The Yellin Center Blog

Beyond Articulation: The Broader Scope of Speech and Language Therapy

2024-12-02T17:45:00.002-05:00

We are delighted to welcome back guest blogger, Craig Selinger, M.S. CCC-SLP, Speech Language Pathologist, who will share important information about speech-language therapy. Craig has nearly 20 years of experience in the field and is presently CEO and Founder of Brooklyn Letters, serving NYC metro area families with at-home in-person 1:1 specialized services.

Introduction

When most people think of speech therapy, they envision helping children pronounce words correctly. However, speech and language therapy encompasses much more than articulation. For students facing literacy, expressive language, and comprehension challenges, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) address fundamental components that impact communication and academic success. This expanded scope of therapy is crucial, especially when considering the overlap between conditions like dyslexia and other learning challenges.

Expanding the Focus: Key Components of Speech and Language Therapy

SLPs work with students on several essential areas beyond articulation to improve language processing and literacy outcomes. Here's a deeper look at the crucial components:

Phonology: The Sound Structure of Language

Phonology refers to a language's sound system and the rules for combining sounds. SLPs work with students to develop phonemic awareness, essential for decoding words and improving reading and spelling skills. Children who struggle with phonology may find it challenging to manipulate sounds within words, impacting their literacy development. This becomes even more critical when addressing dyslexia, a condition characterized by word reading difficulties.

Morphology: The Structure of Words

Morphology focuses on the smallest units of meaning in language, such as roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Research indicates that a high percentage of English words consist of multiple morphemes. For example, the word walked contains two morphemes, "walk" and "ed." Poor morphological awareness can lead to difficulties recognizing and comprehending morphologically complex words, which is common in written text. Studies show that explicit, systematic instruction in morphology can significantly enhance literacy outcomes by improving decoding and comprehension skills.

Four Components of Morphology Impacting Literacy:

Morphological Awareness: Understanding how morphemes function in spoken and written forms aids students in decoding and comprehending unfamiliar words.
Syntactic Morphological Knowledge: This involves recognizing how affixes, such as "un" and "ate," change parts of speech, which is crucial for reading accurately and writing effectively.
Semantic Morphological Knowledge: Understanding the meanings of words based on their morphemic components supports comprehension.
Orthographic/Phonological Morphological Knowledge: This knowledge helps with spelling and pronunciation, impacting overall written literacy skills.

Syntax: Sentence Structure and Grammar

Syntax refers to the arrangement of words to form meaningful sentences. It plays a significant role in reading comprehension and written expression. Written syntax is more complex than oral syntax, and understanding sentence structure, length, and complexity affects the cognitive load during reading. Research highlights that syntactic and morphological knowledge have the strongest predictive relationship with reading comprehension, making syntax a key area of focus in literacy development.

Semantics: Understanding and Using Vocabulary

Semantics involves the meaning of words and sentences. A strong semantic foundation helps students understand word relationships, multiple meanings, and contextual usage. This understanding is crucial for effective reading comprehension and expressive language skills. Explicit vocabulary instruction, as supported by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), is essential for enhancing language structure and reading outcomes.

Pragmatics: Social Use of Language

Pragmatics refers to the rules governing the use of language in social contexts. It involves understanding how to initiate and maintain conversations, use appropriate tone and gestures, and interpret social cues. Pragmatic skills are closely tied to Theory of Mind—the ability to understand and attribute thoughts, beliefs, and emotions to oneself and others. This skill is crucial for perspective-taking, which is key to social-emotional growth and effective communication.

Connecting Pragmatics to Reading Comprehension and Social-Emotional Development: Children with strong pragmatic skills are better equipped to grasp characters' perspectives and emotions in stories, enhancing their reading comprehension. Students who understand different viewpoints and emotions can engage in richer discussions about texts and build stronger connections to the material. Moreover, perspective-taking is foundational for social-emotional growth, allowing children to form meaningful relationships and respond empathetically in various situations.

Narrative Skills: Bridging Oral and Written Language

Narrative skills involve organizing and conveying information logically. Storytelling is not just about recounting events; it helps students understand sequencing, main ideas, and cause-and-effect relationships. This ability is a vital link between oral expressive language and written language development. As children improve in organizing and expressing their thoughts clearly, these skills transfer to written expression, enhancing creativity and structure in their writing. Furthermore, strong narrative abilities are closely linked to social communication skills and reading comprehension, making them a central focus in language intervention.

Spelling: A Sensitive Measure of Language-Based Skills

Spelling is not merely a mechanical skill; it is a highly sensitive measure that provides unique and detailed insights into various language-based skills involved in decoding and encoding. When assessing spelling abilities, SLPs can gain valuable data on the following components:

Phonological Awareness: The ability to recognize and manipulate sounds within words. Children who struggle with spelling often struggle to isolate and identify sounds, indicating phonological awareness gaps.

