Oct. 1, 2024
Strategies to Develop Language in Young Children
Are you a grandparent raising young children and seeking guidance on fostering language development amid the unique challenges you face? Are you searching for effective strategies to support your grandchildren's communication skills while navigating their speech obstacles? Do you wish there were more accessible tools and techniques designed specifically for caregivers like you?
I’m Laura Brazan, a dedicated grandmother with firsthand experience in addressing speech challenges within our family. In 2023, I stepped deeper into this role, inspired by the journey of my grandchild who faced significant speech hurdles early in life. Recognizing the unique needs of kinship caregivers, I launched this podcast to bring practical solutions and expert advice directly to your ears.
Welcome to 'Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: Strategies to Develop Language in Young Children.' Join me as I sit down with renowned speech pathologist Jeaneen Tang, whose personal history and professional expertise provide invaluable insights. We'll delve into Jeanine’s inspiring story, shaped by her grandfather's illness and her son's medical challenges, and learn effective techniques that can make a real difference in your grandchild’s language development. For more information about Jeaneen Tang and her new book, please visit https://www.playdumbandsabotage.com/
In this episode, you'll discover actionable tips, from the nuances of tongue-tie interventions to playful methods like 'playing dumb' and encouraging clear articulation. Jeanine also offers guidance on creating interactive and engaging communication scenarios that naturally enhance a child's language abilities.
Embark on this enlightening journey with us and reshape the future of your grandchildren's communication skills. Through shared experiences and expert knowledge, let's turn challenges into opportunities for growth and connection. Subscribe now and join a community of grandparents dedicated to nurturing through every speech milestone!
Thank you for tuning into today's episode. It's been a journey of shared stories, insights, and invaluable advice from the heart of a community that knows the beauty and challenges of raising grandchildren. Your presence and engagement mean the world to us and to grandparents everywhere stepping up in ways they never imagined.
Remember, you're not alone on this journey. For more resources, support, and stories, visit our website and follow us on our social media channels. If today's episode moved you, consider sharing it with someone who might find comfort and connection in our shared experiences.
We look forward to bringing more stories and expert advice your way next week. Until then, take care of yourselves and each other.
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Chapters
00:00 - Speech pathologist shares techniques for children’s speech.
04:37 - From physical therapy to speech therapy journey.
09:07 - Anticipate needs but also mindfully under anticipate.
10:56 - Therapeutic use of absurd questions with children.
14:37 - Understanding language by breaking words into parts.
17:18 - Empower children through decision-making and choices.
19:47 - Good motor skills, cognitive understanding, parenting challenges.
24:01 - Watching shows with kids can be beneficial.
26:33 - Empower child by offering choices and structure.
29:43 - Book ideal as baby shower gift. Importance of language development for children.
32:45 - Listener's grandson denied speech therapy; needs reevaluation.
37:15 - R sound develops around five to six years.
39:23 - Get in touch with our mental health experts.
Transcript
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As a grandmother facing the challenges of helping my grandchildren with speech issues, I often felt lost and overwhelmed. Have you struggled with how to interact with children who have difficulty with speech and communicating? Do you struggle with knowing how to. Help them with their difficulty pronouncing sounds well? Join us in enlightening episode where speech pathologist Jeanine Tang shares her expert insights and practical advice on navigating speech issues in children.
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Discover fun and easy to use techniques and exercises that Jeanine has shared with me, a grandmother just like you, to help unlock your child's voice and build their confidence in communication. Don't miss this inspiring episode that promises to be a game changer for children and families facing speech challenges and stick around afterwards as Janine answers some personal questions from some of our listeners.
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Welcome to grandparents raising grandchildren nurturing through adversity in this podcast, we will delve deep into the challenges and triumphs of grandparents raising grandchildren as we navigate the complexities of legal, financial, and emotional support. I invite you to join us on a journey of exploring thoughts, feelings, and beliefs surrounding this growing segment of our society. Drawing from real stories and expert advice, we will explore the nuances of child rearing for children who have experienced trauma and offer valuable resources to guide you through the intricate journey of kinship care.
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We'll discuss how we can change the course of history. Bye.
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Rewriting our grandchildren's future, all within a supportive community that understands the unique joys and struggles. This podcast was made especially for you.
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Welcome to a community where your voice is heard, your experiences are valued, and your journey is honored.
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I could hardly understand my three year old grandson and the frustration he had in being able to communicate his wants and needs left me searching for answers and guidance.
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It was in this moment of uncertainty that I discovered Jeanine Tang, a knowledgeable and compassionate speech pathologist who has transformed my approach to supporting my grandchildren with their speech and communication challenges. Janine is not only a speech pathologist, but also a mother of a special needs son. Having worked in schools, preschools, and providing early intervention in homes, she's gotten to see how the way we interact with children shapes the way that they developed. Although there are many children who truly. Need speech therapy services due to a. Disability, diagnosis, or impairment, Jeanine also feels that a good number of children who are identified as needing early intervention speech therapy could be prevented if we have more parent, caregiver, and educator training on strategies to present and practice language.
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Janine, I love for you to share with us how you chose to become a speech pathologist and in your own words, share with us your personal story. Thank you, Laura. So going back all the way till I was eight years old, my grandfather was sick, and he ended up passing away from lung cancer.
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And I remember at that time, I felt very helpless. I was eight years old, and I couldn't help him get dressed or bathed or do many things for him that I wanted to.
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And I knew at that time I wanted to be someone that helped others.
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I thought I wanted to be a teacher at one point. And then in high school, I thought, well, why don't I be a physical therapist? Because that could have been someone that could have helped my grandfather. So I went to school, and I got my bachelor's degree in english literature because I knew I needed a master's in physical therapy at the time. So I thought, maybe I'll just get something in another area that I love. And when it came time to apply for physical therapy school, it just seemed like a very saturated profession. And someone mentioned, have you thought about speech therapy?
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And I had not really heard too much about speech therapy.
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So unless you know somebody who's had speech therapy or you've had speech therapy yourself, you don't really hear about it so much. So I looked into it, and my local University of Hawaii at Manoa had a master's program, so I applied there, and I'm really glad that I did. I've been a speech therapist since 2001, and I've worked in the school district in Hawaii for four years. And then when I moved to Los Angeles in 2005, I worked for the school district here for another four years. And then in 2010, I started working in early intervention. It was a really great shift working. With these children from zero to three years old. They were so cute.
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I love working with them. They're so cute.
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And then in 2012, I had my. Own son, and he was adorable. He was a chunky little kid and just full of smiles, and I.
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LAUGHTER and in 2013, unfortunately, he had a very tragic fall from our bed, and it was just 18 inches off the ground, but it was just the perfect way to create this large brain bleed. And he needed an emergency craniotomy. And a few days he had a stroke.
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So we were at the children's Hospital of Los Angeles at the time, and they were saying he might never walk, he might never talk. And, you know, our whole world just went black and we didn't know what to do. And then we had to really think. You know, what was important. It wasn't about our feelings about it. It was about our child and what we could do for him. So I made sure that we got him therapies as soon as possible. And working in early intervention, I knew. What kind of therapies he could get. You know, occupational therapy, physical therapy, infant stimulation, speech therapy.
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And even though I'm a speech therapist and he got speech therapy, with every interaction that we've had, if I had to go back to work, I wanted to make sure that somebody else would be there to teach him. You know what? I could teach him as well.
