If narrative language intervention is one of the pillars of your therapy, then you’re going to love what I have for you. As much as I love teaching narrative language, I always struggled to find enough stories to feed the therapy machine. A couple of years ago, in a somewhat desperate state of mind, I took pencil in hand and drew my own stories, fe…

No doubt you've noticed how our role as SLPs overlaps with other professions. Collaboration is highly desirable of course, but sometimes roles overlap so much as to be almost indistinguishable. It can be a disconcerting feeling - as though the earth has moved beneath your feet! Today, Denise Stratton, a veteran pediatric speech-language pathologist…

Stepping into a job interview is intimidating for many of us, but when you're a teen or young adult with a communication disorder, it can feel overwhelming. On the Speech Umbrella podcast, we tackle this subject head-on, with my husband, Dan Stratton, bringing his IT management and interview expertise to the table. One of Dan's passions is helping …

To mark the 100th episode, Dan (our business manager) interviews Denise about her favorite episodes, the beginnings of the podcast, and what the future holds for The Speech Umbrella. --- Useful Links --- Free Resource Library Where Everybody Knows Your Name Interview with Char Boshart Interview with Dr. Shereen Lim To Infinity and Beyond The Power …

Don’t we hear some of the funniest, wisest, all around best things from children? Here’s a collection of some my best moments with clients in 2023. Enjoy Kids Say the BEST Things, 2023. --- Useful Links --- Emoji Handout Empowering Children with Autism Through Natural Language Acquisition Essential Language for Autism Open Doors A Parent, A Child, …

Unleash the power of storytelling on your child's developmental journey! Join us as we explore the transformative influence of family narratives on children. Based on the research of Robin Fivush and Marshall P. Duke, we reveal the multitude of benefits kids reap when they know their family tales. Their resilience, self-esteem, and social skills se…

Ever wondered how to effectively enhance language development in children with autism? The Speech Umbrella's 97th episode is here to illuminate your path! I'm Denise Stratton, and I'll be unpacking the power of child-centered approaches like Natural Language Acquisition (NLA), explaining how it helps build spontaneous and generative language. We'll…

Do you ever wonder just what your data is telling you, and how to use your data to help your clients progress? If so, then this episode is tailor made for you! In part two of Leading and Lagging Indicators you’ll learn about some therapy ideas for measuring leading indicators. Leading indicators are so helpful, because they predict future success a…

Are you curious about how leading and lagging indicators, concepts borrowed from the business world, can revolutionize your speech therapy practice? That's precisely what I explore in this episode. From predicting future outcomes to measuring past success, I'll guide you on how these indicators can boost your effectiveness and transform therapy res…

Have you ever wondered how the simple word ‘too’ can shape a child’s comprehension of the world around them? Join me, your host Denise Stratton, as I delve into the unexpected depths of language and transform this overlooked adverb into a powerful tool for understanding, comparisons, and explanations. I’ll be dissecting the multifaceted role of ‘to…

Tired of feeling perplexed by nasal air emission and phoneme-specific nasal emission? We’ve got you covered in this enlightening episode! We’ll unravel these complex issues that often trip up even the most experienced SLPs, providing you with a wealth of knowledge and practical strategies. Expect to gain a clearer understanding as we dissect hypern…

Prepare to unravel the mysteries of airway health as we journey into the realm of healthy sleep and jaw development with our distinguished guest, Dr. Shereen Lim, a dentist specializing in this unique field. We’ll shine a light on intriguing topics such as the impact of breastfeeding on muscle development and airway health, and the significance of …

Ready to uncover the magic of playtime and how it can fuel your child’s language development? Join me, Denise Stratton, an experienced pediatric speech-language pathologist, as I reveal my top 10 toy picks for therapy with the preschool/kindergarten age group. These game and activities are perfect for both articulation and language therapy better, …

Imagine transforming the world of speech therapy by bringing it outdoors and combining it with the joys of preschool! That's exactly what Lisa Boyce has done with her unique outdoor preschool, Garden Gate Preschool. When Lisa moved her preschool outdoors during Covid, she discovered how much better children became at self regulation. In fact, the r…

Do you ever wonder how closely motor and language development are intertwined in children? Discerning the subtle ties between these two fundamental areas can be profoundly insightful, especially for those of us in the field of pediatric speech-language pathology! I am Denise Stratton, bringing you episode 89 of the Speech Umbrella, as we delve deep…

Ever wondered how a deeper understanding of brain plasticity could revolutionize your language therapy sessions? Join me as I share my key takeaways from Norman Doidge's eye-opening book, "The Brain That Changes Itself", and how we can harness the power of brain plasticity to create more effective and efficient therapy practices. Discover how roadb…

