Lekker Speech & Feeding Therapy

Having a child L O O K at your face when practicing speech sounds is a great way to help teach them!

V I S U A L feedback is an important component of speech therapy! You can also try pairing a visual model with a visual cue card for the sound. When doing this, hold the card up next to your mouth!

My favorite affordable cue card resources are from Bjorem Speech and can be found on their website

November 5 at 1:00p
December 3 at 4:00p

$30 to register via link in bio!

Linnéa will also be back from maternity leave with limited hours starting November 1.

Meet Lindsey •

“I love being an SLP because I love helping people find their voice, whether it be vocal or through different modes of communication. My passion is working with individuals on the spectrum. I love how every individual is unique and I love working with parents as well..” •

Lindsey is a speech language pathologist. Her specialties are autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities •

Fun fact about Lindsey:
She is also a hair stylist! 💇🏼‍♀️

Want to know more? Drop a❓for Lindsey below! ⬇️

We love our clients and are so honored to serve each of you! Thank you for sharing our small business!

How to scan a QR Code from an image on iPhone?
• Open the screenshot on your phone gallery
• Click the live text detection on the bottom right corner
• Click the QR Code and follow the prompt

🔗 OR just click the “digital business card” link in our bio!

‼️ to shop our favorite cups, head to link in bio!

❌ We are not fans of sippy cups, 360 cups, straws you have to bite, or prolonged bottle use because they can negatively impact oral development, dentition, speech, facial features, & more!

✅🍵 Open Cups:
• are often easiest for breastfed babies to transition to
• facilitate proper jaw development
• promotes a mature swallow pattern (these tongue movements are important in eating solids and in speech!)

✅🥤Straw Cups:
• are often easiest for bottle-fed babies to transition to
• facilitate proper lip closure and use of jaw, tongue, and cheeks (this is important for speech development!)
• prevent tooth decay

✅🧃Squeezable Cups:
• are often easiest to learn from because an adult can help guide straw drinking
• has all the benefits of straw drinking
• can be used to help children who don’t have musculature to drink from a straw independently yet

If you want to know more about the cups you are using and pros/cons of them, leave the name of the cup in comments ⬇️

What is Occupational Therapy?!

Think about all the skills needed to do every day activities! Those skills are what OTs help with.

An OT helps children with:
Processing sensory experiences
Gross motor skills (i.e. walking)
Fine motor skills (i.e. picking up pieces of food)
Eating with the family and eating a variety of foods
Regulating their emotions and using coping skills
Advocating for themselves
Handwriting and other school-related tasks
Getting dressed
Managing chronic pain
Playing with friends safely
Grooming and hygiene skills, (I.e. brushing teeth)
Organization (think: desks, backpacks, bedrooms)

Pediatric OTs support children with and without disabilities! Think your child could use support with some of these things? We have openings so send us a message or give us a call!

*at this time we are unable to accept insurance for OT

Meet Denise •

“I love occupational therapy because I can make a difference in someone’s life… and I get to play all day!”

Denise is an occupational therapist. Her specialties are ages birth to ten and developmental disabilities (excluding cerebral palsy)! •

Fun fact about Denise:
She can play the drums!🥁 •

Denise has some openings NOW(!!)
She sees patients in homes, schools, and daycares in Midland and Odessa.

Want to know more? Drop a❓for Denise below! ⬇️

baby led weaning or purees? NEITHER!

(or both depending on how you look at it)

‼️ The focus should not be on finger foods vs puréed foods - the focus should be on the interaction between parent and baby.🤍

We call this RESPONSIVE FEEDING because as a parent you are watching your child’s cues and facilitating mealtimes based on those cues. How do you do this with purées and solids?

Purees are an important texture (yogurt, guacamole, & queso anyone?!) and should not be completely skipped over.