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And now he's going to be twelve years old soon, and he's amazing. He still has a lot of deficits.
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He has right hemiparesis. He doesn't use his right arm or hand at all. He still has some gait problems, which means like walking and agility, balance with his right leg, and he has some cognitive impairments. But he loves music, he loves dancing, he loves video games.
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He's very social. One of the sweetest things about him is he's very empathetic. And growing up, I always asked him, how'd you sleep last night? Because parents want to know how their child sleeps. When he has a conversation with my friends or sometimes his own friends, he might ask them, so how did you sleep last night? And they're just so taken aback because. No one really asks that question.
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Right. So he's given me a newfound purpose in helping young children, and especially in this day and age, there's so many kids who are normal, developing in every other aspect, but just delayed in the speech, that if they, if their parents were trained a little bit better, caregivers were trained a little bit better, educators trained a little bit better, we could decrease the number of children that needed speech therapy. You've also written a book called play dumb and sabotage. Would you please explain to our listeners the meaning of the title and what's. Covered in the book? Yes. So play dumb and sabotage, it's a term I've used for many, many years now, and I, it goes back to the idea that as caregivers, we think that the idea of caregiving is we. Anticipate all the child's needs. Right. We want to make sure that they are fed, that they are dry and all kinds of stuff. So we over anticipate the child's needs. And plain dumb means to just, you want to anticipate, but you want to reel it back and mindfully under anticipate in order for the child to have opportunities to practice language and sabotage would be something like, you know, creating opportunities to practice the language, such as during snack time just giving a few pieces of the snack rather than a whole bowl. Right. Or have a toy that they love insight, but out of reach. So you might have a toy that you could. I used to do this with my godson, who's now 14. When he was nine months old, I. Would tease him with a toy that. He loved because he wouldn't want to crawl. And I would tease him with it and then move it a little bit further away. So he needed to actually move his body in order to get to this certain item. So it's creating opportunities throughout the day, whether it be, I used to put. My son's underwear on his head rather. Than put it on his body, because he'd be like, wait, that's not right. My underwear goes someplace else. So playing dumb and being really playful, be animated, create opportunities for them to have this interaction. Because if the parent or the caregiver is just anticipating and providing, it's very one sided interaction. It's very much do do for the child, and the child's not able to respond appropriately or maybe initiate that conversation, whether it be through just movement, nonverbal, or through voice and words, you want to be able to have that interaction. How do you use that in the way that you do your therapy? So for therapy, I like to ask absurd questions sometimes. So if there is a toy that, like, those pop up toys that have different animals, if the elephant pops up, I go, oh, what is that? Is that a dog?
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You know, most children know what a dog is, right? So is that a dog?
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They were like, no. Like, even if their facial expression knows, like, oh, that's not a dog. Or I might ask, does a cat say? And they go, what? You know, so it's playing dumb and having them feel smart. Kids love to feel smart, right? They love to be like, oh, you know, you're an adult, and you are not very intelligent, because I know the answers and you don't. Right. And also, sometimes when kids are very shy, I might be able to bring them out of their shell a little bit by playing dumb and be like, oh, you know, if we're playing with a toy, like a car, I'm like, am I gonna eat it? You know? And they're like, no, no, don't eat that. That's silly. That's silly. So they like to feel like they are smarter than you.
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You know, it brings them on their shell, and they're like, no, no, no. That's not what you do. You know, you push the car or you have to eat a banana, something else, you know? So it's like creating this rapport with the child by playing as if you are a child in a way, and having them feel that they are part of the conversation and interaction.
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I love that idea because I think we assume too much at times, having to approach it that way. Perhaps we actually learn more in the process. Yeah. I think also putting yourself in that.
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Playful situation helps the child feel more confident as a communicator, because if we are adults and we're just talking at them, they're hearing these words, but they're not really understanding, and they're not a part of that conversation. They're not experiencing the world as it's meant to be. Right. Having vocabulary exposed to them. So at snack time, I might offer, even if the child isn't speaking, I. Might say, hey, do you want an apple or orange? And hold it shoulder width apart so they can see the items, hear the words, and then make a decision whether it's just visually looking at the item. Pointing at the item, saying the word. And then I like to use language. Bombardment, what we call saying words and sentences that the child might hear but not necessarily are expected to imitate them.
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So if they look at the apple and say, oh, apple, red apple, let's eat it. Let's eat the red apple. Let's cut the apple before we eat it. You know, they're hearing all these words associated with this one target vocabulary, and they're hearing, oh, that. There's more specificity said in these longer sentences, and they're all related back to this one word, and I'm part of that conversation. Maybe it's also intimidating when we approach children with the formal language that we use. Yeah, simple things like slowing your speech down. Right. So if I'm talking to a child, it's almost like learning a foreign language because this is the first time that.
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They'Re hearing a lot of the different. Words and vocabulary terms and these sentence structures. So slowing your speech down just a. Little bit really, really helped. Being super animated, clapping out syllables to.
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Longer words, you know, like caterpillar. Be like caterpillar. Rather than they'd be like kabu. It's like, oh, wait. They were trying to say the word. But they don't know the different parts of the word, so they blend it all together because that's what they hear. It's like learning a different language. I'm trying to learn Spanish, and I'm like, I don't know what that was. You know, but if I see it, if I see the word written out. Or if someone breaks the word up for me, then I'm like, oh, I get it. Those are the parts of the word, and I was saying it completely wrong, even though in my mind, that's what I thought I heard. So it really helps to break up those longer words into syllables and break up those. Those sentences up into syllables as well, because then they can also start understanding that when you say, I want to eat banana or I want to eat.
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Chicken, I want to eat something. There's an I want to eat sounds almost like a phrase in a way. It sounds like one word, but if you say, I want to eat, they understand, like, oh, it's I and it's want, then it's to and eat. So it's all different parts of the sentence. But if I change the last word, that sentence means something completely different.
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Viewing life through the mind of a. Child, we can all learn from that.
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Absolutely. I think it's a great perspective to have because children are so imaginative, right? They have great imagination.
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They have great play naturally. And I think as adults, we tend to not be as creative and not as silly.
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Right. I love being silly with children because they just. They eat it up and they just are like, oh, they want to. They want to play and they want to interact. They want to laugh. And then they start changing. They start changing their response to what you're doing, too. So everything is an interaction. So if they make a sound, I might make that same sound, and then I might change that sound and say something different or do some other hand motion or facial expression. And then they naturally start to imitate. What I did and then maybe change. It up and do a new thing, a novel thing. And it's all part of this interaction. And I say conversation in a way, because it is this back and forth interaction, whether it just be sounds, facial expressions, words, sentences, it's all this back and forth. And they're understanding that I said something or I did something, and that person is reacting to me, and now I'm reacting to them.
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And it helps them to be more confident and be able to express themselves in ways that they weren't able to before. It takes more time to do things that way sometimes, right? Absolutely. So in my book, I say it's way easier to be like, you're going to wear this shirt today and you're going to eat this snack, and you're going to play with this toye. And it takes a lot more time and a lot more cognitive thought process for us as the caregivers to be like, okay, I need to ask them, do you want to wear the red shirt or the blue shirt today? Do you want to play with this toy or that toy, whatever it is, giving them those opportunities to make decisions, it helps them feel that they have the power to do things right. They made that decision. Like, I want to wear that red shirt and it's okay. It doesn't match with the other pat, whatever it is, they made that decision and they feel that it gives them a little bit more confidence. It does take a lot more time and effort to be implementing the strategies in play dumb and sabotage because you do have to take into account that the child is going to help to. Make this decision rather than it's a. Very one sided decision making by the caregiver. Right. We save a lot more time and. We'Ve all been there. If I'm in a rush when my child was little, it's like, you're going to wear this and you're going to eat this and we're going to pack this toy and we're leaving. We have to go now. So it's really making sure that you take the time to provide them opportunities. To make those decisions themselves.
