Spark Talk
Menu
Call 613-507-8255

How To Help Your Shy Child

by Leave a Comment

While most children have their moments of being socially reserved, some of them experience shyness. There’s nothing inherently wrong with being shy, but sometimes this behaviour can cause difficulties for the child, whether toddler or school-aged. Toddlers, for example, may have trouble making friends, or may become upset when left in the care of childcare providers, friends, or even other family members. School-aged children may have difficulties making and maintaining friendships, or speaking out in class. This can lead to social isolation, low grades, and further troubles in school. Here are a few tips on how to help your child manage his or shyness.

Work With Them, Not Against Them

While being overly indulgent is never a good idea, understanding your child’s shyness can help you work with them to overcome it, rather than against them. Shy children prefer to approach new social situations with caution, and may take a while to warm up. Don’t rush your child, or force him or her to approach a situation faster than they are ready for. By helping your child adjust at his or her pace, you can help them see you as an ally – which will help make these new situations seem less scary.

Don’t Put Them On The Spot

Even adults hate being put in sudden, unfamiliar situations, so don’t have any unrealistic expectations of your child. When relatives are visiting and express an interest in seeing your child’s art work or latest performance accomplishment, for example, ask him or her privately if they feel comfortable, and respect their wishes if they say no. An ideal solution is to ask beforehand, giving him or her time to prepare.

Rehearse Social Situations

If your child is hoping to make new friends at daycare or school, help him or her rehearse ahead of time. Role play conversation starters, and encourage them to approach new friends one-on-one, rather than in large groups. Understanding that it is possible to start with small steps may help your child feel more comfortable. When at the park or playground, model the social behaviour you hope your child to imitate, by approaching other parents and starting conversations. If your child can see that it isn’t so scary for you, it may encourage him or her to copy your behaviour.

Build Confidence

Children who are confident about certain skill sets tend to be less shy when asked to demonstrate them. Remind him or her about a time in his or her life when a certain task was accomplished with success, such as making a friend in the past, or doing well at a school presentation. Being reminded that they can succeed with these skills can help reinforce to a child that there is little need to feel nervous about completing the same task again.

Practice Social Skills

Another way to build confidence and reduce shyness is to practice social skills. For example, when out running errands, have your child present the cashier with your debit card or cash. Encourage limited social interaction by having him or her say please and thank you during the transaction. When out for dinner, ask your child to order his or her meal, or, if this is too much, their drink. If your child is a bit older, allow him or her to call a friend for a play date, which can also reinforce their ability to succeed at social interactions. 

Empathize

Remind your child that there’s nothing wrong with being shy, and, if possible, relate a few examples in your life when you felt shy or nervous. This will make your child feel less alone, and will help him or her to trust you when you provide suggestions. Something as minor as “Mommy is pretty shy too, but practicing before I give a presentation always helps me feel better” can go a long way to managing your child’s shy behaviour.

When To Get Help

If your child refuses to speak at all in selected settings, such as school, a type of anxiety disorder known as selective mutism may be the cause. Speech therapy, as part of a multi-disciplinary approach, may be advised.

About Childhood Apraxia Of Speech

by Leave a Comment

What Is Apraxia?

In childhood apraxia of speech is a motor speech disorder, affecting the way a child’s body is able to produce speech. Children who have apraxia have difficulty planning and producing speech movements. The effect is that children with apraxia are often difficult to understand. Research indicates that children with apraxia are not able to form or access speech motor plans, which results in the lips, tongue, jaw, and soft palate being unable to sequence the movements required to produce clear speech. Apraxia differs from other motor speech disorders, because it is not caused by muscle weakness, or paralysis of any muscles. Children who have apraxia are typically able to understand language; the difficulty lies in producing words themselves.

Does My Late Talker Have Apraxia?

Apraxia is a very rare speech disorder. It is a difficult disorder to understand, in part because of how complex it can be, and the fact that not all children exhibit the same symptoms. There are a few commonalities, which may indicate that your child is suffering from apraxia. These include:

Late Talking
Children with apraxia are typically late-to-talk, and it is one of the first signs of this speech disorder. It’s important to keep in mind that delayed speech may be due to many causes, only one of them being apraxia, and that apraxia is rare.

Response To Treatment
In some cases, diagnostic therapy is used in order to determine if apraxia is the cause of a late talker’s difficulty with speech. A Speech Language Pathologist will work with a late talker, using strategies for language stimulation in order to encourage a late talker to produce more words, and observe his or her responses to therapy in order to understand the cause.

