Dear Kathie: ''Chad is 5 years old and ‘very' autistic and non-verbal. He covers his ears with his hands when there is a loud noise, such as a fire alarm, or even when he anticipates a loud noise, like a balloon that he thinks may pop. How can I help him, his classroom teacher, and his parents? - Payton, speech-language pathologist My ...

Dear Kathie: What are your thoughts on using an iPad with the autistic population?'' - Mary, speech-language pathologist and parent of a child with autism Kathie's Response: I like it. I love it. I want some more of it. But, instead of calling it an iPad for the autistic population, I think we should rename it a wePad. That is because WE ...

Part I  I talked about the characteristics of the right and left sides of the brain and how they do not dance together in people with autism/ASD. I gave you twenty signs that I see that indicate how Mr. Left Brain and Mrs. Right Brain dance alone. Part II I was on a kick about strategies that SLPs bring to the table to assist ...

Have you ever thought about how you, as an SLP, talk to people? That means all people-- but specifically, non-verbal children with autism. We have two forms of sentence structures: questions and statements. We bombard children with questions. We do not give children time to answer these questions. Many children will ...

  Our young clients with ASD aren't really so difficult when it comes to lesson plans for therapy and fulfilling benchmarks and outcomes. In fact, they're very easy. Look at my list of Top Five Necessities and you'll see that the first four are ''get it and you'll have it'' kind of things. 1.    ...

Why not get the school year started off with a special, personal note from YOU to the parents of your most challenging students.   Dear Parents,             As speech/language pathologist (SLP) at (name of school) Elementary School, I look forward to working with (child's first ...

This week is the second part of my interview with Helen Vadala, MS, OTL, an occupational therapist working and supervising in both the homecare and preschool settings in Delaware County in Pennsylvania. Our discussion continues as we look at the recent changes in homecare and how budget cuts are affecting early intervention, as well as ...

Join me today for my interview with my friend and colleague, Helen Vadala, MS, OTL, who, as you will see, wears many hats. She works and supervises within both the homecare and the preschool setting and will share her views and insights about the realities of working in early intervention in 2011. Stephanie: Hi Helen. Thank you so much for ...

Although this blog post will not get posted onto the site until Tuesday, May 10th, I am writing it two days before on Sunday night as I so often do before the Tuesday posting. Today was Mother's Day, 2011, and here in the northeast section of the U.S. the sun was shining, the sky was a bright blue, and we enjoyed a glorious Sunday with dear ...