By Alex Whelan Back to school season fills children with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. They may feel eager to reunite with friends, participate in clubs, sports or other extracurricular activities, and to continue learning (even if they refuse to admit it!) On the flip side, they might be […]
Is My Child Stuttering? Typical Disfluencies Versus Childhood Onset Stuttering
By Jessica Safer MS, CCC-SLP As children grow and develop language, many may display “typical disfluencies” in their speech. These disfluencies are natural as the young child’s language is emerging, and his or her speech system is working hard to put together new words in a variety of ways. Typical […]
Reinforcement Part II: Say What, There’s More!
In the reinforcement post, we went through the basics of what a reinforcer is, some key concepts to remember and a quick way to remember how to apply it. This post outlines two types of reinforcement and go over punishment too, after all punishment has it’s own role to play […]
To Evaluate or Not To Evaluate
You feel that your daughter should be speaking in longer sentences. Your son’s teacher sent home a note telling you that she’s concerned about his listening skills. Your sister can’t understand your daughter talking on the phone. Should you get your child evaluated?? Here are some actions to consider when […]
What Is(n’t) Speech Therapy?
When I mention my career in conversation, the next question that often comes up is something along the lines of “What do speech therapists do?” I must admit that I often have a hard time expressing the gist of my job in just a few words. Some people guess that […]
The Not So Hungry Caterpillar: Supporting Families’ Feeding Issues in Early Intervention
Everyone knows Eric Carle’s story of the “very hungry caterpillar.” He wakes up, begins to eat everything in his path, without complaining, until he decides he’s ready for a nap, curls up in his cocoon, and then transforms into a beautiful butterfly. This ideal eat/sleep/wake scenario embodies every parent’s wish! […]
Reinforcement: What is it and How can I use it?
There are many things that people like, whether it be praise, food, activities, toys, money, touch, sound, smell, etc.. which may very well be things that we like. If these items do not increase our future behavior, they are preferred items and not reinforcers. One of the key concepts to […]
What’s the Function?! Part Two….
In the last post we discussed why behaviors happen (the functions of behavior) and why it’s necessary to determine the function. In this post, we will go through some steps to help determine the function. Remember, we want to know the function so we can find a behavior we would […]
What’s the Function?! Part One…
In the first post we gave a brief description of the history/definition of ABA and today, we will discuss probably the most important thing we come across and use in daily ABA— Functions. Not surprisingly, functions in ABA refer to the functions of behavior. Simply put, this means why is […]
More than a picky eater: How to Really Know
The struggles of a parent during mealtime with a picky eater can range from bad to worse. It often begins with the ever-present protest of “No!” then ends with screaming, tantrums and food flying across the room. The question remains: is the food refusal normal of a picky eater or […]