How to Make Trick-Or-Treating Accessible for Children with Communication Differences

Communication differences blog

Halloween is a fun-filled night with costumes, decorations, candy, family, and friends. But for children with communication differences, trick-or-treating can bring extra challenges. Greeting adults at their door, answering questions, and stating “Happy Halloween” might feel stressful and overwhelming. With a little creativity and preparation, we can make Halloween positive and inclusive for every child!

Ideas on how to tailor a variety of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices to fit your child’s needs during trick-or-treating:

  • High-tech speech output device. Add a page to your child’s device specifically for Halloween and trick-or-treating. Include phrases such as “trick or treat!,” “Happy Halloween!”, “I am an *insert costume*,” and other functional phrases and greetings. Does your neighborhood require jokes for candy? Include a couple joke options for your child to pick from!
  • Recordable answer buzzers. Purchase a buzzer and record yourself saying “Happy Halloween” or “trick-or-treat”. When your child goes up to a neighbor’s door, they can hit the buzzer and wish them a Happy Halloween! You can use one buzzer or multiple, depending on your child’s preference and ability.
  • Communication cards. Create cards that are fun and decorative for your child to hand to neighbors as a greeting! 
  • Communication board. Add visuals for common phrases, emotions, costumes, and greetings related to Halloween. This can be attached to a lanyard or to a candy bag for easy access. 
  • Social script. Add quick phrases to a sheet of paper for your child to read off of.

No matter which form of AAC is best for your child, here are a few important things to remember:

  • Practice. Practicing with their AAC at home before trick-or-treating will help ease some of the stress that comes with doing something new.
  • Accessible. Keep their AAC within arms reach. For verbal communicators, communication is always right at our fingertips (or in this case, our lips). We want these alternative forms of communication just as accessible for our children with communication differences.
  • Pace. Follow their lead. Communication can be overwhelming, so if your child is ready to go home early, that is ok! Listen to them and look for visual cues that they are all done.
  • Celebrate! Communication is hard, celebrate every interaction your child makes.

Trick-or-treating is about more than just candy. It is about relationships, belonging, and fun. With the right support, children with communication differences can fully join in, in their unique way. By accepting and utilizing low-tech, mid-tech, and high-tech AAC, families can make Halloween accessible and a night to remember!

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National Eat Better, Eat Together Month

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Early Childhood: Learning Through Play vs. Narrow Academic Drills

In early childhood, learning milestones are often reduced to colors, shapes, numbers and letters. When we fixate on these concepts through repetition and practice, or narrow academic drills, it can make learning feel like a checklist to complete. Learning through play matters.

Too often, the most crucial skills for long-term cognitive development are overlooked—skills like problem-solving, persistence, self-regulation, creativity, language, and the ability to link ideas across different experiences. Colors, numbers, shapes, and letters are important, too, but they become truly meaningful when children discover them in the context of their daily lives. 

Play matters. It helps kids build their brain, strengthen their bodies, teaches social-emotional skills, and encourages curiosity. It allows them to explore their interests and use their imaginations. It boosts brain function and reduces stress. The goal is to let them have the opportunity to develop deeper capacities that allow learning to stick. 

Here are a few examples:

  • Instead of teaching colors through flashcards, your child learns by noticing a feature on their toys during free play (i.e. the car they are playing with has a blue stripe).
  • Going for a walk outside can teach them colors, textures, shapes, and help build their language skills. 
  • Using their imaginations to play “store” or “restaurant” can help build social skills and reinforce their understanding of numbers. 
  • Building with blocks fosters creativity and problem solving (i.e. their tower fell and now they need to figure out how to make it stronger).

Kids learn best when they are active participants in their education. Play gives them the opportunity to do just that and explore the world around them. 

Recent blogs:

https://kidsplacetherapy.com/august-is-family-fun-month-building-skills-confidence-and-connection-through-play/

https://kidsplacetherapy.com/strength-based-development/

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August is Family Fun Month: Building Skills, Confidence, and Connection Through Play

Kids playing

As school is beginning and life starts becoming more hectic, August is the perfect month to remember the importance of the family’s role in your child’s development. Family time isn’t just about making memories, it strengthens bonds, builds confidence, and helps children develop important life skills! For kids in speech, occupational, or physical therapy, these fun family moments can also be great practice for therapy goals. Family activities don’t need to be fancy or expensive, it is about having fun and showing up for your children. 

