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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Are you aware you can adjust the general settings on your iPad? By controlling the specific settings, you can increase students' attention, decrease frustration and behaviors, and most importantly, make the most use out of your therapy time. Settings allows you to restrict access to certain areas on your iPad and provide SLPs  with ...

  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 ...

Anxiety Dear Kathie: I know that autism (ASD) is a complex syndrome. I had a parent ask me just the other day if I could give them one single word that best describes what autism is or how it feels to have autism. I guess because you know about autism and you've lived with it for so many years raising your son, I felt that perhaps you ...

I do not make New Year's resolutions, but I do set goals for myself, and one of them is to perpetually look for new ways to treat patients that are fun and creative in nature. On a recent commute to work, I was excited to hear a story on NPR's Morning Edition: ''Singing Therapy Helps Stroke Victims Speak Again.'' I immediately thought ...

With the winter holiday break coming to an end, I'm mentally preparing myself for my newest venture as a school-based SLP -- the role of a cooperating teacher! As I had mentioned in a previous blog, from 1/3/12 through 3/9/12, I'll have a graduate student extern.  As I had also mentioned, this is a first time experience for me! ...

Now we all have our New Year resolutions. Some people want to lose weight, others hope to get better organized and many desire to spend more time with their families and friends. Everyone has areas of their lives that could use some restoring and most have the instinctual need to simply become more balanced. For the past two years, I ...

This year I have the honor to supervise a CFY clinician, and I couldn't be happier about it. While supervision does require some extra work and scheduling considerations, I find I get a great benefit from working with both students and new clinicians, particularly in the SNF setting. I do love the fact that ASHA sets up the CFY year ...