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 ...

Every 6 months or so, I like to recap and review popular posts and the topics that seem to be most important to our readers. In addition, I carefully comb through recent reader comments to make sure that questions are being addressed and people are able to get the answers they are seeking. Today's post will do just that, so please join me in ...

Despite events like Hurricane Irene pummeling the East Coast, I really love the end of August - this time of the year has always been one of my favorites. The weather in the northeast part of the country begins to change, becoming more unpredictable. The sky turns temperamental and a cool breeze will begin to cut through the summer heat. At ...

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 ...

I would like to begin today's post by saying I hope all the dads out there who take the time to read this blog had a wonderful Father's Day this past Sunday! Every once in a while we have a father write in and I always enjoy listening to their perspective. Dads are invaluable to the development of their children and moms really need their ...

Thank you so much to all who wrote in last week. Your comments were helpful, as well as insightful. It was especially wonderful to hear from an SLP who also happens to be a parent who had retained their child. She candidly shared the following, ''As a parent who made a decision to retain, I can assure you that it was not taken lightly and ...

In our county, early intervention services run from 0-5, and children receive their 3-5 year old services in an academic preschool setting. Once children turn five, they are then eligible to go on to kindergarten. As that time approaches, families attend what we call a ''transition meeting'' within their school district. From there begins the ...

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 ...

Today's post is about maximizing the work we do in the classroom by promoting carryover at home. This topic was inspired by one of the requests shared during the February SLP poll, which specially asked for: ''Support and ideas to give parents to help them work on skills between therapy visits'' Daily practice and reinforcement is very important ...