Charlotte Speech and Hearing Center

From the time they are born, children learn language and other important skills that lead the way to reading on their own.  Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and Charlotte Speech and Hearing Center have joined together to present Reading to Read, a collection of story times that focus on pre-literacy skills including phonological awareness and vocabulary development.  Join us in this special story time series to learn about the speech and language development of young children, discover ways to read to children at each age to increase their early reading success, and take away techniques that will encourage a lifetime love of reading for your child.  The series will be held every Tues in February, March, and April at rotating library branches.  We look forward to reading with you!

One more February Storytime will be held at West Boulevard Library on Tuesday, 2/28 @10:30. See you there!

For people who stutter, their difficulty with speech usually begins between the ages of 2 to 4 years of age.  However, this time of a child’s speech development is also characterized by what is called “normal disfluencies”.  While a child is growing, their speech may be characterized by some stuttering behaviors that do not actually indicate the child is a person who will continue to stutter.

Here are some differences to note between normal disfluencies and warning signs of true stuttering:

If you are truly concerned about your child’s speech, your best option is to have a speech-language evaluation. At Charlotte Speech and Hearing Center, we routinely evaluate and treat children of all ages for stuttering. Our next blog will look at adjustments that can be made at home and at school to help a child that is struggling with stuttering.

For more ideas to help a child who stutters check out: http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster/kids/kids.html

Also check out the excellent podcast with people who stutter at: www.stuttertalk.com

Written by Gretchen McGinty, M.A., CF-SLP

1) “Stuttering is a communication disorder in which the flow of speech is broken by repetitions (li-li-like this), prolongations (lllllike this), or abnormal stoppages (no sound) of sounds and syllables.” http://www.stutteringhelp.org/Default.aspx?tabid=17

2) “Fluency” is a word that describes the smoothness of speech. Repetitions, prolongations, and blocks are referred to as “disfluencies” and stuttering is referred to as a “fluency disorder”.

 3) No person is 100% fluent all of the time! We all have disfluencies in our everyday speech.

 4) Stuttering typically begins between ages 2-4 but can begin later. It is common for children this age to exhibit frequent disfluencies as they are developing their speech.
More in the next blog about how to tell the difference. 

5) Stuttering affects roughly 1% of the world population. That is about 3 million people is the US alone.

6) As tempting as it may be to tell a child who stutters to “Slow down!” resist the urge.       
    Ditto for finishing the child’s sentence for him/her.

 7) To help a child who stutters:

• Listen to what the child says, not how they say it.
• Be patient and give the child time to express himself.
• Remain calm during child’s stuttering.                                 
• Reduce distractions: turn off TV, don’t let child’s siblings/peers interrupt, give child your full attention

A person who stutters does not have less than normal intelligence. Some famous
people who stuttered include: Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Stephen Hawking. Current Vice-President Joe Biden reports having had a severe stutter as a child!

9) There is no such thing as a “cure” for stuttering but speech therapy is one method of effective treatment for people who stutter.

10) Different treatment approaches are used in speech therapy depending on the age of the client. The next blog will focus on helping pre-school age kids who struggle with stuttering.

Written by Gretchen McGinty, M.A., CF-SLP

For more information:

The Stuttering Foundation: http://www.stutteringhelp.org
The Stuttering Home page: http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster/stutter.html

Charlotte Speech and Hearing Center has eight highly qualified speech-language pathologists who are able to provide individualized and family centered therapy services to individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome.

Our Center has many great resources to offer families!  There are also many community organizations that offer support:

1. Autism Society of North Carolina:  Nancy Popkin and Kim Tizzard are parent advocates who are employed by ASNC and provide free services to parents.  The two offer workshops, parenting classes, and mentoring.  For more information call (704) 894-9678.
2. Carlton Watkins Center:  Children under the age of three are partnered with the Carlton Watkins Center and the Infant Toddler Program.  For more information call (704) 336-7536.
3. TEACCH of Charlotte:  TEACCH provides families with full developmental evaluations, but also offers many resources including literature and training so that parents can educate other family members about their child’s condition.

Please feel free to contact our Center at (704) 523-8027 or visit our website at www.charlottespeechhearing.com for more information on Asperger’s Syndrome.

Written by: Rhian Vanderburg, M.S., CCC-SLP

      At this time there is no specific treatment or cure for Asperger’s.  All interventions strive to improve your child’s abilities to interact with other people and thus to function effectively in society and be self-efficient.

The following is a list of possible interventions and strategies:

•   Parent education and training programs
• Specialized educational interventions for the child (Start by contacting your local school system.  Federal law requires public schools to provide appropriate educational services for people ages 3-21 who have disabilities; including Asperger’s).
•  Small work groups
• Specialist with an interest in social skills training (Speech-Language Pathologist)
•  Language therapy (Speech-Language Pathologist)
• Sensory integration therapy for younger children (Occupational Therapist)
• Psychotherapy or behavioral/cognitive therapy for older children
• Medication

www.kidshealth.org/parent/medical/brain/asperger.html

Written by: Rhian Vanderburg, M.S., CCC-SLP, Speech-Language Pathologist

            In 1989, Christopher Gilberg became an instrumental member in the first publication of diagnostic criteria for individuals with Asperger’s.  According to Gilberg, individuals with Asperger’s must meet the following criteria:

