We’ve Moved!

Hello, thank you for visiting the Communication Therapy blog! 

Jordan Sadler, MS, CCC/SLP is now blogging on her new website. You can go straight to the new blog here – and please be sure to update your bookmarks and RSS feeds so you don’t miss anything!

Thanks again!

Flummox and Friends: the Launch!

At Communication Therapy we are proud and excited to announce the launch of the brand-new Flummox and Friends pilot episode this week! Our show was created, written, and produced by Christa Dahlstrom, parent of an 8-year old son with Asperger’s, and co-created by Communication Therapy speech-language pathologists Liesl Wenzke-Hartmann and Jordan Sadler. It was designed to be a clever, live-action TV show for kids who could use some help learning about social rules and emotional regulation.

“What we love about Flummox and Friends is that it teaches kids WHY we care about social competence. Our message is not, ‘Look at others and listen to them just because we say so’, but rather, ‘When we listen to others and connect with their ideas as well as ours, other people feel good and understand that we are thinking about them and like them – that’s the basis of friendship,'” explains Sadler, MS, CCC-SLP from the Chicago office.

“There are products targeting social emotional teaching on the market,” explains Wenzke-Hartmann, MA, CCC-SLP, from the San Francisco office. “But it’s hard to find something that adults and children can really enjoy together. This show gives families kid-friendly language to demystify and normalize social challenges, showing that everyone is ‘flummoxed’ by social rules at one time or another.”

Funds to produce a pilot episode were raised ten months ago through a successful grassroots Kickstarter campaign. Now, just five days after launching online, Flummox and Friends has been viewed more than 2,000 times by extraordinarily enthusiastic parents, kids, adults with autism, teachers, and therapists who are hoping we will receive funding to create the entire series. 

Please help ensure future episodes by following us on Facebook and Twitter and sharing the link to the show with your friends, colleagues, and families. Spreading the word is the best way to show potential investors that there is a strong desire and need for a teaching tool like this!

Here are just a few of the messages we’ve received from viewers this week:

I run a charity in Scotland supporting children with Autism and Aspergers Syndrome as well as being the mum of a 9 year with Aspergers, he absolutely loved the show and I am delighted to share this with the families we support! Well done!

My 9yo son just watched this and he LOVED it.  He asked to watch the next one, which you have not made yet.  So, he asked to watch the pilot again, but that will have to wait until after school today.  He is still humming the tune from the show.  

Great show! Very engaging and upbeat messages. Please continue to present more episodes, I am going to share your information with some of the school staff I work with at my son’s school. He is in the Autism program at his elementary school.

This is long overdue! Finally, someone is tapping into the fact that learning starts with empathy and self-awareness, not with the content. I really loved the pilot. I am already imagining ways of integrating this show in my classes, both as a teacher and a teacher trainer. I just wish there was a subtitles option! (Not all of my students speak English that well.) – Anjie Price, English teacher (Nicaragua) [Note: we will release a version with captioning in a few weeks! Watch our Facebook page for the announcement.]

To watch our acclaimed pilot episode, please visit our website. We would appreciate it if you would complete the brief survey on the website as well, and please download a Family Guide or Professional Guide pdf while you’re there, they are full of great activity suggestions and visuals for you!

Links to early reviews:

New TV Project Uses Comedy to Help Kids on – or Near – the Autism Spectrum by Laura Shumaker, SFGate blog

Flummox and Friends Premieres its Smart Social Competence Programming by Jean Winegardner, The Washington Times Communities

Flummox and Friends by Sean Sweeney, CCC/SLP, SpeechTechie blog

Flummox and Friends Video: Our New Favorite Thing by Amanda Backof, MS, CCC/SLP, Speech Language Neighborhood blog

Stay tuned here for future developments!

 

iPad App Review: PaperDesk

 

It is fair to say that, on occasion, the tech-savvy speech-language pathologists at Communication Therapy in Chicago become obsessed with an iPad app. This summer, that app is PaperDesk*. We love this app because it is a fantastic tool for us to use clinically in our pediatric practice and in our “behind-the-scenes” work as therapists. We want to share with you why we love this app and to let you know that it is currently only $3.99 in the iTunes App Store, a 75% savings. (There is a Lite version of this app, but at this price, it’s worth buying, so you’ll have the extra space and features.) Read more about it, be sure to look at the images the developer has shared, and link to purchase the app here.

