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My New Artic Book for Toddlers is Finally Here!
This morning I’m saying something I’ve waited a long time to hear…
MY NEW ARTIC THERAPY MANUAL FOR TODDLERS IS READY!
It’s called…
I’ll be posting additional information in the next few days, but for now, I want to give you a sneak peak.
The subtitle of this therapy manual should really be…
“I don’t like to focus on articulation with toddlers, but when I do, here’s what works best.”
If you’ve followed my work for any length of time, you know that I’m a self-described “language-language-language” therapist. I will ALWAYS believe that WHAT a toddler says is much more important than HOW he says it.
But…
Clearly, there are times when we should address speech intelligibility in toddlers.
That’s what this therapy manual is all about… helping you know who’s ready to work on speech intelligibility, who’s not, what to do to get them ready, and then finally, what to work on and how to work on it. Whew! That’s a mouthful, but it’s the summary of the manual.
This program is based on teaching (correcting!) early phonological patterns – which is how speech develops in toddlers – but it’s also language-based meaning that your target words are completely relevant and functional for toddlers – not random words that fit the speech sound or pattern but provide no “real life” application for 2 and 3 year olds!
You’ll also notice the word FUN capitalized in the title. I won’t do anything with a little friend that’s not fun! Let’s face it… working on changing how a young child says a word can be t.o.r.t.u.r.e for everyone involved. To combat that problem, I’ll give you play-based therapy activities as well as practical ways (and words!) to use during everyday routines for families at home… It’s SUPER FUNCTIONAL.
Here’s the outline from the Table of Contents with a brief description of what you’ll find in each chapter:
Chapter 1… Is There a Problem?
Red Flags That Indicate a Significant Speech Intelligibility Problem in Toddlers
Chapter 2… Guidelines to Determine Readiness… To Treat or Not to Treat?
Learn the 7 factors that tell you when a child is developmentally ready to target speech intelligibility and when he’s not. You’ll also find recommendations for how to proceed when a toddler is not ready yet. I’ve included a great checklist to use with families, especially useful when parents are pushing you to address artic goals when you know there are other things that you should address first.
Chapter 3… Prioritize Your Goals
Read an overview of the 6 Priority Patterns to Increase Speech Intelligibility in Toddlers. I’ve tweaked these patterns based on newer research. You’ll also get another great yes/no checklist to help you informally assess a toddler’s status with each of the priorities so that you can easily determine your goals and share your clinical decision-making process with parents.
Chapter 4… Principles for Designing Sessions for Toddlers
Essential tips for achieving success with toddlers while working on speech intelligibility including how to:
- Keep it Fun!
- Keep it Real!
- Keep it Realistic!
- Keep it Meaningful!
- Keep it Moving!
- Keep it Easy (Enough)!
- Keep it Going! Involving Families, Teachers, and Other Important People
Chapter 5… Tips for Teaching Toddlers New Sounds, Patterns, and Words
Fantastic “how to” information for parents and for therapists! You can’t use the same methods for treating artic in toddlers as you do with older kids. Learn some tricks that work!
Chapter 6… Treatment Strategies and Activities to Target The 6 Priority Patterns
Here’s the THE MEAT of the MANUAL! You’ll get:
- A description of each of the six patterns you’ll target and why it’s important for improving intelligibility
- A list of my BEST treatment tips to get you started as you begin to teach a toddler the new pattern
- Potential word lists for each priority beginning with a list of First Targets that are the easiest to produce and (hopefully!) the most relevant and functional for a toddler. By easiest, I mean that the word contains sounds in the most facilitative contexts for success. You’ll get next sets of words containing the pattern in more difficult contexts too so that you can “bump up” kids who are ready
- An entire section of activity ideas that have worked well with toddlers over the years in my own practice. Activities are organized into Moving Around and Sitting Down options to help you implement my “Move – Sit – Move – Sit” philosophy. This is a critical piece between success and failure during sessions with toddlers.
- EASY ideas for targeting the pattern during everyday routines at home. Therapists can use these recommendations to share with parents as “homework” between sessions. Parents can get this information directly to work on speech all day, every day.
- To wrap up this chapter, there’s a section on Troubleshooting with ideas to try when the initial recommendations are not working.
Chapter 7… What is This? Diagnostic Information for Speech Intelligibility Issues in Toddlers
Get information related to the 5 main diagnoses that result in unintelligible speech including speech delay, phonological disorder, dysarthria, childhood apraxia of speech, and lastly, some information about autism and speech intelligibility. This section will help clear the murkiness that occurs when we try to sort out a firm diagnosis in a very young child who is not easily understood.
