Sunflower Pediatric Therapy & Family Services, PLLC

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Contact us now for individualized, in home speech-language therapy!

A very exciting an emotional post for me!
When I started this “side gig” a little over a year ago I never imagined it would go as well as it has-It’s time for an update! Kristen Anderson, SLP is now officially Sunflower Pediatric Therapy & Family Services, LLC! I’m excited to continue to offer speech-language therapy, and eventually expanding to offer additional therapies and family supports in the coming months! Losing my grandmother in January was and continues to be harder some days than others to deal with (let’s normalize talking about mental health y’all!), but I’d like to think rebranding and expanding in her honor is a beautiful tribute to her and the therapist and person she has inspired me to be. Check out my new website for more info! www.sunflowerpedsfam.com 💛🌻

Excited to (safely) continue working with you all in 2021 ❤️💉🦠😷

A sneak peek at some exciting updates in the very near future 🌻❤️

Despite the craziness of this year, I hope you’re still able to make the best of it ❤️ It’s been a busy and exciting week.....stay tuned for future rebranding this coming year 🥰💍

Here’s a round up of some of my favorite Instagram accounts! Of course this does not stand in place of an evaluation by a medical professional, so use your judgement when viewing these accounts

This is why I offer free consultations-It never hurts to get another opinion and intervene early if needed-and if not needed-you get the relief of knowing everything is on track

🛑 and Read This!!!👇🏼

Please don’t say, “Don’t worry” OR “my child didn’t X until YZ so it’s ok” & here’s why:

Wishing you and your loved ones and happy and healthy thanksgiving! Despite all the challenges this year, I remain thankful for my family, friends, the kiddos and families I get to work with everyday and a career I love. And thank YOU for following me along this journey and supporting me starting my own business my own way....I’d never have imagined things would go this well, this quickly, during a global pandemic no less-ha! And for fun a little to teletherapy this week and having kiddos describe the thanksgiving food behind me for me to guess 😂🤪

What an unexpected but pleasant surprise! Some days I feel like I’ve been doing this wayyyy longer than 5 years, and other days it’s gone by in the blink of an eye. This award is intended to recognize a practitioner in their first 5 years of their career. “The Distinguished Early Career Professional (ECP) Certificate was created to recognize and identify ECPs in the fields of audiology and speech-language pathology who are making an impact in the areas of leadership, volunteering, or advocacy at the local, state, and/or national level. This will also highlight the involvement of ECPs in their local, state, and community speech-language-hearing associations”

When I nominated this little guy for this award last year I was confident, knowing just how far he’s come, but I never imagined he’d win both the state level AND the National Award! Going from an angry and frustrated kindergartner with no solid form of communication, to this fun loving and hilarious young guy who mastered an AAC device like a champ, and then even started using his verbal words. And now he doesn’t stop talking! Since then we’ve been interviewed by local and National news outlets, and even spoke on national radio. I love this kiddo and his family ❤️❤️❤️

This is why I do what I do. Everyone deserves a voice, regardless of how we get that voice out. Period.

You may or may not know that I also work for a school district. I actually work there full time and have started this practice on the side! I haven’t posted in what seems like forever.....but let me tell y’all-ain’t no tired like educator tired during a global pandemic. We have made and changed plans, more times than I can remember, especially in my favorite program with our neediest special education learners. Good news like this is just what I needed for a morale boost! I am so excited and honored to be a part of a team of educators to be nominated and WIN the McLean-Yoder Award for Professional Excellence. This award is intended to honor a team that exemplifies high quality professional services to individuals with severe disabilities. It is awarded by National Joint Committee for the Communication Needs of Persons with Severe Disabilities (NJC) and the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA).

❗️❗️❗️THIS IS SO IMPORTANT ❗️❗️❗️You can struggle with communication and language, and also be incredibly smart! In fact, I find that the friends I work with are often more creative and resilient than the average kiddo. ❤️ It’s important to have a comprehensive speech-language evaluation and treatment plan to identify strengths and use these to build up areas of need to empower kids to become independent, confident communicators!

These ARE so important for our AAC users! Work with your SLP to develop a plan for how to best integrate AAC into your everyday lives in routines-It should be an aide, not work to use!

Said it best with her original caption!
“Love this visual by for why you should NOT “Wait and See”! Best practice is to start intervention sooner than take your chances! We need to take the stigma away from early intervention services-it doesn’t hurt kids but will help them! ❤️

👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻 I CANNOT stress this enough. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I don’t know how to play the piano. You giving me one will not make me know. The same way giving a child an AAC device to communicate will not automatically make them an effective communicator. It’s a long, but rewarding!, process that involves a whole team. A crucial part is a full and thorough evaluation to identify the types of support your child would benefit from. Make sure the SLP you are working with has success and experience in this area! Everyone deserves a voice 💙

This is one I also hear all the time. Being bilingual will NOT cause delays or stop them from talking because they are confused. Like mentioned below, they should still be meeting the same milestones, just count both words. If you have concerns please get a consultation or evaluation sooner rather than later!

Screen fatigue is real-Make sure you are taking time for yourself and your family to get out from behind the screen this summer!

Screens and Summer: Hitting the Reset Button to Combat Zoom Fatigue With COVID-19 requiring a months-long shift to fully online school, work, and social interactions for many people, children and adults…

It is never too early to intervene! If you have concerns, talk to your pediatrician for a referral to a specialist (like a speech-language pathologist :) ) and get your kiddos started out on the right foot for a successful academic career. Don't just "wait and see" and hope things improve.

This is ultra nerdy, but Dr. Laura Justice just blew my #%?! mind with this tidbit right up there!! 👆🥱😳🤯 I hope it’s okay that I’m sharing (I couldn’t find her to tag).
Y’all! I’d bet you can name those babies- the 90% whose reading just can’t catch up and who stay in that 10th or lower percentile. I know I can.
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I can’t decide is this is just a sad statement about school expectations in this age or proof that we need more headstart programs and early intervention. Maybe it’s BOTH. What do you think?
And can I just say, we have to 🛑 STOP the “wait and see” approach to intervention and identification.

Thanks to Dr. Justice for the powerful knowledge she served up about emergent writing, print concepts, reading intervention and so much more! Have any of you gotten to learn from her at Ohio State?

While it’s true that as Speech-Language Pathologists we work on more than just “speech” and the production of sounds, it is a big part of pediatric speech therapy

Want to learn more about me as a person and a therapist?

Y’all....I’ve been so overwhelmed with the positive support, well wishes and even some referrals already! Thank you all so much! Keep sending me your questions and letting me know how I can best support you and your kiddos! ❤️