When feeding purees:
• ❌ skip giving straight from a pouch whenever possible
• 🥄 when using a spoon, wait for baby to open their mouth to you OR load up the spoon and give it to them for self feeding
• 🥣 when using a spoon, AVOID scraping it against baby’s mouth - allow them to transfer the food to their mouth themselves
• 👶🏻 watch for cues baby is FULL (turning their head, not opening mouth) and stop feeding at that point
• ✅ another way is to present purees as a dip for other foods

When feeding solids:
• 🍌 start with thick stick-shaped pieces that are soft and easily squishable between your fingers
• 🎨 allow baby to explore and get messy!
• 👌🏻 remember that in the early stages of solid feeds, babies likely will intake very little
• ❌ stop feeding when baby is fussy, throwing foods, or turning their head away

Responsive feeding decreases food aversion and picky eating and lowers the risk of obesity. So next time someone asks if you’re doing BLW or purées, educate on responsive feeding instead!

feeding therapy - what does it look like?

for us it is:
• developing a bond and trust with your child
• parent involvement (this is INCREDIBLY important)
• play & getting messy
• repeated exposure to foods
• low pressure to eat or “take a bite”
• prioritizing connection and joyful mealtimes
• helping families to meet their personal feeding goals
• finding and treating the root cause of feeding difficulties (& referring to other professionals when it’s outside out scope)

every feeding client is different so the plan for each child is different too but these are the things we strive for in each session!

questions? ⬇️

There is so much more than the tip of the iceberg when it comes to mealtime struggles and picky eating in children (and most of these can be applied to infants and teenagers too)!

Our children’s behaviors around mealtime can also trigger our own negative emotions and behaviors and may lead to less than happy mealtimes for all. It can all feel so hard and overwhelming!

If you’re needing support in this area and tired of the struggle, we have an incredible team of SLPs, OTs, pediatric feeding specialists, lactation consultants, and orofacial myofunctional therapists to help find the root cause of your child’s feeding difficulties.

Mealtimes should be a time of joy and connection, not a battle and there is still hope if you are feeling discouraged 🤍

Meet Jacie •

“I love being an SLP because I love seeing progress in speech and feeding and being able to include families in the process. Parent education has become a huge component of my therapy and it’s important to me that families know how to work on goals outside of the therapy room.” •

Jacie is a speech language pathologist. Her specialties are feeding & picky eaters, apraxia, fluency/stuttering, and speech sound disorders •

Fun fact about Jacie:
She loves to travel and go camping! 🏕
She has a little girl and a boy due this July! 💙

🚨 Jacie has a couple of openings for picky eaters before she goes on maternity leave. Call today 432-900-2095 if you need to get in!

Want to know more? Drop a❓for Jacie below! ⬇️

To the mama with an aching back, trying to feed her baby and collect extra milk at the same time - we see you.

To the mama who desperately wants to breastfeed but doesn’t know how much longer she can keep trying - we see you.

To the mama who is tired and anxious and sad and it all feels like too much - we see you.

To the mama who’s feeding journey has become a full time job - we see you.

To the mama with a toddler running around begging for snacks while you try to latch your newborn for the 14th time today - we see you.

To the mama making a hard decision in what to do and who to see about tongue ties or lip ties - we see you.

And to all the mamas in-between who are doing beautiful and hard things every day, we see you.

Mothering is hard. Postpartum healing is hard. And you can do hard things. You are a good mother.

🤍 Your worth is not defined by how you feed your baby or in a number of ounces that you produce. 🤍 It is rare that breastfeeding comes easily and without a hiccup. But we are here to support you and honor your feeding and motherhood journey and .

Come grab a coffee with us! ☕️
We can’t wait to meet you!

One of the most common reasons women stop breastfeeding is because they are worried baby isn’t getting enough milk! So how can you really know?

🩲a breastfed baby should have 3-4 dirty diapers per day after day 4 and up to about 6 weeks of age (then at LEAST 1 p**p a day forever!).

👶🏻 newborns should be a good combo of alert & active or sleepy between feeds. if your baby is very hard to wake for feeds, call your lactation provider.

🏋️‍♀️ baby should be back to birth weight (or close) by two weeks of age. Keep in mind - IV fluids during delivery can make weight loss in the early days look more drastic than it is!

Other (but less reliable) signs baby is getting enough:
• unlatching on their own at the end of a feed
• relaxed/content at the end of a feed
• after feeds, your breasts feel softer

Questions about baby not getting enough milk? Let us know below ⬇️ or schedule an appointment with a lactation provider 🤱🏼

Included in your customized pumping plan:

🗓 a customized schedule for when to pump/nurse/bottle feed/solid feed
🍼General pumping tips and milk storage guidelines
👍🏻 Fl**ge sizing and how to tell when your fl**ges are too big/small
💧 Best pump settings to use for your specific pump(s)
🙌🏻 Personalized recommendations for increasing or decreasing milk supply, if needed
➕ more!

