Child and Family Development Charlotte

 Lots of us at Child and Family Development wore blue and white for the first-ever Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) Day! 

As a pediatric speech therapist with a lot of training and interest in helping kids with this diagnosis, it was an easy way for me to support my clients with CAS and CASANAS.

• Childhood Apraxia of Speech is a motor speech disorder in which children have difficulty programming and planning the motor movements for speech.
• Top 3 characteristics of CAS: *Inconsistent errors with consonants and vowels, * lengthened pauses between sounds and/or syllables, and *Inappropriate stress on syllables and/or words.
• A licensed speech language pathologist is the appropriate person to diagnosis CAS.
• Early Intervention is crucial for children with CAS.
• Further information of CAS can be found at http://www.apraxia-kids.org/

Once again this year, I will be leading the C&FD team's participation in the 2nd Annual Walk for Apraxia in Charlotte on Saturday, September 28, 2013.  Mark your calendars!

Hello Bloggers!

I’ve recently moved back to my home state of North Carolina after practicing speech-language pathology in Los Angeles, California for 5 years to work at Child and Family Development in Charlotte.

In my previous settings, I took on a strong interest in verbal motor-planning and motor speech disorders such as childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), dysarthria and verbal dyspraxia. I became PROMPT (Prompts for Restructuring Oral Motor Phonetic Targets) trained 4 years ago and have been practicing the philosophy and techniques of this approach ever since! The PROMPT system has been used with phonological, developmentally delayed, dysarthric, dyspraxic, apraxic, hearing-impaired, autistic spectrum, and fluency disorders. The philosophy behind PROMPT is designed to integrate the most efficacious traditional and/or new approaches that augment, support, and enhance speech production interventions.

In treating children with motor speech disorders, I have also helped parents learn what to expect from their child when it comes to adequate speech production through all phases of treatment. I can imagine how frustrating it may be for a parent to hear a few simple words from their child for the first time only to never hear them again or to see your child struggle to produce new words.

Laura Mize, pediatric speech therapist, has a website with gobs of information for parents on motor speech disorders. Here is a link to one of my favorite articles called “Can’t vs. Won’t” focusing on a child that may demonstrate difficulty with speech production.

 (http://teachmetotalk.com/2011/05/03/cant-vs-wont/) 

Also, it’s a great website to peruse for early developmental milestones of speech and language and communication strategies for your toddlers. It’s also a great website for therapists as well with weekly tips for therapy ideas! Links below.

http://teachmetotalk.com/

http://promptinstitute.com/

http://teachmetotalk.com/2011/05/03/cant-vs-wont/

On May 2nd, I attended a TalkTools training!  This course was taught by Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson, M.S., CCC-SLP and presented by the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Charlotte.  I left this course with renewed enthusiasm about the field of Speech Language Pathology. 

This course focuses on the fact that there is often a physical reason for articulation issues.  Sara teaches the importance of using touch to teach as well as on the importance of using resistance and repetitions to improve muscle skills (speech/feeding) through Oral Placement Therapy (OPT).

I came back to to my work at Child and Family Development with new ideas, resources, and a desire to learn MORE!  I look foward to attending more TalkTools courses, using my new strategies with my current clients, and educating other professionals and parents about this approach!

To learn more about this approach check out their website at http://www.talktools.com

Author Paul Gilbert of ADDitude: Living Well With Attention Deficit magazine recently featured Cogmed in an article titled, Brain-Training Tools for More Attention, Less Deficit:  These ADHD therapies offer fun and games with a serious purpose: increasing your child's focus. 

Here is the link to the article: http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/10076.html

Here at Child and Family Development, Joy Granetz, Ph.D. offers this program.  She is one of a few trained Practitioners in our area. Dr. Granetz is a North Carolina licensed psychologist and has over thirteen years of extensive experience.   Dr. Granetz is based at our South Charlotte clinic where she provides neuropsychological assessment and psychoeducational evaluations of children and adolescents with special focus in working with children and adolescents with learning disabilities, attention disorders, head injury, tic disorders, and epilepsy. Dr. Granetz also provides therapy for children and adolescents with emotional and/or behavioral difficulties. To find out if Cogmed Working Memory Training is right for you, call our South Charlotte office to schedule an initial appointment.    

