Fostering Growth Mindset in Students with Speech & Language Challenges

Carol Dweck’s research on “growth mindset” supported my work with adults and children struggling with speech and language challenges. Early in my career working with elementary, middle and high school students, the biggest challenge was getting students to produce. No grades were given, the work being done was in the most difficult areas and many …

“Your Fantastic Elastic Brain”: Motivating Children and Teens with Speech and Language Disorders

Struggling to motivate children and teens with speech and language disorders is an on going concern. Many learn to navigate around their deficit using strategies, but others avoid learning risks at all cost.  In therapy using interesting games is a popular motivator, but using these tools does not teach students how and why they should …

College Academic-Social Skills Coach

John, not his real name, a freshman was having difficulty managing his life on campus.  He spent most of his time in his room playing video games or watching Netflix, went to bed a 2-3 am missed classes and was turning in late assignments. By midterm, not only had John gained weight, he had no …

Speech and Language Deficits Impact Life

Recently the Museum of Science exhibited Leonardo da Vinci’s work.  Recreations of his drawings were made into physical models.  I was struck by his inventiveness and his ability to both write and sell his ideas. His communication strengths were obvious from his displayed writings convincing Ludovico Sforza of Milan to hire him to his elaborate …

Language Challenges Uncovered: The Foundation for Academic Achievement Part 2

If language is the foundation for academic achievement then what do language challenges look like in everyday life? There are many areas that can impact language including word finding, auditory processing, comprehension and As a speech therapist one of the most telling signs of word finding problems  in children and adults is the frequent use …

Language: The Foundation for Academic Part 1

The foundation of language chart above provides a simplified view of language development to show how early language development supports future academic achievement. Because we so often take language for granted and schools often downplay the impact of speech and language challenges after the third grade, it is  easy not to realize, that even small speech …

Life Long: Language-Based Learning Challenges

“My son is not confident”, says a concerned Mom at a picnic I’m attending. She goes on to say, “He seems to have difficulty understanding what people are saying and responding to them in an appropriate time frame, so he is struggling in college.”unicaLanguage-based learning challenges are lifelong. They do not cease at the completion …

Speech and Language: Therapy is Play

“SORRY, I win!” Wow, perfect /s/ pronounciation! YEAH! Play is the key to speech and language therapy when working with children and teens on developing new language skills.  SORRY for this child the game of SORRY by Hasbro provided him with the motivation to work on the articulation of the /s/.  Finally, as he won the game …

Vocabulary Development: Teachable Moments

I am holding up a bright yellow jacket at the LL Bean outlet in New Hampshire. “Hey look this is really bright it will be great for biking,” I say to my daughter. “No, it’s dull she says!” I’m puzzled and confused. I look at the jacket again and then walk off to pay the cashier. I’m …

Speech-Language Therapy

Each person has different strengths and weaknesses.  Part of the speech language pathologist job is to help each person understand and use their strengths to overcome their weaknesses.  Discovering each person’s strengths is like uncovering pearls. The goal is to learn how to use an individuals  strength to decrease or navigate around their speech language deficit. It’s …