1. Severe impairment in reciprocal social interaction (at least two met)
   1. Inability to interact with peers
   2. Lack of desire to interact with peers
   3. Lack of appreciation of social cues
   4. Socially and emotionally inappropriate behavior
   5. All-absorbing narrow interest (at least one met)
      1. Exclusion of other activities
      2. Repetitive adherence
      3. More rote than meaning
      4. Imposition of routines an interests (at least one met)
         1. On self, in aspects of life
         2. On others
         3. Speech and Language Problems (at least three met)
            1. Delayed development
            2. Superficially prefect expressive language
            3. Formal, pedantic language
            4. Odd prosody, peculiar voice characteristics
            5. Impairment of comprehension including misinterpretations of literal/implied meanings
            6. Non-verbal communication problems (at least one met)
               1. Limited use of gestures
               2. Clumsy/gauge body language
               3. Limited facial expressions
               4. Inappropriate expressions
               5. Peculiar stiff gaze
               6. Motor clumsiness: poor performance on neurodevelopment examination

(All six must be met for confirmation of diagnosis)

 Criteria taken directly from www.aspergers.com

Written by: Rhian Vanderburg, M.S., CCC-SLP

 What is Asperger’s?

            Asperger’s Syndrome is a milder variant of autism disorder and was originally described in 1944.  Recently, it has been classified as an Autistic Spectrum Disorder.  Individuals with Asperger’s often have intellectual capacities within normal range, but have a distinct set of abilities that are apparent since childhood.

Key Characteristics:

1. Difficulty with social interaction:  Individuals with Asperger’s often have trouble developing friendships that are appropriate to their developmental level, have problems with non-verbal behaviors such as eye-gaze, facial expressions and body language, have a lack of social and emotional reciprocity and empathy, and often can’t identify social cues.
2. Subtle communication skills:  Individuals with Asperger’s often have fluent speech but may have difficulty with conversational skills.  These individuals also tend to make literal interpretations about everything.
3. Restricted Interests:  Individuals with Asperger’s often develop special interests that involve an unusual intensity and focus.
4. Individuals with Asperger’s may also experience motor clumsiness and hypersensitivity to auditory and tactile experiences.

Prevalence/Incidence:

• The prevalence of Asperger’s has yet to be determined, but current research suggests that it may be as common as 1 in 250.
• Symptoms of Asperger’s are usually apparent within the first 36 months of life, however, in the case of very high functioning individuals, symptoms may not appear until later in life.
•   In a recent study of children 7-16, researchers found that about 55/10,000 boys and 15/10,000 girls were diagnosed making the male/female ration 4:1.

www.aspergersyndrome.org

Written by: Rhian Vanderburg, M.S., CCC-SLP, Speech-Language Pathologist

This is our final look at Childhood Apraxia of Speech and what you should know if you suspect that your child has difficulty producing clear speech in order to communicate with you.

As a parent, you want to be able to meet your child’s wants and needs while helping them become confident and effective communicators. That’s where Charlotte Speech and Hearing Center can help. Our ten licensed speech and language pathologists can direct you through the evaluation process and recommend a therapy schedule and frequency that is specific to your child. Your SLP can also help you learn how to best help your child at home. They may:

• Teach you simple signs to help your child communicate their wants and needs
• Help you understand how to motivate your child to communicate
• Teach you types of cues that can help your child produce tricky sounds
• Provide you with practice activities that you can use at home
• Help you further understand the nature of Childhood Apraxia of Speech and how it affects your child

You can contact Charlotte Speech and Hearing Center at 704.523.8027 to set up an appointment to have an evaluation completed. We can’t wait to meet you and your little one!

Before we all leave for the Thanksgiving holiday to enjoy family, friends and of course – TURKEY, we wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

The holidays are a great time to reflect on what we are thankful for, especially in a time when so many people are in need. At CSHC, we are thankful for our staff, clients and our mission that helps so many in our community.

We are also thankful for our clients who can now hear the joyful sounds of the holidays and delight in conversation with family and friends.

Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving holiday from CSHC!

Over the past few weeks, we have been discussing Childhood Apraxia of Speech and what you should know if you think your child may have CAS. The first step is to visit a speech and language pathologist and have a full speech and language evaluation completed. Setting up an appointment will help you to better understand the nature of your child’s communication difficulties and will provide you with tips on how to help your little one at home!

You may wonder what you can do in the meantime. Many children experience frustration once they understand many words and would like to communicate those words to you but are unable to execute the mouth movements to make those words come. If you have a very difficult time understanding your child and this is causing a great amount of frustration for him, you may consider the use of signs. Allowing your child to feel motivated and encouraged to communicate is very important to their development! Try modeling signs such as “more” or “help” while saying the word. You may need to also help them make the signs with their hands by physically placing their hands in the correct place. Check out this great sign dictionary to learn some new signs that your child can learn and use to communicate with you!

Baby Sign Dictionary

http://www.babysignlanguage.com/dictionary/

 Don’t worry…using signs won’t prevent your child from talking! Instead, pairing signs with words helps them to learn that communication works and that you can understand them! This will motivate them to continue communicating with you! Once they become more comfortable using words to communicate, they will begin relying on words rather than the sign. Your speech therapist can also help you learn some new signs and how they can be used functionally at home!

Written by: Emily S. Neal, M.S., CCC-SLP, Speech-Language Pathologist