Halloween is just a few short weeks away and those who read my blog often know how much I love the holidays and festive therapy sessions! Last October I wrote a post filled with simple ways to add a little Halloween fun to your therapy sessions. The post was called Halloween Therapy: Tricks n' Treats and featured ideas such as: carving a ...

Earlier this week I shared a story regarding a little girl I work with in Early Intervention. If you've had a chance to read over the post, you'll see that at our previous appointment I asked the mom if it would be ok for us to venture a block away to the neighborhood playground. I explained that we would make it a family trip and all of us would ...

There is a family I have been working with for about six months now. The little girl, although not officially diagnosed, displays many red flags for autism. In addition, she has an older sibling who also displays many similar signs although at a slightly less intense level. The little girl I see is also receiving therapy from an occupational ...

Last October when I first began writing this blog, I wrote a post entitled: Fall Fun: Using Seasonal Themes to Enhance Therapy, which featured a variety of fall activities that therapists could do with young children during an EI session. I always find seasonal activities to be fun and because the activity is focused around the time of year, the ...

Last week I wrote a post entitled Parents and the Five Stages of Acceptance. Today's post is a continuation and will provide more information about what Elizabeth Kübler-Ross taught us and how we can utilize it in early intervention. Based on my research of her teachings and what I found at Wikipedia, she shared that ''originally these stages ...

Recently I received the following email from a fellow therapist: ''I have a little boy who just turned 2 and is not talking, babbling, or vocalizing in any way shape or form.  I have educated the mother repeatedly regarding having his hearing checked and the possibility of other diagnoses and need for evaluation at our Children's ...

About eight months ago I began working with a little girl, who at the time had just turned 2 years old, and had also recently been diagnosed with Rhett Syndrome (RS). This was not a syndrome that I was very familiar with so I depended a great deal on the expertise of my colleagues, as well as my own independent research, to create a therapy plan ...

For today's post I would like to reflect on some of the beautiful relationships that can emerge when you devote yourself to early intervention therapy and working with families with young children. There is a family I have worked with for the past two years. The little girl I see will be turning 3 next month and has a diagnosis of Down syndrome. ...

A Message to Readers: Recently, more and more readers have been commenting on the blog and have also been sending me personal emails asking for advice and guidance regarding various populations and disabilities. I absolutely love the feedback and I think the networking that has occurred is invaluable. What I am attempting to do in order to ...

I recently received an email from a speech pathology graduate student inquiring about strategies I could recommend regarding how to stimulate speech and language with a child with Down syndrome. Reading her email reminded me that I have not yet written a post about children diagnosed with Down syndrome, despite the fact that this population of ...