Speak Life Speech Therapy

09/11/2026

Yesterday my dollhouse and farm post from 2 years ago popped up. I am still an avid believer in building early language through play. Attached is a handout with many examples of language targeted through dollhouse play. Have fun playing!

09/04/2026

I began using the OnLit resources last year and they really helped my students with characteristics of dyslexia. All the resources are free!

08/31/2026

This!

Autism can look many different ways - even though most people think it means avoidant. It also can be highly intensive connection seeking.

Off topic- when I was picking the song for this I giggled at hello goodbye. Because while Jennie’s parents are likely saying hello while she’s saying goodbye, the boy’s parents are likely saying goodbye while he’s saying hello. I’ve been talking about different regulation needs a lot lately and it’s common to have the opposite of your child 💜

08/31/2026

Painting is always a favorite activity in our house. These big pieces of paper were packing paper from a cabinet we put together this weekend. So many language opportunities! Have fun playing! 🌈

08/28/2026

When you can’t find artic cards with the descriptions that you want…why not take advantage of technology and make your own?

08/27/2026

I see this on a daily basis! Great information

A child can know the rule, understand what is expected, and have done it successfully many times before — and still struggle to do it in a particular moment.

Because being able to do something isn't just about knowing how.

When a child is overwhelmed, anxious, tired, overstimulated or dysregulated, their access to skills such as impulse control, flexible thinking, problem-solving, communication and emotional regulation can change.

This is why:

“But you KNOW better.”

“You did this yesterday.”

“We’ve talked about this before.”

…often doesn’t help.

Instead of asking, “Why aren’t they using the skill?” try asking:

“What is getting in the way of accessing the skill right now?”

Sometimes our children don't need another reminder of what they already know.

They need our help getting back to a place where they can use it.

— The Therapist Parent

08/15/2026

I laughed out loud when this came across my feed. I agree worksheets for children who are missing the underlying skills necessary to complete a worksheet is ultimately defeating the purpose. What are your thoughts? 👀

Ironically, ripping, tearing + crumpling the worksheets builds far more developmentally appropriate foundations for writing than the writing practice we so often put on the worksheets themselves.

Here’s what children are actually working on:

• Bilateral coordination: Using both sides of the body together while each hand performs a different role, an important prerequisite for stabilizing paper with one hand while writing with the other.

• Intrinsic hand strength: Repeated gripping, pinching, squeezing + crumpling recruits the small muscles within the hand needed for controlled manipulation of writing tools.

• Motor planning: The brain must plan, sequence + adjust movements to initiate and continue a tear or manipulate the paper into a ball.

• Graded force control: Children learn to regulate how much muscular force is necessary to grip, pull, tear + compress materials, a skill later used to control pencil pressure.

• Hand separation: Manipulating paper encourages differentiated use of the thumb, index + middle fingers while the ulnar side of the hand provides stability, supporting more refined hand function.

• Visual-motor integration: The eyes guide and continuously adjust hand movements as children locate an edge, follow a tear + manipulate the changing shape of the paper.

• Proprioceptive feedback: Resistance from pulling, tearing + squeezing provides sensory information to the muscles and joints, helping the nervous system calibrate force and movement.

Writing is an incredibly complex motor task. Before we repeatedly ask young children to produce letters on paper, it makes sense to give their developing hands + nervous systems plenty of opportunities to build the underlying capacities that make writing possible.

08/14/2026

In our house, we are big fans of balloons! Although I don’t have much space to use balloons in our school therapy room, I always keep a balloon in my private practice bag of tricks! Such a cheap and fun screen free activity! Thanks ChatGPT for the quick image creation 🤣👍

08/14/2026

My work bestie motivated me to also use TikTok for my content. So while I will still be sharing on my page, I guess TikTok is the happening place these days. Just call me a Grandma SLP 👵🏼 Excited for a new school year PART TIME so I can also work with private clients and have time with my own little ones!❤️

08/13/2026

Just so everyone knows, Dollar Tree school organizers are a great fit for Hulken bags! They can also prevent spilled drinks. When an SLP spills coffee, it’s a bad day! 🥴 Ask me how I know. 😩