by admin | Jan 18, 2017 | news
Among the most common cases in the consultation we find parents worried because their children are oral respirators. One of the causes of this disorder is adenoid hypertrophy. Children breathe through the mouth because the nose is blocked. This type of breathing can lead to symptoms such as nasal congestion, snoring, sleep apnea, and chronic ear infections. Hypertrophy adenoid usually goes hand in hand with tonsillitis and among its symptoms we can observe irritated tonsils, white or yellow coating on the tonsils, change of voice due to swelling, sore throat, difficulty or pain when swallowing, swollen neck nodes, bad breath and fever.
If your child has these symptoms and his or her quality of life is affected , your doctor will most likely recommend that you remove the adenoids and tonsils by surgery called adenoidectomy - tonsillectomy. This surgery is recommended in children who present more than three episodes of infection per year because in addition to the symptoms mentioned above, in the long term it is desired to avoid risks of developing rheumatic fever (affecting the heart valves) and damage to the filtering cells of the kidney. This surgery is ambulatory and has an average duration of one hour.
After surgery, some patients may have hypernasal speech (excessive nasal speech) as the sound is oriented toward the nose and will normalize until the soft palate has been stretched enough to close the space left by the absence of the tonsils and adenoids. In most cases, no additional exercises are necessary to achieve this closure. However, some blowing exercises can speed up the process and ensure a faster recovery. It is very important to wait until the recovery process is complete before starting the murmur exercises. If you don't find the results you expect over the next 2 or 3 months, consult your doctor, who may recommend that you see a speech therapist.
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by admin | Jan 10, 2017 | news
In the month of December I had the opportunity to attend the Wordcamp US . An event held in the city of Philadelphia where users of the WordPress tool met to learn and share experiences. How is technology complemented by speech therapy? We are preparing a surprise that will help parents and children with the practices at home! Stay tuned! 
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by admin | May 11, 2016 | news
In many cases parents or patients are not sure which professional to turn to when there are difficulties in oral or written communication. Other times it is difficult to recognize warning signs in children and valuable time is wasted waiting for the child to move forward on his own. For this reason it seems convenient to me to share some general information in order to know the professional profile of the Language Therapist and when to go to his consultation.
The medical association of Costa Rica has defined the professional profile of the language therapist based on the Profile of the Comité Permanent de Liaison des Orthophonistes-Logopèdes de l'Union Européenne (CPLOL) and has published in the Official Journal La Gaceta No 134 the professional profile of the licensed language therapist (the language therapist does NOT have an academic doctor's degree). According to the 2012 CPLOL, the function of the speech therapist is to prevent, evaluate and assume responsibility, with acts of re-education that constitute treatment, disorders of voice, articulation and speech, as well as disorders associated with the understanding of oral and written language and its expression. Speech Therapy also consists of providing the learning of other forms of non-verbal communication to complete or supplement these functions. Likewise, their work consists of informing, orienting and supporting the family or relatives of the patients since some language disorders are associated with brain damage, hearing damage, intellectual deficit or motor impairments that, in addition to the intervention of the therapist, require treatment and supervision by other health professionals.
There is an idea that speech therapists work only with children, but they are also responsible for caring for adult patients who come to speech therapy for various reasons, for example after surgery, a brain vascular event or when they suffer disorders that were not treated in childhood such as articulatory difficulties. In older adults with degenerative diseases such as dementia, Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease, speech therapy has been shown to be of great help in maintaining patients' skills and quality of life.
Symptoms and warning signs in children.
The most common childhood disorders occur during the language acquisition period and can be resolved with temporary intervention.
There are many cases in which parents attend the consultation on the recommendation of third parties such as a family member or teachers. To make it easier for you to identify some of the warning signs of possible difficulties, you can review this list:
- Your child has infantile speech (from a younger child) and is difficult for the adult to understand or in settings outside the home.
- His vocabulary is reduced and he tends to use a telegraphic language, that is to say with absence of verbal links such as articles and pronouns.
- Abuses gestures, signs and mime to express himself and when they don't understand him he gets frustrated.
