by Tamiko Teshima, M.A, CCC-SLP Practice Owner & Speech-Language Pathologist Duncan Lake Speech Therapy, LLC Each year on November 20th, we observe Transgender Day of Remembrance. This day is dedicated to honoring the lives lost to transphobic violence and discrimination. The Human Rights Campaign reports that, “at least 27 transgender and gender-expansive people …were tragically...
by Tamiko Teshima, M.A., CCC-SLP Practice Owner and Speech-Language Pathologist Duncan Lake Speech Therapy If you’ve been following recent cultural conversations, you may have come across the terms “neurodiversity affirmation” or “neuro-affirmation.” For those of us immersed in the world of neurodivergence (like the team here at DLST), these concepts are a natural part of...
by Tamiko Teshima, M.A., CCC-SLP Practice Owner and Speech-Language Pathologist Duncan Lake Speech Therapy, LLC When it comes to AAC, many, MANY myths exist (see this Facebook post or this blog post). By far, the one I hear the most often is that AAC will become a crutch and the person using the AAC...
As parents, it’s common to worry when your child seems to have a limited diet or refuses to eat certain foods – AKA picky eating! While some kids are simply “picky eaters,” others may be dealing with deeper challenges. So, how can you tell if your child is just picky or if they’re facing more...
This week, we are are so lucky to have Shelagh Orlikowski, the DLST Graduate Intern, here to talk with us about stuttering. When SLPs determine that a child has a fluency disorder (our term for stuttering), one of the first questions parents ask us is, “Will this go away?” As Shelagh explains, it is complicated....
If you are a parent of a child with an articulation disorder, it can be really tricky to find time to incorporate practice into your day. Your SLP likely sends you homework, but sometimes it’s hard to sit down and do “speech homework.” Luckily, you can really practice speech sounds in almost any activity in...
A conversation that often comes up when I tell people I’m a speech-language pathologist often revolves around the topic of school-based speech and language services vs. private speech-language services. If you ask around, you’ll find that there are a lot of people out there who received speech services in school. In fact, according to the...
It’s the time of the year toys and play get a lot of attention. Hey, I’m all about it! Play is such a powerful language learning tool, and, above all, is enjoyable for the children. I thought I’d take some time this week do discuss the connection between language development and play in more detail...
This time of year, SLPs are often asked for input on gift giving. Most questions are typically about what toys are best for language development. The truth is that there is absolutely no toy on the planet that will help your child’s language development on its own. However, with the use of parent strategies, any toy...
Friends, this week we are lucky to have Caitlin Giammona, fellow SJSU alum, and speech-language pathologist and owner of The Signing SLP. Caitlin provides speech and language support to signing deaf and hard of hearing folks, and like us here at Duncan Lake Speech Therapy, is a firm believer in all practices that promote representation,...