Summer Practice is Important

A speech therapy home program: the difference between progress and stagnation

If your child takes piano lessons, your job is to make sure she practices. When your child starts school, it’s your job to see that she does her homework, and help her with it at times. Even if it’s not your child that’s involved, there is almost no example of being able to hand a job over to an expert and having no responsibility for assuring success. I take my car to the mechanic for repairs, but once I get the car back I still need to monitor the fluid levels, watch the warning lights on the dash, clean the salt and grime off it to prevent it from rusting, and so on.

There are 168 hours in a week. If I see a child once a week for half an hour, that gives the child 167½ hours between sessions for the brain pathways we just spent 30 minutes building and reinforcing to atrophy from lack of practice. A daily speech therapy home practice program can go a long way toward maintaining the progress a child makes in therapy, and can make the difference between noticeable improvement and month after month of therapy with little or no change.

A home program does not need to be a major time commitment on your part, but it is important. Usually, I ask parents to try for 15 to 30 minutes a day, but even five or ten minutes every day will benefit your child more than an hour once a week.

Summer packets have gone home with some of the students. Others can use the pages on this blog. If your child brings back a completed summer packet or calendar from this website at the beginning of the school year, he/she will receive a special prize! Have a wonderful summer and making practice fun is an easy task! Everything we do with our children encourages language and we can provide many models for articulation and grammar.

"You don't need to spend a lot of money to have a vacation....enjoy the simple things in life."
Catherine Pulsifer

Summer 2011

Kids are enjoying music through advances in personal audio technology more than ever. But at what price? With the increasing popularity of mp3 players, millions of children are at potential risk of noise-induced hearing loss. Listening to headphones at high volumes for extended periods of time can result in lifelong hearing loss. The loss may occur painlessly and gradual, often it goes unnoticed until it is too late.
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) is caused by exposure to loud sounds and usually occurs painlessly over a period of time. However, it may occur from one exposure to an extremely loud noise. Research suggests that NIHL is occurring at younger ages and with more frequency. Noise from personal headphones, jet skis, concerts, lawn equipment, power tools, firecrackers, household appliances, toys and musical instruments all have the potential to cause hearing loss. NIHL can be prevented. Teach your children to know when loud is too loud.

It's too loud if...
You must raise your voice to be heard.
You have difficulty understanding someone who's an arm's length away.
You have pain, ringing or buzzing in your ears after exposure to loud sounds.
Speech sounds muffled or dull after noise exposure.
Here are some simple prevention steps:
Avoid and limit periods of exposure to noise.
Buy quiet! Don't buy noisy appliances, equipment or toys.
Don't put objects in the ears such as cotton swabs.
Monitor hearing when ototoxic drugs are prescribed.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has been a global leader warning about the risk of hearing loss from misuse of personal audio technology.

Whether it’s an mp3 player, gaming device, cell phone, laptop, or any other device that your child uses with headphones, don’t overlook a potential health threat – the risk of hearing loss from misuse of the technology.

Here are a few ways to protect your children’s hearing and your own.

Keep the volume down. A good guide is half volume.
Limit listening time. Give your hearing "quiet breaks."
Model good listening habits for your children.

Story link: MyFoxDC.com

Open House

It was a pleasure to meet and talk with so many parents and students on Thursday night. Thank you all for stopping by my room! The summer school catalog is available on the Center Cass School District website. I have posted the flyer for the class I will be assisting Mrs. Will, our Social Worker, with this summer. ALL students are welcome to join us to initiate, develop and maintain friendship and conversation skills.

Thank you in advance to the PTO for what I know will be a much enjoyed week for all of our teachers. Enjoy the beginning of May - hopefully the nice weather will be here to stay!