Speechie Auntie

10/12/2026

Can we talk about how much I LOVE 4-year-olds?!

Four-year-olds are honestly my FAVORITE kind of entertainment.

They have the confidence of a CEO, the negotiating skills of an attorney, and absolutely ZERO filter.

They will tell you your hair looks weird, ask why your belly is so big, refuse to participate in an activity YOU spent 30 minutes preparing, and then invite you to their imaginary birthday party.

They have BIG feelings, BIG opinions, and even BIGGER personalities.

And the conversations?! One minute we're talking about dinosaurs, the next minute I'm being informed that their daddy farts in his sleep.

And sometimes I just look at them and think, HOW have you only been on this Earth for FOUR years?! Like, excuse me?! You've been alive for approximately 1,460 days, and somehow you already have opinions about EVERYTHING, a whole personality, and the audacity to tell ME how things work?!

As a pediatric speech-language pathologist, I absolutely LOVE this age. Their language is exploding, their imaginations are running wild, and they keep me laughing every single day.

Four-year-olds are tiny, unfiltered comedians who think they run the world. And honestly? I'm just happy to be invited into their world.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go take orders from someone who still needs help putting their shoes on.

10/05/2026

I hadn’t seen one of my little Speechie Auntie friends all last week, so of course I said:

“I missed you! What have you been up to?”

Without missing a beat:

“Kindergarten.”

Well… that answers that.

10/05/2026

They say you’re not supposed to have favorites… but I might have a favorite way to spend my mornings.

Give me a little one, a baby doll, some pretend-play goodies, and a whole lot of early communication, and I am one happy Speechie Auntie.

I LOVE working with the littlest communicators. At 18 months old, therapy doesn’t need to look like “therapy.” It looks like playing with baby dolls, feeding, pretending, taking turns, making silly sounds, pointing, gesturing, imitating, and building language through everyday play.

No, it’s not “too early.”

Throughout my career as a pediatric speech-language pathologist, I’ve evaluated children as young as 10 months old. When parents feel like something isn’t quite developing as expected, I’m a big believer in looking at it early rather than automatically waiting to see what happens.

Sometimes reassurance is exactly what a family needs. Sometimes a child really does need a little extra support.

Either way, you don’t have to wait for your toddler to get older to ask questions about their communication.

Early support. Playful learning. Lots and lots of connection.

Just another morning with Speechie Auntie.

10/02/2026

One thing that is important to me as a speech-language pathologist is that when I complete an evaluation, I am evaluating the child’s communication skills as a whole.

My role is to determine whether a speech and/or language disorder is present, understand the child’s individual communication profile, identify areas of strength and need, and determine whether skilled speech-language intervention is warranted.

I’m not evaluating whether a child qualifies under a particular school eligibility category, and I’m not approaching the evaluation solely through the lens of a medical diagnosis. I’m looking at the child in front of me, their receptive language, expressive language, speech, social communication, play, functional communication, and how those skills come together in everyday life.

At the end of the day, my question is simple: Is a speech or language disorder present, and if so, what does this individual child need to communicate more successfully?

That’s the lens I bring to every evaluation.

09/25/2026

Well… sometimes you prepare for 50 and you get 1.

Last night, I hosted my early language development workshop at the Cedar Park Public Library. We had a room with seating for about 50 people, plenty of handouts, bubbles, activities…and one dad showed up.

You know what? He got one very personalized presentation! We were able to talk, ask questions, and really tailor the conversation to what would be helpful for his family.

Of course, the librarian was there too (she gets paid to be there ), and Speechie Uncle was there supporting me as always.

Was it the turnout I imagined when I prepared everything? Nope. However, if one parent walked away with information that helps them better support their child’s communication, I’ll still call that time well spent.

Sometimes community outreach looks like a packed room. Sometimes it looks like one dad, one SLP, one librarian, and Speechie Uncle.

Thank you, Cedar Park Library, for giving Speechie Auntie the opportunity to share a little speech and language knowledge with our community!

09/24/2026

A little about how I make speech therapy recommendations:

When I recommend a frequency for therapy, it’s based on the individual child, their communication skills, level of need, functional impact, and the amount of support I believe is clinically appropriate.

If I recommend therapy 2x/week, there is a clinical reason behind that recommendation. I don’t reduce the frequency simply to fit a child into a different service schedule.

I also consider services a child receives at school. However, school-based speech and private speech are different service models, and receiving speech therapy at school does not automatically change my recommendation for private therapy.

Families always decide which services they want to pursue. My responsibility is to be transparent about what I clinically recommend and why.

Individualized therapy means individualized recommendations.

09/22/2026

A few days ago, I shared some thoughts about something I feel strongly about:

Child-led therapy doesn’t mean children never have to do hard things.

That post turned into a much bigger conversation in my head because there is so much nuance here.

How do we honor a child’s communication while still helping them build flexibility? When should we follow their lead? When should we modify the demand? When might a child actually be capable of working through something difficult with the right support?

