Blog three. I’m going to write about something that I think I’m pretty good at. Not like Oprah good, but pretty good. Curious what it is? Dun dun dunnnnnnnn… playing! I’m pretty good at playing with kids. Thankfully, because that’s what I do for a living! One of my greatest skills as a pediatric speech and language pathologist is playing. Seems simple right? It certainly can be but if you are making an effort to be intentional in targeting certain skills, then it can be more complicated than meets the eye. Play is EXTREMELY important for a child’s development. You caught that emphasis, right? Children begin to play at a very young age. It starts by exploring and putting things in their mouths (oh the germs!), throwing toys off the table (just so you have to pick them up 100-different times), and then it slowly changes and evolves to what you traditionally think as "playing." This is when it gets really good. It is during this time where children are learning how to en...
Blog two. Like I mentioned before, I hope that with every entry, you are able to learn a little bit more about me. With that said, let’s jump in. I’m a speech and language pathologist (as you should know by now) and my sweet and sassy daughter didn’t talk till she was nearly 2 ½ years old! A reaaaaaal late talker. As every day passed, I questioned if I needed to bring her in to get evaluated. Her pediatrician even said I needed to get her evaluated and frankly, I was slightly offended. I mean, I was the expertise in that area. Right? My own husband would gently ask if it was time to get her evaluated. <gulp> The lines between caring mother and confident therapist quickly blurred. I began doubting myself. (Look at that sweet girl, who hardly talked!) I decided that I was going to devote 2 hours a week to specifically target Teigan’s expressive language skills. We would drop Declan off at preschool, head back home, and bring out all the babies, pretend food, and ...