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I know that there are so many more children today that need speech therapy. What do you think are some of. The societal, environmental, and educational factors that have contributed to that? I think definitely, you know, we all remember the period of COVID and a lot of isolation that parents and children had, right. So a lot of these children that were born during COVID they weren't exposed socially to other children. A lot of times I had one child who was wearing a mask. You know, when he went to the preschool, he had a mask on. He wasn't talking. He was already past two years old.
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He was two and a half even. And he was not talking, barely making any kind of babbling noises. It was more like, you know, like he was just whining and crying. So I think as far as environmental, social aspects of impacting language these days, it's definitely after Covid. We've seen a lot of children who need speech therapy, and it's not so much that they're delayed in other aspects in their development.
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Right. They're physically fine. Their fine motor is fine. Cognitively, they seem like they understand everything. It's just that they were provided for quite a bit and they weren't introduced to other forms of language from other children or interactions. And that also plays into, when I was little, you know, my mom was a working mom. She was working, and I had to kind of figure things out. I think as this generation of parents and caregivers now, we don't want our child to cry or be uncomfortable. We want to be better parents than we thought our parents were for us in a way. So you either become your parent or you become the complete opposite, right? So either you had a really great. Parent, you thought your parent did everything. For you, you want to do everything for your child, or your parents really didn't do too much, and you were like, well, I want to be the opposite. I want to be a really good caregiver for my child.
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So whether you're a parent taking care. Of children or grandparents having to take. Care of a child, you're over anticipating and kind of overcompensating in a way because you feel this some kind of, you know, not resentment or guilt or something that you weren't seeing that kind of caregiving done for you. So you want to overcompensate and do. That for the child. I've had parents tell me I didn't know I had to interact with my child so much. I didn't know I had to read with my child so much or play or sing with my child. I thought I just had to make sure they were fed and make sure. That they were clean, make sure that they were warm or cool, whatever the temperature, make sure that they had toys around them.
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And that's what they thought that good caregiving was, is, you know, and that is, that's a great part of it, is that it, to know what the child needs, anticipate their needs.
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But I feel that if parents can anticipate, but then pull back and allow that child to be a part of that conversation, I think that's a bigger key in growing communication. So I think under anticipating, mindfully, you know, the subtitle of my book is. To mindfully under anticipate the child's needs. And create opportunities to practice language. I think that's so key in developing language in young children and continue to do some of those things with my. Son now, even though he's twelve.
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So I think it's a lifelong thing. And even some adults that I work with doing certain speech therapy things, I will play dumb if I can give an example. I was working with this gentleman who has a tracheostomy, and we're working on a speaking valve for him. He had a little bit of a breathy voice and physical therapy was working with him, too. And I said, great, he can work on counting his repetitions.
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Counting. So he was like, 1234.
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And his five was a little bit softer. And I was like, what did you say? I didn't hear you. And the physical therapist was like, oh. I think he said five. And I'm like, I know I'm playing dumb.
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I'm trying to, in a natural way, be like, I didn't hear you. You need to speak up. So I think there's ways to play dumb in every aspect of a person's therapy, whether it be for children or adults.
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What I've noticed with technology, the blessing has been with my grandchildren that they're hearing other children speaking. So my grandson's speech improves because of children's YouTube. Yeah, I think there's positives.
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Absolutely some positives for, you know, YouTube and other forms of digital for the children because they get all of these models and they get to see, visually the representations of the words and situations. I think it's really important. You know, sometimes you do need to, hey, I need to cook dinner. You need to watch this show for a little bit. So I know you're not, you know. Running around and making a mess about. Something, you know, getting into trouble. But I think a good part of letting them watch those shows is having the parent also watch those shows with them and then commenting about the shows and also talking about the shows and then taking those examples that are on the shows and generalizing it into your own life. Right? So if you watch, like, Miss Rachel or you see whatever shows you guys are watching, see how you can apply those same lessons that they're showing on the screen to your dinner or your.
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Your playtime, you know, like, talking about, oh, if they were eating a meal on the show, then at dinner time, like, oh, let's talk about our food, too. Like, oh, I love to have this chicken. This is delicious. How do you like your chicken? So it's about taking examples and then also seeing how you can apply it into your life as well. I think that's a great tip. Any other strategies for parents that you think we can implement with young children to help them with their language development? Absolutely. You know, another simple thing that you. Could do is start sequencing with your child. You know, so at a very young age, I would tell my son, okay, we're going to do this first, then we're going to do that next, and then this last. And then as the day went on, it's like, oh, we did this, and this is and that. So now we're going to do the next three things. So helping them organize it helps them to understand, oh, first we're going to brush our teeth and change into pajamas and then read a book. Oh, we did all those things. Now it's time to go to sleep, whatever it is. Now, my son, he's like, what are we going to do today? And I said, okay, we have all. Of these things that we have planned. And then if we forget something, he's like, oh, wait, mom, you forgot to do x, Y and z. And I'm like, oh, yes, thank you for reminding me. Or, hey, mom, you didn't mark off. Yesterday on the calendar. So it helps them to sequence and organize and also to problem solve for themselves. To have a good organization is good. One tip, I would say, for parents is to not ask a yes no question unless you are willing to honor that no. So it goes for parents, caregivers, educators. If you ask a child, are you. Ready to clean up? Are you ready to have dinner? Are you ready to brush your teeth? And they say no.
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Then you have to honor that no. So I might ask my son, okay, it's time to get ready for bed. Do you want to brush your teeth first or change into pajamas first?
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Or we're going to have a snack. Do you want to have crackers or a banana? Or we're going to, we're going to do these two things. We're going to read a book and we're going to work out, because sometimes he has to work out his right arm and everything. So we're going to read a book or work out which one do you want to do first? So it gives him that opportunity to make that decision for himself and feel empowered that he's made that decision. And also he understands we're going to do two things, and no matter what, we're still going to do those two things. Yeah. And then I'm not sure if your grandchild or children are working on articulation, but for my kids with articulation difficulties, I don't ever ask, can you say caterpillar or can you do this? Or can you say octopus or whatever it is? I'm going to say caterpillar. You say it or your turn. So it's never, can you do this? And then they'll be like, no. I'm like, okay, well, okay, we'll try something else. Does that make sense?
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Yes. Yes. That's great advice. It's probably the biggest thing that parents need to get over, that habit of asking yes, no questions. They're always like, can you do this? Would you like this? Or always, it's like the biggest thing, but it's something I learned very early on as a speech therapist, and I'm so glad I did because it really helps you shift your mindset about how you formulate questions and how you ask them to do things or tell them to do things rather than asking them a yes no question. If you really want to know, are you hungry or are you cold, you really want to know those yes no answers. But if you want to know if they are ready to clean up and do their homework, it's not so much, you know, it's not a good question to ask. All great advice, and especially with children with ADHD issues, being specific about where you're leading them is very helpful, I find.