There isn’t one answer for every child.

So, I turned those thoughts into a full blog and went a little deeper into what child-led, play-based therapy looks like in my practice, including a real moment from a recent therapy session that made me think about this balance.

Child-Led Speech Therapy Doesn’t Mean Children Never Have to Do Hard Things

Read the full blog here:

Learn how child-led, play-based speech therapy in Leander, TX can support communication, self-advocacy, regulation, and flexibility in everyday life.

09/16/2026

I’m a BIG believer in child-led, play-based therapy.

However, child-led doesn’t mean a child should never have to do something they don’t want to do.

Because real life isn’t always preferred.

At school, there will be times when it’s time to clean up even though they’re not finished. There will be activities they wouldn’t have chosen. There will be moments when they have to wait, transition, or participate in something that isn’t their favorite.

Our job isn’t to force compliance.

Our job is to help children build the communication, regulation, and flexibility they need to navigate those moments successfully.

This is where knowing the individual child matters.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach. You have to learn the child including their communication, sensory needs, regulation, interests, strengths, and what their behavior may be communicating. Sometimes a child needs a break. Sometimes the demand needs to be modified. Sometimes they need more support. Sometimes they CAN do something difficult with a little encouragement and scaffolding.

That might mean teaching them to communicate:
“All done.”
“Help.”
“I don’t want it.”
“One more minute.”
“Can I have a break?”

Sometimes it means not immediately removing a non-preferred activity in response to challenging behavior, because we don’t want challenging behavior to become the only way a child learns to communicate, “I need this to stop.”

We can honor a child’s communication AND help them gradually build flexibility.

Child-led therapy isn’t about letting the child do whatever they want. It’s about understanding the child well enough to know when to follow their lead, when to adjust, and when to gently help them through something that’s hard.

I’m a BIG believer in child-led, play-based therapy.

However, child-led doesn’t mean a child should never have to do something they don’t want to do.

Because real life isn’t always preferred.

At school, there will be times when it’s time to clean up even though they’re not finished. There will be activities they wouldn’t have chosen. There will be moments when they have to wait, transition, or participate in something that isn’t their favorite.

Our job isn’t to force compliance.

Our job is to help children build the communication, regulation, and flexibility they need to navigate those moments successfully.

This is where knowing the individual child matters.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach. You have to learn the child including their communication, sensory needs, regulation, interests, strengths, and what their behavior may be communicating. Sometimes a child needs a break. Sometimes the demand needs to be modified. Sometimes they need more support. Sometimes they CAN do something difficult with a little encouragement and scaffolding.

That might mean teaching them to communicate:
“All done.”
“Help.”
“I don’t want it.”
“One more minute.”
“Can I have a break?”

Sometimes it means not immediately removing a non-preferred activity in response to challenging behavior, because we don’t want challenging behavior to become the only way a child learns to communicate, “I need this to stop.”

We can honor a child’s communication AND help them gradually build flexibility.

Child-led therapy isn’t about letting the child do whatever they want. It’s about understanding the child well enough to know when to follow their lead, when to adjust, and when to gently help them through something that’s hard.

I’m a BIG believer in child-led, play-based therapy.

However, child-led doesn’t mean a child should never have to do something they don’t want to do.

Because real life isn’t always preferred.

At school, there will be times when it’s time to clean up even though they’re not finished. There will be activities they wouldn’t have chosen. There will be moments when they have to wait, transition, or participate in something that isn’t their favorite.

Our job isn’t to force compliance.

Our job is to help children build the communication, regulation, and flexibility they need to navigate those moments successfully.

This is where knowing the individual child matters.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach. You have to learn the child including their communication, sensory needs, regulation, interests, strengths, and what their behavior may be communicating. Sometimes a child needs a break. Sometimes the demand needs to be modified. Sometimes they need more support. Sometimes they CAN do something difficult with a little encouragement and scaffolding.

That might mean teaching them to communicate:
“All done.”
“Help.”
“I don’t want it.”
“One more minute.”
“Can I have a break?”

Sometimes it means not immediately removing a non-preferred activity in response to challenging behavior, because we don’t want challenging behavior to become the only way a child learns to communicate, “I need this to stop.”

We can honor a child’s communication AND help them gradually build flexibility.

Child-led therapy isn’t about letting the child do whatever they want. It’s about understanding the child well enough to know when to follow their lead, when to adjust, and when to gently help them through something that’s hard.

I think this is one of the reasons I’ve been able to connect with so many different children over the years. I don’t expect every child to respond to the same approach. I take the time to get to know the child in front of me, meet them where they are, and figure out what THEY need from me to feel safe, connected, and ready to learn.

09/15/2026

Kids really do have the best logic.

During a speech therapy session today, we were working on body parts when I said “forehead.”

My little guy immediately corrected me:

“It’s not forehead. It’s one head.”

And honestly… he has a point.

Why would it be FOUR-head when he clearly only has ONE head?!

Never a dull moment in pediatric speech therapy.