expressive language delays.Real tips and strategies for parents and professionals.The art form of building expressive language.Building language happens in more than just the therapy room. Mentioned In This Episode: FREE live webinar- Autism Therapy Strategies for Toddlers and