Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz  Why, if I had a brain I could... [singing] I could while away the hours, Conferrin' with the flowers, Consultin' with the rain. And my head I'd be scratchin' While my thoughts were busy hatchin' If I only had a brain.   In last week's blog I talked about the characteristics of the ...

  Last week's blog discussed, ''Should You Ask a Non-Verbal Child a Question?'' Now that's a good question. My answer is: usually not. Instead, make statements! Children will respond to statements because: They are not threatened by communication They know they are not being requested to answer They can enjoy ...

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 ...

Keeping with my previous theme of poems for special occasions for the speech/language pathologist, I wrote this one for SLPs as the 2011 school year begins. Beginnings are unique and can be scary for all children, especially those with ASD. When I think of all of the children and their fears, I also reflect on the parents who put their child ...

  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 ...

Mystic Pizza is a coming of age film from 1988. The title of the film was based on a pizza shop in Mystic, Connecticut, called Mystic Pizza. Through this romance, two sisters and their friends explore relationships, work ethics, goals and their futures.   Every speech therapy room is Mystic Every speech therapy ...

Didn't all of our mothers recite this little saying when we were young? I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. I don't think my mother knew it, but she was teaching me turn taking. Thank you, mom. Here we are today, all grown up as speech-language pathologists and teaching others how to take turns in life. In fact, the flavors ...

According to Wikipedia, ''Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon.'' I never told George Lucas this, nor did he ask, but it was because of ...

Joint Attention is two people sharing the same point of attention. It is being in the same moment at the same time. It is a basic skill for learning - EVERYTHING. Think of joint attention as the wall that supports Humpty Dumpty. The wall holds Humpty up, until of course, someone pushes him off. My first lesson in Joint Attention I learned ...