Blog
Like TBI, COVID May Affect the Brain Long-Term. But Why?
As is true for so many of us, what researcher Julius Fridriksson thought he’d be doing in 2020 didn’t exactly happen. He started the year as principal investigator on a large study investigating effects of aging on the brain and possibilities for predicting early cognitive decline. Three months into the study, after the COVID-19 pandemic … Read More
Coronavirus: Speech Language Pathologists Playing Key Frontline Role
Speech language pathologists are providing essential rehabilitation services to patients recovering from serious cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Many seriously ill COVID-19 patients are placed on ventilators due to acute respiratory distress syndrome. Speech language pathologists provide rehabilitation services for damage caused by mechanical ventilation, which includes injury to vocal cords from breathing tubes … Read More
Helping Our Clients Parse Speech Through Masks During COVID-19
Today, the world is a strange place. The COVID-19 pandemic has likely changed the way you work with clients, particularly as you glove up and use protective face masks. And, as clinicians well know, patients with a diagnosis of stroke, brain injury, or hearing loss already have communication difficulties. Now they face the additional challenge … Read More
Children May Be Afraid of Masks. Here’s How to Help.
When you go out these days, if you must go out in this time of coronavirus, you see more and more masks — homemade fabric masks, surgical masks of all varieties, and the occasional high-tech mask that seems to have wandered out of a scuba sequence or a space movie. But for some children, even … Read More
Do you know the early warning signs of communication disorders?
Would you know how to identify a potential communication disorder in your child? If you’re like many parents, the answer may be “no.” Communication disorders, which are characterized by difficulty speaking or hearing, are common in children. In fact, roughly 8-9 percent of young children suffer from a speech disorder, and hearing loss affects 2 … Read More
More than a Picky Eater: How to Really Know?
The struggles of a parent during mealtime with a picky eater can range from bad to worse. It often begins with the ever-present protest of “No!” then ends with screaming, tantrums and food flying across the room. The question remains: is the food refusal normal of a picky eater or could the signs be more … Read More
Sensory and Sensory Processing Disorder
1. What is sensory processing (or sensory integration)? A basic explanation of “sensory processing” (also referred to as “sensory integration”) is this — the brain’s ability to organize sensory information coming from all parts of the body in order to be able to use it. The human body takes in sensory input from several different … Read More
My Baby Can Play: How Productive Play Promotes Literacy
If you pay attention to the current toys, television shows, and materials for children like Your Baby Can Read! you should notice a cultural shift to the promotion of literacy, especially early literacy skills. From older shows such as Sesame Street and Between the Lions to newer shows such as WordGirl, WordWorld, and Super Why! we see the push for phonological awareness skills and reading … Read More