First, a quick description of Paper Desk. While we have tried various note-taking apps, this is our favorite, hands-down. The developers have created an interface that closely resembles a pad of paper and allows us to type, write, draw, and even record our voices as we are creating a document. The app has 58 fonts to choose from, and it is very easy to change font, color, and style, while typing. What is also impressive is the way PaperDesk allows us to quickly switch to the drawing feature. Insert a photo into the document easily by taking a new one from the camera within the app or choosing an existing picture from the iPad’s photo library. When we are finished with a notebook we have many sharing options (email, Twitter, Google, Dropbox, iTunes, print). We especially love that we can set our iPads to autosync between PaperDesk and Dropbox – this means that all of our work is also accessible on our laptops and even our iPhones at any time.

Clinical Uses: We are only just beginning to explore the clinical uses of PaperDesk with our clients. Certainly, it is an easy way to write and save a play plan or visual schedule for a child in a session. It’s an easy way to add visual aids for a child who benefits from them to aid language comprehension. But we are also loving it for writing quick social stories with our kids. Children love to write stories about themselves and their experiences, and they adore shifting back and forth between typing and drawing – not to mention inserting photos of themselves into a notebook! When a child was processing his family’s move to a new house last week, SLP Adria Leno sat down with him and wrote a terrific story with him about what he was experiencing. They drew pictures, typed text, and inserted pictures showing how he felt about the changes. Adria printed the story for the boy wirelessly from the iPad, and he took it home to read again and again and share his experience and feelings with others. Further, she was able to use the email feature to send a PDF copy to his parents in case it gets lost. Next we will try using the recording feature to have a child tell the story for each page of his notebook.

“Behind-the-Scenes” Uses: We are experimenting with using PaperDesk to assist us in collecting information for our treatment notes. Jordan Sadler, SLP and Clinic Director, has created a folder for each of her clients within the app. Each folder is given the child’s initials for privacy. Jordan starts a new notebook for each session, titling it with the date of service. Data collection, notes on progress, thoughts for the next session, and even photos of the child engaging in new and interesting experiences she wants to remember are collected in the notebook. At the end of a busy day seeing clients, having this collection of text and visuals make writing treatment notes for the client files simple, and are more interesting to share in a parent meeting than a typical verbal report on progress or brief treatment notes that are designed for insurance company reviews. Although she was worried that using an iPad to take notes in this way would be too distracting for her clients, this has never been the case. The children see that she is not playing a game and don’t pay any attention to the device.

Further, at the recent 2-day Profectum Academy conference she attended in the Chicago area, Jordan used PaperDesk to collect all information that pertained to the event. First, she created a folder titled “Profectum”, then set up a notebook for each of the two days’ notes and filed them in that folder. Rather than handwriting her notes while listening to the speakers, she used a stylus to jot down notes quickly in that day’s notebook. At this conference, all handouts were provided to participants via email in PDF form. When Jordan opened that email on the iPad, these PDF documents had the option to be “saved in PaperDesk” and then filed in the Profectum folder as well. In this way, all presentation documents and participant notes were filed in the same folder in PaperDesk. And remember, Jordan can now access those from her laptop and even her iPhone via Dropbox at any time – extremely handy!

We hope this review will be useful to many parents, clinicians, and teachers – we think this app is well worth adding to your iPads. If you have it, please leave us a comment about how you’re using it!

 

*Although we frequently receive free apps from developers, we have no relationship with WebSpinner, LLC, the creator of PaperDesk.

iPad Apps for Children with Special Needs

 

Here in the Chicago office that houses Communication Therapy and Chicago P.L.A.Y. Project we are very excited about our work using iPad apps with children with special needs! We have plenty of information to share with you, no matter where you are.

In the Chicago area?

Consultations: Not certain if the iPad is the perfect tool for your child or student? Considering purchasing one as an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device but unsure if your child will “take to it” – and which voice output app to purchase? Set up an appointment at the clinic by calling 773-988-0820 to schedule a visit! We’ll show you the best of what’s out there and try apps with your child – and you’ll get our recommendations in writing.

Workshops: Bring us to your school, clinic, or organization for one of our popular “I Have an iPad…Now What?” workshops where we share everything from our favorite tried and true apps to tips on using them with kids – plus peripherals like styluses, paintbrushes, and the best cases for kids! For information on where we will be presenting to the general public next, watch this board. And if you’d like to have us come to you, call us at 773-988-0820 to schedule.

