Last time, I blogged about being a member of a state speech-language-hearing association. In that blog I mentioned my state association's upcoming annual convention. Today's post is about some of my experiences at the PSHA Convention. I'll write about the other presentations I attended in my next post. My time at the convention was split among ...

Last week, Sam asked a great question: if I could give one single word that best describes what autism is or how it feels to have autism, what would it be? That single word is anxiety. This week, I want to give you some techniques to use with people with autism to ease that high anxiety level they suffer. And I do mean suffer. Anxiety ...

  In my last entry, I wrote about a free, recycled object that makes a wonderful therapy tool. Today I'm going to share and (hopefully) get, some advice about something else I got for free! Check this out...   Yup, it's a free and completely blank bulletin board. There is a spot in our staff room where people put items they no ...

This time of year, especially in the Northeast, it can seem like everyone is struggling with Seasonal Affective Disorder, including our students. It's cold, it's dark, and the smallest thing can set us off! As SLPs, we can be good counselors to our students and encourage positive self-talk for all sorts of occasions.  Self-talk ...

  I've blogged about many of the presenters, their platforms, programs, ideas, and sessions that I was privileged to meet, greet, and learn from at ASHA 2011. I scampered up and down the aisles of the exhibit hall seeking new ideas, books, electronics, and freebies. I reminisced with seasoned SLP friends and I felt renewed to ...

Last year I wrote a post, a la Oprah, about my favorite (speech therapy) things! Since it is that time of year again, I am going to discuss one favorite, recycled item! In the clinic I do some work for over the summer, there is an amazing long, transparent tube. I cannot tell you how much I have coveted this tube and wanted to take it ...

Back at the start of the school year, I had mentioned four new therapy approaches I was trying this year.  About a month ago I talked about one of them -- my use of adapted story books to build early literacy skills in students with moderate to severe disabilities.  In today's blog, I will talk about a second one. I spend ...

  This blog is based on the following presentation from ASHA 2011: Language Development for Autism Through Creative Dramatics: Building Blocks Model By Julia Byers Van Volkenburg, M. Ed, CCC-SLP, Doctoral Candidate, West Virginia University   Julia Byers Van Volkenburg, M. Ed, CCC-SLP, knows drama. She loves drama and ...

Although this series has predominantly been about picture books that SLPs can utilize in language therapy, I suppose I am allowed to make some detours. I recently re-read one of my all-time favorite books, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, and it occurred to me how much I wanted to recommend this book to ...

   What better time to teach social skills to children with ASD than at Christmas! Santa would so approve. I believe that all children with autism want to please their parents, teachers, friends, Santa and yes, their speech therapist. I believe they don't always know how. In fact, I know they don't know how to make the ...