Difficult to Understand
Many people unfamiliar with the child will have difficulty understanding the child when he or she speaks, due to the inconsistency and frequency of speech errors.

Inconsistent Speech Errors
Apraxia involves an inability of the mouth to produce speech sounds. Due to this cause, the same word may be mispronounced in several different ways. In addition, automatic speech and imitated speech such as counting, greetings, and the alphabet, will be less affected by apraxia than spontaneous speech. Speech errors will increase with multisyllabic words or phrases.

What Will A Speech Language Pathologist Look For?

When assessing a child’s speech in order to determine if apraxia is present, a speech language pathologist will look for “groping” movements with the mouth or face, errors when producing vowel sounds, difficult transitions between words, inappropriate prosody, jaw sliding, and a large number of omission errors when speaking.

How Is Apraxia Treated?

There is no universal treatment for apraxia, simply because different children exhibit apraxia in different ways. Speech-language pathologists will use a variety of different approaches and tactics in speech therapy to help your child overcome the apraxia. Typically, repetitive practice including cues to support motor learning, such as associating sounds with a gesture and touch cues are desirable. The speech language pathologist will work on expressive language and therapy readiness activities until the child will benefit from structured drill. Frequent sessions are advised, as is completing speech therapy “assignments” at home between sessions. In some cases, alternate forms of communication, such as sign language or picture symbols, may be encouraged, to help give the child a clear way to express himself or herself until the treatment has time to become effective.

Will My Child Attain Clear Speech?

Most parents are concerned about the long-term effects of apraxia, and have concerns that their child may never be easily understood by others. The success of treatment depends on the severity of the apraxia, along with whether or not other speech or language disorders are present. Typically speaking, however, with appropriate treatment, help at home, and reinforced lessons, children who suffer from apraxia can progress to effective communication.
The question of whether or not your child has apraxia is a complex one to answer, but if you are concerned about your child’s speech, you can contact Spark Talk Speech Therapy to inquire about an assessment. We can also provide information about the Child Disability Tax Credit if it’s applicable in your circumstance.
Download PDF.

New Year, New Approach To Homework

by Leave a Comment

It’s a new year, and that means fresh starts. The new year is a fantastic opportunity to come up with new ways to tackle boring tasks. One task many children and parents alike can agree is terrifically boring is homework. Homework time is usually met with groans at the best of times, or epic battles at the worst. Here are some ways to make homework less painful in 2016.

Make It A Routine

Homework
Setting aside the same time each day for homework will, over time, help make it less of a struggle and more of a routine. When setting your homework routine, try to work it around other routines, such as snack time and supper time. In addition, if your child is on any medication, discuss your homework routine with your child’s physician to ensure that you are selecting an ideal homework time. Be mindful of your child’s other commitments or activities, and try not to jam too much into one night. Children should also have some leisure time as well as structured play.

Set Reasonable Goals

Homework
Picking up a homework agenda or a homework journal, that has space to write in each day, can be incredibly helpful. When you and your child sit down to review his or her homework, break it up in smaller, manageable steps and write each down in the journal. After your child completes one of the “micro-tasks”, he or she can cross it off the list. This helps make the overall goal of finishing his or her homework seem much easier and less overwhelming. The act of breaking a bigger task down into smaller parts is also a valuable skill your child will always be able to use. Some schools assign homework on a daily basis, in which case this is a helpful exercise to undertake when beginning homework each night. Children at other schools will receive their homework for the week on Mondays, leaving it up to the parent and child to break it down per day. In cases like these, this exercise can be completed on Monday for the rest of the week.

Study For A Reasonable Time

Homework
It’s unrealistic to expect a child in grade one to be able to focus as long as a child in grade five – it’s equally as unrealistic to expect a first grader to be capable of completing the same amount of homework as a child in the fifth. Keeping that in mind, be sure that the time set aside for homework time is reasonable given your child’s grade level. Experts recommend ten minutes of homework per grade, and while it’s okay if your child goes over every once in a while, don’t expect your child to be able to do much more on a consistent basis. In addition, when you and your child are breaking down homework tasks into smaller steps be sure to set goals that are achievable and don’t overload your child on tasks that cannot be completed within the time frame. It can be helpful to set a timer for the number of homework minutes you feel your child can reasonably complete. Often, after the routine is started, your child will continue doing homework after the timer rings.

