During our January 20, 2016, monthly meeting, SCMOM welcomed Ann Roberts, ASHA, CCC, LCST, MRCSLT, HPC, to speak with us.  Mrs. Roberts is a Speech and Language Pathologist with Brevard Public Schools, and she was happy to share knowledge and information with the members.

Mrs. Roberts shared some helpful tips for MoM’s of little ones:

• Try to get the pacifiers and sippy cups away from toddlers sooner rather than later, as they will retain the sucking reflex, which could affect their speech development;
• Play with and encourage your child to play, rather than filling their schedules with lessons, sports, etc;
• Speak often with your child who is learning to talk, pointing out things so they can learn what to call certain objects (Ex.: Let’s walk through the door together.  I’ll open the door, and now we will go outside.);
• Read with your children;
• If you think there might be a problem with your child’s speech/language development, go with your gut and call Early Steps for an evaluation; and
• Keep your sanity above all else!

Some resources which Mrs. Roberts shared included:

• Handouts from The Hanen Centre;
• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)

The handouts provided can be accessed through SCMOM’s Facebook page (members only).

We thank Mrs. Roberts for sharing her knowledge and time with SCMOM!