Here are some fun activities for the family that also target different therapy goals:

Speech Therapy: 

  • Color Walk: While at a park or around your neighborhood, either pick one color and collect everything you see of that color, or try and find one item representing each color of the rainbow on your walk. Then describe the objects using all five senses.
  • I Spy: Choose a category (colors, shapes, things that start with B, etc.) and take turns spotting items and saying the word or describing them
  • Story Builder: Create a silly story with each family member adding a sentence one at a time. The sillier the better!

Occupational Therapy:

  • Bake A Dessert: While baking, have your child be in charge of mixing all the ingredients together, kneading dough, or pouring the batter
  • Make A Paper Craft: Find a craft with pieces of all sizes and have your child practice using scissors and gluing materials together
  • Make A Friendship Bracelet: Provide your child with string and beads and see what beautiful creations they can make

Physical Therapy:

  • Create an Obstacle Course: Include elements of balance, coordination, and movement
  • Animal Races: Race your child while acting like a variety of animals (walk like a crab, hop like a bunny, waddle like a duck, slither like a snake, etc.)
  • Balloon Volleyball: Don’t let the balloon hit the floor! Make it extra challenging by adding additional rules such as balancing on one foot or only using your non-dominant hand.

If you need more examples of activities you can do with your child, do not hesitate to contact our office at (630) 347-1702.

Recent Blog:

Strength-Based Development

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The Importance of Strength-Based Development: Celebrating Abilities

Kids playing in a classroom

Children experience rapid and profound changes as they grow, especially in their early years. Early childhood development has a lasting impact on their health, future success, and well-being. Kids soak up everything and are amazing learners. A child’s brain is incredibly adaptable and resilient, allowing them to overcome challenges, learn new skills, and so much more. 

According to Psychology Today, infants’ are born with brains that have an overabundance of connections between neurons, also known as synapses or the most fundamental parts of our brains. These connections make a baby’s brain incredibly flexible and allow them to adapt based on what they experience in the world and the specific challenges they face. 

You have probably experienced a moment where you look at your child and think “where/how did you learn to do that?” or have been shocked at the unique way they approach a problem or at something they remembered. 

Research has found that focusing on a child’s abilities vs. their limitations, also known as strength-based development, accelerates development and can create new connections in the brain. While developmental milestones exist, kids grow at their own pace. Occupational, physical, and speech therapy— like what Kids Place Therapy Services provides—can aid in each individual’s development as therapy goals would be tailored to their unique needs and abilities. 

Here are some therapy milestones we have reached in our clinic recently:

  • Ruben made tremendous strides in his willingness to touch a variety of textures. He is now touching wet and slimy foods such as avocado and bananas. 
  • Anastasia is now able to brush her hair independently and is putting in her own hair clip! 
  • Elijah has improved his hand strength and coordination and is now independently using a hair tie to put his hair in a ponytail. 
  • Aiden is now able to write his first name! 

Being able to witness how incredible a child’s brain is and their ability for development is part of what makes our work so special. We love being able to encourage them to meet their goals!

Recent blog:

The Impact of Speech Therapy on Development

 

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The Impact of Speech Therapy on Development

A child practicing their speech in therapy

May is Better Speech and Hearing Month! Nearly 1 in 12 U.S. children ages 3-17 have had a disorder related to voice, speech, language, or swallowing and it is estimated that only half of these kids have received any sort of treatment. Speech therapy is a vital tool to addressing these challenges, and early intervention can make a big difference on your child’s development. 

So, what is Speech Therapy? Speech-language pathologists provide skilled treatment in many types of communication and swallowing problems with kids of all ages, from babies to teenagers. They address issues such as fluency, comprehension, cognitive communication, swallowing and feeding, and more, via a treatment plan tailored to the child’s unique needs. 

Birth to 3 years is when the brain is most adaptable and there are many ways you can help your child with their speech development, including:

  • Read books, talk, sing, and play together! While it may seem simple, these are super effective in boosting communication and strengthening social skills.
  • Limit screen time when possible.
  • Ask questions that include a choice. For example, “do you want to eat an apple or banana for snack time?”
  • Narrate everyday tasks to help them learn new words. 
  • Point out colors and shapes.

A more expansive list can be found on the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s website. If you think your child would benefit from speech therapy, contact our office at (630) 347-1702 to see how we can help. 

Sources:

  1. https://www.asha.org/about/press-room/quick-facts/#:~:text=Speech%20&%20Language%20Disorders
  2. https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/activities-to-encourage-speech-and-language-development/?srsltid=AfmBOooHSD9h2Vh-8Krc0vGn_Ll_jNBKMVA-eTV7hCcGydEClELls79I
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