Visit their website, http://www.cogmed.com/, for more information about this state-of-the-art intervention.  A free parent webinar is available.

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a presentation given by Dr. Derek Brugman, D.O., also known as the “ADHD doctor”, at The John Crosland School. Dr. Brugman gave two very clever examples of the ADHD brain that have been helpful in explaining ADHD to parents.

• The ADHD brain functions like a pilot light on a gas oven that is continuously going out while someone is trying to bake a cake.  Meaning that the ADHD brain has to work really hard to keep its “pilot light” lit while trying to accomplish daily tasks.  Moreover, the ADHD brain’s pilot light likely keeps going out and has to be continuously relit numerous times while trying to complete a task, especially tasks that are hard or not interesting.
   
• The ADHD brain functions like a gas grill that can only stay lit if you continuously keep pushing the ignition button.  It would be like trying to cook hot dogs on a grill, while flipping them over at the appropriate times and continuing to push that “little red button” while doing so.  This explains why the ADHD brain may often choose to just “eat cold hot dogs”.  This leads to frustration, a sense of failure and possibly others viewing the ADHD brain as just plain lazy.

So, the next time you encounter an ADHD brain that has been “relighting its pilot light” all day at school and has tried to “continuously push its little red button” to perform academically, don’t be surprised that when it comes to homework time you may experience the ADHD person acting like an unhappy grizzly bear!!

Need help?

Click here to learn more about the services or set up an evauluation at Child and Family Development in Charlotte. Kimberly Springs is based in our South Charlotte office. 

Child and Family Development therapists recently attended a great two-day course called A Dynamic Base of Support --  The Key To Enhancing Function.

The course was sponsored by Neuro-Developmental Treatment Association™ (NDTA) at Integrative Therapy Concepts near Charlotte.

It offered instruction and information about graded handling techniques and pediatric therapy strategies.

Among the therapists who attended:

• Mary Helen Bailey, Occupational Therapist
• Megan Bevington, Occupational Therapist
• Jessica Hoffarth, Occupational Therapist
• Michelle Pentz, Speech Therapist
• Courtney Stanley, Occupational Therapist 

Looking for a social skills group for your child this summer? Check out Social Butterflies Club™ at the South Charlotte office of Child and Family Development!

Social Butterflies Club™, founded in 2004 by Rhonda Osisek M.S., CCC-SLP in Virginia, helps children learn how to interact with peers while having fun with sensory and speech activities combined.

Both an occupational therapist and speech therapist leads this club at CFD. The children in the group may have a variety of diagnoses, such as expressive and/or receptive language problems, sensory processing difficulties, and fine motor deficits. The goal of the Social Butterflies Club™ is to teach the kids how to communicate with peers in a positive way that allows them to thrive outside of therapy.

Each child is screened as part of placement. Clubs are formed based on each child’s communication skills, social ability and age. The Club meets for 1-hour sessions for four consecutive days. Several schedule options are offered this summer.

We will be offering some fun themes including Going on a Picnic, Fourth of July, Under the Sea and Back to School. The club will be led by speech therapist Michelle Pentz, MS, CCC-SLP, and  occupational therapist Courtney Stanley, MS, OTR/L. 

Contact  Michelle Pentz, 704-541-9080 x214, mpentz@childandfamilydevelopment.com to register your child.

Click here for more details about the Social Butterflies Club™.

Click here for more information about the C&FD.

Happy C&FD Anniversary to Brooke Bostic!  Brooke is one of the Front Office Coordinators at Child & Family Development's South Charlotte location.  Brooke has been with C&FD for one year.

When asked why she enjoys working at C&FD, Brooke stated that not only does she love learning new things, but she also loves the interactions with the children and their parents.  Families must feel the same way about her, as Brooke as been one of the most popular C&FD employees this past year. 

Brooke's teammate at the South Charlotte office, Talia Kruger, notes that Brooke is great with the parents, loves the kids, and is an easy-going and great co-worker.  Brooke's dedication to Child & Family Development and her position has helped lead to the success of the South Charlotte office.  We all appreciate her hard work and service and look forward to working with her for many more years to come!

