Posts by Mickey Mellen
Eating Healthy. Growing Strong
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation and the American Academy of Pediatrics have joined with the best-selling children’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle to help families learn about healthy eating habits.The Very Hungry Caterpillar eats many foods on his journey to becoming a butterfly. You can help your child on his or…
Read MoreTreating Speech Problems in Children With Autism
Children on the autism spectrum frequently have speech and language disorders with related attention and sensory processing problems. This combination of factors makes speech development and learning particularly complex. Click here to read the full article on treating speech problems in children with autism.
Read MoreUpcoming Sensory Friendly Films
AMC Entertainment® (AMC) and the Autism Society of America have teamed up to bring families affected by autism and other disabilities a special opportunity to enjoy their favorite films in a safe and accepting environment on a monthly basis with the “Sensory Friendly Films” program. In order to provide a more accepting and comfortable setting…
Read MorePre-Phonemic Listening Skills
Before children begin to speak and develop literacy they show the ability to distinguish non-speech environmental sounds (e.g. a been bag falling on a wooden floor vs. a plastic ball falling on a wooden floor) and to identify objects by the sound they make (e.g. a horn, a bell, a helicopter). In this post you will…
Read MorePhoto Friday!
10 Ways to Motivate Your Child to Learn
Fill your child’s world with reading. Encourage him to express his opinion, talking about his feelings, and make choices. Show enthusiasm for your child’s interests and encourage her to explore subjects that fascinate her. Provide him with play opportunities that support different types of learning styles – from listening and visual learning to sorting and…
Read MoreHow to Detect Communication Disorders in Children
Click here to read the article “Parents Advised on How to Detect Communication Disorders in Their Children” by the America Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
Read MoreSpeech and Language of the Four-Year-Old
At age four, your child… points to colors red, blue, yellow, and green. identifies crosses, triangles, circles, and squares. follows commands even though objects not present. understands “early in the morning,” “next month,” “next year,” and “noontime.” can speak of imaginary conditions such as “suppose that” or “I hope.” asks many questions although more interested…
Read MoreSpeech & Language of the Three-Year-Old
At age three, your child…. can match primary colors, and name one color. knows night and day. understands “yesterday,” “summer,” “lunchtime,” “tonight,” and “little-big.” begins to obey prepositional phrases like, “put the block under the chair.” uses words to relate observations, concepts, ideas, and relationships. frequently practices by talking to himself. knows his or her…
Read MorePicture This: Symbols & Signs
The practice below will help your child recognize people, objects, and actions in pictures. Using pictures as part of everyday activities will make it easy for a child to tell you he/she notices things. This practice uses pictures of people and things a young child is familiar with to communicate recognition. Take diaper changing for example.…
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