F.A.S.T

American Stroke Month

American Stroke Month started at the beginning of May. If you or someone you know is having a stroke, it is critical to get medical attention immediately! Immediate treatment may minimize the long-term effects of a stroke and even prevent death.

Recognizing the symptoms when someone is having a stroke is vital in order to get the most immediate medical attention. Here are the most common symptoms of someone experiencing a stroke:

    1. Face Drooping —> Ask the person to smile. Is one side of the lower than the other?

    2. Arm Weakness —> Ask the person to lift both arms. Is one arm drifting downward?

    3. Speech Difficulty —> Is their speech slurred? Ask them to repeat a simple sentence

    4. Time to call 9-1-1 —> Time is important! Tell them “I think this is a stroke”

Follow this link to learn more in support of the American Stroke Month!

Decision Making Opportunities for those with a Communication Disorder

Making little choices is an important daily function. We make decisions about what to wear, what to eat, and what to do daily. Imagine if someone else was making these decisions for you. Would you be happy with their decision? Despite the insignificance of these decisions, not making these decisions yourself can be demoralizing and limiting. 

It’s important to recognize how this may affect those with a communication disorder. Helping them to express their needs and wants through giving options could dilute a potential frustrating situation for them. While they may not know how to respond to open ended questions, giving choices can help them give an appropriate answer while practicing recall. For example, “Would you like to eat a banana or an orange?” instead of "What would you like to eat?"

Giving them the option to make these decisions gives them a sense of independence and empowerment. This also demonstrates that you respect their desires and needs.

Benefits of giving choices:

• Allowing children to make decisions demonstrates the role communication plays in making requests in a concrete, immediate way. For example, “Would you like to tie your shoes or would you like me to do it for you?”

• Giving them choices creates opportunities to model and expand language.

• Offering choices helps to set expectations when giving directions. Phrasing a command as two choices can give you a quicker response while helping the child to feel independent and as if it was their idea. For Example, “Would you like to put your socks or shirt on first?” This questions has an underlying command saying “It’s time to get ready.”

Also, it can help to make the child feel in control of their environment. Giving two choices can help them to maintain predictability and reduce the uncertainty of their environment.

How To Use Picture Books to Build Language Skills

For those not familiar with it, Brightly is a fantastic website for parents who want to foster a love of books and reading in their kids.  They have book recommendations, tips for parents, activity ideas, etc.

I especially love their section on picture books.  What I wanted to share today in particular is their article on ways to use picture books to build kids' language skills:

5 Ways to Use Picture Books to Build Kids’ Language Skills

The article is even written by a parent who is also a speech-language pathologist!  She describes how to build vocabulary, social language skills, comprehension, and sequencing abilities while sharing picture books with your child.  Enjoy!

--Sarah

Tips to creating a richer experience when reading with your child

Tips to creating a richer experience when reading with your child

Reading books with your child is a wonderful activity to do together. This is also a great way to build your child’s language skills! Here are a few tips and ideas to encourage more language growth.

-Label and describe items on the page that you see and encourage your child to do the same. Talk about the actions, nouns, colors, shapes, etc (and include adjectives!) that are seen in the illustrations. This is great for expanding your child’s vocabulary.

-Ask questions to encourage story comprehension skills, such as WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY, and HOW.

-During and after the story promote sequencing and re-calling skills by having your child re-tell story events.

-While you are reading with your child, before you turn to the next page, ask your child what they think will happen next. This will help strengthen predicating skills.

-Talk about the characters and their feelings/emotions. You can even talk about what clues (facial expression, body language, tone of voice) that made you think that.

-Model sounds and words from the book so your child can imitate by watching you. Be sure your child can see your face.

Remember you don’t need to do all of these activities at once! But most importantly have fun with your child and cherish these bonding moments!

Have fun!

-Kirsten