Having a stash of fun and effective games for therapy you can turn to at a moment’s notice is standard practice for pediatric SLPs. But sometimes we end up buying a game that’s not so great—it’s not fun, takes too long to set up, doesn’t have enough practice opportunities, is finicky to play . . . the list goes on. Those games get shoved to the bac…

Even with the many AAC resources out there, the pathway for those with complex communication needs is not always clear cut. We all want our clients who use AAC to make that leap to becoming proficient communicators. Understanding more about how they learn is one way to help them progress, and that’s what this episode is about. It covers: • Core and…

As speech therapists we know the value of early intervention, and judging by the increase in toddlers on my case load, parents understand the value too. But—therapy with a two year old ain’t no picnic! A cranky two year old who wants to do things their way, doesn’t want help, and can’t communicate well makes for a trying therapy session. What can h…

Great ideas for speech therapy materials abound, time to make them does not. That’s why The Speech Umbrella has a Free Resource Library for SLPs on the front lines. In the ever growing library you’ll find material for articulation, autism, clinic management, early listening and phonological awareness, fluency, and oral and written language. This ep…

I used to have this burning question when I starting working with young autistic clients— How do I get an interaction going when this little human clearly wants nothing to do with me? Sound familiar? Let’s face it, young children on the spectrum are a tough crowd, and that old uninvited friend, the imposter syndrome, returns. The saying “You can le…

This episode describes using movie making to teach inferencing and perspective taking. Just learning the language to express different perspectives is challenging, let alone understanding theory of mind. One way to tackle this gordian knot is through movie making and narration. Clients get a kick out of making movies, and SLP’s get a kick out of th…

R can be a challenging sound to treat. We SLPs know R is a tricky sound, we know it involves complex oral motor skill, and we don’t want to forget phonological awareness. But how do all of these skills fit together? What are the first and next steps? This episode continues a conversation on a balanced approach to R therapy, and is part two of a two…

R can be a challenging sound to treat. We SLPs know R is a tricky sound, we know it involves complex oral motor skill, and we don’t want to forget phonological awareness. But how do all of these skills fit together? What are the first and next steps? This episode begins a conversation on a balanced approach to R therapy, and is part one of a two pa…

Episode 79 is an interview with Char Boshart. Char is the president of Speech Dynamics, an author of several books, and a presenter. Char has a deep understanding of the fundamentals of oral motor movement. If you know oral motor techniques work but are at a loss to explain why, Char has the answers. In this interview we discuss: stability and mobi…

Starting hard conversations with parents and clients is so much easier when you know how to say difficult things honestly and gracefully. Here’s where the right turn of phrase, examples, and analogies smooth the way. What this episode has to offer: finding the right words to introduce difficult topics Join me under the umbrella for tips on talking …

Some clinical skills are difficult to teach at the university, and one of those is how to establish client-parent-clinician rapport, otherwise known as your “bedside manner.” This episode explores six ways therapists can show they really care. They are: • Read the room • Mindful conversation • Do your work • Perspective taking • Own your mistakes •…

Task Oriented Movement Activities support executive function. Activities that meet the criteria for TOM activities have: • Multiple steps • A problem to be solved • A plan • Opportunities to reflect and record • Variations Seeing how to implement these activities is helpful, so this episode can be viewed on Youtube, in addition to listening on your…

Don’t we hear some of the funniest, wisest, all around best things from children? Here’s a collection of some my funniest moments with clients in 2022. Enjoy Kids Say the BEST Things, 2022.Denise Stratton tarafından oluşturuldu

Has it ever come to you in a startling, clear as a bell moment, that one of you clients has totally missed, skipped, and never even approached a skill they need in order to master the skill you’re trying to teach? Do you have a client who: • struggles with curiosity • lacks complex language development • has a very narrow range of interests If so, …

Sometimes our university training doesn’t leave us feeling confident treating pediatric voice disorders. Which makes it intimidating, to say the least, when you’re faced with a child with a voice disorder. You might even feel like you’ve landed in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language. Been there, done that! The good news is • You kn…

This episode is an interview with Dr. Teresa Ukrainetz, who specializes in school-age language intervention. Her current research centers on how to help students with language impairments gain control of the words and ideas of informational text, and her brilliantly simply method for this intervention is called Sketch and Speak. Here is a snippet f…

When it comes to articulation carryover at home, wouldn’t it be great if all parents understood how to support their child? This podcast does what we often don’t have time to do—it explains all about carryover, and gives parents realistic ways to support carryover at home. Today’s episode covers: • What’s a tipping point and why is it important for…