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Yeah, absolutely. Both of them. And then going back to the sequencing, with children with ADHD, you know, they have problems with organization a lot of times, right? So if you give them too many things on their schedule, like we're gonna do all of these things, they might get overwhelmed a lot of times. So if you say, we're gonna do this first we're gonna. First we're going to clean our room, and then we're going to have dinner, or then we get to do something else. So if you sequence one or two things like first this for then that, then it helps them to kind of organize and helps them be grounded in their situation rather than feel overwhelmed about what's happening. Absolutely. What are some of the goals for your book? You know, I would love to have this book be the new baby shower gift. Every parent should have it.
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You know, one of my mentors for speech therapy, I talk about her in the book. She's on faculty at the University of Hawaii right now, and she was like, every new therapist should read the book as well. My goal is to have the book, whether it's the paperback, the Kindle, or it's an audio. It's an audiobook as well. Now to get it in as many hands and ears as possible would be amazing because I think we really can change the world by having the language development of young children be better. Just a mind shift change, and have a conversation with these caregivers and educators on how to develop language. I would love to do local trainings in person. I'm in Los Angeles right now, so. If anybody's in Los Angeles, they want to reach out. I would love to do local trainings. I've been reaching out to the YMCA. I've done a couple there. I need to reach out also to other early language development centers. I would love to do some online trainings and conferences. And within a year or so, I would love to do a TED talk about this because I think it's something that's really important. Having that little seed of an idea placed into the minds of people around the world. I think it would really change the world. I'd love to organize an online training with grandparents raising grandchildren. How can we find more information about. Your workshops and participating in them? So I have a website. It's called playdumbandsabotage.com.
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i will be posting any of my events on there. They can be added to my contact page as well. There's a way to reach out to me there. My book is available there as well.
00:31:31.836 --> 00:32:03.599
And I'll be posting some of the podcasts that I've been on, such as yours. I'll be posting that on there as well so people could reach out to me there. And you have social media sites? I do. I do. So I'm active mainly on Instagram. So on Instagram I am play dumb and sabotage. And my personal one is 808. Great. And I will post those links in the show notes. Well, great. I learned a lot. I'm excited to get deeper into your book this fall when the kids are back in school.
00:32:04.579 --> 00:33:29.592
And I love that you're offering it on audible because that's a key opportunity for grandparents as we have little time to listen. I'm sure many grandparents like myself listen to audible books and podcasts on their way to school and home, from school and driving around to all the activities that we have to get to these days. So I appreciate that you're doing that. Thanks, Janine, so much for joining us and for all your valuable wisdom. And I'm looking forward to speaking with you again and perhaps even doing an online workshop. That would be wonderful. Amazing. Thank you so much, Laura, for having me. And I would love to do an online workshop and conference with you. I had a couple of questions from listeners with children that have speech issues. One of them is from a listener named Diane Whitlow. She said that her grandson had speech therapy from the age of two until he was three. At the age of three, she said her school district took over his case and denied him any further speech therapy, to the dismay of herself as well as his early intervention therapist. He's now four and he's very hard to understand and only says part of the word. I requested that he be reevaluated. He had his evaluation last week. The therapist did the assessment, found that he is tongue tied and she felt. This is making it hard for him.
00:33:29.615 --> 00:33:50.990
To say certain letters. He had a dentist appointment the next, and the dentist agreed. I'm hoping I will now get him the help that he needs through the district. So have you had experience with children. Being evaluated with this term tongue tied? Yes. So I just was talking to a mother and her child was tongue tied.
00:33:51.289 --> 00:34:50.326
So that was affecting the articulation. So once the ligament underneath the tongue is cut, so you can have more range of motion of the tongue, then the child did need speech therapy for about six months to kind of get used to how to use their tongue better. So even though they might say that the tongue tie is going to be fixed by the clipping, I would still suggest that they pursue the speech therapy for at least six months or so to make sure that the child is able to accommodate for their new tongue movement. I imagine that this is a problem that a lot of people aren't aware of. I think a lot of times it's. Overlooked because we don't really look under the child's tongue. I think a lot more times when the child's having a problem with breastfeeding or drinking from the bottle, they might take a look at what the tongue is doing because that'll decrease their ability to have that sucking motion with their tongue.
00:34:50.398 --> 00:35:20.141
Interesting. And then I had another question from another listener that said, my middle and youngest children drool a lot when speaking. They speak clearly and you can understand them unless they're going too fast, but then usually drool slips out at the end or beginning of them speaking. They just turn four and five. I read that that could be due to their muscles not being strong enough. I'd love to hear about some ways. To help strengthen that, right? Yes, definitely.
00:35:20.206 --> 00:35:59.289
Even my son now, even though he speaks very clearly, and he will drool every now and then, and partially, that's probably from his leftover stroke. Decreased awareness that there's saliva in their mouth. So definitely if the child is drooling, it could be from decreased muscle tone. So I would practice over articulating things, working on over enunciating certain fun, either songs or things that the child knows already. You're not going to have them over articulate everything, but you want them to overarticulate something that they're familiar with.
00:35:59.710 --> 00:36:02.813
It sounds like they're intelligible.
00:36:02.942 --> 00:36:24.184
So the overall strength of their tongue, their jaw, their lips, sounds like it's okay, it's adequate. So doing simple, repetitive things like jaw exercises or tongue exercises probably are not where they need to focus. It's more on the over articulation.
00:36:24.271 --> 00:36:34.820
And also if the grandparents or caregivers can listen to the child's speech and if they can hear a little bit of wetness in the child's mouth just to cure them to swallow.
00:36:35.719 --> 00:37:02.271
I have a client who will sometimes. Drool, and the parents like, oh, she's. Drooling all the time. But when I'm working with her, if I just see a little bit of drool building up or if I hear a little bit of wetness, I just cured a swallow, and she's fine. So sometimes it's just a decreased awareness that there is all this saliva building up because they may be talking so quickly. And then another question several listeners asked.
00:37:02.335 --> 00:37:06.128
Was a question that I have about. My grandchildren as well.
00:37:06.264 --> 00:39:03.030
They have difficulty articulating their r's. I'm sure that's not an uncommon problem, but any suggestions on how to work with children that have that problem? Great. Yeah. So r is definitely a later developing sound. So around five, six years old is when we want those to be more solidified. So if it's a young child, don't worry about it too much. But a great way to work on the r is to smile and go, because sometimes the r will turn into a wooden, like for wed. They'll say wed instead of red. So it's their lips coming together. So if you kind of work on keeping those lips apart and kind of breaking the word up, so the beginning sound and then the next part of the word, so o r ain, and then kind of blending those together as you go, if it's the end part of the word, you also want to stress, like, if it's a dancer, you know, have. They'll say dance o or teacho if it's like, they do a w or an o for it, so making sure that they're smiling. And the tongue tip, if you think about it, when you're making that sound, your tongue tip is actually activated within your mouth, and it's kind of pulling backwards, too. So making sure that their tongue is moving correctly is good. They can do tongue retraction and things, so playing with your articulators is really important. So your tongue, your teeth, your jaw, and making sure that you're able to form these different sounds by changing the way your articulators are moving. All the same muscles we use for. Speaking are the same muscles we use for eating. So if a child is not eating harder foods or able to chew their foods well, they might have lower muscle tone.
