Competent Communicators LLC

All play is okay

🤓 Thoughts on a Thursday~

“We were in a education consultation … and the staff, the teachers…were legitimately worried about this student who ‘You know he just takes out all the pieces and he lines them up and then he puts them back in the drawer and then he takes out all the pieces again and investigates them and looks at them and then he puts them back in the drawer. And, he just can’t play functionally there is no functional play… no functional play.’

And, I just said to them… ‘To be clear we are defining functional play as sticking human appendages into a potato…. a plastic potato.’

…Society gets very tied up in these expected routines with these specific toys and how it should be done…. who gets to decide that…

…You have to stop and really think, ‘Why do I think sticking an arm and lips into Mr. Potato Head is functional but studying the parts is not?’ …”

~J. Fede 12/2020
Autism Thinks Podcast
NJ Autism Center for Excellence

hmmmmm....🤔🤔

Links to full episode
https://soundcloud.com/njace

Image description. Photo of Mr. Potato head on white background. Classic white eyes, pink ears, red nose, mustache, teeth grin and blue shoes stuck in a plastic potato at expected spots. Green hat, red tongue, and yellow glasses on on ground at the potato's feet.

Here are five considerations when working with early-stage gestalt language processors. While all individual children are different, these tips have significantly helped my GLPs make progress across settings! Let me know what you think or what you would add in the comments! 👇🏻

THIS IS TOMORROW EVENING FOR ANYONE INTERESTED. We are teaming up with Play Haven Pediatric Therapy for a parent and caregiver training on GESTALT LANGUAGE PROCESSING. Come join us!

One week from today! If you can't attend live, no worries! Sign up and we'll send you the recording. Join local SLPs Jessica (Play Haven Pediatric Therapy) and I for a FREE Gestalt Language Processing Parent & Caregiver Meet Up!

Did you know there are two ways children can develop language? Does your child communicate with echolalia/scripting? Does your child have long strings of unintelligible language with a lot of intonation? Is your child an AAC user that seems “stuck” on single words? Is your child very musical? They may a gestalt language processor!

Where: Zoom Meeting (link sent after sign up)
When: Thursday December 14th, 7:00-8:30pm
Sign Up: https://calendly.com/playhavenpeds/glp-meetup
We are speech-language pathologists and private practice owners in MA & RI who specialize in supporting gestalt language processors (children who communicate with echolalia/scripting).
Can't make this meet up? To stay up-to-date on future events and learn more about gestalt language development, be sure to follow us:
https://www.instagram.com/jesstheslp/
https://www.instagram.com/kaitlinmulcaheyslp/
https://www.playhavenpediatrics.com/
https://www.competentcommunicators.org/

I'm working on this hardcore right now with some of my OT kids (and always with my children I'm the mom of, too).

It's children's job to assert as hard as they can, starting at about 2.5-3ish, that they are a Different Person Than You!!! And they have Different Thoughts and Different Opinions!!! And they will assert that as hard as it takes for them to feel "heard" by what their behavior is saying.

Here's a trick you can try. If you find your child becoming wildly more and more demanding about a specific thing or task or part of their day, and it's happening routinely, consider what part of that thing or task or part of their day you can give them more independence over.

Child flipping out about you getting them more water right now? Set up a way (a small pitcher, a faucet extender and stepstool, little Dixie cups by the bathroom sink -- whatever works for you) for them to be able to get their own water.

Child routinely laughing hysterically and kicking when you try to put their pants on? Build an extra 30 minutes into your schedule and let them try it themselves, or their socks or shoes or shirt or jacket or anything they're interested in, or just a step of it -- pulling it up their legs, taking the pajamas off, whatever it is.

[Image description: A picture of a child in the background gazing into the distance. The quote over it says, "The less autonomy a child is given, the more they will try to assert control over every tiny little thing, in an attempt to get it back. And the reverse is also true. The more autonomy a child is given, the more easily they will be willing to give up control when necessary, because it doesn't threaten their sense of autonomy." The quote is by Blimie Heller, and the image was made by Neuro Child.]

Join local SLPs Jessica Teixeira from Play Haven Pediatric Therapy and I for a FREE Gestalt Language Processing Parent & Caregiver Meet Up!

Did you know there are two ways children can develop language? Does your child communicate with echolalia/scripting? Does your child have long strings of unintelligible language with a lot of intonation? Is your child an AAC user that seems “stuck” on single words? Is your child very musical? They may a gestalt language processor!

Where: Zoom Meeting (link sent after sign up)
When: Thursday December 14th, 7:00-8:30pm
Sign Up: https://calendly.com/playhavenpeds/glp-meetup
We are speech-language pathologists and private practice owners in MA & RI who specialize in supporting gestalt language processors (children who communicate with echolalia/scripting).
Can't make this meet up? To stay up-to-date on future events and learn more about gestalt language development, be sure to follow us:
https://www.instagram.com/kaitlinmulcaheyslp/
https://www.instagram.com/jesstheslp/
https://www.competentcommunicators.org/
https://www.playhavenpediatrics.com/

In recent weeks I have seen an influx of clients in my speech sessions who are not interested in using the AAC devices — either in sessions with me, at school, or at home. Initially this made me sad (and still does to an extent) but, I decided to get curious and think about the “why”. Here are three tips I try to keep in mind when my clients aren’t showing interest in the AAC devices. Hope they help 🫶

The goal is not to create rule followers, the goal is not to make children quiet. The goal is to have A Regulated Classroom. A classroom full of children who experience felt safety, therefore making learning, creating, and connecting easy.

