http://www.makingconnectionsjcmo.com/

Making Connections LLC, 525 East McCarty Street, Suite 5, Jefferson City, MO (2026)

06/05/2026

🍼 Is Your Baby Struggling with Feeding? Oral Function Matters. 👶

Feeding should be comfortable for both baby and parent, but sometimes challenges such as:

▪️ Difficulty latching
▪️ Clicking while nursing or bottle feeding
▪️ Milk leaking from the mouth
▪️ Frequent gas or reflux symptoms
▪️ Poor weight gain
▪️ Long or exhausting feeding sessions
▪️ Preference for turning the head one direction

may be signs that your baby's oral function needs a closer look.

As pediatric feeding specialists, we assess how the tongue, lips, jaw, palate, and body work together during feeding. Sometimes tension in the body can impact a baby's ability to latch, suck, swallow, and breathe efficiently.

✨ Craniosacral Therapy (CST) is a gentle, hands-on approach that may help release tension and improve comfort and mobility throughout the body. When used as part of a collaborative care team, CST can support feeding outcomes by helping babies move and function more efficiently.

Every baby is unique, and feeding challenges are rarely caused by just one factor. A comprehensive evaluation can help identify the underlying pieces of the puzzle and create a plan that supports successful feeding.

💙 Early support can make a big difference for both babies and families.

05/25/2026

This Memorial Day, we remember the heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
Their courage will never be forgotten. ❤️🤍💙

Wishing everyone a safe and meaningful holiday as we honor those who served and sacrificed.

05/18/2026

Happy National Speech-Language Pathologist Day to the professionals who help others find their voice, build confidence, and connect with the world around them. 💙

SLPs support communication, feeding, swallowing, literacy, social connection, and so much more — from first words to lifelong advocacy. Every sound shaped, every safe swallow, every communication breakthrough matters.

Today we celebrate the patience, creativity, knowledge, and heart that speech-language pathologists bring to the families and individuals they serve every single day. 🗣️✨

05/11/2026

📚✨Early Literacy & Phonological Awareness Mini Bootcamp✨
We’re excited to introduce our Early Literacy & Phonological Awareness Mini Bootcamp, led by Lauren, a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist specializing in early reading development for preschool and early elementary children.
This bootcamp is designed to strengthen the foundational skills needed for reading success—helping children learn to hear, identify, and work with sounds in words while building language and pre-reading skills that make reading and spelling easier.
💡 What to expect:
• Engaging, play-based, and developmentally appropriate sessions
• Personalized support tailored to your child’s needs
• Collaboration with families and educators to support strong outcomes
🗓️ Session Details:
• 30-minute sessions
• Held twice weekly (Mondays & Thursdays)
• Starting in June
• Additional July session may open based on interest
Give your child the tools they need to become a confident, successful reader! 📖💬
📩 Message us to learn more or reserve your spot!

05/10/2026

🌷 Mother’s Day Reminder 🌷

To the moms who noticed something “just wasn’t right”…
Who asked more questions.
Who pushed for answers.
Who trusted their gut even when others said, “they’ll grow out of it.”
Your instinct matters. 💛
Advocating for your child is one of the most powerful things you can do. Whether it’s speech, feeding, learning, sensory needs, behavior, health, or emotional support — your voice helps your child be seen, heard, and understood.

This Mother’s Day, we celebrate the mothers who:
✨ Trust their intuition
✨ Show up tirelessly for their children
✨ Keep searching for support and answers
✨ Become their child’s biggest champion
You know your child better than anyone else. Never underestimate the value of a mother’s instinct.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the incredible moms advocating with love every single day. 🌸

04/23/2026

Summer doesn’t have to mean lost progress ☀️

Did you know your child can continue working on their speech, language, and reading goals over the summer—without needing a new evaluation?

If your child already has an active IEP, services can often continue based on their current goals. This helps:
✔️ Prevent regression
✔️ Maintain momentum
✔️ Build confidence heading into the new school year

Long breaks can lead to skill loss, especially in areas like articulation, language development, and literacy. Consistent support—even just a few sessions a month—can make a big difference.

Summer is also a great time for:
🌿 More individualized attention
📚 Functional, play-based learning
🧠 Strengthening foundational skills without school-day fatigue

If you’re interested in summer support, reach out to us at 573-206-9050 to learn how to continue services using your child’s current IEP.