A recent study completed through the National Institute of Health (NIH) Children found that children who failed to acquire a specific set of basic math skills in First Grade scored far behind their peers by Seventh Grade on a test of the mathematical abilities needed to function in adult life.

The specific math skill that must be learned early in a child’s education is number system knowledge. Number knowledge is the ability to relate a quantity to the numerical symbol that represents it, to manipulate quantities and to make calculations.

This skill is the basis for all other mathematics abilities, including those necessary for the math skills needed to function as an adult member of society. Number system knowledge has several core principles:

• Numbers represent different magnitudes (five is bigger than four).
• Number relationships stay the same, even though numbers may vary. For example, the difference between 1 and 2 is the same as the difference between 30 and 31.
• Quantities can be represented by symbolic figures (***= the numeral 3 or ###### = the numeral 6).
• Numbers can be broken into component parts (5 is made up of 2 and 3 or 1 and 4).

If your child is struggling to learn any of the Number System’s core principles, then math intervention is strongly recommended.

Educators at Child and Family Development are especially trained to identify math weaknesses in children and remediate any math deficits. Contact an educational specialist at either the Midtown or the South Charlotte location to discuss your concerns. Click here for more information and to contact us. 

Click here for graphics that illustrate number system knowledge and depicting the study results. 

If you are looking for an answer, Mary Johnson usually has it.  It's no wonder that Mary has become a "go to" person for the Child & Family Development team.  She is celebrating her 17th anniversary with C&FD this month!

Mary has served in various roles with C&FD over the course of her tenure.  Most recently, she has been in the Client Accounts Department in the Charlotte Midtown office since 2008.  Mary's teammate, Jennifer Evans, notes that Mary is an awesome team player and a great team lead in the insurance department. She states that Mary has a wealth of knowledge and is always ready and willing to help parents and co-workers with insurance questions and concerns whenever needed.

We all know Mary is a very valuable resource for Child & Family Development and has been a major contributor to one of our company's values - TEAM.  Congratulations on 17 years, Mary!

Lucky for Child & Family Development, Melissa Dubeau really likes creating a spreadsheet.  It works out perfectly since she is the Business Manager of C&FD at the Charlotte Midtown office.  Melissa celebrated her 2nd anniversary with C&FD earlier this month.

A new mom herself, Melissa states that one of the things that she likes best about working at C&FD is being with an organization that helps children and families.  One of her coworkers, Mary Johnson, notes that Melissa is a friendly and pleasant coworker.  She states that Melissa's strong organizational skills and expertise in excel aid in simplifying many of the financial tasks.  Mary also notes that Melissa is always willing to help other departments whenever possible, and employees of C&FD are very thankful of her generous nature.

We all appreciate Melissa's hard work and attention to detail.  It's clear that she cares very deeply about her work.  Thank you for all that you do, Melissa.  Happy Anniversary!

As a pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist at Child and Family Development in Charlotte, NC, I work with children to improve many different areas of communication including articulation and phonology, language, fluency or stuttering, and voice.

What is voice?

Voice is the sound that is produced when your vocal cords vibrate together. The vocal cords are small muscles located in your larynx or “voice box.” These muscles open and close to let air in and out of the lungs, protect us from getting foods and liquids into our lungs, and give us voice.

What is a voice disorder?

A voice disorder occurs when there is a change in the quality of our voice. This change in quality is typically due to pathology or behaviors that affect the structure and function of the vocal cords. Children with voice disorders are commonly described as having a “hoarse” or “raspy” voice. A child may also experience periods of aphonia or loss of voicing, similar to laryngitis. If there is a chronic voice problem, these symptoms will typically last greater than 2 to 3 weeks at a time. Many different causes contribute to voice disorders and there may not be only one causal factor. Common causes of childhood voice disorders include:

• Harmful voice habits (e.g., yelling, throat clearing, coughing, screaming, harsh sounds).
• Poor water intake leading to decreased hydration
• Medications
• Infections
• Reflux
• Benign vocal fold lesions (e.g., vocal nodules, polyps, cysts)

Why is identification and treatment important?

Early identification of pediatric voice disorders is advisable because these disorders may progress to lifelong communicative impairments if left untreated. Voice disorders in children may impede their academic performance and their socialization in school. The majority of adult voice disorders are thought to begin during childhood.

