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Toddler Speech-Language Developmental Milestones:  Age 1-2

2/26/2013

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This is the second post in my series Toddler Speech-Language Developmental Milestones.  This post will cover age 1 to age 2.  This information was gathered from the American Speech-Language Hearing Association Website - How does your child hear and talk?

This is a really fun age because children begin to imitate actions, sounds, and vocalizations they hear from their parents and other children their age.  My twin girls are 12 months old (almost 13 months....they're growing up way too fast!) and are little parrots.  They are waving, clapping, saying "uh-oh" and beginning to bark like their pet dog, Bear.  It makes me laugh, and it's also music to my ears since I'm a speech-language pathologist!

From age 1 to 2, your toddler should begin to point to basic body parts such as eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.  He should be able to follow simple directions such as "throw the ball,"get your shoes" and understand basic questions such as "Where's your shirt?"  Your toddler will pay attention to simple stories, songs, and rhymes (brush up on your songs like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and The Itsy Bitsy Spider!).  He will also start to increase his vocabulary skills by pointing to pictures in books such as cup, dog, and bubble when they are named.

You will notice that your toddler will say more words every month, although they may be hard for an unfamiliar listener to understand.  Between ages 1 to 2, your child will start speaking in simple two word phrases like "more milk," "no cookie," and "mommy book."  He will start asking questions using one to two words.  Examples of these questions include "Where kitty?", "Go bye-bye?", and "What's that?"  Your little one should also use several different consonant sounds at the beginning of words.  

Toddlers are like little sponges.  They soak up everything, including what they hear.  Take advantage of it and talk to your child as much as you can.  Sing songs with him, and take time out every day to help develop his speech and language skills!


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Toddler Speech & Language Developmental Milestones-Birth to 1

2/21/2013

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Welcome to the first part of my series of posts on toddler speech and language developmental milestones.  This information was gathered from the American Speech-Language Hearing Association Website - How does your child hear and talk? Birth to one year.

In this post, we will be covering birth to age 1.  Although your baby isn't talking yet, he is learning about speech and language and communicating with you through his cries and body language.  It's amazing how early a baby starts communicating with his parents and caregivers!

From birth to 3 months your baby should begin to respond to loud sounds, become quiet or smile when spoken to, recognize his parents voice and become quiet if crying.  Your baby should also vocalize pleasure (cooing) and displeasure (crying) sounds, cry differently for many needs, and smile when he or she sees you. 

At 4 months to 6 months your baby should begin to look toward the location of sound with his eyes, react to changes in the tone of your voice, notice toys and objects that make sounds, and be aware of music.  Your infant will begin to babble speech-like sounds including consonants p, b, and m, laugh out loud, and make gurgling sounds when playing by himself or with his parents/caregivers. 

When your baby is 7 months to 1 year he will enjoy playing games such as pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo, turn and look at where sound is coming from, listen when he is spoken to, understand words for basic items such as cup, shoe, and book, and respond to simple requests like "come here."  Your baby should start to babble groups of sounds such as "tata upup bibibibi", gesture in order to communicate (waving, pointing), imitate different speech sounds, and start saying one to two simple words around his first birthday (bye, dog, mama, dada).

The first year goes by extremely fast....too fast for my liking (I have 12 month old identical twin girls!), so take advantage of every moment with your baby.  Cherish your time together and enjoy those sweet sounds your baby makes!    



    

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Speech & Language Developmental Milestones for Toddlers

2/16/2013

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As a speech-language pathologist I'm often asked about speech development in children.  Once a parent finds out what I do, I'm immediately asked, "What should my child be saying at age 3?",  "Should my two year old say his /r/ sound yet?"  or "Why does my toddler say tat instead of cat?"  Because of these questions I've decided to do a series of blog posts about speech and language developmental milestones for toddlers.  I'll start from birth and end at age three.  Not only will I cover expressive language (what a child says), but I'll also talk about receptive language (what a child understands).  Stay tuned for the first post in this series!  

Check out the entire series here:
Toddler Speech & Language Developmental Milestones -  Birth to Age 1
Toddler Speech & Language Developmental Milestones: Age 1-2
Toddler Speech & Language Developmental Milestones:  Age 2-3


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How Do You Become a Speech-Language Pathologist?

2/7/2013

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I love being a speech-language pathologist (we are called SLP's for short!).  It is a "feel good" job, and it's also very rewarding.  By helping your clients and patients you're giving them one of the greatest gifts of all.....communication! 

The path to become an SLP can be challenging  There is a lot of school involved, so it may not be for the faint of heart!  Not only do you have to have a four year undergraduate degree, you also have to have a graduate degree which is an additional two to three years. 


The undergraduate degree starts with all of the prerequisite classes.  Some of these include anatomy and physiology (this class made me nervous!), articulation disorders, and voice disorders (one of my favorites!).  Most of these classes are taken during your junior and senior years of college.  If you plan to become an SLP and have another undergraduate major you will have to take the prerequisite classes in order to be accepted into graduate school.  In addition to your classes you also have to log several hours observing an SLP when she is working with her patients and clients.  When I was working on my bachelor's degree it was 25 hours, but it may have changed now.

Graduate school is the next step.  It was the most difficult, fun, interesting, and time consuming thing I've ever done (well, besides being a mom to infant twins!).  The classes are more advanced and this is where you really learn the foundation to becoming an SLP.  Some graduate classes include neuro anatomy and physiology,  motor speech disorders, and dysphagia.  Not only do you attend classes, but you also have to start conducting assessments and leading speech therapy sessions with adult and children clients.  Some of these sessions are in the public school system, hospitals, nursing homes, private practices and the graduate school clinic.  The therapy sessions are also supervised by a licensed and certified speech-language pathologist.  Once you have logged all of your clinical hours you can take the Praxis Exam in Speech-Language Pathology which is basically a board exam to become an SLP.  Finally, you finish your thesis or take your comprehensive final exams and graduate with a masters degree.  My degree is a Master of Science in Communicative Disorders.

The last and final step to becoming an SLP is to complete your clinical fellowship year (CFY) under a licensed SLP.  This is basically an internship.  Of course you get paid for this which is nice especially after attending so many years of school!  Once you finish your CFY you turn in your paperwork to the American Speech-Language Hearing Association to get your Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) and to your state's licensing agency to obtain your state license so you can practice.  Finally you can start using the credentials you worked so hard for which is the CCC-SLP. 

So, do you think you want to become a speech-language pathologist?   


  
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    Welcome!  I'm Rebecca Haas, toddler speech-language pathologist and mother to identical twin baby girls.  On this blog you'll find articles, resources, and lots of information about early childhood and speech and language development.  I hope you find this helpful!   

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