Language During Mealtime

A blog about my love for food, family and ways to encourage language through mealtime.

The Technology Tail

by Filed Under: ADHD/ADD, Anxiety, Books and Mealtime, Building Self Esteem, Love and Friendship, Manners, Mindfulness, Social Skills Delay/Deficit, Special Needs, Speech and Communication

Do you have an older child that is curious about social media? When you child reaches their tween years or even earlier, curiosity about social media begins. Being exposed to social media is inevitable as a child enters tween and teen years and teaching your child appropriate internet etiquette can be challenging. Where do you […]

5 Things you need to know about Social Skills Coaching

by Filed Under: ADHD/ADD, Anxiety, Autism, Books and Mealtime, Building Self Esteem, Dyslexia, Physical Disabilities, Recommended Books, Sensory Processing Disorder, Social Skills, Social Skills Delay/Deficit, Special Needs, Special Needs, Speech and Communication, Tips from Experts

“In a world that is ever changing, there is one constant. As human beings, we need to communicate with each other. We need to be around others for many many reasons, including support, learning and most importantly a sense of belonging” (Ostovar, R & DiVittore, K. 2017). 5 things you need to know about Social […]

Animated Language Learning

by Filed Under: Academics, ADHD/ADD, Autism, Building Self Esteem, Dyslexia, Physical Disabilities, Rare Syndromes/Epilepsy, Sensory Processing Disorder, Social Skills Delay/Deficit, Special Needs, Special Needs, Speech and Communication

Do you have a child that loves Disney? Do you have a child with Autism or a language and learning disability? About this time last year, I became very interested in learning how Disney can encourage language and communication with children and adults with Autism. After reading the book, Life Animated I decided to try […]

How Does Technology Affect Face to Face Communication?

by Filed Under: Books and Mealtime, Mindfulness, Research Tuesday Articles, Speech and Communication

How does technology affect our face to face communication? As a speech language pathologist, communication is a great interest of mine. With the dramatic increase in technology in the past five to ten years, how is this affecting our conversations and ability to communicate face to face? The technology I am referring to in this […]

A Tale of The Monkey Balloon is available!

by Filed Under: Academics, Books and Mealtime, Building Self Esteem, Love and Friendship, My Books, Speech and Communication, Using Your Imagination

Have you ever lost a balloon? In 2014, special educator Mindy Winebrenner, illustrator Yuki Osada and I teamed up to make our life long dream of becoming authors a reality -we published our first book, The Monkey Balloon. This book was a unique story about Mimi and her adventures in finding her lost balloon. With the […]

Picture A Conversation

by Filed Under: ADHD/ADD, Anxiety, Apps and Toys, Autism, Mindfulness, Social Skills, Social Skills Delay/Deficit, Special Needs, Speech and Communication, Suggestions to improve learning, Using Your Imagination

With the increase in technology, our face to face communication has decreased over time. We are communicating more and more via text messages, email and through social media than we are with face to face communication. As a result, our ability to converse with others and stay attentive to specific topics is becoming more challenging. At […]

What’s The Big Deal About First Ladies?

by Filed Under: Academics, Books and Mealtime, Building Self Esteem, Special Needs, Speech and Communication

In honor of Women’s History Month, I am proud to review the book, What’s The Big Deal About First Ladies? written by Ruby Shamir and illustrated by Matt Faulkner. This book is packed with facts about the first ladies of our nation dating all the way back to our first lady, Martha Washington. What’s The Big Deal […]

The Benefits of Reading Aloud with Older Children

by Filed Under: Academics, Books and Mealtime, Building Self Esteem, Speech and Communication

Is reading aloud and joint reading only for young children? No! Many parents have the misconception that once your child can read independently, it’s time to stop reading aloud. This cannot be further from the truth. I found an interesting article by Connie Matthiessen discussing the benefits of reading aloud written by Jim Trelease, the […]