Whether your goal is to exclusively pump, build a freezer stash, go on a trip, return to work, increase supply, or something else - our personalized plans are here to help!

Find the link to purchase in our website store at www.lekkerspeech.com or copy the link from the first comment ⬇️

Meet Reagan! •

“I love being an SLP-A because I get to empower children to reach their goals and communicate effectively!”

Reagan is a speech language pathology assistant. She enjoys working with clients of all ages and abilities and sees a variety of children throughout the day which keeps work interesting! •

Fun fact about Reagan:
She loves corny jokes! 🌽
She will also be attending grad school in the Fall to hone her skills as a speech pathologist! 🎓

Want to know more? Drop a❓for Reagan below! ⬇️

“Why am I paying for someone to just play with my child!? Is this even working!?”

Have you ever wondered this as a speech therapy parent?

If you are a parent, please know that while it looks like play to you and your child, your therapist is:
🗣 constantly using language/speech strategies and assessing how they are working and which strategy to use next
🪆manipulating toys during the play to get the most language output or speech possible
☹️ adjusting expectations for language depending on your child’s threshold to avoid tantrums

Play is often the most naturalistic setting for a child. It is where young children learn and where older children maintain attention.

Did you know play skills also develop and mature as language does!?

At Lekker, we value play and are often working the hardest when playing with your child! We believe the greatest therapists can take almost any toy and develop language from it!

Have a little one learning to talk?
Grab an empty T I S S U E B O X! •

Fill the tissue box with objects or toys and practice putting “in”, pulling “out”, signing “more”, and labeling objects!

Bonus - this can also help develop motor skills!

Mark your calendars! These will be the last classes offered by our lactation consultant until the Fall!

May 7 @ 4p Breastfeeding
( https://www.eventbrite.com/e/616678912227 )

May 21 @ 3:30p Pumping
( https://www.eventbrite.com/e/617353229127 )

June 25 @ 5:30p Breastfeeding
( https://www.eventbrite.com/e/616681459847 )

To register, click the link! And remember - we do offer individual 1:1 prenatal visits for lactation if these times don’t work for you!

Meet Jennifer •

“I love being an SLP because I get to work on things that actually change a child and their family’s life. Helping to improve a child’s communication is a blessing that everyone can experience along with the child.”

Jennifer is a speech language pathologist in daycares and homes in Odessa. Her speciality is preschool and school-age speech and language •

Fun fact about Jennifer:
She doesn’t have a middle name! 👈🏼

Want to know more? Drop a❓for Jennifer below! ⬇️

Ideas for P L A Y I N G with easter eggs to facilitate speech & feeding:

💬 Developing Words:
Repeat open/close over and over again as you open and close the eggs. You can also work on identifying egg colors or objects inside the eggs.

🗣 Practicing Sounds:
Hide objects or candies inside the eggs that start with your child’s practice sounds.
Example: your child is working on the “l” sound. Hide jelly beans, yellow objects, & laffy taffy. When your child opens the egg, have them practice the word 5x!

🍉 Exploring New Foods:
Hide new foods in the eggs. You can match food colors to the egg colors to make it fun! When you open them, talk about the color, texture, or other properties of the food. Use this time for exploration/exposure and if your child tries a new food, it’s a bonus!

The possibilities for Easter eggs are endless and you can use them well after Easter ends to continue to support your child’s development.

🤨 If you need help figuring out how to use eggs to target your child’s specific language/speech or feeding goals, be sure to ask your therapist this week - or leave a comment below!

1-2 ear infections per year can be considered normal BUT…

If your child has had 3 ear infections in 6 months or 4 ear infections in 1 year, it may be time to get them seen by a speech language pathologist!

Ear infections can be rooted in poor oral habits including thumb sucking, mouth breathing, prolonged pacifier use, & dysfunctional swallowing patterns.

A speech language pathologist with orofacial myofunctional training can help identify the root cause of your child’s ear infections and evaluate your child for any resulting speech or language difficulties!

Call or send us a message today if you are needing any support in navigating ear infections or speech & language! We are here to serve you.

Let’s talk about C H O I C E S!

Choices are one of a parent’s best tools in helping a child develop language (and in limiting tantrums).