Make A Caddy

HW4
Another way to make homework easier to do is to keep all the supplies your child will need in one handy place. A homework caddy is a fantastic and fun way to keep highlighters, pens, markers, pencils, paper, sticky notes, index cards, etc. all in one place. Plastic supply caddies are usually available at the dollar store for a low price, but are still durable enough to give to children. One way to help make homework time a bit more fun is to have your child decorate his or her own caddy as a rainy day craft. DIY caddies can easily be made by reusing household supplies such as toilet paper tubes, boxes, or tin cans. If you aren’t up for a lengthy do-it-yourself project, the dollar store plastic ones are perfect for decorating with paint, stickers, or washi tape. Not only does this brighten up his or her homework space, it will give your child a reason to use his or her handcrafted creation!

Don’t Worry About Being Busy

HW5
Technology can be very helpful when managing homework, if used properly. Many schools use reading apps to track your child’s progress with reading, and these can be useful tools. There are also apps available for nearly every type of phone that can help make homework a bit more interactive, and significantly more portable. Certain apps are set up to be electronic flashcards, and will contain sight words, troublesome concepts, or math problems depending on your child’s difficulties. Other apps can be completely customizable to include specific words, sounds, or concepts.
 
Another way parents can hep fit homework time into busy schedules is to hire a student to come help your child with homework. Students who are struggling with any number of topics can easily find a tutor through Queen’s tutoring service. High school students and college students also frequently offer tutoring services in a variety of topics.

Break Down Overwhelming Or Large Tasks

HW6
This is especially true with older children, who may be learning how to compile essays. Once assigned, sit down with your child and his or her homework agenda to figure out the best way to complete the essay prior to the due date. An example would be to brainstorm possible topics on day one, choose a specific topic and make a list of ideas on the second, put points down on index cards on day three, research those points and add to cards on the fourth day, etc. This way one big task becomes a series of smaller, easier ones. Remember to have your child add each task to his or her homework journal and to strike them out once completed.
Have you tried any of these tips above? Do you have any of your own? Let us know in the comments below! If your child is currently receiving speech therapy, look out for our next post with specific tips for speech therapy homework.
 

A Few Of Our Favourite Things: Gift Edition

by Leave a Comment

Earlier this month, we gave you some general hints and things to keep in mind when shopping for the little ones in your life. This week, we’re going to discuss some of our favourite toys, and why we think they make excellent gift ideas. One of the most important things to keep in mind when selecting gifts for children is their intrinsic play value (toys that can be used in interesting and engaging ways, with more than one use, and ones that can grow with your child as his or her skills develop). Some of our favourites include:

Mirrors

Mirrors
 
Children, especially babies, love looking at themselves in reflective surfaces. Once this fascination with their own reflection is matched with parental interaction, a mirror can be a fantastic present to help develop joint-attention skills, object permanence, and social language skills. When selecting a mirror, be sure to pick one that doesn’t require batteries to function, and that doesn’t have too many bells and whistles. The goal of the toy is to help your baby build key developmental skills, and the best way to do this is through direct interaction with you, not with the toy. One of our favourites is shown above, but the main thing is to find one that can stand up on its own, doesn’t require batteries, and doesn’t have any extra, distracting features.

Building Toys

Blocks
 
These include toys like Lego, Duplo, MegaBlocks, and stacking blocks. These toys are great for creative and structured play, and can help develop a number of important concepts. For example, by selecting a multicoloured set with blocks in varying sizes, parents can help their children develop concepts such as colour, shape, and size. Prepositions such as on, under, on top, in front, off, and on (to name just a few) can also be reinforced through playing with the positioning of the blocks or of other toys used in conjunction with blocks. One of my son’s favourite activities was to use the blocks to build something, and then have his figures interact with the set he had just created, which was an important step in developing his imagination. Blocks can also reinforce hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, problem solving skills, and helps to teach a cause-and-effect relationship (e.g. if the tower gets too high, the blocks will fall down, etc.). If back and forth play, or turn-taking play, is one of your child’s goals, blocks are the perfect turn-taking toy to help teach back and forth interaction (e.g. you put a block down, and then the child puts a block down, etc.). When it comes to determining which block or building set to buy, take into consideration the child’s age and preferences. Younger children would do best with larger blocks, while older children may enjoy the challenge of more complex sets.