Outside Chicago?

In addition to using these terrific apps with our own clients, we are committed to sharing current information about technology with interested families, clinicians, and teachers around the world.

Readers can find our useful, up-to-the-minute information in many online locations today!

Here’s where to go:

1. Facebook Pages – Be part of the fun! “Like” the Communication Therapy and Chicago PLAY Project pages, where we share relevant information on a regular basis.

2. Facebook Group – Join our Facebook group! iPad Apps and Info for Kids with Special Needs. With over 200 members in just a week, this group is bustling!

3. Pinterest – Sometimes words aren’t enough – we like pictures, too! Follow the Communication Therapy PInterest boards, where you’ll get visuals of our favorite peripherals, apps, and even upcoming iPad App workshops!

4. Twitter – Communication Therapy has nearly 900 Twitter followers at this time – follow us and you’ll see why! We share great articles and other important information related to AAC, iPads, Autism, and Speech Language Therapy.

5. iPad Apps for Autism: A Spreadsheet of Reviews and Recommendations – Created by Shannon Des Roches Rosa with review contributions by Corina Becker and Communication Therapy’s Jordan Sadler, the Spreadsheet was noted in the New York Times Gadgetwise blog as one of the best sources of excellent apps online!

NPN Developmental Differences Resource Fair: A Success!

Today was the long-awaited Neighborhood Parents Network Developmental Differences Resource Fair. The first of its kind in Chicago, the Fair – free to parents – featured a room full of exhibitors that included private practitioners (speech, OT, developmental therapists, music and art therapists, social workers, psychologists) as well as representatives from some local large public organizations such as the Chicago Public Schools Office of Special Education and Supports.

Specialists were available to talk to parents about their programs and services and had the opportunity to answer initial questions in a face-to-face manner that is not often available to parents. Further, clinicians were able to network with each other through the course of the four hour event.

Jordan Sadler, MS, CCC/SLP was assisted at the Communication Therapy table by staff therapist Erin Vollmer, MS, CCC/SLP, and undergraduate intern Kate Gilday.  It was a pleasure to meet so many parents and discuss their child’s needs and the best services to meet them.

We want to thank three developers of high quality, child-tested iPad apps for donating codes to us for this event. A huge thank you goes out to Injini, Mobile-Education Store, and BeeVisual. Winners have been notified by email and those who weren’t chosen have received emails with links allowing them to purchase the featured apps if they’d like.

Here’s what we raffled off today:

Injini’s Child Development Suite for iPad – A collection of high quality learning games for the developmentally young. Beautifully designed app that targets cause and effect, patterns, early receptive language, and much more! This is a favorite among our young clients and really wowed the crowd at the Fair today. Children loved exploring it while we chatted with their parents!

BeeVisual’s ChoiceWorks universal app – We were able to give away 5 codes for ChoiceWorks today, and this was another very popular app at the event. New on the app scene, ChoiceWorks is an inclusive app that allows the user to create individualized schedule boards, help a child with self-regulatory skills like waiting or taking turns, and deal with challenging emotions. It’s beautifully designed and intuitive for new users. Parents of my clients are also loving the companion books that go with each activity, which are terrific social stories!

From Mobile Education Store, we gave away codes for three different apps that we use consistently in our language therapy sessions and find to be excellent:

LanguageBuilder – Helps children ages 3-10 improve sentence formation and improve receptive and expressive language development.

StoryBuilder – Helps students ages 6-10+ improve paragraph formation and integration of ideas, improve higher level abstract thinking and inference skills. Great for working on narratives.

ConversationBuilder – Teaches multi-exchange conversations with peers in a variety of social settings to students ages 6-10. “Freeze frames” social scenarios for kids to consider what they would say or do to enter into play or conversation.

More recommended apps and iPad peripherals are yet to come in the next couple of months!

2011 Ends with a Bang!

These last few weeks have been very exciting ones for Communication Therapy!

First, on November 28, 2011, our Flummox & Friends Kickstarter project was fully funded! (For more information on this project, read all about it here.) The project met its funding goal 10 days before its deadline; by the end, $33,761 was raised. Amazing! We are grateful to all of our generous supporters, and we will be sure to post an update when the pilot episode is being filmed – we can hardly wait!

The next day, on November 29, Jordan Sadler, MS, CCC/SLP of  the Chicago office was mentioned in a New York Times article which provided information for parents on resources for finding the best apps for children with autism. The article, which provides a few excellent links to resources for families, can be found here.