- He omits certain sounds that he cannot pronounce ("ammon" for "ham", "duck" for "shoe" or "nano" for "banana").
- He substitutes some sounds for others that are easier for him to pronounce ("tero" for "quiero", "pezo" for "peso").
- It distorts language and gives rise to almost unintelligible words. It's got its own jargon.
- Repeat one or more syllables many times during the broadcast of a phrase.
- Breathe with your mouth open
- He suffers from drastic changes in his voice with frequent dysphonies.
If your child has to go to speech therapy, you should be interested to know. What is therapy? What are the keys to its success?
The duration of each session varies depending on the disorder to be re-educated but most sessions have a duration of 45 to 50 minutes. The total time of the intervention process may vary depending on the difficulty, consistency, and role of the parents during the intervention. It has been shown that when the family is actively involved in the process, recovery is faster.
My recommendation is always that, when in doubt, you should consult a qualified professional who will guide you through the process. This will save you headaches in the future, especially when your son or daughter starts the formal education process. In the case of therapy in children will always be more successful that starts early. If you want to guide you in the process do not hesitate to contact me , Licda Rocío Vargas Mo
by admin | Mar 14, 2016 | news
I often get calls from mothers who are concerned that their children don't talk enough but aren't sure how much they should talk. I always try to reassure them that all children are different and have their own pace but I also explain that there are certain parameters that can guide them to make sure everything is going well:
1) At the age of one year the child should understand at least 50 words and in the expressive area say 1 to 3 words.
2) At 18 months you should understand at least 200 words and say 20 to 50 words.
3) At two years should comprise 500 words, express at least 50 and also start the productions of two words.
If your child is a healthy child, without any health condition that affects his or her language and you consider that he or she does not have these characteristics, there may be some factor that is interfering with his or her correct development and evaluation by a professional is recommended. In an upcoming article I will delve into some other developmental milestones that must also be present in every age range and are important to let us know if something is wrong. Remember that early intervention is more successful than late diagnosis.
by admin | Mar 10, 2016 | news
I have found in the consultation, especially in those home visits, that many times parents have difficulty finding appropriate toys that promote the development of language and speech in our children.
Early language proficiency correlates with later development of reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. Parents are primarily responsible for observing our children and knowing if they are progressing adequately in their ability to express feelings, understand social situations, solve problems and make good decisions, etc. so it is always good to know what to expect from our children in terms of language. From the baby's babbling, the toddler's first words, the preschooler's short phrases to the storytelling of older children.
These areas are stimulated and developed through play. That's our children's job and we must give them the tools they need to do it successfully. Speech therapists can help parents with the selection of toys in order to make better use of them, improve the quality of play and the reproduction of their children's experiences.
Parents often get carried away by advertising and buy our children many toys that entertain them but do not promote speech. That's why my recommendation is to provide your child with toys that promote talking and role play, such as people, animals, puppets, vehicles, houses, farms that help simulation games, promote social interaction, imitations of sounds, words and dialogues.
I leave you with a list of characteristics that according to the renowned American phonoaudiologist Sherry Artemenko, winner of the PAL (Play Advances Language) award, parents should look for in their children's toys if they want to stimulate the development of language and speech:
- Provides numerous opportunities to describe multi-sensory characteristics for the child.
- Offers faces and characters to encourage conversation.
- Provides flexibility, you can use the toy in a variety of ways.
- Encourages interaction, dialogue and storytelling.
- Contains related accessories to promote the simulation game.
- Encourages imagination and creativity.
- Teaches specific language concepts through play.
- Develops pragmatic social and language skills.
- Provides entertaining, easy-to-tell stories with eye-catching illustrations.
- Promotes pre-literacy, rhyming, new vocabulary, etc.
- Provides the opportunity to teach critical thinking skills such as comparison/contrast, inference and prediction.
- Invites dialogue on issues that promote character formation of the child.
Remember that it is not necessary to fill children with so many meaningless toys and that children want to share their experiences with you. You are the best stimulation for your little ones.