Kitchen/Food Sets

Kitchen
Kitchen and play food sets also make great gifts. Children love playing make-believe chef, and there are tons of sets available to suit all age groups. Children enjoy imitating adults, particularly the activities they see adults do on a daily basis, such as preparing food. Pretending to prepare and eat food and other types of symbolic play are an important aspect of play from a language development perspective. There are many ways to use a kitchen or food set to help build speech and language skills. For example, you can help build vocabulary by labelling all the items in the kitchen or set. Building on other basic concepts, such as prepositions, size, shape, colours, counting, and sorting can also all be easily incorporated into kitchen play (e.g. you can ask which plate is bigger, what colour the apple is, how many oranges there are, etc.). Other skills, such as following directions, symbolic play, and social interaction can also be worked on using play kitchen/food sets.

Animal Sets/Play Houses

Play Sets
Toys like animal sets, farm sets, and doll houses make fantastic gifts. For starters, additional animals or dolls make wonderful add-on gifts, either for the same occasion or for later birthdays and other holidays. These toys are high in play value, and certain brands can last generations. In addition, farm sets and doll houses help develop many key speech and language skills. By labelling the items in a house, for example, or the parts of a barn, you can build your child’s vocabulary. Concepts such as prepositions (e.g. on, in, off, through, etc.), size (e.g big, small, bigger, smallest, etc.), and shape (e.g. the shape of the window, door, roof, etc.) can be introduced and reinforced through play. Following and giving directions can also be incorporated into play using sets such as these, by asking the child to put the cow in the barn, for example. Children can also be asked any number of “wh” questions using these toys (e.g. “who is this?”, “where is the cow now?”, and “why is the dog outside?”). Animal sets and doll houses can be used to help children practice social interaction in their play, as they can imitate conversation between the toys.

Dress-Up Items

Dress Up
Playing dress-up has many benefits for children of all ages, while also helping them build speech, language, and social skills. Studies have shown that children who engage in dress-up and make believe play also have higher levels of empathy and develop better problem solving skills. Role play helps children learn how to take other perspectives, and helps them become better conversationalists and have better social interaction. There are literally endless ways you can use dress-up play to help reinforce lessons taught at speech therapy. You can also ask your child lots of “wh” questions about the character he or she has created. Labelling items (e.g. identifying the “hat”), following directions (e.g. “put the cape on before the mask”), and concepts such as shape, size, and colour can all be used to help reinforce numerous speech and language skills.

Craft Supplies

Crafts
Crafts are absolutely amazing for speech and language development, because you can tailor the craft to suit nearly any speech or language goal. They can be used to help your child understand basic concepts like prepositions, size, shape, and colour. As your child grows, you can continue to use crafts to help him or her with other important speech and language skills such as following directions, vocabulary acquisition, and asking and answering “wh” questions. There is really no limit on how you can use crafts to encourage your child.

Books

Books
Books make perfect gifts for any occasion and for any age. Study after study has shown that good literacy skills help build speech and language development, and will enrich your child’s vocabulary as well as his or her imagination. Just as there is a craft for nearly every type of speech or language difficulty, there is also a book to help build and reinforce those skills. For younger children, be sure to select a book with simple text, and a focus on the accompanying pictures to ensure they remain engaged in the story. When picking books for children of any age, it’s best to choose one about something of interest to the child. There is practically a book for every age on every topic, local independent bookstores are a great place to start when beginning your search. For more tips on selecting books, you can read our post here, or speak with your child’s speech language pathologist.

Gift Buying Tips

by Leave a Comment

The holidays are nearly upon us, and with them come the stress of picking the perfect Christmas present for the little ones in your life. Picking gifts for children can be a stressful ordeal, especially with so many options on the market. Here are a list of some tips to keep in mind when selecting toys for children.
[Read more…]

New Payment Methods

by Leave a Comment

Spark Talk Speech Therapy is pleased to announce that we are now able to accept debit and credit as methods of payment, in addition to cash and e-transfer. We would like to thank our clients and their families for their patience as we awaited the arrival of our new machine.
 

The Importance of Play

by Leave a Comment

Mr. Rogers famously said that “play is really the work of childhood” and this is especially true in speech therapy. Children learn about themselves and their world through the act of play, and developing speech and language skills is no different. It can be tricky to figure out the best way to engage your child in meaningful play. Here are some suggestions on how to incorporate play in your every day life:

Turn Off the TV

Whenever you play, turn off the television. If you need background music, use the radio or digital playlist instead of the television. This helps minimize visual distractions and keeps your child focused on what’s most important – playing with you!

