Wise Owl Speech

05/31/2026

Communication connects us. It helps us build relationships, advocate for ourselves, and participate fully in our communities, schools and careers. Warren Buffett once shared that improving your communication skills is one of the highest‑return investments you can make in your life.

In our practice, we believe that everyone deserves the chance to communicate confidently—no matter their age, background, or challenges. Every step forward matters. Let’s keep building a world where every voice is heard. Speech-language pathologists can help.

If you’d like to read Buffett’s thoughts on the importance of communication, here’s the article:
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The Oracle of Omaha says communication is the most under-taught skill in school. In the AI era, executives from Jeff Bezos to Jamie Dimon say it's the one that pays.

05/18/2026

Today is Speech-Language Pathologist Appreciation Day! WiseOwlSpeech is grateful to have a team of fabulous, top notch SLP's! Thank you for all you do for our clients!
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02/03/2026

Is Screen Time Stealing Your Child’s Words?
Screens, screens, screens…they are everywhere! Screens dominate our world — everywhere we turn, there’s another glowing display. Whether it’s phones, tablets, video games, computers or television, our world is digitally saturated. Unfortunately, these screens have a huge, negative impact on our children’s development. It has been known for many years that screen time is detrimental to children’s speech and language development as well as to their social skills. Children need personal, contingent interaction from the real people in their lives in order to develop communication and social skills, and screens just cannot provide this. Recent research out of Sweden examined the vocabulary and grammar of five-year-old children in relation to their screen time. Check out their findings here: https://wiseowlspeech.com/articles/is-screen-time-stealing-your-childs-words.html
If you are concerned about your child's vocabulary or grammar, you may want to book an assessment with a speech-language pathologist.
Image by Frimu Films on Freepik

10/13/2024

In the spirit of Canadian Thanksgiving, I have decided to re-post this blog on misunderstanding, or in other words, language comprehension, a critical component of communication! Happy Canadian Thanksgving, my Canadian friends!

Turkey Misunderstandings and other Musings about Language Comprehension
Language comprehension development is critical for children...

October 11, 2019

Happy Thanksgiving from Wise Owl Speech! I love this cute meme which seems appropriate given that it is about comprehension, and it is Thanksgiving in Canada and soon will be in the United States. As a speech-language pathologist, I can see that there are a couple of things going on here, but mainly that there are different meanings for the phrase “having turkey for dinner!” English is fun like that! So many words and phrases can have different meanings, which is one of the reasons English is so hard to learn.

Language comprehension is a critical component of successful communication and it involves many different aspects all working together, such as hearing, listening, attention, memory, language processing, vocabulary, sentence structure, and context. So complicated! No wonder many children prone to learning difficulties have language comprehension challenges. Language comprehension is an area I frequently target with my preschool clients. Building comprehension is extremely beneficial for so many other skills, and for children to learn successfully in school.

Since comprehension of oral language is the foundation for all other aspects of successful communication, such as oral language expression, reading and writing, what should parents look for in their young children? When does comprehension start to develop?

I’m sure that it is no surprise that language comprehension begins to develop at birth. The early stages involve such behaviors as responding to voices and sound at 1 month of age and responding differently to angry voices versus pleasant voices by age 3 to 5 months. But then, language comprehension seems to explode, as young babies of 8 months are able to understand “no” and their own names, and “bye-bye” by age 9 months. By 11- 12 months of age, most children are able to follow simple instructions, such as “get your shoes” or “give that to me”. By age 3 to 4 years, children understand up to 1500 words and complex sentences, and by age 5 to 6 years, 2500-2800 words and very complicated sentences. Once school-aged, a child starts to learn and be able to talk about language itself, such as the fact that words can have different meanings, depending on the context, even though they sound the same and have the same spelling.

If you have concerns about your child’s comprehension, please get your child’s hearing checked and have him or her seen for a complete speech and language assessment by a qualified speech-language pathologist. Early intervention is critical for helping your child catch up to peers. For more information on language development and the development of comprehension, please check out Speech-Language and Audiology Canada (SAC) and the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA).

Thanks for reading and enjoy Thanksgiving!

05/18/2024

It's May 18th! Happy Speech-Language Pathologist Appreciation Day! WiseOwlSpeech SLP's work hard to plan unique therapy programs specifically for their clients and do all that they can to make the sessions fun and interesting! Our SLP's are dedicated and care deeply about their clients! Let's give a shout to SLP's on their special day!

05/14/2024

May 14th is “Childhood Apraxia of Speech Awareness Day”! Here is some information about Childhood Apraxia! If your child is not reaching milestones for speech and language development, please seek some help and advice from a Speech-Language Pathologist.

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a neurological speech disorder that affects a child's ability to speak clearly. If your infant doesn't babble and begin talking later than their peers, they could be of the 1-2 out of every thousand children affected by CAS. Children with CAS also have an increased risk for difficulties in literacy. Speech-language pathologists are specially trained to assess, identify, and provide specialized, intensive speech therapy to treat children with communication disorders including CAS.

Learn more about CAS and how S-LPs can help: https://www.sac-oac.ca/for-the-public/

05/03/2024

May is Speech and Hearing Month! In Canada, this year’s theme is “Communication is…..”. To me, communication is the essence of being human, and everyone should have the means to communicate in the best possible way. On a more personal note, it means expressing oneself, sharing ideas and feelings, and understanding others’ points of view. What about you? Complete the sentence in the comments below, Communication is……….

05/01/2024

Look whoooo visited Japan! Hoot hoot hooray! Wishing you all a great communication day as we launch another May is Speech and Hearing Month!!

02/23/2024

Using videos and television to entertain young children has increased since the pandemic. Studies show that toddlers tend to watch television for a couple of hours per day. Unfortunately, this is correlated with reduced language skills. Check it out!

Television has been wryly referred to as the “electronic babysitter,” but a new study argues TV or other media could stunt a child’s language development.