More than Child’s Play

If you are a longtime follower, you may have noticed we’ve been a little quieter over here. There are a few reasons for that but one is that Nicole, like 1 in 8 women in the United States, was diagnosed with breast cancer this year. Our podcast focuses on more child centered topics, but today, the first day of breast cancer awareness month, she’s sharing her story here. And she’s sharing it as a patient and not a medical provider. While she debated back and forth on sharing such a personal experience, she realized she had a story and we have a platform. So we are using them both. During her own diagnosis process, she was communicating with 3 other friends going through similar fates. In the months that followed, friends have connected her with their friends and family members who were also recently diagnosed. If you are a woman or love a woman, you know this is sadly an all too common experience. And that is why we decided to share her story. Early detection, self advocacy, exceptional medical care, and the best army of support, love, and prayers saved Nicole’s life this year. There is not a neat and tidy way to tell a story like this. After she recorded it, she immediately wished she had remembered to say certain things or self doubted what she had said. An oncologist would certainly be able to share information with more intelligent language and accurate detail. But this is her truth. It’s messy, emotional, hard, beautiful, and real. Here you will learn about risk factors, early detection, advocating for testing and imaging, and what the process of diagnosis, decision making, treatment, and recovery feels like for someone used to taking care of others, who suddenly finds herself as the patient. Nicole’s truth includes the sincere hope that it will give other women knowledge, confidence, and support to become their own best advocate. Thank you for listening and sharing and for your continued support of our small business. We look forward to bringing you some exciting pediatric content soon! PS - please do your self exams, schedule your imaging, and talk to your provider about your risk factors! 💪🏼 #breastcancerawareness #breastcancer #earlydetectionsaveslives #savethetatas #pinkribbon #mastectomy #BCSM #BreastCancerSupport #BreastCancerResearch #womenshealth #breastcancerawarenessmonth

Holiday shopping may be more challenging this year with supply chain issues, and many small businesses are still working hard to survive in the midst of ongoing pandemic challenges. As small business owners, Nicole and Lacy wanted to include and highlight small businesses this year as part of their Holiday Gift Guide. Take a listen as Nicole and Lacy discuss the items they chose for the list this year and why. They hope you'll enjoy these options and consider shopping local in your corner of the world this year. Blog post with images and links to all of the products mentioned in this episode: https://milestonesandmiracles.com/2021/10/15/2021-shop-local-small-business-centered-holiday-gift-guide/

Physical and occupational therapists often advocate for children to climb UP the slide, hang from the monkey bars, spin upside, and climb trees. But why? There are many benefits to taking age typical motor risks. Join us for a delightful, fun, and informative conversation with expert Dr. Stacy Menz, PT, DPT, PCS. Stacy is the owner of Starfish Therapies in the San Francisco Bay area and brings her experience as a clinician, professor, and mother of a climbing and bouncing toddler to the table as we tackle why physical risk matters, what constitutes a developing balance system, if seats/containers affect balance for infants, and practical ways to expose children to relatively safe risk taking in daily routines. Therapists, teachers, students, and parents will all be inspired by this conversation! Mentioned in this episode: https://starfishtherapies.com/ Playground Ideas

Lacy is joined by Jeanette Washington, M.Ed., speech-language pathologist and educator. In this episode Jeanette defines what dyslexia is and how we can appreciate signs of dyslexia in children as young as one year of age. Jeanette shares common diagnoses that coexist with dyslexia. She thoroughly explains what executive functioning skills are and how they impact a young child's day to day activities. Jeanette provides suggestions on how families and professionals can support the development of these skills in children. In closing, Jeanette shares resources for those who wish to learn more about these topics and references some of her own valuable resources as well. Please be sure to check out Jeanette's website and follow her on social media to continue to benefit from all of the knowledge she has to offer on dyslexia and executive functioning skills: https://www.bearlyarticulating.com/p/jeannette-washington-med-bearly.html. You can also check out this resource Jeanette has to offer to help with executive functioning skills: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Daily-Student-Planner-ADHD-Executive-Functioning-Friendly-6564846. Other websites and resources Jeanette mentioned in the episode include: https://www.understood.org/ https://developingchild.harvard.eduhttps://dyslexia.yale.edu http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/

This is the episode all about PLAY! Emily Cohen, M.A, CCC/SLP, speech-language pathologist and author of Playing With Purpose, joins Lacy in a conversation about the importance of play in the developing child’s life. Emily defines what play is and how it benefits children. She explains the five stages of play and at what ages they each emerge and also lists and describes the three types of play. Emily explains what purposeful play is and offers tips on how parents and providers can engage children in purposeful play to target skills. Lastly, she gives recommendations of resources where you can go to learn more about play. Find Emily's book and resources here: https://www.tandemspeechtherapy.com/playingwithpurposebook/. Other resources Emily recommended include: https://www.scanlonspeech.com , https://teachmetotalk.com and https://www.hanen.org/Home.aspx .