I am thrilled to release this book! I’ve worked on it since 2012 and it’s finally, finally, finally ready to go… woo hoo!
Laura
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Happy Therapists, Teachers, Parents & Children
"Laura, I am a long time follower. You have mentored me from a distance for many years. I've watched many of your courses and purchased 5-6 of your books. I just wanted to take a moment as a sister in Christ to say- --- Thank you!! I'm in my 33rd year as an SLP and still love it! I work in the public schools and have grown my skills along the way with your help. Thank you thank you thank you and, Many blessings to you and your daughter!!!"
Camille, SLP
"Laura,
Three years ago, my then 2year old (adopted) was only saying two words - momma and boat. We had been doing speech therapy for 6 months, and he loved to play, but he was entirely uninterested in talking. A dear friend who is a SLP recommended I look you up online. Since then, I've read your emails, listened to hours of your podcasts, ordered two of your therapy manuals, and watched many of your videos.
My now 5year old tells elaborate stories now, and if you didn't know his background, you would never guess. And thanks to the hours that I have spent with your guidance, when our next son, now a 2.5yr old, didn't talk (after a craniotomy), I had tools to get started with him. His speech has just taken off in the last month or so.
Thank you so much for all that you do to help parents facilitate speech therapy with their kiddos. And thank you for your gentle, confident living of your faith.
God's blessings."
Rachel (mom to 3 boys in a now very noisy house!)
"Hi Laura!
I became an SLP in 2004 and you were my first SLP crush! I was so fortunate to have a supportive school district that allowed me to purchase your videos and the Teach Me to Talk handbook. Not only was the handbook a life saver (I literally called it my Bible lol), but the videos, oh how the videos changed my life, and the lives of the families I worked with! I remember telling my families that they'd love you, not only because you spoke directly to families, jargon free, but also because of your southern dialect. You speak directly and clearly, but never rushed and never over anyone's head, something I highly value. I told families that I could listen to you read the phone book and it would capture my attention. You see, I'm from Ohio where we don't get a whole lot of diversity and cool dialects, so listening to you talk about my favorite topics was a breath of fresh air. So many of us think talking over people's heads makes us more credible or whatever, but now that I've been around over 20 years, I can say you had it right all along. Southern speech included 😊"
Heather Welling, M.A., CCC-SLP, Early Intervention in Summit County, OH
"I found the modality checklists to be invaluable. I had something in hand that I can use right off the printer."
Elizabeth, SLP
"LOVED this program! It was jam-packed with a ton of information that will take time to incorporate into therapy sessions. (Not only is the child learning new skills, so am I as a therapist!) I've known about strength-based therapy and have done it, but not to the extent and to the organization offered in this training. I am looking forward to seeing how my therapy changes and how my little ones progress by using this program."
Leah, SLP
"This program was extremely beneficial for use in my practice. All of the information, handouts and techniques that were presented were amazing. Easy to follow along. I liked that it was broken up into different videos/sections."
Michele, SLP
"Thank you for including real-life stories and anecdotes from your own practice. Very helpful."
Ellen, SLP
"I loved the clear strengths guidance, and the reminder not to push too hard in therapy!"
Elizabeth, SLP
"The course was very helpful and practical. I will certainly apply this approach to children on my caseload. I kept thinking about children that already "graduated" from EI and wish I had this knowledge when I still had them on my caseload. (Although I did put a lot of other Teach Me to Talk information into practice!)"
Heidi, SLP
"I appreciated learning the 7 C's of Communication, which seemed to include, (restated/reorganized/ summarized) information from '11 Skills Toddlers Master Before Words Emerge', which I have successfully used for years now (Thank you so much!!!!). I appreciated the additional information included to better assist toddlers with ASD since that population, unfortunately, continues to rise. I also appreciated the focus on regulating children and the need to keep them regulated, since dysregulation and sensory impairment in toddlers is also rising. These are areas I did not study in grad school. I appreciate the worksheets we can provide for parents to identify strengths and how to use these strengths more effectively in treatment. Thank you again, for your essential contribution to our field. p.s. You and Macy are precious!! God bless you both!"
"I am one of those therapists who you pointed out works on the wrong things. ARH!! What a slap in the face, but in a good way, because it was a much needed wake up call. I've hated my job lately and now I know why. Thank you for the clarity."
Susan, SLP
"Dear Ms. Laura and sweet Macy, I just purchased the new course and wanted to say THANK YOU! I would have definitely expected such cutting-edge information to come from you! I am part of several message boards for parents of autistic children, and we parents are just so tired of being told by professionals what our children can't or will never do. And really, what is the point of doing that? How does that help at all? Except to make the parent miserable and feel like there is no point in trying to help their child?...The tone of the course is great (such positivity), and Macy is such a delight! She is such a wonderful addition to Teach me to Talk."
