I have a winner! I would like to send Shannon, from Grandville Public Schools in Michigan, a copy of the Pirate Who Couldn't Say ''Arr!'' Shannon, please send me your address at SLPALEX1@gmail.com. Shannon was the eighth commenter - ''8'' in this case being the magic number! I really appreciated the comments and was pleased to get one in my ...

One of my favorite parenting blogs often publishes ''quandaries'' and asks parents to respond with their input. I thought this was a great idea, especially since I'm perpetually in a quandary. I thought that I would write about a quandary in our field from time to time and invite readers to respond. Also, feel free to send your quandaries to me ...

This week I'd like to continue with specific therapy material suggestions for new graduates and the books and manuals that have worked for me, with a focus on cognitive-linguistic resources. Cognitive-linguistic therapy is a very important aspect of our work in geriatrics and long-term care (LTC). At the very least, we should be supporting ...

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 ...

How many of you have a budget for therapy and/or diagnostic materials at your workplace? Budgets are always limited, and I tend to request only materials and items that I know are patient-specific (communication books, etc.) to be purchased by the facility. I tend to buy my own therapy books because I prefer to create my own ...

Part III-A, posted last week, my blog presented some fun strategies for targeting humor/ laughter and attention/focus for the very young autistic mind. The purpose of these two blogs is to mesh the right side of the brain with the left side of the brain and to help a person with ASD ''dance'' in a more synchronized fashion. Here are two ...

Part I  I talked about the characteristics of the right and left sides of the brain and how they do not dance together in people with autism/ASD. I gave you twenty signs that I see that indicate how Mr. Left Brain and Mrs. Right Brain dance alone. Part II I was on a kick about strategies that SLPs bring to the table to assist ...

  Everybody's brains are different and certainly, the autistic brain connects in an unorthodox manner. Autism is not curable, but there are many language strategies the SLP can do to assist in organizing the brains of people with autism. It is my theory that people with autism do not cross hemispheres of the brain, from left to ...

  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 ...

It certainly has been a busy (and a bit unusual) start to the school year! If the weather around here lately is any indication of what the winter and the rest of the school year is going to be like, we're in trouble! Since I've gone back to school ,  we've experienced a minor earthquake, were blown around and rained upon by the outer ...