How does a Speech Therapist help?

A Speech-Language Pathologist conducts voice evaluations to determine differences in vocal quality, pitch, loudness and other voice characteristics. A consult with an otolaryngologist (ear-nose-throat doctor) with specialty training in childhood voice disorders may be recommended. If a voice disorder is suggested, the Speech Pathologist can provide education on voice production and good vocal hygiene, teach voice exercises to improve vocal functioning and practice easy voicing, and help develop a home plan to improve vocal health and function.

If you have concerns about your child's voice or other communication skills, please contact our office to schedule an evaluation. Mention that you read about voice disorders on our blog. 

RELATED POST: Tips on helping your child's speech therapy at home. 

The topic of transitions for students with autism comes up frequently here at Child And Family Development's Midtown and South Charlotte locations. Our team can help you prepare for the move but here's a great guide to get you started.

Leigh Merryday, a school media specialist and autism parent blogger at FlappinessIs.com, wrote this post for WhatToExpect.com's Word of Mom/Real Mom Advice section. Leigh is married with two children — a typical five-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son on the autism spectrum. Her bio states that "In her spare time, she vehemently denies being addicted to Facebook, reading, and peanut butter fudge. No one believes her."

Here are a few of her tips:

1. A 5-minute early pass. If your child is overwhelmed by loud noises or people bumping into him, passing time in a middle school hallway can be upsetting. Ask for a laminated hall pass to leave each class five minutes early. Your child will then be able to use the restroom and make it to his next class in peace. A pass may also curtail bullying, which often occurs in the bathroom or hallways. Deans and guidance counselors utilize such passes for students for various reasons and it won't hurt to have one. If you find your child doesn't have a problem in the hallways, he can simply choose to not use it.

2. A safe place. Guidance counselors and deans can get awfully busy. If your child is in distress, he needs to have a person on campus he can go to for help — immediately. The safe place should also be available during, or in lieu of, noisier whole-school activities such as concerts, lunch, dances, sporting events, etc. In my school, the designated safe place is in the library with me. I befriend our spectrum kids early in the year and let them know they can always come to the library for some quiet, a place to rock/stim, and the opportunity to walk around. They know they can come to me with problems such as bullying or if they have a substitute teacher who doesn't understand their needs. A safe place can make all the difference for our kids.

3. Social Skills/Anti-Bullying group. Inquire if your child's school has one of these. If they don't, suggest to a guidance counselor or administrator that one be started. The group can be made up of kids with social difficulties and kids who are bullied. This type of group could be an opportunity for him to talk with or listen to peers with similar experiences as well as to learn strategies for dealing with it. It has the added benefit of introducing a group of children who might not get to know each other otherwise. I have even seen after-school clubs that are especially welcoming to the not-so-cool kids — board game clubs, book clubs, etc. If the after-school program doesn't have something like this, suggest it to the principal.

Click here to read more of Leigh's tips on helping a child with autism transition to middle school. And if you like her writing style and find her tips helpful, click here to check out her blog.

What tips would you offer to parents and care-givers who are facing this transition?

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Looking for pediatric therapy services near Lancaster, South Carolina?

Child and Family Development has an office in South Charlotte that is less than 5 miles from the border and easily accessible from I-77 and the 485 loop.

Our multi-disciplinary clinic has been helping children and families since 1980. The team of experienced therapists can assess and treat a wide range of childhood concerns, including autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and other learning disabilities or special needs.

We participate in many insurance plans.

The Contact Us tab on our website will link you to our address and Mapquest.

Child and Family Development is growing our team!  We have an opportunity for an Educational Specialist at our South Charlotte office.

Click here to visit the Careers tab on our website for more information.

Did you know that Child and Family Development's office in South Charlotte is less than 5 miles from the state line and easily accessible from I-77 and the I-485 loop.

Our multi-disciplinary clinic has been helping children and families since 1980. The team of experienced therapists can assess and treat a wide range of childhood concerns, including autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and other learning disabilities or special needs. We participate in many insurance plans. Also, some of our Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy providers accept South Carolina Medicaid. 

The Contact Us tab on our website will link you to our address and Mapquest.