 Last night, on my Blog Talk Radio show, I reviewed Kimberly Scanlon's {M.A, ccc-slp} book My Toddler Talks.
There are so many things I love about this book that I KNOW you will love too. If I had to describe it in one phrase it would be "unintimidating and user-friendly" What makes this book different? Several things but the item that most stood out to me was that Kimberly gives you tips on what to do IF the suggestions she gives aren't working. She actually gives you Troubleshooting Tips, using a wonderfully easy to remember Acronym R-A-I-S-E-S {you'll have to purchase the book to find out what it stands for!}. Kimberly keeps the easy to remember Acronyms going with two other sections entitled The Do Not List and Some More Tips: The Five Rs. For people like me who have a lot of information in their brains, these Acronyms are a lifesaver. It's also really great for those of us working in Early Intervention as we can easily give parents this information and they, too, can easily remember and implement it. Some of the other useful features in Kimberly's book are: a section on Toddler Activities that includes toys you likely already have, play routine scripts/sample routines, an Appendices FULL of useful charts, pocket guides and routine-ending song suggestions. Kimberly also has paired her Toddler Vocabulary chart with an app in iTunes, My Toddler Talks Word Tracker. Whether an SLP, parent, early childhood educator or just someone who wants to learn more about Toddler Activities and development you won't be sorry with the purchase of Kimberly's book. As always, thanks for reading. Until next time...keep helping your kiddos BLOOM. Jen
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Back in the fall I was contacted by author Charlie Plunkett asking if I would be interested in writing a small piece for her parenting book set for publication around Christmas. Charlie was introduced to me via another friend, Vivien Sabel, author of The Blossom Method. I contributed to Viv's book by writing the Foreward and I was honored to be asked by Charlie to contribute to her book as well. How hard could this be? Write a 100 word {exactly} parenting anecdote of my choosing. Charlie suggested that I do it on teens since I had just written a blog post about my son {who is 17}. OK. Sure, no problem. I love to write {and talk} so I sat down to begin by 100 word entry. 
Used with permission from Creative Commons.
Hmm. This wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. How do I develop an idea, stay on topic and keep it within 100 words?
Truth be told, after my initial attempt, I tabled it for a few days. Life quickly took over with it's unexpected twists and turns and so I didn't get back to it as soon as I would have liked. Turns out that this was a blessing in disguise because when I sat down the second time the words just flowed. I'm pleased with what I contributed because it not only meets the requirements for Charlie's book but it speaks of my communication roots {it also challenged me which I am thankful for}. Often times, parenting isn't about the words we say but what we do. How we are present in our parenting. I hope you enjoy not only what I have written in Charlie's book '100 Little Words on Parenting' but also what the other contributors have written. It is full of wonderful perspectives from a wide range of individuals. You will laugh, cry, nod your head in agreement and enjoy each and every moment. I am honored to have been a part of this little gem. Thank you Charlie Plunkett! As always, thanks for reading. Until next time...keep helping your children BLOOM. Jen Do you have holiday traditions? My family does and though I knew they were important to my kids I didn't realize just how much. On more than one occasion this year, my children have expressed how glad they are for our holiday and family traditions. I think this stems from their teen-aged minds feeling that confliction we all remember feeling: wanting to grow up but secretly feeling sadness that childhood is being left behind. Family and holiday traditions, no matter how simple, tell your family story. They are a way to communicate love, connection, stability, history, importance, safety {as my son so eloquently stated}, happiness {from my daughter} and so much more. It's been lovely and deeply satisfying to hear "I'm so thankful for our traditions" or " I love that we do ____________ every year." One of our favorite traditions, is a simple one. We pile into our car, tune in to a Christmas music station, sometimes grab some hot chocolate and head to my {and my husband's} home town to see the amazing Christmas light display. Through the years, we have watched them add new things to the display and this has become part of our fun...who can be the first to spy a new addition or something that's missing. We all know the favorites of one another and we recall, from trips past, funny anecdotes which leads to communicating our memories. "Remember that year when ___________?" Bliss. Here is one of my favorite light displays. I have always loved this stage coach {sorry about the blur, it moves and we were moving as it wasn't easy to stop for a picture this year}.  How about you? Care to share some of your favorite holiday traditions? What do they communicate to you? To your kids? {don't be afraid to ask them-no matter their age-you might be surprised to learn what they mean to them}
As always, thanks for reading. Until next time, keep helping your children BLOOM! Jen Turns out, a lot... Look, as a pediatric SLP and mom to two kids I've dealt with a lot of phlegm in my life. Today though, it was a happy encounter. Remember, in the Friends episode when Phoebe Buffay gets her sexy phlegm?" Well I kind of feel like her today, only for one of my clients who achieved something great because of her very own sexy phlegm. Let me explain. Today, during my session with one of my young clients who has a Traumatic Brain Injury, I heard her clear her throat. You're saying big deal, right? Well, it IS a big deal. I've been waiting for this vocal cord movement for 8 months! I quickly asked her to clear her throat again. She, as she often does, says "I can't." I say, TRY {please}. She does and VIOLA'! Five times right in a row she clears her throat on command. She lost it on the sixth but, nerves/brain are finicky after injury so we went on to something else but I was waiting.... Patiently.... For the phlegm to collect again {gross, I know}... About 15 minutes later, I hear it again. I slyly say "clear your throat again, please"...1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 times this time and then nothing. We go on to our sound work, memory work, playing our game of Sequence but I'm waiting patiently and I'm not disappointed as she does it AGAIN and this time she is able to do it 8 times in a row so I model a /k/ sound and she gets the faintest little /kuh/ out. Something she hasn't been able to do since her accident. BAZINGA!! There are many reasons that we had this HUGE step forward today {one of which is that her body continues to heal} but, in my outside of the box thinking mind, I KNOW we have that phlegm to thank. Not only did it give her an opportunity to make a motor movement that was deeply ingrained within her automatic responses {a technique in therapy that is often used after brain injury} but the phlegm, I believe, also gave her more sensory information at the level of her vocal cords and so she could feel the movement and vibration I needed/wanted her to make. It gets even better though...because our conversation about Pheobe Buffay and her sexy phlegm led to us singing this: Yep, we sang it. Several times in fact and we laughed until we cried.
For once, I'm happy about one of my clients having phlegm. Thanks for reading and until next time, Keep helping your children BLOOM! Jen |
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