How can we stop perpetuating the school-to-prison pipeline from a neurodiversity perspective?

I am excited to collaborate with more SLPs on this topic! Details coming soon. In the meantime, check out this article on how we can collectively stop the school to prison pipeline:

https://www.aclu-wa.org/blog/stinks-don-t-perpetuate-school-prison-pipeline

I'm a graduate student and had a situation where I picked up the wrong child (thinking they were a girl), and their paperwork says they are a boy. What would be the culturally appropriate way to address this situation?

Closing academic achievement gaps as speech pathologists should be a collaborative effort. As language experts, we're required to advocate for cultural linguistic diversity. I wrote an article with Dr. Valencia Perry about specific steps we can take to support the communicative behaviors of Black and Latinx children. You can check out our articles on ASHA Leader here: https://leader.pubs.asha.org/do/10.1044/2021-0223-cultural-responsiveness/full/

A fascinating new study, involving around 7,000 participants, has found that excessive screen time is associated with both communication and problem-solving delays.

https://futurism.com/neoscope/children-screen-time-developmental-delays

"Revolutionize your speech therapy approach with insights from Deb Roy's 'Human Speechome Project'!"

This landmark study on language acquisition offers invaluable insights for speech pathologists. One of the key findings is the significance of consistent, repetitive word exposure in familiar settings for effective language learning. By sharing these insights with parents, therapists can encourage them to incorporate these strategies at home, maximizing the impact of therapy.

Roy's research also highlights the "vocabulary explosion," a phenomenon where children experience rapid language growth once foundational skills are established. By understanding this concept, speech pathologists can better tailor their approach to each child's developmental stage.

Incorporating these evidence-based insights into your practice can lead to more effective, targeted care, fostering successful language development in young patients.

Are you a fellow ADHDer? So am I! That's why I'm excited to be going LIVE TODAY with Ruchi Kapila and discuss gender and neurodiveristy care in speech pathology! You can watch on YouTube at 4pm CST/5pm EST here: http://YouTube.com/@pediatricspeechsisternetwork

Finally done with my summer semester of grad school for speech-language pathology! In the fall, I will be at my first off-site placement at an outpatient OT and SLP interdisciplinary clinic. Any advice on navigating my first clinical placement outside the university clinic?

Environmental Influence on AAC Device Use and Research Insights

AAC devices aren't just about tech; the environment and personal interactions matter a lot, too.

Vocabulary Limits: Many AAC devices focus on nouns, missing out on other essential words. This restricts conversations to basic functions such as requests and leaves out vital functions such as refusing or asking questions. Also, in standard English, creating a grammatically correct and clear sentence using only nouns in the positions of subject, verb, and object is challenging, if not impossible, without resorting to creative or non-standard interpretations. Crafting full sentences with a heavy noun emphasis, therefore, becomes tricky -- if not impossible.

Latency Time: Sometimes, users need a bit more time to find the right words on their device. However, this can sometimes disrupt the flow of a conversation, leading to potential awkward pauses -- which can sometimes cause a partner to interpret, non verbally, what a user might be trying to say.

Helpful, but...: Occasionally, people might step in to assist AAC users finish their thoughts. While the intent is kind, it can unintentionally overshadow what the AAC user is trying to express.

Ways to Improve:

Tweak the Device: Make it user-friendly. With faster word-finding, conversations become more fluid.

Broaden Word Choices: AAC devices should include a variety of core and fringe vocabulary — not just nouns but also verbs, adjectives, and more. Remember: you can rarely create sentences with only nouns, which are often fringe vocabulary words (e.g. YouTube). A diverse word selection paves the way for richer conversations.

Training for Friends & Family: Educating familiar conversation partners to be patient and allow the AAC user to lead can foster a more inclusive communication environment. When a new AAC user starts school, both their family and the school staff should receive training on how to use, model, and respond to the device in relevant situations.

Research Validates This...

There's strong research supporting these points. Works by Beukelman and Mirenda shed light on AAC's nuances, emphasizing the importance of a vast vocabulary and nurturing conversations. Many clinicians concur: understanding and addressing these aspects are pivotal for AAC users to engage in successful conversations.

Here's an alternative way to introduce new words when working on parent coaching: rather than look into what word a child should say, determine what problem can be solved by using a word. For example, teaching the word "more," solves the problem of getting access to something that has gone away -- some juice, an activity, a song, etc. Core words, such as "more", allow children to use them for multiple purposes. "Robot", on the other hand, has limited utility and doesn't necessarily solve many problems in numerous environments. When a word solves a problem, the child is more likely to use that word throughout the day, thereby integrating it into their functional vocabulary.