Short Time Increments

Don’t pressure yourself to play for hours at a time – as much as we would love to spend all our time playing with our children that isn’t always practical. Instead, aim for shorter time increments and frequently switch the type of activity you are doing to keep both you and your child excited and engaged.

Be Emotive

Be sure that your child knows how happy and excited you are to be playing with him or her. When role playing exaggerate your emotions, and encourage your child to do the same.
[pb_box icon_enable=”0″ icon=”app.png” background_color=”f5f5f5″ border_top_width=”0″ border_right_width=”0″ border_bottom_width=”0″ border_left_width=”0″ padding_top=”40″ padding_right=”40″ padding_bottom=”40″ padding_left=”40″][pb_box_header][/pb_box_header][pb_box_text]Knowing how important play is in developing speech and language skills still doesn’t make it easy to figure out what to do with your child. While each child is different, there are a few ways most children enjoy playing. Here are a few suggestions:[/pb_box_text][/pb_box]

Anthropomorphize Everything

Give the toys you’re playing with personalities, including vehicles, animals, and figures. If you’re playing farm, for example, pretend the cow is very hungry and can’t stop eating. Young children also love “falling over” games, and would enjoy seeing their favourite animal clumsily climb up and fall down various farm structures. Be sure to use exaggerated facial expressions and describe the animal’s actions to your chid.

Echo

If you’re out and have no toys available, or if your child has grown bored of the available selection, play a version of “echo” where you mimic your child’s facial expressions, movements and sounds. Children enjoy being mimicked and seeing themselves reflected in their caregivers.

Use Open-Ended Play

When playing make-believe, use open-ended toys and situations. When you play, don’t have an “end game” in mind, and allow your child to guide the play, rather than the toy. For example, if your chid is playing with a car and wants to use the car as a phone, explore that as a make-believe option with your child.

Playing Dress-Up

by Leave a Comment

It’s finally fall, and along with the smell of pumpkin spice in the air comes the plethora of Halloween costumes and promotions in stores, online, and even in your social media feed. This year, take advantage of all the Halloween sales and promotions and build a dress-up trunk. It doesn’t need to be anything fancier than an old rubbermaid bin or a cardboard box decorated by you and your kids, and will both entertain and help educate. [Read more…]

Your First Session

by Leave a Comment

What To Expect:

The first speech therapy session is usually an assessment, if one hasn’t already been completed by another speech therapist. In this assessment, the speech pathologist will evaluate your child’s communication strengths and areas of need, comparing these to the expectations for their age.
Some parents find this stressful, especially for younger children, but there are a couple of things to keep in mind that may make the experience more comfortable. The assessment process allows us to focus on what is needed from therapy, and to set goals we can strive towards together. When standardized tests are used, sometimes parents find it hard to watch their child answer questions “incorrectly”. Remember that these tests are designed to highlight areas of difficulty, and that it is not expected that the child will answer everything correctly. The most important thing to keep in mind is don’t blame yourself! Many parents worry that it was something they did that caused their child’s difficulty with communication. This is certainly not true, and heartbreaking to see! You are doing everything you can as a parent, I promise you.
After the assessment is completed, or if an assessment has already been done, I will sit down with you and we can discuss what we would like to accomplish and gain from therapy. I also want to know about your child’s favourite activities so I can tailor the sessions to include your child’s interests. For example, if your child loves Batman, Thomas, or dinosaurs, we can include these favourites in activities designed to help your child reach his or her goals.
My practice focuses on a family-centered learning approach. I encourage parents to sit in on all sessions with their children and participate. I find including parents in these sessions is best for therapy. Most children feel more comfortable when their parents are participating. Children especially enjoy it when their parents join in their pretend play. You are your child’s first and most important communication partner – you are their favourite communication partner.

What to Bring:

Please bring with you a snack and a drink for your child. Please also bring a favourite toy that your child can show me or a favourite book we can read together. Let us know in advance if you feel your child may be better motivated by the promise of a prize from my prize box after the session.

What to Avoid:

Don’t tell your child that he or she is going to see a “speech doctor” or to expect to be tested. Instead, tell them that they’re going to look at some pictures, say some words, do some work, and then play with some toys.