This time of year it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day grind and forgetting what really matters. Take a moment in this holiday season to take a step back and truly treasure your family. If your child has a speech or language disorder, it is also a great time to practice some of the skills they have been working on.
In last week’s blog, we went over a few ways to practice narration skills and pragmatic language skills. Today we are discussing how to create a conversation friendly environment.
As everyone sits around the dinner table, it is easy to get distracted if other things are going on, such as the TV, phone, or tablet. This is especially important if you have a child with autism, sensory integration disorder (SID), hearing loss, or similar condition.
Encourage family mealtime all together on a regular basis. If your child typically rushes through dinner, just to get up from the table early, persuade them to stay while everyone else finishes their meal.
If you get resistance with concept of family mealtime together, make it fun for your child. They can help choose what’s for dinner, take part in cooking, or make their favorite dessert.
It just takes a few minutes a day to incorporate speech therapy techniques and improve your child’s articulation.
If your child experiences difficulties with mealtime, has a food aversion, or sensitive to the taste or texture of food, this time of year can be especially challenging.
Feeding therapy can help improve the relationship your child has with food and encourage them to eat a wider assortment of healthy foods. Feeding disorders can be especially troubling for children. Nutritional deficiencies and not maintaining a healthy weight, can affect their development and growth.
Common sighs of a feeding disorder include:
A child refusing to try new foods
Aversion to foods with a certain texture
Tantrums at mealtime
Trouble swallowing or chewing
Vomiting or gagging
Refusing to feed themselves
Starting speech therapy can seem overwhelming for both the child and the parents. But don’t worry here at Central Florida’s First Words Speech Therapy, we make the process as easy as possible, we even make it fun.
A speech therapist works with children in a variety of ways to overcome their speech – language disorder. Keep in mind each program is specifically designed to treat the needs of each individual child