Next up – also very exciting!! – on Monday, December 19th, a fantastic new book called Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism went on sale. The book contains an essay by Jordan Sadler, MS, CCC/SLP called, “What a Great Speech-Language Pathologist Can Do for Your Child with Autism”, which can also be found here, on the Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism blog.

And, last but certainly not least, the Chicago office has two new therapists on staff! We are thrilled to welcome Adria Leno, MS, CCC-SLP and Erin Vollmer, MS, CCC-SLP. Both are excellent, experienced clinicians and we are so pleased to have them on our team. You can read more about them here.

We hope everyone has had a holiday filled with joy and laughter, and we wish each of you a very Happy New Year!

Help Quirky Inventors this Black Friday

This morning I find that my email inbox, Twitter feed, and Facebook status updates are flooded with the words “Black Friday”. Every office supply store I’ve ever ordered from, in addition to the pet store where I buy dog food and even local non-profits trying to sell more memberships, would like me to take advantage of their HUGE SALES today.

While I am not opposed to saving some money on things that might normally be out of reach, there are other things that need our time, attention, and – yes – money this weekend.

You see, tucked between emails from the retail stores this morning was a message from Kickstarter – you know, the fundraising website where we are working to raise money for our pilot episode of Flummox & Friends – and what that email told us was that we crossed a major milestone this morning: 299 generous backers have now pledged $25,025 towards our $30,000 goal. That, readers, is amazing!

We have exactly 14 days – just two weeks! – to raise $5,000. If we make it, we will be able to shoot the pilot episode of this hilarious, live-action show designed for the quirky kids in our lives to see characters they can relate to — bright, interesting people who find themselves confused and confounded by social situations and the rules that govern them. Perhaps you’ve struggled like this, or someone who passed you the gravy yesterday still does. But if we don’t raise this last $5,000 in the next 14 days, we will not get any of the money. That is how Kickstarter works.

For more information on the show, visit our website or come on over here and take a look at this summary of what people around the web are saying about Flummox & Friends.

I encourage readers to consider our little project – which some have referred to as the Little Project That Could – on this Black Friday. Because we need your help to make it happen – and we suspect you’ll feel especially good about Black Friday if you share a little of your hard-earned money helping Professor Flummox, Wanda, and Milo come to life.

C’mon over – watch our video and help us out today.

Flummox & Friends: What’s the Story?

Nearly two years ago, my good friend Christa Dahlstrom (whom I met initially through her excellent blog Hyperlexicon) approached me tentatively over brunch. It seemed she had an idea to share, and she was looking for advice. As it turned out, Christa’s idea was to write a children’s TV show, one that would help children like her own son Ben learn to improve his social-emotional development in a new way.

You see, many kids – like Ben – learn language in its gestalt form: in “chunks”. They learn it through books and videos they find compelling, reading and watching over and over and over, and memorizing what they hear. Many, but not all, later repeat that language in real-time social interactions with other people. This is called delayed echolalia (here is a great post from blogger MOM-nos on her son’s stages of echolalia). Still other kids like to re-enact scenes they’ve watched or read, enlisting other children and adults to play the roles of the characters. And, finally, there are a great many children who simply find it easier to process information that is presented both verbally and visually in a high affect way that makes them laugh. When they can watch it more than once, all the better.

Ben’s mother had thought for a while that it would be incredibly beneficial if there were a show that her son found compelling which actually gave him strategies and models for appropriate social interactions – that he could watch with his parents and reenact, that his teachers and classmates could watch together and learn from, that his social skills coaches could watch with him and role play. Imagine the results if a child’s whole team were to use the same vocabulary and draw from the same examples! And what if we added episode guides for the adults, with suggestions for expanding beyond each episode with role-playing exercises and other interactive ideas to extend the learning into real-time social interaction? It was clear that this was an idea with wings.

There are products targeting social emotional teaching on the market. But, thus far, there’s nothing quite like the show Christa has created. Flummox & Friends is a live-action show that uses humor and playfulness and teaches without talking down to kids. When I read the first script I laughed out loud over and over and had a strong urge to send it to everyone I knew. We all recognize the difference between mainstream movies made for children that adults enjoy watching with our kids and those that we try to avoid. I knew right away that this would be a show parents would really have a great time watching, too. Families of kids who are on an atypical path of social-emotional development will watch, learn, and laugh together watching Flummox & Friends.

