Co-mmunicate With Me, LLC

I’m back with a ✨TIP TUESDAY✨ right after the holidays!

So you and your child have played with all the toys your child got over the holiday season about 100 times over. Here are some ways to change it up and add to the play with these toys— to make them feel new again and to extend the play.

🌈 Combine the new toy with an old toy. This is great for introducing and supporting combinatory play. For example, if your child received new magnetic or wooden blocks over the holiday season, build towers and put existing items/objects on top and knock them down.

🌈 Where you can— include pretend play. For example, building blocks can be turned into houses or schools, which can be turned into a whole city; new kitchen food can be prepared and served to existing dolls/figurines; and even the boxes the new toys came in can be sat in and used as a pretend car!

🌈 If the toy is battery operated, turn it off here and there and you and your child make the sounds of the toy, instead of the toy doing it for you!

I hope you all enjoyed the holidays! As always, reach out for support! ✨

It’s TIP TUESDAY!

My first CWM friend has graduated from speech 😭♥️💃🏻! She worked so diligent and hard to remediate some residual speech errors!

The tip today is to trust your instincts! Madison’s mom initially reached out and reported concerns about her daughters speech. In the past, her concerns were written off, but she persistently advocated for her child. Sure enough- Madison DID need speech services.

Moral of this story— trust your instincts if you feel your child needs support with their communication, because YOU know YOUR child BEST!

Hope y’all are having a great week! ☀️

*picture and text posted with Margaret Foley Whiteman and client permission*

It’s TIP TUESDAY!! ✨

I’ve been MIA with the start of the school year, but I’m back with some tips!

If you have recently been referred to a speech-language pathologist, if you are seeking one for your child, or wanting to find another SLP, I have some quick tips to ensure your child receives the best care under the right SLP for them!

🦋 respecting boundaries: such as gauging when the child needs more/less support in the moment, allowing the child to protest “no,” and physical boundaries (not touching the child without their contest).

🦋 honoring all forms/types of communication: communication goes well beyond spoken words— your child should be given access to and allowed to use other types of communication (gestures, sign language, pictures, sounds, etc).

🦋 building an authentic relationship: therapy should be light-hearted, engaging, and fun and to lay the groundwork to ensure this— your child and their SLP should have a great connection and relationship.

🦋 following their lead: as stated above— therapy should be fun because that’s when active learning occurs. The SLP should be willing to follow your child’s lead and allow your child to control most aspects and direction of the therapy.

🦋 including their interests: we all learn best when things are relatable and interesting to us. Therapy should be meaningful, personally-relevant, and interest based. That’s what makes the most connections in the brain to aid in the learning process!

I hope this is helpful! Reach out if you need supports or resources on your journey to finding an SLP to assist in your child’s development!

Have a great week ahead! ✨