TherapyWorks’ team of pediatric speech, occupational, physical therapists and social workers provide information and tips on a variety of topics related to your child’s growth and development. If you have concerns or questions about your child please reach out to schedule a free phone consultation or complete our get started form.
How Masks Impact Communication Wearing a mask has become part of our daily life and that will continue throughout the current pandemic. We must wear masks to stop the spread of COVID-19 and to protect the people around us. As a speech therapist and mother of two, it’s important to understand how wearing a mask can impact speech and hearing.
Transitioning back to school after the summer break can be challenging for many children, but this year it could prove to be even more difficult given the current pandemic. The good news is that we can help ease the transition by implementing some simple strategies at home over the next few weeks! Read books. There are so many great books
As we learn about fall plans for our school districts, it is becoming evident that many of our children will be e-learning for at least some portion of their school week. In the spring, we did the best we could on short notice; many of us juggling working from home with the needs of our kids. This time around, we’ll
Summer learning loss, i.e. the loss of academic skills and knowledge during summer break, has been a hot topic for many years. While the recent literature on summer learning loss is mixed, according to a recent NY Times article most students have experienced setbacks due to the shift to remote this spring as schools closed due to COVID-19. Academic gains
Science experiments have always been a huge hit in our house! Science experiments spark curiosity which helps keep children engaged. If children are engaged and interested, we can capture their attention for longer stretches. Science experiments are also super fun! Another reason why I love science experiments is because they provide countless opportunities to boost a child’s language development. For
One bright spot during the COVID-19 pandemic has been our nightly family dinners (although my kids may not agree!). As my children have grown older, we have become accustomed to our evenings being spent in the car running them from one activity to the next. Several times, I have wondered, “What is all this for?” Our family time during the
Speech and Language Milestones As parents we hear the term “developmental milestones” frequently. What does it mean if your child is not meeting their “developmental milestones?” It can make a new parent quite anxious when a friend’s baby is doing something before your own baby. Searching the web, scanning social media, or reading emails can lead to a lot of
One, two, THREE! As part of our speech and language milestone series, we’d love to highlight a few ways to support your three-year-old’s speech and language development. 1. Intelligibility (i.e. how much speech you can understand) A 3-year-old should be approximately 75% intelligible to an unfamiliar listener. This means that you can understand about 75% of what your child says. This
As we move into our new reality, and focus on ways to stay safe outside of our homes, it’s important that we work on making masks fun for kids! It is likely that if our children do resume any sort of normal activities, masks will be required. Here are some ways to get your children on board with wearing a
Schedule My Child’s Teletherapy Session What is Teletherapy? Teletherapy refers to therapy that is provided by a licensed and certified therapist via a secure video connection. Modern-day technology can now connect pediatric speech, occupational and physical therapists with children no matter the distance or situation. Telespeech – teletherapy – telehealth – telepractice – telerehabilitation…as with many labels, it’s interchangeable
We hope you and your family are continuing to stay safe and healthy! We have outlined our protocols for in-person sessions during COVID-19. As you know, the health and safety of our clients and therapists remain our highest priority. As always, please reach out with any questions or concerns. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding as we work together through these unprecedented times.
Hand Washing:
Upon arrival at your home, your therapist will wash their hands with soap and water and/or use hand sanitizer. We ask that you and your child also wash your hands and/or use hand sanitizer upon your therapist’s arrival.
Facemasks:
We are asking our therapists to wear masks upon entering your home and throughout your child’s session. That said, we understand that some children have adverse reactions to seeing adults in masks and will leave it up to you and your therapist to decide your comfort level while still taking safety precautions.
We ask that parents and caregivers also follow the guidelines and wear masks when sitting in on sessions. We will not enforce that policy, but we do kindly ask for compliance.
As for your child, we realize that masks may not be appropriate for every child so we will not enforce the rule that children over the age of 2 should wear a mask. However, if your therapist insists that your child wear a mask, then that will be a requirement directly between the two of you. We respect our therapists’ individual comfort levels with safety precautions and ask that you respect them as well.
Protocol Acknowledgment and Health Certification:
Before your child’s first in-person session, we are asking clients to submit an acknowledgment of these protocols and a health certification, which you can find here. Thank you again for your cooperation and for helping all of us stay healthy!