You have many tools at your disposal to help you achieve this, but the most important tool is yourself. It all starts with your nervous system. When you, as the educator, feel safe and regulated, it sets the tone with your students. That's why our training focuses on helping educators honor their nervous system, as the impact it has in the classroom is unmatched.

Here are six tips to take pressure off communication and make it more intrinsically motivating & fun 🌈
✨ model meaningful language without expectation: the key here is for the language to be meaningful - we don’t just want to walk around talking about anything and everything, we want to pick activities that the child enjoys and appear to be something they are interested in and pick some target words and phrases to model during those activities
✨ play with or alongside the child: some children will communicate more when they are engaged in parallel play with their communication partners, some children will communicate more when they are engaged in collaborative play. It is important to know which type of client you are working with and what their interests are. It is okay to play alongside a child and connect that way if that is their preference.
✨ acknowledge all communicative attempts: it is important to acknowledge all attempt - spoken language and non-verbal means, kids like being successful - it is our job to acknowledge them and make them feel successful
✨ follow their lead: kids will naturally communicate more about things they enjoy - kids don’t want to communicate about things that are boring and have no interest to them
✨ don’t use compliance based methods: kids don’t learn true spontaneous language using drill-based, compliance/based methods - play and language develop in tandem, develop language through play
✨ focus on connection & communication will come

TONIGHT @ 7PM
*Even if you are just interested in the recording, please sign up as that is how we are monitoring who we send the recording to.*

We are teaming up with Play Haven Pediatric Therapy to host a FREE Gestalt Language Processing Parent & Caregiver Meet Up for those in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Where: Zoom Meeting (link sent after sign up)
When: Thursday October 26th, 7:00-8:30pm
Sign Up: https://calendly.com/playhavenpeds/glp-parent-meet-up
We are speech-language pathologists and private practice owners in RI & MA who specialize in supporting gestalt language processors (children who communicate with delayed echolalia/scripting).
Can't make this meet up? To stay up-to-date on future events and learn more about gestalt language development, be sure to follow us:
https://www.instagram.com/kaitlinmulcaheyslp/
https://www.instagram.com/gemmajuneslp/
https://www.competentcommunicators.org/
https://www.playhavenpediatrics.com/

THIS THURSDAY 10/26 EST

📢 RI & MA Parents & Caregivers!
We are teaming up with Play Haven Pediatric Therapy to bring you a free GLP meet up!
We will cover foundational information on gestalt language development and will have time at the end for you to ask us questions!
➡️ Sign up here: https://calendly.com/playhavenpeds/glp-parent-meet-up OR DM us and we’ll send you the sign up link directly.
📲 Share this flyer with anyone who you think may want to attend & we’ll see you on Zoom!

Here are some quick tips to keep in mind when modeling language for parents of GLPs. Though every child is different, I find these three key points to be important to keep in mind when working with all GLPs.

📢 MA & RI Parents & Caregivers!

We are teaming up with to bring you a free GLP meet up!

We will cover foundational information on gestalt language development and will have time at the end for you to ask us questions!

➡️ Sign up here: https://calendly.com/playhavenpeds/glp-parent-meet-up OR DM us and we’ll send you the sign up link directly.

📲 Share this flyer with anyone who you think may want to attend & we’ll see you on Zoom!

AAC is progressing quickly in our field and now there are so many applications and devices to consider for communication. Here are five simple, yet important, factors to consider when thinking about which AAC device is the best fit for a child.

Here are four myths I often hear about AAC. Scroll through to see the facts 📱🫶

Here is what some of our clients are saying! If you are happy with your services at Competent Communicators LLC, it would mean so much if you left us a review. Thank you!

Thrilled to be teaming up with Jessica Teixeira from Play Haven Pediatric Therapy for this FREE parent training night! Come join us!

With October being AAC Awareness Month, I will be posting a lot of information about AAC evaluation, implementation, and training. Starting off with a simple cheat sheet with some DOs & DON’Ts for implementing AAC. As always, there are NO prerequisites for AAC. Everyone deserves a right to communication.

Quick tips for responding to “but they’re just stimming on their device”. Babbling & exploring is part of the process of learning AAC & stimming always serves a purpose. It’s up to us to respond in the best way given the situation. Here are some tips to help guide your conversations on “stimming & AAC”.

Here are some reasons why movement can be helpful during speech therapy sessions. Feel free to add more reasons in the comments. ⬇️

Three quick tips to avoid the overwhelm & get started with AAC at home today. Hope these help! 📱

We have immediate openings for AAC evaluations, as well as morning appointments available for toddlers. Please reach out today if you are interested in services for your child.