Liesl Wenzke Hartmann, MA, CCC/SLP of Communication Therapy San Francisco and I agreed to consult to the project as curriculum consultants and have worked closely with Christa to see that Flummox & Friends reflects therapeutic best practices and explains concepts in a way that our years of experience have proven works with children.

After many months of writing, rewriting, curriculum development, and consultation, the team has released a Kickstarter fundraising site in order to raise the money to shoot the pilot episode of Flummox & Friends. We have 42 more days to raise $30,000 and while we are off to a very strong start with many generous backers, it remains that this is a huge sum of money. I encourage each of you to visit our site, watch our short video – where you can get a glimpse of the show and a summary of our developmental, play-based philosophy – and help us out by backing our project and sharing it with other parents, educators, therapists, and anyone who has an interest in children with all kinds of minds.

Donate! “Like” us on Facebook! Follow us on Twitter! Children everywhere will benefit.

Thank you for your support!

How Developmental Play Therapy Improves Communication Skills

Guest post by Tamara Kaldor, Developmental Therapist, Director of Chicago PLAY Project 

A child’s “communication toolbox” is best strengthened through a multi-disciplinary approach. It is exciting for me to be able to collaborate with my colleagues at Communication Therapy + Friends who truly understand that communication skills go beyond spoken words and vocabulary building.

It takes all of a child’s mental and physical abilities to communicate effectively so they can play with peers and participate in the school environment successfully. As a Developmental Therapist, I focus primarily on helping children’s social-emotional development through play and I also provide inclusion support for children in school and community programs. My goal as a therapist is to help every child develop the skills they need to form joyful and meaningful relationships and to be successfully included.  This is done primarily through play.  Play is important developmental work for all children. Through play, children learn to use non-verbal communication skills, negotiate with peers, communicate their ideas effectively, and play out their fears and fantasies safely.

Communication Toolbox: Non-verbal communication

I want to focus on why non-verbal communication skills are one of the most important tools a child must develop and learn how to use effectively.

Much of how we communicate (about 85-90% of our day) is through non-verbal communication and it is also the first level of language that ALL children develop– before spoken words.  Non-verbal communication is extremely important for young children to master because the ability to read facial expressions, gesture (e.g., pointing), communicate with a peer while being active on the playground, or express their emotions appropriately is what helps children to develop their earliest friendships during playtime. To learn more about why non-verbal communication skills enhance a child’s communication skills and school performance read this excerpt from Dr. Stanley Greenspan on the importance of non-verbal communication from Playground Politics: understanding the emotional life of your school-age child

When will my child talk?

ALL children must develop some non-verbal communication skills before they will utter their first words, whether they do so verbally or through augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). For many children we work with, we must first start by strengthening their non-verbal communication skills before we can work on speech goals. We realize this is disappointing for many families to hear, but non-verbal communication is an important developmental milestone.  It cannot be skipped over. Sometimes we have to climb down the developmental ladder before we can go up at full strength. The stronger a child’s non-verbal skills are, the better communicator they will become. Without a strong foundation, the developmental ladder that all children must climb will be very rickety.

The body also plays an important role in language development. Beyond having strong mouth muscles, there is a close correlation between the brain learning how to read the signals that the muscles are firing throughout the body and language production. Getting in some good body work with Cara Lindell at Kinetic Konnections (also a colleague at Communication Therapy + Friends) or a qualified Occupational Therapist (OTR/L), can sometimes be the key to getting the body in sync so children can develop their full language capacities.

Get Moving!

I can’t urge families enough to not only get down on the floor and play, but to also get climbing on the jungle gym at the park. I often hear parents report back to me that their child is the most verbal when they are swinging, climbing, or going down the slide. When possible try to include some non-verbal gestures with your child at the playground.

Play Dumb

The strategy of “playing dumb” can often help a child use their toolbox of communication skills to get their needs met. The goal of “playing dumb” is to encourage your child to expand their communication tools and the length of the time they interact with you. Here are some tips on how to “play dumb”:

* Therapists don’t just keep things in boxes, locked cabinets, or up high to keep our offices tidy. We try to get as much communication and problem-solving into our interactions with children as possible. We want to make them work for it! You can do this too! If your child needs help with an activity and is stuck using the same communication strategy they depend on to get your assistance or attention, try to expand the interaction and support their use of non-verbal communication and reading cues by:

1. Slowing down and being patient so that your child can read your cues, process the information, and respond;

2. Exaggerating all of your facial expressions and gestures, e.g., making a puzzled face and shrugging your shoulders;

3. Not responding right away until he/she is pointing, pulling you over to the activity, or uttering some words (using at least one means of communication that is different from his/her fallback methods);

4. Going up the slide or getting into the swing yourself and seeing if your child will communicate that you are doing the wrong thing. This will often elicit a lot of laughter!

