by admin | Feb 28, 2016 | news
I write this article thinking of all those moms who say things like this in the consultation: "to be able to rest I put her to watch TV", "see how well she behaves when she watches TV", "the nanny sleeps it like this, with the TV on" or "the grandmother takes care of it and since she is so tired, they watch a lot of TV". If your child does not yet speak and loves to watch TV, it is very likely that this is a key factor in changing the environment in which it develops. The general recommendation is to try not to expose them to it before the age of two, since it is associated with the appearance of delays in language development and neuronal alterations due to the prolonged exposure of some images and changes in light and colour; but it is also necessary to be realistic. In many of our homes young children are exposed to it for different reasons. This is why instead of totally eliminating it from our lives I recommend turning it into a tool. I explain it with a real-life example: you are tired after a day's work, you decide that you want to rest for a while and sit your child down to see something he likes. While the child is focused, you check his Facebook, answer messages, end the program and get up. This was wasted time for your son because at that time he received information but there was no reciprocity in the communication. If, on the other hand, you share what he or she is seeing and comment on things like: what is Mickey doing? Where did they go? What color is her dress? See what dinosaur is bigger! Does it look big or small to you? And a while later they comment again; at that moment television becomes a learning tool and your child will have taken advantage of the time sharing his world with you and exercising his communication skills. The same principle applies to tablets and cell phones. My recommendation is to use them with measure (less than two hours a day and in short intervals) and always supervise and accompany. If it is impossible for you to accompany your child, it is better to engage in another activity . Remember that the secret is to turn your "enemies" into friends.
by admin | Feb 27, 2016 | news
People often ask me: Is it really bad to use a pacifier?
With a newborn baby and as a speech therapist I had decided not to use a pacifier with my son. NEVER! Just as I had decided to breastfeed for two years, and just as one decides a thousand things ... but along the way you have to make changes, even if you do not want. I wanted to avoid doing so because of the effects it can have on speech development and also to avoid the typical comment: a child of a lollipop therapist! Yet a few days after her birth she was exhausted, with cesarean pains, nursing, not sleeping, and caring for another child. It was too much for me and guess what? The pacifier turned out to be my salvation... I just wanted to sleep and as a last resort I gave up: desperate I went to look for a pacifier. My son accepted it and made him (us) sleep like never before. This gave me a new perspective on all that information and advice we moms get and how sometimes not following them is only related to a survival issue.
For those of you who bear the guilt of offering your children a pacifier. There's no reason to feel bad. Pacifiers are perfectly suitable for children during the first year of life. However, try to limit its use after 6 months (I only offered it at bedtime) and try to eliminate it by 12 months. One option that was easy for me was to give him along with his pacifier, a toy he associated with bedtime. In my case it was a salamander called Charlie, a stuffed animal with lights and relaxing music. The first day we removed the pacifier was Charlie who accompanied my son and told him that the pacifier would never come back. He never asked about her again.
If you have any anecdote or advice regarding the dreaded pacifier please share it with us.
by admin | Feb 26, 2016 | news
When my son turned 7 months of age we sensed that he was drooling excessively (sialorrhea). With our previous son we had not experienced any difficulty in this aspect. Many people thought it was normal because of the teething process but did not think it was normal to get so wet. He sensed that more than excess saliva, as many thought, could be a difficulty in swallowing it. As a speech therapist I knew that to help him I had to strengthen his orofacial musculature (tongue, palate veil, cheeks, etc.) since drooling could be the product of hypotonic muscles. Many times moms worried more than they should but I didn't really want to risk any difficulty in the development of their speech and for this reason we implemented two exercises very easy to do at home. 1. I decided to teach him how to drink with a straw. To start you can use a small tetrabrik straw juice (there are many options on the market). How do we get the baby who drinks from a bottle or breast to learn to drink with a straw? Very easy ! Little by little you should press the container until small amounts of juice come out. Your child will quickly learn to suck to get the juice, to swallow and will understand the process. Once the child begins to drink from the container with straw gradually press the straw in order to exert force on his musculature trying to suck the juice. The straw exercise strengthens the tongue, so that it is able to carry the saliva to the back of the mouth to be swallowed . Another very effective technique is the electric toothbrush , obviously appropriate for the size of your small mouth .
The electric toothbrush inside your mouth: cheeks, tongue and gums two or three times a day helps to increase the sensitivity of the mouth and that increase makes the child more aware of his drooling. You can also use an always small vibrator.
The combination of both exercises can be the solution of drooling in your little one ! It worked for me, if you decide to try it at home tell us how it goes ! You can send us videos and photos and thus share your experience with all of us.
Dew
by admin | Feb 8, 2016 | news
We all carry the accent with us. The accent is the pronunciation that those who speak the same language have in common. You can also hear people with foreign accents, people whose native language affects the pronunciation of the new language you want to adopt.
Nowadays, a lot of people move from one country to another, or their work demands that their communication be totally intelligible. The accent often does not allow communication to be as functional as it needs to be. That's why the accent can be modified.
All languages have characteristic sounds and it is by modifying these sounds through pronunciation, tone and rhythm techniques that the effect of accent on speech is reduced and communication skills improved.
Some of the areas in which modification of the accent is important:
- People whose mother tongue is not Spanish
- People who want to reduce a regional or foreign accent in a new country.
- Professionals who have regional or foreign accents and wish to improve their communication skills.
If you want more information ask for our sessions !