00:39:04.250 --> 00:39:20.949
And even when I work with adults. In the hospital, if the patient has dementia or something where they're not speaking and they're not able to articulate well, then it's going to affect their speech as well. Thanks, Janine. Those were all great suggestions. I appreciate that and I'm sure our listeners do.
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If you have any questions for any of our experts, we'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email and we'll be sure to get back with you in our next episode of grandparents raising grandchildren nurturing through adversity, we dive into the remarkable world of Marcy pusey.
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Marcy, a powerhouse in mental health and trauma with a personal journey filled with resilience, has a story worth sharing. Join us as we explore her unique blend of expertise in clinical counseling, personal triumph over adversity, and a passion for storytelling that ignites hope and healing.
00:40:04.260 --> 00:40:20.849
Thanks so much for joining us today for another episode of grandparents raising grandchildren. Nurturing through adversity I encourage you to share your challenges and your successes with us. Your story is undoubtedly one someone else needs to hear.
00:40:21.550 --> 00:40:48.360
You can submit your stories to the links provided in the podcast information. Your contributions will enrich upcoming conversations, creating a more supportive community in which we can learn and grow together. If you enjoyed this show, please share it with a friend that needs to hear. And if you love this show and you're listening on a broadcasting platform like Apple or Spotify, just scroll down in your app and please leave us a review.
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As a grandmother facing the challenges of helping my grandchildren with speech issues, I often felt lost and overwhelmed. Have you struggled with how to interact with children who have difficulty with speech and communicating? Do you struggle with knowing how to. Help them with their difficulty pronouncing sounds well? Join us in enlightening episode where speech pathologist Jeanine Tang shares her expert insights and practical advice on navigating speech issues in children.
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Discover fun and easy to use techniques and exercises that Jeanine has shared with me, a grandmother just like you, to help unlock your child's voice and build their confidence in communication. Don't miss this inspiring episode that promises to be a game changer for children and families facing speech challenges and stick around afterwards as Janine answers some personal questions from some of our listeners.
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Welcome to grandparents raising grandchildren nurturing through adversity in this podcast, we will delve deep into the challenges and triumphs of grandparents raising grandchildren as we navigate the complexities of legal, financial, and emotional support. I invite you to join us on a journey of exploring thoughts, feelings, and beliefs surrounding this growing segment of our society. Drawing from real stories and expert advice, we will explore the nuances of child rearing for children who have experienced trauma and offer valuable resources to guide you through the intricate journey of kinship care.
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We'll discuss how we can change the course of history. Bye.
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Rewriting our grandchildren's future, all within a supportive community that understands the unique joys and struggles. This podcast was made especially for you.
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Welcome to a community where your voice is heard, your experiences are valued, and your journey is honored.
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I could hardly understand my three year old grandson and the frustration he had in being able to communicate his wants and needs left me searching for answers and guidance.
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It was in this moment of uncertainty that I discovered Jeanine Tang, a knowledgeable and compassionate speech pathologist who has transformed my approach to supporting my grandchildren with their speech and communication challenges. Janine is not only a speech pathologist, but also a mother of a special needs son. Having worked in schools, preschools, and providing early intervention in homes, she's gotten to see how the way we interact with children shapes the way that they developed. Although there are many children who truly. Need speech therapy services due to a. Disability, diagnosis, or impairment, Jeanine also feels that a good number of children who are identified as needing early intervention speech therapy could be prevented if we have more parent, caregiver, and educator training on strategies to present and practice language.
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Janine, I love for you to share with us how you chose to become a speech pathologist and in your own words, share with us your personal story. Thank you, Laura. So going back all the way till I was eight years old, my grandfather was sick, and he ended up passing away from lung cancer.
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And I remember at that time, I felt very helpless. I was eight years old, and I couldn't help him get dressed or bathed or do many things for him that I wanted to.
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And I knew at that time I wanted to be someone that helped others.
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I thought I wanted to be a teacher at one point. And then in high school, I thought, well, why don't I be a physical therapist? Because that could have been someone that could have helped my grandfather. So I went to school, and I got my bachelor's degree in english literature because I knew I needed a master's in physical therapy at the time. So I thought, maybe I'll just get something in another area that I love. And when it came time to apply for physical therapy school, it just seemed like a very saturated profession. And someone mentioned, have you thought about speech therapy?
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And I had not really heard too much about speech therapy.
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So unless you know somebody who's had speech therapy or you've had speech therapy yourself, you don't really hear about it so much. So I looked into it, and my local University of Hawaii at Manoa had a master's program, so I applied there, and I'm really glad that I did. I've been a speech therapist since 2001, and I've worked in the school district in Hawaii for four years. And then when I moved to Los Angeles in 2005, I worked for the school district here for another four years. And then in 2010, I started working in early intervention. It was a really great shift working. With these children from zero to three years old. They were so cute.
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I love working with them. They're so cute.
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And then in 2012, I had my. Own son, and he was adorable. He was a chunky little kid and just full of smiles, and I.
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LAUGHTER and in 2013, unfortunately, he had a very tragic fall from our bed, and it was just 18 inches off the ground, but it was just the perfect way to create this large brain bleed. And he needed an emergency craniotomy. And a few days he had a stroke.
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So we were at the children's Hospital of Los Angeles at the time, and they were saying he might never walk, he might never talk. And, you know, our whole world just went black and we didn't know what to do. And then we had to really think. You know, what was important. It wasn't about our feelings about it. It was about our child and what we could do for him. So I made sure that we got him therapies as soon as possible. And working in early intervention, I knew. What kind of therapies he could get. You know, occupational therapy, physical therapy, infant stimulation, speech therapy.
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And even though I'm a speech therapist and he got speech therapy, with every interaction that we've had, if I had to go back to work, I wanted to make sure that somebody else would be there to teach him. You know what? I could teach him as well.
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And now he's going to be twelve years old soon, and he's amazing. He still has a lot of deficits.
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He has right hemiparesis. He doesn't use his right arm or hand at all. He still has some gait problems, which means like walking and agility, balance with his right leg, and he has some cognitive impairments. But he loves music, he loves dancing, he loves video games.
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He's very social. One of the sweetest things about him is he's very empathetic. And growing up, I always asked him, how'd you sleep last night? Because parents want to know how their child sleeps. When he has a conversation with my friends or sometimes his own friends, he might ask them, so how did you sleep last night? And they're just so taken aback because. No one really asks that question.