Orthographic Pattern Awareness: Understanding common patterns in written language. This awareness involves recognizing spelling conventions and rules, such as silent letters or vowel-consonant combinations, contributing to accurate spelling and decoding.

Vocabulary and Semantic Awareness: Students should be aware of word meanings and relationships. As they expand their vocabulary, their spelling accuracy improves, especially with homophones and words with multiple meanings.

Morphological Awareness: The recognition of word roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Breaking down and spelling morphologically complex words demonstrates a student's understanding of how morphemes contribute to word formation and meaning.

Orthographic Lexical Word Forms in Long-Term Memory: The mental storage of familiar word spellings. Students rely on their mental lexicon to accurately spell common words they have encountered frequently, highlighting the role of long-term memory in spelling proficiency.

Spelling errors can reveal where breakdowns occur in these areas, providing SLPs with a deeper understanding of students' specific challenges. Addressing these components through targeted intervention improves spelling and strengthens overall literacy skills.

Connecting Oral and Written Language

A fundamental goal of speech and language therapy is to bridge the gap between oral and written language. Students who develop strong oral expressive language skills often find translating their thoughts into written words easier. Through structured storytelling and narrative activities, SLPs guide students in building coherent and detailed written narratives that reflect their verbal storytelling abilities.These narrative-based interventions are especially significant in the cases of dyslexia and other learning differences. While dyslexia primarily affects decoding and word recognition, students with other learning differences often struggle with organizing and expressing their ideas orally and in writing. By focusing on narrative development, SLPs help students create a cohesive link between oral and written language, essential for effective communication and academic success.

Receptive Language and Reading Comprehension

Receptive language encompasses the skills required to understand and process auditory information. This includes listening comprehension, following directions, and processing spoken language. In the context of reading comprehension, students need strong receptive language skills to decode words and understand the broader meaning of what they read.

SLPs focus on improving listening comprehension, which directly supports reading comprehension. As children enhance their ability to process auditory information and grasp spoken language, they become better equipped to understand written texts. This connection between receptive language and reading comprehension is vital for students with a wide range of learning differences, who may face challenges in both listening and reading. By targeting these foundational skills, SLPs can improve students' comprehension abilities, fostering a deeper understanding of the material they encounter in both oral and written formats.

Why Work with a Certified Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP)?

If a student has a language disorder or shows signs of dyslexia, working with a licensed speech-language pathologist (SLP) with expertise in these areas is essential. SLPs have the qualifications and training to accurately assess and treat language disorders, such as expressive language disorder, mixed expressive-receptive disorder, and dyslexia. Their specialized knowledge allows them to design individualized therapy plans to improve the student's language, cognitive-communication, and literacy skills, providing targeted support that addresses current challenges and long-term development.

Importance of Explicit, Systematic Instruction

Explicit, systematic instruction is crucial to effectively addressing these areas. This involves teaching students how to decode words, understand their meanings, and recognize syntactic rules to improve reading and literacy outcomes. Instructional techniques like sentence combining, word building, and conversational recasts are more effective than isolated drills, as they embed learning within meaningful contexts.

Considerations for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students

When working with culturally and linguistically diverse students, it's important to refrain from directly translating English assessments, as differences in phonology, morphology, and syntax between languages can yield inaccurate results. Tailoring literacy assessments and interventions to the needs of diverse learners ensures accurate identification of strengths and areas needing support.

Conclusion

Speech and language therapy is far more comprehensive than correcting pronunciation. By addressing phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, narrative skills, and receptive language abilities, SLPs can significantly boost comprehension, processing, and literacy outcomes.

The Yellin Center Is Moving To A New Home!

2024-05-19T19:02:00.000-04:00

Big News!

Beginning Monday, May 20th, The Yellin Center for Mind, Brain, and Education will be located at 225 West 35th Street, just west of Seventh Avenue, in the heart of Manhattan near Penn Station. Our phone number and email addresses will be unchanged.

Our new mailing address is:

The Yellin Center for Mind, Brain, and Education
225 West 35th Street
Sixth Floor
New York, NY 10001

It wasn't an easy decision to leave our offices after 15 years, but changes in the way we all work in the post-pandemic years helped us decide to explore new space. Getting ready to move has been a big job, but our entire staff pitched in, our boxes are all packed, and each item of furniture is marked with its new location.

The movers come on Monday morning and we will be sharing photos of our terrific new space over the next few weeks. We look forward to seeing you on 35th Street!

A Student’s Perspective on Seeking Help

2023-08-15T11:37:00.002-04:00

The Yellin Center is delighted to welcome guest blogger Annabel Bayer to our blogging family.