For a child with no words, hold up two tangible objects to allow the child to make a choice. Model the vocabulary for them and AVOID asking questions like “what do you want?”.

🍉 It’s snack time and you are offering watermelon or goldfish. Hold the watermelon in one hand and say “melon”, hold the goldfish in the other hand and say “goldfish”. Wait for child to reach for their preferred choice.

▶️ You are playing with Mr. Potato Head to work on body parts. Hold up a hat in one hand and eyes in the other hand. Label the objects “Hat”, “Eyes”. Wait for child to reach for their preferred choice.

As your child’s vocabulary expands, wait for them to verbally label the choices. Hold the choices out, wait for child to say “melon” or “hat”. If child does not respond, label the objects and wait for a word again. If child still does not respond, label one more time and then give if they are reaching without sound.

Making choices is a lifelong communication skill and here at Lekker, we love to help our clients l achieve this skill at the highest level!

Encouraging S I G N at home:

One of our favorite ways to encourage sign language at home is to use toys with multiple pieces (like blocks!) stored in a closed box or bin.

1 • start with all the pieces in a closed box to prevent grabbing
2 • knock on the box and model the sign for “open” while verbally saying “oooooopen”
3 • WAIT (this part is important! count to ten inside your head!)
4 • at the beginning reward any sound or attempt at sign with opening the box and giving a piece of the toy
• if they do not attempt to make a sound or sign, and they tolerate touch well, you can grasp near their elbows or hands and help them make the sign and then immediately reward with a piece of the toy
5 • you can continue to model “open” for each piece or after the first piece switch to model the sign for “more” while saying “mO, mO”.
6 • as they start to consistently attempt to make a sound or sign, start steps 2 and 3 again, waiting for the vocalization or sign to sound/look more like your target word

Remember to: keep pieces out of reach 🧩, reward any vocalization or attempt at sign 🤟🏼, & make it FUN 🥳!

Meet Abbie •

“I was in speech therapy growing up, which lead me into this profession, and it hardly ever feels like I’m ‘working.’ All of my clients and their families are incredible and I love serving and building relationships with them.” •

Abbie is a speech language pathologist and a certified beckman oral motor provider. Her specialties are ages birth to three, language delays/disorders, hearing impaired, and littles with autism spectrum disorder! •

Fun fact about Abbie:
She is fluent in American Sign Language! 🤟🏼
She has a husband from Midland ☀️, and two little boys 💙💙 who are her pride and joy and keep her busy!

Want to know more? Drop a❓for Abbie below! ⬇️

Let’s talk words!

By age 1, a child should be using at least one “word”. Words can be so many things - baby sign, animal sounds, exclamations (uh-oh!), mama/dada, or word approximations.

S I G N 🤟🏼
You can start introducing sign language to babies as soon as they are born! Around 3-4 months, most babies will start to pay attention to the signs and as soon as they have the motor skills will start to imitate! (6-9 months). This can be a great way to communicate with your child early on.

ANIMAL SOUNDS 🐮
Often times, children substitute animal sounds for animal names. They are easier to say than most animal names and are more fun too! If your child looks at a cow and says moo or sees your cat and says meow, they are using words!

A P P R O X I M A T I O N S 🗣
As children begin to develop language, it is normal for them to use only very easy sounds and syllables. For example it is very common for “ball” to become “ba” or “more” to become “mo”. These are easy to mistake for babbling but are real words!

Questions? ⬇️

• F E E D I N G T H E R A P Y •

there are very rarely tears involved in feeding therapy at lekker. our goal is for your child to be happy and excited for mealtimes and to eliminate mealtime battles at home.

who could benefit from feeding therapy?
✔️picky eaters
✔️children having difficulty switching to solids or straw/open cup drinking
✔️kids with a strong preference for one type of food/texture/temperature/taste
✔️children with a diagnosis of tongue/lip tie
✔️babies or children with ng or g-tubes
✔️kids who chew with their mouths open, have a hard time chewing food, and/or choke and gag frequently.
✔️babies who have difficulty on breast or bottle
✔️kids and/or babies having difficulty gaining weight

have questions? let us know! ⬇️

Therapists working spring break: Jacie, Reagan, Abbie. Linnéa, Denise, Rachel

Therapists OUT for spring break: Jennifer

If your therapist is working, please let them know if you need to cancel your session or send us a DM!

Have a great week!