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Right. So he's given me a newfound purpose in helping young children, and especially in this day and age, there's so many kids who are normal, developing in every other aspect, but just delayed in the speech, that if they, if their parents were trained a little bit better, caregivers were trained a little bit better, educators trained a little bit better, we could decrease the number of children that needed speech therapy. You've also written a book called play dumb and sabotage. Would you please explain to our listeners the meaning of the title and what's. Covered in the book? Yes. So play dumb and sabotage, it's a term I've used for many, many years now, and I, it goes back to the idea that as caregivers, we think that the idea of caregiving is we. Anticipate all the child's needs. Right. We want to make sure that they are fed, that they are dry and all kinds of stuff. So we over anticipate the child's needs. And plain dumb means to just, you want to anticipate, but you want to reel it back and mindfully under anticipate in order for the child to have opportunities to practice language and sabotage would be something like, you know, creating opportunities to practice the language, such as during snack time just giving a few pieces of the snack rather than a whole bowl. Right. Or have a toy that they love insight, but out of reach. So you might have a toy that you could. I used to do this with my godson, who's now 14. When he was nine months old, I. Would tease him with a toy that. He loved because he wouldn't want to crawl. And I would tease him with it and then move it a little bit further away. So he needed to actually move his body in order to get to this certain item. So it's creating opportunities throughout the day, whether it be, I used to put. My son's underwear on his head rather. Than put it on his body, because he'd be like, wait, that's not right. My underwear goes someplace else. So playing dumb and being really playful, be animated, create opportunities for them to have this interaction. Because if the parent or the caregiver is just anticipating and providing, it's very one sided interaction. It's very much do do for the child, and the child's not able to respond appropriately or maybe initiate that conversation, whether it be through just movement, nonverbal, or through voice and words, you want to be able to have that interaction. How do you use that in the way that you do your therapy? So for therapy, I like to ask absurd questions sometimes. So if there is a toy that, like, those pop up toys that have different animals, if the elephant pops up, I go, oh, what is that? Is that a dog?
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You know, most children know what a dog is, right? So is that a dog?
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They were like, no. Like, even if their facial expression knows, like, oh, that's not a dog. Or I might ask, does a cat say? And they go, what? You know, so it's playing dumb and having them feel smart. Kids love to feel smart, right? They love to be like, oh, you know, you're an adult, and you are not very intelligent, because I know the answers and you don't. Right. And also, sometimes when kids are very shy, I might be able to bring them out of their shell a little bit by playing dumb and be like, oh, you know, if we're playing with a toy, like a car, I'm like, am I gonna eat it? You know? And they're like, no, no, don't eat that. That's silly. That's silly. So they like to feel like they are smarter than you.
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You know, it brings them on their shell, and they're like, no, no, no. That's not what you do. You know, you push the car or you have to eat a banana, something else, you know? So it's like creating this rapport with the child by playing as if you are a child in a way, and having them feel that they are part of the conversation and interaction.
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I love that idea because I think we assume too much at times, having to approach it that way. Perhaps we actually learn more in the process. Yeah. I think also putting yourself in that.
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Playful situation helps the child feel more confident as a communicator, because if we are adults and we're just talking at them, they're hearing these words, but they're not really understanding, and they're not a part of that conversation. They're not experiencing the world as it's meant to be. Right. Having vocabulary exposed to them. So at snack time, I might offer, even if the child isn't speaking, I. Might say, hey, do you want an apple or orange? And hold it shoulder width apart so they can see the items, hear the words, and then make a decision whether it's just visually looking at the item. Pointing at the item, saying the word. And then I like to use language. Bombardment, what we call saying words and sentences that the child might hear but not necessarily are expected to imitate them.
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So if they look at the apple and say, oh, apple, red apple, let's eat it. Let's eat the red apple. Let's cut the apple before we eat it. You know, they're hearing all these words associated with this one target vocabulary, and they're hearing, oh, that. There's more specificity said in these longer sentences, and they're all related back to this one word, and I'm part of that conversation. Maybe it's also intimidating when we approach children with the formal language that we use. Yeah, simple things like slowing your speech down. Right. So if I'm talking to a child, it's almost like learning a foreign language because this is the first time that.
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They'Re hearing a lot of the different. Words and vocabulary terms and these sentence structures. So slowing your speech down just a. Little bit really, really helped. Being super animated, clapping out syllables to.
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Longer words, you know, like caterpillar. Be like caterpillar. Rather than they'd be like kabu. It's like, oh, wait. They were trying to say the word. But they don't know the different parts of the word, so they blend it all together because that's what they hear. It's like learning a different language. I'm trying to learn Spanish, and I'm like, I don't know what that was. You know, but if I see it, if I see the word written out. Or if someone breaks the word up for me, then I'm like, oh, I get it. Those are the parts of the word, and I was saying it completely wrong, even though in my mind, that's what I thought I heard. So it really helps to break up those longer words into syllables and break up those. Those sentences up into syllables as well, because then they can also start understanding that when you say, I want to eat banana or I want to eat.
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Chicken, I want to eat something. There's an I want to eat sounds almost like a phrase in a way. It sounds like one word, but if you say, I want to eat, they understand, like, oh, it's I and it's want, then it's to and eat. So it's all different parts of the sentence. But if I change the last word, that sentence means something completely different.
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Viewing life through the mind of a. Child, we can all learn from that.
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Absolutely. I think it's a great perspective to have because children are so imaginative, right? They have great imagination.
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They have great play naturally. And I think as adults, we tend to not be as creative and not as silly.
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Right. I love being silly with children because they just. They eat it up and they just are like, oh, they want to. They want to play and they want to interact. They want to laugh. And then they start changing. They start changing their response to what you're doing, too. So everything is an interaction. So if they make a sound, I might make that same sound, and then I might change that sound and say something different or do some other hand motion or facial expression. And then they naturally start to imitate. What I did and then maybe change. It up and do a new thing, a novel thing. And it's all part of this interaction. And I say conversation in a way, because it is this back and forth interaction, whether it just be sounds, facial expressions, words, sentences, it's all this back and forth. And they're understanding that I said something or I did something, and that person is reacting to me, and now I'm reacting to them.
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And it helps them to be more confident and be able to express themselves in ways that they weren't able to before. It takes more time to do things that way sometimes, right? Absolutely. So in my book, I say it's way easier to be like, you're going to wear this shirt today and you're going to eat this snack, and you're going to play with this toye. And it takes a lot more time and a lot more cognitive thought process for us as the caregivers to be like, okay, I need to ask them, do you want to wear the red shirt or the blue shirt today? Do you want to play with this toy or that toy, whatever it is, giving them those opportunities to make decisions, it helps them feel that they have the power to do things right. They made that decision. Like, I want to wear that red shirt and it's okay. It doesn't match with the other pat, whatever it is, they made that decision and they feel that it gives them a little bit more confidence. It does take a lot more time and effort to be implementing the strategies in play dumb and sabotage because you do have to take into account that the child is going to help to. Make this decision rather than it's a. Very one sided decision making by the caregiver. Right. We save a lot more time and. We'Ve all been there. If I'm in a rush when my child was little, it's like, you're going to wear this and you're going to eat this and we're going to pack this toy and we're leaving. We have to go now. So it's really making sure that you take the time to provide them opportunities. To make those decisions themselves.
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I know that there are so many more children today that need speech therapy. What do you think are some of. The societal, environmental, and educational factors that have contributed to that? I think definitely, you know, we all remember the period of COVID and a lot of isolation that parents and children had, right. So a lot of these children that were born during COVID they weren't exposed socially to other children. A lot of times I had one child who was wearing a mask. You know, when he went to the preschool, he had a mask on. He wasn't talking. He was already past two years old.
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He was two and a half even. And he was not talking, barely making any kind of babbling noises. It was more like, you know, like he was just whining and crying. So I think as far as environmental, social aspects of impacting language these days, it's definitely after Covid. We've seen a lot of children who need speech therapy, and it's not so much that they're delayed in other aspects in their development.