Let’s keep the progress going 💬

04/16/2026

What is phonological awareness… and why does it matter so much for learning to read? 📚🧠

Phonological awareness is a child’s ability to hear, recognize, and play with sounds in words—like rhyming, identifying beginning sounds, and breaking words into parts.

👉 It’s one of the strongest predictors of future reading success.

Before children can read or spell, they need to understand that:
🔤 Words are made up of sounds
🔍 Sounds can be broken apart and blended together
✏️ Letters represent those sounds

When these skills are weak, reading can feel frustrating and confusing. But when they’re strong, reading becomes easier, faster, and more enjoyable.

That’s why we created our Early Literacy & Phonological Awareness Mini Bootcamp 💡

Led by Lauren Burkhardt, SLP, this program gives children the structured, repeated practice they need to build these critical pre-reading skills in a fun, supportive way.

🗓️ 60-minute sessions, twice weekly
📍 Mondays & Thursdays starting in June
👥 Individual or small group options available

Early support can make a lasting difference in your child’s confidence and success with reading 💛

📩 Message us to learn more or reserve your spot!

04/11/2026

🌬️ World Breathing Day 🌬️

Breathing is something we do automatically—but how we breathe matters more than most people realize.

On this World Breathing Day, I’m raising awareness about the impact of proper breathing on sleep, focus, oral development, and overall health—for both children and adults.

I’m trained in the Buteyko Breathing Method, an evidence-based approach that helps retrain dysfunctional breathing patterns such as:
✨ Mouth breathing
✨ Overbreathing
✨ Poor breath control
✨ Sleep-disordered breathing patterns

Through individualized therapy, I support both children and adults in developing healthier, more efficient breathing patterns that can positively impact:
✔️ Sleep quality
✔️ Attention and regulation
✔️ Orofacial development
✔️ Feeding and swallowing
✔️ Overall wellness

If you or your child struggle with mouth breathing, snoring, restless sleep, or related concerns, breathing retraining may be an important missing piece.

📩 Reach out to learn more about how breathing therapy can help!

SpeechTherapy PediatricSLP AdultTherapy Holistic

04/09/2026

✨ A Lingual Frenectomy is NOT the Whole Journey ✨

If your baby has a tongue tie, you may have heard that a lingual frenectomy can help with feeding—and it can! But what many families don’t realize is that the procedure is just one step in the process, not the complete solution.

🍼 Before the procedure:
Therapy helps prepare your baby’s oral muscles and improves coordination for feeding.

🍼 After the procedure:
Your baby’s tongue has a new range of motion—but they still need to learn how to use it for effective latching, sucking, and swallowing.

Without this support, babies may continue to struggle with feeding even after release.

💛 That’s where we come in.
We provide a whole-body, functional approach by combining:
✔️ Feeding Therapy
✔️ Craniosacral Therapy (CST)

This integrated support helps your baby:
✨ Improve latch
✨ Develop stronger, more coordinated sucking patterns
✨ Feed more comfortably and efficiently

Because true success isn’t just the release—it’s helping your baby learn to use their tongue effectively.

📩 Reach out if you’re considering a frenectomy or need support before or after the procedure—we’re here to help every step of the way. 573-206-9050.

04/02/2026

📚✨Early Literacy & Phonological Awareness Mini Bootcamp✨

We’re excited to introduce our Early Literacy & Phonological Awareness Mini Bootcamp, led by Lauren, a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist specializing in early reading development for preschool and early elementary children.

This bootcamp is designed to strengthen the foundational skills needed for reading success—helping children learn to hear, identify, and work with sounds in words while building language and pre-reading skills that make reading and spelling easier.

💡 What to expect:
• Engaging, play-based, and developmentally appropriate sessions
• Personalized support tailored to your child’s needs
• Collaboration with families and educators to support strong outcomes

🗓️ Session Details:
• 30-minute sessions
• Held twice weekly (Mondays & Thursdays)
• Starting in June
• Additional July session may open based on interest

Give your child the tools they need to become a confident, successful reader! 📖💬

📩 Message us to learn more or reserve your spot!

Making Connections LLC

06/05/2026

05/25/2026

05/18/2026

05/11/2026

05/10/2026

04/23/2026

04/16/2026

04/11/2026

04/09/2026

04/02/2026

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Practice

Shortcuts

Share

Category