“Newborns are likely highly motivated to imitate their mothers in order to enhance bonding” ~Kathleen Wermke PhD Language begins with the very first cry A study published in 2009 in the journal Current Biology suggested crying infants may be imitating the patterns of the language they heard while in the womb. Essentially they found babies from…
Parenting Special Needs
Planning Your Child’s Transition to Preschool
Planning Your Child’s Transition to Preschool: A Step-by-Step Guide for Families Original Paper by Lynette K. Chandler, Susan A. Fowler, Sarah Hadden, and Lisa Stahurski A publication of FACTS/LRE, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign I’ve referred to this paper for over a decade and the original website that hosted this has been gone for…
Tips On Easing Preschool Separation Anxiety
According to a newsletter published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), early childhood educators suggest staying in the new situation with your child the first few days, for decreasing amounts of time, until he is comfortable with his new environment. Your child will feel more comfortable with you there for…
Sample Letters To Your Child’s New Teacher For Apraxia Autism Or Any Special Need
“Teachers need as much parentel help as they can get. I appreciate parents who become involved in the learning process and interact with me about testing. If your teachers school has email for the instructors as my school does email can be an easy way to find out just what is each teacher doing with…
The Communication Book
One of the best ways of keeping everyone in the loop is through a “communication book.” It’s the child’s diary, except that there may be half a dozen different contributors If you don’t know what a communication book and you have a child that has a communication impairment, this will be much needed information from…
VPD Support
“It’s hard to know for my guy if it’s cleft related or apraxia related sometimes. He still has the same voice. And some days I can understand more than others.”~ Amanda Your child just got diagnosed with something that had a long name. You’re driving home now and your mind is swimming in confusion,…
How To Answer, “What’s Wrong With Him?” Part 2
“Rude comments sometimes are what most of us have said before when seeing a bad display in a store-just because I now know different doesn’t mean that I used to stand behind some tantruming child and think “poor thing – I wonder if he has profound communication difficulties that impair his ability to rationalize this situation appropriately !!” LOL ..as…
Don’t Test Ability On A Disability
Testing your child’s ability on their disability is a violation of your child’s civil rights in the United States. You’d think it wouldn’t happen then, but you’d think wrong if you are talking about communication impairments. When speaking in regards to civil rights I like to refer to communication impairments as a verbal disability. A…
At The Beach With My ADHD Son
How To Answer, “What’s Wrong With Him?” Part 1
“Does he ever talk? Why isn’t he saying hello? Is there something wrong with him?” Always be prepared for it if you have a child with a communication impairment. You start to get a sense of when that question is coming from a well meaning (or rude) stranger. Sometimes it’s when someone hears how your…