00:19:45.604 --> 00:20:48.471
Right. They're physically fine. Their fine motor is fine. Cognitively, they seem like they understand everything. It's just that they were provided for quite a bit and they weren't introduced to other forms of language from other children or interactions. And that also plays into, when I was little, you know, my mom was a working mom. She was working, and I had to kind of figure things out. I think as this generation of parents and caregivers now, we don't want our child to cry or be uncomfortable. We want to be better parents than we thought our parents were for us in a way. So you either become your parent or you become the complete opposite, right? So either you had a really great. Parent, you thought your parent did everything. For you, you want to do everything for your child, or your parents really didn't do too much, and you were like, well, I want to be the opposite. I want to be a really good caregiver for my child.
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So whether you're a parent taking care. Of children or grandparents having to take. Care of a child, you're over anticipating and kind of overcompensating in a way because you feel this some kind of, you know, not resentment or guilt or something that you weren't seeing that kind of caregiving done for you. So you want to overcompensate and do. That for the child. I've had parents tell me I didn't know I had to interact with my child so much. I didn't know I had to read with my child so much or play or sing with my child. I thought I just had to make sure they were fed and make sure. That they were clean, make sure that they were warm or cool, whatever the temperature, make sure that they had toys around them.
00:21:32.238 --> 00:21:43.006
And that's what they thought that good caregiving was, is, you know, and that is, that's a great part of it, is that it, to know what the child needs, anticipate their needs.
00:21:43.198 --> 00:22:19.920
But I feel that if parents can anticipate, but then pull back and allow that child to be a part of that conversation, I think that's a bigger key in growing communication. So I think under anticipating, mindfully, you know, the subtitle of my book is. To mindfully under anticipate the child's needs. And create opportunities to practice language. I think that's so key in developing language in young children and continue to do some of those things with my. Son now, even though he's twelve.
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So I think it's a lifelong thing. And even some adults that I work with doing certain speech therapy things, I will play dumb if I can give an example. I was working with this gentleman who has a tracheostomy, and we're working on a speaking valve for him. He had a little bit of a breathy voice and physical therapy was working with him, too. And I said, great, he can work on counting his repetitions.
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Counting. So he was like, 1234.
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And his five was a little bit softer. And I was like, what did you say? I didn't hear you. And the physical therapist was like, oh. I think he said five. And I'm like, I know I'm playing dumb.
00:23:03.862 --> 00:23:18.250
I'm trying to, in a natural way, be like, I didn't hear you. You need to speak up. So I think there's ways to play dumb in every aspect of a person's therapy, whether it be for children or adults.
00:23:19.349 --> 00:23:36.750
What I've noticed with technology, the blessing has been with my grandchildren that they're hearing other children speaking. So my grandson's speech improves because of children's YouTube. Yeah, I think there's positives.
00:23:36.869 --> 00:24:38.519
Absolutely some positives for, you know, YouTube and other forms of digital for the children because they get all of these models and they get to see, visually the representations of the words and situations. I think it's really important. You know, sometimes you do need to, hey, I need to cook dinner. You need to watch this show for a little bit. So I know you're not, you know. Running around and making a mess about. Something, you know, getting into trouble. But I think a good part of letting them watch those shows is having the parent also watch those shows with them and then commenting about the shows and also talking about the shows and then taking those examples that are on the shows and generalizing it into your own life. Right? So if you watch, like, Miss Rachel or you see whatever shows you guys are watching, see how you can apply those same lessons that they're showing on the screen to your dinner or your.
00:24:38.900 --> 00:26:33.019
Your playtime, you know, like, talking about, oh, if they were eating a meal on the show, then at dinner time, like, oh, let's talk about our food, too. Like, oh, I love to have this chicken. This is delicious. How do you like your chicken? So it's about taking examples and then also seeing how you can apply it into your life as well. I think that's a great tip. Any other strategies for parents that you think we can implement with young children to help them with their language development? Absolutely. You know, another simple thing that you. Could do is start sequencing with your child. You know, so at a very young age, I would tell my son, okay, we're going to do this first, then we're going to do that next, and then this last. And then as the day went on, it's like, oh, we did this, and this is and that. So now we're going to do the next three things. So helping them organize it helps them to understand, oh, first we're going to brush our teeth and change into pajamas and then read a book. Oh, we did all those things. Now it's time to go to sleep, whatever it is. Now, my son, he's like, what are we going to do today? And I said, okay, we have all. Of these things that we have planned. And then if we forget something, he's like, oh, wait, mom, you forgot to do x, Y and z. And I'm like, oh, yes, thank you for reminding me. Or, hey, mom, you didn't mark off. Yesterday on the calendar. So it helps them to sequence and organize and also to problem solve for themselves. To have a good organization is good. One tip, I would say, for parents is to not ask a yes no question unless you are willing to honor that no. So it goes for parents, caregivers, educators. If you ask a child, are you. Ready to clean up? Are you ready to have dinner? Are you ready to brush your teeth? And they say no.
00:26:33.480 --> 00:26:42.779
Then you have to honor that no. So I might ask my son, okay, it's time to get ready for bed. Do you want to brush your teeth first or change into pajamas first?
00:26:43.170 --> 00:27:49.619
Or we're going to have a snack. Do you want to have crackers or a banana? Or we're going to, we're going to do these two things. We're going to read a book and we're going to work out, because sometimes he has to work out his right arm and everything. So we're going to read a book or work out which one do you want to do first? So it gives him that opportunity to make that decision for himself and feel empowered that he's made that decision. And also he understands we're going to do two things, and no matter what, we're still going to do those two things. Yeah. And then I'm not sure if your grandchild or children are working on articulation, but for my kids with articulation difficulties, I don't ever ask, can you say caterpillar or can you do this? Or can you say octopus or whatever it is? I'm going to say caterpillar. You say it or your turn. So it's never, can you do this? And then they'll be like, no. I'm like, okay, well, okay, we'll try something else. Does that make sense?
00:27:50.160 --> 00:29:01.546
Yes. Yes. That's great advice. It's probably the biggest thing that parents need to get over, that habit of asking yes, no questions. They're always like, can you do this? Would you like this? Or always, it's like the biggest thing, but it's something I learned very early on as a speech therapist, and I'm so glad I did because it really helps you shift your mindset about how you formulate questions and how you ask them to do things or tell them to do things rather than asking them a yes no question. If you really want to know, are you hungry or are you cold, you really want to know those yes no answers. But if you want to know if they are ready to clean up and do their homework, it's not so much, you know, it's not a good question to ask. All great advice, and especially with children with ADHD issues, being specific about where you're leading them is very helpful, I find.
00:29:01.617 --> 00:29:50.049
Yeah, absolutely. Both of them. And then going back to the sequencing, with children with ADHD, you know, they have problems with organization a lot of times, right? So if you give them too many things on their schedule, like we're gonna do all of these things, they might get overwhelmed a lot of times. So if you say, we're gonna do this first we're gonna. First we're going to clean our room, and then we're going to have dinner, or then we get to do something else. So if you sequence one or two things like first this for then that, then it helps them to kind of organize and helps them be grounded in their situation rather than feel overwhelmed about what's happening. Absolutely. What are some of the goals for your book? You know, I would love to have this book be the new baby shower gift. Every parent should have it.
