In 2020 after the George Floyd murder, I created an IG post titled "5 Ways to Support Black and Brown Children in Clinical and Education Settings." I repurposed the post into a poster to help service providers and educators better service multicultural children. You can get it here: https://tinyurl.com/supportBIPOCkids

I have retired and have hundreds of stories, activities, photos, images, art for speech and language and also for early teaching for teachers. I have set up a site to share these materials with others at a discount - normally $25 but now $15 if you use the code honeybunny10 at https://www.slpstorytellers.com/register-2/ I hope others can use these downloadable stories and activities as I did over the years and some I have created recently.

I have retired and have hundreds of stories, activities, photos, images, art for speech and language and also for early teaching for teachers. I have set up a site to share these materials with others at a discount - normally $25 but now $15 if you use the code honeybunny10 at https://www.slpstorytellers.com/register-2/ I hope others can use these downloadable stories and activities as I did over the years and some I have created recently.

Our latest blog discusses using playful methods in speech therapy to boost communication skills. It emphasizes the effectiveness of wordplay, games, and puzzles for enhancing language learning and client engagement. Click here to read the blog:
https://content.liricare.com/games-in-speech-therapy/

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are always on the lookout for creative methods to boost engagement and enhance therapy results. Using humor in speech-language therapy sessions stands out as a powerful technique to meet these objectives. This blog delves into the importance of humor in speech therapy, highlighting how it can aid clients facing communication difficulties.

https://content.liricare.com/humor-in-speech-therapy/

Rare Disease Day !
Rare diseases pose special challenges which impact patients, the clinicians who care for them, and the investigators who study their conditions. Although rare diseases—defined as affecting < 200,000 US adults1—are individually uncommon, they are common in the aggregate, with nearly 7,000 such rare diseases affecting 25 to 30 million US adults, altogether 9% to 12% of the US population.1 Rare pulmonary diseases comprise an important subset and include, for example, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD), primary ciliary dyskinesia, lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome, Birt-Hogg-Dube syndrome, pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis, and hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, among many others.

The challenge of these rare diseases is captured in the names of organizations charged with their oversight, that is; the branch of the Food and Drug Administration that oversees rare disease treatments is called the Office of Orphan Products Development, the designated group of the National Institutes of Health is called the Office of Rare Diseases, and the legislation that directs regulatory requirements for drugs and devices for these conditions is called the Orphan Disease Act. Orphan diseases may lack support and advocacy just as orphans lack parents.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2017.12.018

As we continue our discussion on suicide prevention for Black children and youth, we must consider the ways SLPs can prevent suicide for CLD students in youth. One crucial way to do this is to create a safe space for children of color. Here are some tips adapted from Online Psychology@Pepperdine:

Regulate your own emotions. “Can you calmly talk about race?” We can help children feel calm and safe in our presence when we choose to regulate our own emotions about challenging topics.

Put up posters that support inclusion. Representation matters! “Featuring imagery and ideas that promote inclusion can give students a sense of belonging and cue that they are welcome” (OnlinePsychology@Pepperdine, 2021).

Create treatment plans that are inclusive of many identities: Introduce books written by authors of color. Use stories and assignments that highlight the histories of other cultures.

Assign writing prompts or discussions that encourage reflections/emotional regulation: This is the bottom line! We want to encourage students to use their expressive language skills and express their emotions (e.g., “To not hold their emotions in”). SLPs can have students practice identifying and labeling their emotions either confidentially or with peers.

Allow students to access a safe space: Find a location on your campus that helps the student feel safe or calm. This may be the classroom of a specific teacher they trust or a physical space like the library or counselors room.

Encourage students to take a timeout. Sometimes our students simply need a breather. According to the article, “if students can self-identify when they’re feeling overwhelmed, they can leave and come back when they’re ready.”

Establish an anonymous reporting system: Children are becoming more aware of microaggressions and overt racism at school and in other mainstream environments. Allow students to feel safe to report a racist incident and take it seriously through investigation. Do your best to ensure the student remains anonymous.

Recruit the help of teachers of color: Educators have a powerful skill for connecting with the students we serve. As SLPs, we can ask for help from our colleagues who “reflect and affirm the identities of students.” This, in turn, helps promote kinship, confidence, and safety for students.

Citation:

Pepperdine University. (2021, April 13). Helping Children of Color Heal from Collective Trauma [web log]. https://onlinegrad.pepperdine.edu/blog/children-of-color-collective-trauma-recovery/#supporting.

How can SLPs help children of color heal from collective trauma? "Collective trauma" explains the psychological distress experienced when a group or large community experience a shared trauma. This can be the psychological impact of watching protests and riots in response to police brutality cases like George Floyd, or other experiences like the ever-going water crises in Flint Michigan.

Pepperdine University (2021) provides insights on how we can help children heal from collective trauma. This is necessary for SLPs so we can ensure the welfare of the people we services (ASHA Code of Ethics, 2023).

You can see the article HERE: https://onlinegrad.pepperdine.edu/blog/children-of-color-collective-trauma-recovery/#supporting

Effective communication is crucial for individuals to actively participate in society, articulate their needs, and defend their rights. However, for people with speech and language disorders (SLDs), challenges in communication can significantly hinder their ability to advocate for themselves. Self-advocacy, the capacity to assert oneself, make informed choices, and control one's own life, is essential. For individuals with SLDs, possessing self-advocacy skills is vital for successfully navigating various environments, including educational and workplace settings, healthcare, and social interactions. Click to read more!

https://content.liricare.com/self-advocacy-for-people-with-speech-language-disorders/

I am creating a course that will be available in March via SpeechTherapyPD, Ethical AI in Speech Therapy: Harnessing the Future with Responsibility, and am including an extensive handout of helpful resources. This includes ChatGPT prompts.

Are you using ChatGPT to assist with lesson planning, report writing, goal creation, emails, etc? 

Would you be willing to share a few favorite and most effective prompts and I will share them in the handout?  - with credit to you of course!

I'm so curious to see how we are using this innovative and exciting platform!

Share your info here: https://forms.gle/qZQe69aVUwR1D8xA6