Ann, SLP
“I loved the handouts to share with parents to help them understand how utilizing their child's strengths and interests is the best way to facilitate their child's communication abilities.”
Colleen, SLP
“The most beneficial part of the program is the strengths survey, as well as the treatment toys and activities that correspond to each strength. There was no part of the program that I did not feel was beneficial.”
Natalie, SLP
"I LOVED the energy of this course! I also appreciated the research facts I learned I can spit out to other professionals and parents. The best part was how characteristics of ASD were divided into strengths and therapy activities... so if I have a visually inspecting kid, I know I can go into my pdf and find out what activities I should target based on that characteristic... this really did improve how I think about therapy."
Kelsey, SLP
"I feel so much more at ease now having a huuuuuge packet of therapy ideas and a framework for organizing my therapy and having an actual PLAN instead of just "following the child's lead" while trying to figure out how to work in the goals. The way the content was explained was easy to follow and the handouts are excellent."
A, SLP
“I found identifying a child's strength helped me to consolidate my previous knowledge and experience. I feel I have a clear method to identify a child's strength and to build their strengths into sessions plans to help achieve their set goals.”
Christine, SLP
"Wow, this course was by far my favorite course I have taken in a long time! I have been lately feeling "stuck" with a few of my autistic toddler clients, and this course provided clear and helpful tools and strategies to best support our clients while also being affirming. I loved all of the ideas that were provided as well as the Strengths Survey – I can't wait to implement all of these wonderful things!"
Isabel, SLP
“The most beneficial part of the course was the handouts to share with parents and ALL the therapy ideas!! I've always felt that we focus on the 10% a kiddo can't do instead of the 90% Can Do. I have always tried to do this in my therapy sessions. Now I have evidenced material for support!!!!!”
Suzanne, SLP
“Liked systematic handouts to use to help with assessment and diagnostic therapy. Enjoyed hearing examples of each strength domain. Great review and great handouts to be able to share with families. The course was well organized and the content is much needed as an EI therapist.”
Terri, SLP
“This was a fresh new philosophy and a comprehensive approach with a new concept for successfully working with children with Autism. Before this ,the very structured, compliance teaching model which has been utilized by many therapists using comply-reward, noncompliance -punish or a with-hold philosophy. Children with Autism became prompt-.dependent with this method. These Children couldn't initiate language or make a plan to move on their own. They had to wait to be prompted to act or to respond and never spoke spontaneously on their own. I and many of my SLP colleagues have always believed in play therapy and giving the child choices to play works best. It is very important that Parents should hear about this strategy! Thank you Laura and Macy for doing the evidence-based research and putting this new concept into words!!”
Teresa, SLP
“This was a wonderful, easy to understand course with lots of great materials. Exactly what the fabulous Laura Mize is known for!”
F, SLP
"I am an autism mom, and I bought your books and listened to several podcast episodes over the last few years. I believe your teach me to talk and autism workbook were one of the number one tools in giving me to guidance to help my son. Thank you!"
Brittni
"I just want to thank you for the invaluable information you’ve given me in helping my grandson to talk (which I have passed on to his parents). We’ve ve learned patience, appropriate expectations, and fun and effective strategies that we had found no where else. He is exploding with conversation! Sometimes I struggle to interpret his articulation, but all I have to do is say, “Show me”, and he’s excited to do so. He and I both want so badly to communicate with each other, and your strategies have made it so much easier and non-threatening. Once again, I thank you from the bottom of my heart."
Stacey
"My little guy is taking off like a rocket!! We’ve been working through your Autism Workbook for a few months and he has had an explosion of skills develop. YOU are AMAZING! THANK YOU!" Laura Q, Mom
"Dear Laura Mize and Team,
Thank you so much for all your hard work and publishing books! Our 17-month-old toddler suddenly exploded into speaking and imitating everybody's gestures and sounds, just a week or two after we 'completed' all activities that are listed under 11 pre-linguistic skills! Your method really works!"
Grateful customer.
"Hi Laura!
I absolutely LOVE all of your workbooks, especially your Autism Workbook. Starting with Social Games has been a game changer for many of my littles with ASD and their families. It's been the best way for them to finally connect and sustain shared attention and engagement, leading to longer social interactions, through play!"
Jodie, Dev, Therapist
"Hi Ms. Laura,
Thank you so much for the videos you have posted on your youtube channel. They are so direct, informative, and helpful. Thank you for being a resource for me to become a better therapist."
Dianne