00:29:52.029 --> 00:31:19.990
You know, one of my mentors for speech therapy, I talk about her in the book. She's on faculty at the University of Hawaii right now, and she was like, every new therapist should read the book as well. My goal is to have the book, whether it's the paperback, the Kindle, or it's an audio. It's an audiobook as well. Now to get it in as many hands and ears as possible would be amazing because I think we really can change the world by having the language development of young children be better. Just a mind shift change, and have a conversation with these caregivers and educators on how to develop language. I would love to do local trainings in person. I'm in Los Angeles right now, so. If anybody's in Los Angeles, they want to reach out. I would love to do local trainings. I've been reaching out to the YMCA. I've done a couple there. I need to reach out also to other early language development centers. I would love to do some online trainings and conferences. And within a year or so, I would love to do a TED talk about this because I think it's something that's really important. Having that little seed of an idea placed into the minds of people around the world. I think it would really change the world. I'd love to organize an online training with grandparents raising grandchildren. How can we find more information about. Your workshops and participating in them? So I have a website. It's called playdumbandsabotage.com.
00:31:20.619 --> 00:31:31.731
i will be posting any of my events on there. They can be added to my contact page as well. There's a way to reach out to me there. My book is available there as well.
00:31:31.836 --> 00:32:03.599
And I'll be posting some of the podcasts that I've been on, such as yours. I'll be posting that on there as well so people could reach out to me there. And you have social media sites? I do. I do. So I'm active mainly on Instagram. So on Instagram I am play dumb and sabotage. And my personal one is 808. Great. And I will post those links in the show notes. Well, great. I learned a lot. I'm excited to get deeper into your book this fall when the kids are back in school.
00:32:04.579 --> 00:33:29.592
And I love that you're offering it on audible because that's a key opportunity for grandparents as we have little time to listen. I'm sure many grandparents like myself listen to audible books and podcasts on their way to school and home, from school and driving around to all the activities that we have to get to these days. So I appreciate that you're doing that. Thanks, Janine, so much for joining us and for all your valuable wisdom. And I'm looking forward to speaking with you again and perhaps even doing an online workshop. That would be wonderful. Amazing. Thank you so much, Laura, for having me. And I would love to do an online workshop and conference with you. I had a couple of questions from listeners with children that have speech issues. One of them is from a listener named Diane Whitlow. She said that her grandson had speech therapy from the age of two until he was three. At the age of three, she said her school district took over his case and denied him any further speech therapy, to the dismay of herself as well as his early intervention therapist. He's now four and he's very hard to understand and only says part of the word. I requested that he be reevaluated. He had his evaluation last week. The therapist did the assessment, found that he is tongue tied and she felt. This is making it hard for him.
00:33:29.615 --> 00:33:50.990
To say certain letters. He had a dentist appointment the next, and the dentist agreed. I'm hoping I will now get him the help that he needs through the district. So have you had experience with children. Being evaluated with this term tongue tied? Yes. So I just was talking to a mother and her child was tongue tied.
00:33:51.289 --> 00:34:50.326
So that was affecting the articulation. So once the ligament underneath the tongue is cut, so you can have more range of motion of the tongue, then the child did need speech therapy for about six months to kind of get used to how to use their tongue better. So even though they might say that the tongue tie is going to be fixed by the clipping, I would still suggest that they pursue the speech therapy for at least six months or so to make sure that the child is able to accommodate for their new tongue movement. I imagine that this is a problem that a lot of people aren't aware of. I think a lot of times it's. Overlooked because we don't really look under the child's tongue. I think a lot more times when the child's having a problem with breastfeeding or drinking from the bottle, they might take a look at what the tongue is doing because that'll decrease their ability to have that sucking motion with their tongue.
00:34:50.398 --> 00:35:20.141
Interesting. And then I had another question from another listener that said, my middle and youngest children drool a lot when speaking. They speak clearly and you can understand them unless they're going too fast, but then usually drool slips out at the end or beginning of them speaking. They just turn four and five. I read that that could be due to their muscles not being strong enough. I'd love to hear about some ways. To help strengthen that, right? Yes, definitely.
00:35:20.206 --> 00:35:59.289
Even my son now, even though he speaks very clearly, and he will drool every now and then, and partially, that's probably from his leftover stroke. Decreased awareness that there's saliva in their mouth. So definitely if the child is drooling, it could be from decreased muscle tone. So I would practice over articulating things, working on over enunciating certain fun, either songs or things that the child knows already. You're not going to have them over articulate everything, but you want them to overarticulate something that they're familiar with.
00:35:59.710 --> 00:36:02.813
It sounds like they're intelligible.
00:36:02.942 --> 00:36:24.184
So the overall strength of their tongue, their jaw, their lips, sounds like it's okay, it's adequate. So doing simple, repetitive things like jaw exercises or tongue exercises probably are not where they need to focus. It's more on the over articulation.
00:36:24.271 --> 00:36:34.820
And also if the grandparents or caregivers can listen to the child's speech and if they can hear a little bit of wetness in the child's mouth just to cure them to swallow.
00:36:35.719 --> 00:37:02.271
I have a client who will sometimes. Drool, and the parents like, oh, she's. Drooling all the time. But when I'm working with her, if I just see a little bit of drool building up or if I hear a little bit of wetness, I just cured a swallow, and she's fine. So sometimes it's just a decreased awareness that there is all this saliva building up because they may be talking so quickly. And then another question several listeners asked.
00:37:02.335 --> 00:37:06.128
Was a question that I have about. My grandchildren as well.
00:37:06.264 --> 00:39:03.030
They have difficulty articulating their r's. I'm sure that's not an uncommon problem, but any suggestions on how to work with children that have that problem? Great. Yeah. So r is definitely a later developing sound. So around five, six years old is when we want those to be more solidified. So if it's a young child, don't worry about it too much. But a great way to work on the r is to smile and go, because sometimes the r will turn into a wooden, like for wed. They'll say wed instead of red. So it's their lips coming together. So if you kind of work on keeping those lips apart and kind of breaking the word up, so the beginning sound and then the next part of the word, so o r ain, and then kind of blending those together as you go, if it's the end part of the word, you also want to stress, like, if it's a dancer, you know, have. They'll say dance o or teacho if it's like, they do a w or an o for it, so making sure that they're smiling. And the tongue tip, if you think about it, when you're making that sound, your tongue tip is actually activated within your mouth, and it's kind of pulling backwards, too. So making sure that their tongue is moving correctly is good. They can do tongue retraction and things, so playing with your articulators is really important. So your tongue, your teeth, your jaw, and making sure that you're able to form these different sounds by changing the way your articulators are moving. All the same muscles we use for. Speaking are the same muscles we use for eating. So if a child is not eating harder foods or able to chew their foods well, they might have lower muscle tone.
00:39:04.250 --> 00:39:20.949
And even when I work with adults. In the hospital, if the patient has dementia or something where they're not speaking and they're not able to articulate well, then it's going to affect their speech as well. Thanks, Janine. Those were all great suggestions. I appreciate that and I'm sure our listeners do.
00:39:23.179 --> 00:39:40.559
If you have any questions for any of our experts, we'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email and we'll be sure to get back with you in our next episode of grandparents raising grandchildren nurturing through adversity, we dive into the remarkable world of Marcy pusey.
00:39:40.940 --> 00:40:01.400
Marcy, a powerhouse in mental health and trauma with a personal journey filled with resilience, has a story worth sharing. Join us as we explore her unique blend of expertise in clinical counseling, personal triumph over adversity, and a passion for storytelling that ignites hope and healing.
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Thanks so much for joining us today for another episode of grandparents raising grandchildren. Nurturing through adversity I encourage you to share your challenges and your successes with us. Your story is undoubtedly one someone else needs to hear.
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