5. Saying “Hmmm . . .I don’t know what you want right now…”

If your child seems close to a “meltdown” due to frustration, try saying softly, “I know you are trying to tell me what you want. You are working so hard. Let me try to help you,” and try giving two choices to see if your child will point to one of them.

Mealtime Ideas

A fun snack/dinner time non-verbal activity: At your next meal or snack time try practicing your family’s non-verbal communication skills by asking for a glass of water, requesting others to pass a favorite food around, or playing a simple game of “Go Fish”.  Try expressing your disappointment or excitement without words (think: miming) and see how far you get.  Remember to have fun and laugh as you go along. Your child will also see that she/he is not the only one who is frustrated when they are not being understood. It is challenging, but it will help your child learn how to read non-verbal cues that she/he will need on the playground and in the classroom.

More about Chicago PLAY Project:

Tamara Kaldor has extensive experience working with the DIR®/Floortime™ therapy model and supporting families and educators as they use the model successfully at home and in inclusive school programs. In addition, Tamara advocates with families for children in school and community programs. She is the only licensed provider in Chicago of The P.L.A.Y. Project, an effective, affordable, and evidence-based intervention for children with autism and other developmental delays, based on the wonderful DIR®/Floortime™ model developed Dr. Stanley Greenspan.

Parents play an important role in the DIR/Floortime model. For any therapy model to be truly effective, it must be intensive. The National Academy of Sciences recommends at least of 25 hours of intensive intervention per week for children diagnosed with autism and other significant developmental delays.  However, for many families this is just too expensive and can seem overwhelming to do themselves. The P.L.A.Y. Project specializes in coaching parents, sitters, and other team members to be a child’s play partner in their most natural environment, home, and move a child up the developmental ladder.

Supporting Communication through Song (Part I)

A dear friend of my family suffers from advanced Alzheimer’s disease. One of the few remaining ways to reach him is through favorite songs, especially when performed live by familiar voices. Sometimes his response is happy- a “Yeah man!” that springs from his days of being a soulful musician. Other times it’s sorrowful and brings about moans and tears. The sadness may be a small recognition of what’s been lost or what is no longer accessible, or it may be something else entirely. We can’t be sure why his responses vary the way they do- why the same song that induces smiles and exclamations one day can inflict pain the next. What we do know is, whether negative or positive, it’s music that spurs his response. It’s music that allows his wife and his kids a glimpse of the vibrant man they remember. I think about him often and wonder at the power of song.

Music is emotional by nature. It has long been a part of human ceremonies- both celebratory and mournful. Songs have a unique way of helping us express our feelings and invite others to join us in our emotional state. The first dance at a wedding reception is a perfect example. We express joy through singing familiar celebratory songs and moving our bodies. It feels good to have others come together in this way–that’s why the ritual continues. And it wouldn’t be the same without music.

As a speech-language pathologist, a musician, and an instructor of children’s Music Together® classes, I’ve had many opportunities to witness how music affects both children and adults. It can capture a child’s attention and light them up, even when little else does. Making and sharing music with people in your life can bring you closer, offer support in hard times, and spread joy in happier ones. I’m constantly learning more about the power of music and it never ceases to fascinate me.

This post is an introduction to a series of entries about the importance of music and its deep connection to human cognition and emotion. As I specialize in working with children who have difficulties with communication, there will naturally be a focus on the therapeutic effect music has on children’s development of speech, language, and social/emotional skills. But as I continue to read and learn about the broad effect that music has on all of us (socially, emotionally, cognitively), I may share some broader findings with you as well. My hope is that this post will develop into an ongoing discussion where readers share their own experiences with music and connect with a greater community. Please let me know if there’s anything specific you’d like me to focus an entry on and I will do my best. I’d love to hear from you.

Laura Allison, MA, CCC/SLP is both a certified, licensed speech-language pathologist who works at Communication Therapy/Chicago, and a certified Music Together® instructor who teaches multiple classes at Merry Music Makers each week.