Meg Lico, speech-language pathologist, is a member of the cleft palate and craniofacial team at NYU Langone Health. In this episode she joins Lacy to discuss what cleft lip/palate is and how early it can be be diagnosed. Meg shares statistics regarding cleft lip/palate incidence and some of the most common syndromes this diagnosis is associated with. Meg discusses the implications for feeding and speech/language development resulting from cleft lip/palate and surgical options for children to repair their cleft lip/palate. Lastly Meg offers her advice to families on how best to advocate for their child and recommends resources for families and professionals to deepen their understanding of a cleft lip/palate diagnosis. Connect with Meg on Instagram @thecraniofacialslp and learn more about cleft lip/palate here: https://www.smiletrain.org https://www.leadersproject.org/ https://acpa-cpf.org https://www.myface.org

In this episode Kimberly Scanlon, speech-language pathologist and author, joins Lacy to answer the following questions: When should baby say their first word? How many words should a baby say at 12 months of age? What counts as a word? How can parents support their little one before those first words are spoken? What words are most important to model for baby? Kimberly references her books and how they support families in helping their child learn to talk. She references her Common First Words list and why those words are considered power words for little ones. Kimberly offers advice to families that are concerned with their child’s communication skills and her top tips for supporting language development at home. This episode is full of practical information and creative suggestions to support early language learners for both practitioners and families! Connect with Kimberly on her websites: https://www.scanlonspeech.com and https://www.mytoddlertalks.com Purchase Kimberly’s books including My Toddler Talks and My Toddler’s First Words: https://www.scanlonspeech.com/my-books/ Free resources from Kimberly including the Common First Words list: https://www.mytoddlertalks.com/resources-2

In this episode Jen Leroux, M.A., CCC/SLP, school based speech-language pathologist, joins Lacy to talk about how to support school aged kids over the summer with their speech and language skills. Jen has 12 years of experience supporting families in helping their kids over the summer months and it doesn't involve worksheets! Jen gives practical tips and strategies on how to approach families about practice over the summer and what might work best for them. She shares ideas on how to implement skills into daily routines and family vacations. She suggests simple activities to support practice and discusses how book reading can support speech and language skill practice also. We talk about how to best collaborate with private speech-language pathologists and how for some kids and families, taking a break might be the best recommendation. This is great episode for parents looking for ways to support their kids over the summer months and for professionals to learn new, creative, practical ways to support families! To access Jen's materials look for "Simplified Speech" on Teachers Pay Teachers and Boom Learning. You can also find Jen on Instagram @simplified_speechie.

Join us in this episode as Stacey Landberg, M.S., CCC/SLP, speech-language pathologist, describes what adult learning principles are and how understanding them can help you deliver more effective early intervention. She shares the acronym she uses to help her remember the principles as well as how she ensures she follows the acronym, SCRAPP, in her practice. Stacey lists resources to help you further your knowledge of adult learning principles and explains how she is supporting colleagues in the field by leading a community of practice called Coach to Coach. This episode challenges early interventionists to examine how they are delivering coaching services and how they might improve upon that to optimize adult/caregiver/parental learning and assists families in thinking about their own learning styles and how they can best impact their child's development in positive ways. Stacey mentions the following websites and resources: @ei.coaching on Instagram, http://fgrbi.com, https://staceylandberg.com/subscribe/.

In this episode Lacy and Cari Ebert, M.S., CCC/SLP discuss coaching in the early intervention setting. Cari defines what coaching is, how it is different from consultation and why coaching is an important component in early intervention. She shares how she discusses this service delivery model to parents and caregivers and gains their buy in as the person most responsible for their child's progress and success. Cari shares resources she has available to deepen your understanding and implementation of coaching as an early intervention provider as well as inspiration to continue the work you do as an early interventionist. You do not want to miss this episode! Cari's message is inspiring and motivational!

We don’t know a parent who hasn’t expressed concerns about their children’s mental health over the past year.The amount of unpredictability, fear, change, and interruption to daily life and stress they have experienced in their homes has affected them all in some way. Join us as we learn from Melissa Swartz, LPC, Trauma Therapist. Melissa has extensive training in neuroscience, evolutionary biology, stress science, nutrition, and acupuncture. She graciously shares her expertise as we bring to her questions from our listeners and ourselves around mental health for adolescents and teens during the Covid-19 global pandemic. We talk about how Covid has affected our children. We touch on recognizing signs and symptoms for younger children and teens and knowing when our children and teens may need help and how to approach them and access it with them. Melissa provides meaningful education and resources around identity issues and development, social and educational re-acclimation stress, and secondary mental health concerns such as eating disorders, cutting, and other dangerous behaviors.She shares thoughtful resources on coping, improving sleep and general health, and wholistic and targeted interventions to support therapy interventions. Melissa also answers questions adult and teen listeners shared. This may be the most impactful podcast episode we’ve shared to date. As the need for mental healthcare for children and teens grows, we hope this conversation will empower you to better care for yourself and your family.

Often times there are roadblocks that get in the way of natural child development. These roadblocks are sometimes created by adults caring for children and are sometimes biological factors that go undetected. In this podcast series we will identify eight of the most common roadblocks and share strategies to address them. First up is lack of tummy time. Listen in as Nicole Sergent, pediatric physical therapist, discusses why tummy time is so important for infants, when and how to incorporate it into baby's daily routines and solutions if baby doesn't care much for tummy time. Nicole also shares implications for baby if not enough tummy time is offered. Be sure to look for the next seven podcast episodes in this series highlighting the other roadblocks to natural development: prolonged bottle/sippy/pacifier use, media and screen time exposure, missed diagnoses, undetected vision loss, undetected hearing loss, nutrition and allergies and over-parenting/a faulty sense of what's typical. To learn more about these Top Roadblocks to Natural Development visit the Milestones & Miracles website (www.milestonesandmiracles.com) and take our continuing education course offered through Medbridge Education.