What was your favorite thing that happened today? Who is your favorite singer? What is your favorite book? Do you have a favorite sport? I have a favorite time of the year, do you? My babysitter used to show me her favorite thimble. FAVORITE is one of my favorite words and it is powerful. I use it all the time and you should too. It's one of ...

I'm sitting here at this moment watching the movie Rudy. This1993 football movie is about Daniel Ruettiger, AKA Rudy, staring Sean Astin, who dreamt of playing football at the University of Notre Dame despite his small stature and other obstacles. He worked hard just to earn his way into Notre Dame and even harder to earn a spot on the bench of ...

Hands have fingers, thumbs, nails, joints, skin, bones, muscles, and tendons. They are flexible and can be molded, folded, and wrapped. Use yours. I learned early in my career that one of the most meaningful things one person can do to assure sincerity, acceptance, and understanding is through the power of touch. Not a slap. Not a high-five. A ...

Last week's Autism Spectrum Blog, Ladder of Success for School, dealt with the importance of letting the child basically direct therapy by the SLP following his/her strengths and knowing his/her areas of success. This week it is the SLP's turn to lead by setting routines, boundaries, and structures in the therapy setting. Routines, boundaries, ...

Liang Chow is the awesome coach for Golden Olympic Gymnast, Gabby Douglas. In a Time Magazine interview ''Chow admits that when Douglas first entered his gym, in October 2010, he could see her talent but wasn't sure he wanted to take her on.'' He also stated, ''Chow began by playing on Douglas' strengths: her lean physique and natural grace, which ...

In my blog on May 31, The Power of a Talking Stick, I gave you the solution if a child with autism or any language disorder is non-verbal or if they are a motor mouth. There were several comments about this blog so I felt it worth a re-visit and another ''Kathie strategy'' for the SLP bag of tricks. The Talking Card and Talking Stick are: FUN ...

In honor of April as Autism Awareness Month, I thought it appropriate to inform all SLPs about the colors of the Autism Awareness Ribbon. This ribbon is unique, and there is meaning behind the puzzle and colors that represent the autism syndrome. The Autism Society of America describes the ribbon as follows: The Autism Awareness Ribbon The ...

Autism Awareness Month began on Sunday, April 1. My son Doug's birthday is April 1. The fifth annual World Autism Awareness Day was April 2. World Autism Awareness Day ''aims to increase people's awareness about people, especially children, with autism. The day often features educational events for teachers, health care workers and parents, as ...

When do you elicit a language sample? Certainly when you first see a child you would want to take a language sample. However, if the child is not comfortable on the initial assessment, there is nothing written in stone that says that it has to be completed the first time around. That in itself should tell you something. I feel that ...

For those readers that are joining us new this week, PSHA is the Pennsylvania Speech-Language-Hearing Association. The organization conducted a survey geared towards SLPs and audiologists in February 2012, and the results were recently released. In last week's post, I shared some of my own commentary regarding the survey and what I feel the ...