Therapy prep can be time consuming or painless— we all want more painless prep than painful! As you prep for therapy do you find yourself thinking: • What can I do today that both fun and productive? And I’m sure my clients would appreciate something new! • I don’t have a big budget for materials, how can I best spend my money? • I need something m…

This episode is a follow up to episode 68 on assessment cluttering. It’s about treatment, using the M.O.R.E. approach. More than a to do list, M.O.R.E. is a framework to help clients first make the cognitive changes that will lead to behavioral changes. M.O.R.E. stands for motivation, ownership, recognition and earned fluency. If you’ve been wonder…

This is part one of a two part series. Episode 68 covers nine areas to assess when treating cluttering, while part two covers the M.O.R.E. treatment technique. In part one the following assessments areas are discussed: syllable collapse articulation mid sentence revisions lack of complex language run on sentences missing details and context in pers…

Today’s podcast is focused on L. While there’s no doubt R can be a puzzler, L isn’t far behind. Final L can be one of the most perplexing sounds for clients to master. In this podcast SLP Angie Lewis explains how to elicit precise final Ls. And we find out that it’s not so different from final vocalic R! Tune in as Angie walks us through all the st…

Too many R clients get stuck somewhere between the sentence and conversation level, and can’t make the leap to mastery. Helping these clients achieve mastery of R (or any phoneme) involves a philosophy about how to engage a learner in learning. The closer you get to less structured therapy tasks, such as conversation, the fewer worksheets there are…

Getting on the same page as parents when it comes to articulation therapy is challenging, and this is especially true when it comes to complicated sounds like R. As much as we want to educate parents, who has time to thoroughly explain co-articulation and motor requirements, let alone diving into secondary issues like phonemic awareness? Concepts t…

Tongue ties, also referred to as tethered oral tissues (TOTs) can seem like a complex issue, but what it really comes down to is understanding when functional eating, speaking and sleeping are impaired. This episode is a review of Merkel-Walsh and Overland’s book Functional Assessment and Remediation of TOTs. With the information in this book, SLPs…

Getting a valid measurement on complex language skills is challenging. Rubrics are a great tool for measuring multiple skills with multiple levels of complexity. They can also be valuable motivators for clients to monitor their own progress. Rubrics to the Rescue! discusses the when, how, who, and what of using rubrics in language therapy.…

As SLPs, problem solving is something we do every day with our clients. But add behavior challenges into the mix and progress can come to a screeching halt. Many of us don’t receive training in this area, even at the graduate school level. Sometimes the solution to challenging behavior shows itself when we step back and look at our clients in a new…

A constant message in modern superhero media is that BIG reactions are the ONLY solution. That’s not a great message for any child, let alone those who already struggle with outsize reactions. In The Dark Side of Superheroes, I explore • Skills that are fundamental to controlling reaction size • Problems with modern media • Fantastic books that mod…

When you teach your clients conjunctions, a little knowledge can become a dangerous thing. Sometimes clients start throwing conjunctions around like they’re going out of style, and their stories become one big mess. This episode describes ways to help clients get conjunctions under control. Be sure to check out the Simple Tools video, Conjunction F…

Have you noticed your clients with language impairments really struggle to recall names? This can be a real communication barrier, both socially and in literacy development. Stories are the fabric of our existence and they make up a large part of our conversation. When our clients are telling stories, not only do they default to vague and non-speci…

Are you ready to talk about grammar? Infinitive verbs are early developing, and too often overlooked, but they are critical in early language and cognitive development. To Infinity and Beyond! explores infinitive verbs in depth, and how they empower communication. Included in this podcast are: • Defining infinitive verbs—of course! • A quick overvi…

What About ABA? covers a few key questions to ask parents that can help them figure out whether ABA therapy is right for them. Look for the following in episode #57: • Questions to ask a potential ABA therapist • The philosophy behind ABA therapy • The philosophy behind relationship based approaches, such as Hanen and Floortime The complexity of la…

While we understand that communication is more than talking, it’s not always easy to explain why this is so to parents. Concepts that are so familiar to us—joint interaction, pragmatics, gesture development—are a whole new language for parents of kids with social communication disorders. Hanen More Than Words gives SLPs the tools to coach parents o…

We know many of our clients struggle with executive function. What’s one powerful way families can teach executive function to their children? Chores! In episode 55, Nate and Melanie Young describe their chore system. Their system teaches skills for executive function and self regulation in a realistic setting, and it just works.…

This episode reviews Dr. Damon Korb’s book, Raising an Organized Child. Dr. Korb not only explains organized thinking in an accessible way, but has suggestions for how to get there, from birth through high school. He describes how to implement five steps for organized thinking for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, school aged children, and teens. Th…