As a young student in a classroom, you are not always aware when something is taking a toll on your learning. You may not understand why you are struggling to comprehend material as well as others, finish your assessments in the time given, or perform efficiently on in-class assignments. This can lead to frustration and self-doubt, as you question what seems wrong with you that isn’t wrong with others. Students can easily lose their confidence and motivation as confusion and anger build in regards to schoolwork. This may have an academic impact, but also impacts the mental health of the child in their daily life.

As a student, I struggled with the challenges of slow processing. During my freshman year of high school, I began to realize that I was not understanding the material in class at the same pace as other students. In addition, I noticed that I was using all of the allotted time to finish my tests, which usually still wasn’t enough. I began to doubt myself and my capabilities to perform and succeed academically. I became frustrated and angry as I compared myself to others and my grades remained below average despite so much effort. This took a toll on my mental health as my confidence suffered. As I advanced into sophomore and junior years, these issues and feelings persisted, leading me to lose more and more motivation.

This frustration escalated to a point when my parents recommended that I get a neuropsychological evaluation to help me understand and address how I learn. I had never heard of a neuropsych, and it sounded scary, but at that point I wanted any help I could get. The neuropsych process was fascinating and enlightening. One conclusion is that I discovered was that I had slow processing. Having this knowledge about my brain gave me a sense of comfort; I understood that my processing was different from other students, but not because I was any less intelligent. Heading into my senior year, I became eligible for accommodations, permitting me to use extra time when taking tests. I performed significantly better in almost every course and my confidence and motivation as a student grew. I felt at peace discovering how many other students also struggle with learning differences and my confidence and motivation as a student grew.

The neuropsych process helped me to recognize my ability to feel in control of my own academic success, and had such a positive impact on my mental health. In college, I continue to use my accommodations with great success, alongside many classmates from around the country who’ve experienced similar situations. My parents played an important role in helping me gain back confidence and motivation as a student. When I expressed frustration and struggles in my classes, they listened to me and tried to understand my challenges. They encouraged and supported me, even when my grades were below average, recognizing that I was always trying my hardest.

What mattered the most was that they prioritized my emotional well-being, and paid attention to my feelings rather than focusing on my grades in my classes. They sat with me, listened, tried to understand my experience, and wanted to help. Getting a neuropsych ended up changing my academic career for the better, and I could not have done it without the support of my parents and their validation of my frustration. In writing about my experience, I hope to make students and their families feel more comfortable embarking on the neuropsych process to hopefully end any cycle of frustration and discouragement. I want students and families to realize and accept that having a learning difference does not mean that there is something wrong with you, and that using accommodations like extended time is not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of taking agency. Accommodations can change your entire academic career for the better. Sometimes a little bit of help can go a long way

Annabel grew up in New York City. She is currently an undergraduate at Lehigh University majoring in Psychology.

The Lead Domino Series: Part 3 - When Students Feel Stuck

2023-02-14T10:27:00.000-05:00

Today we conclude our three-part series by guest bloggers Brandon Slade and Katie Zak of Untapped Learning, who have explored how the concept of Lead Domino can help students and others move ahead when Executive Function issues complicate their progress. Check out the first two parts of their series here and here.

We know lead dominos come in all forms. Sometimes they take the form of a task, other times the form of an action, or even a process.

For many of us, work or school is the driving force behind our "overwhelm". There’s often a big project to start, a paper or proposal to write, or a test to study for. We have to remember—the lead domino for any of those scenarios is just the one thing we can do that will give us some momentum.

Here are some frequent scenarios our students encounter:

There’s an assignment due at the end of the week and you’re confused about the instructions. What’s the lead domino? Send an email.

Teachers and professors want to help you succeed. They definitely don’t want to see you fail just because you misunderstood part of an assignment. Reach out to ask for clarification, come into office hours, or even schedule a Zoom call if that would expedite the process and be more convenient. (Side note: make sure the clarifications around the instructions are documented somewhere, like in a notebook or on a Google Doc—you don’t want to have to email them a few hours later to ask again.) Asking clarification questions can save you from HOURS of work wasted on guessing. Not emailing, on the other hand, could cost hours of your future time as you redo the assignment, or the cost could be the hit your grade will take due to the points deducted. By sending this email, you’re also showing the instructor that you care about their class and your academic success overall, helping to establish a positive student/teacher relationship.

You have a test coming up and you need to focus and study. What’s the lead domino? Create a clear workspace.

Notebooks, textbooks, flashcards, slideshows on your laptop—you have so many materials to sift through when preparing for an exam. They may all be helpful and necessary, but you know what’s not necessary? Yesterday’s half-full cup of coffee, the balled-up, dirty workout clothes on your chair, and pieces of an unfinished art project strewn across your desk. There’s no room for the materials you need, so take a minute to clean your space before you jump into studying. This will save you from wasting time searching for missing flashcards in the midst of scrapbook paper, or frantically cleaning up cold coffee when it inevitably spills on your notes. Take a minute to set yourself up in a clean environment, void of distractions.

Tasks are piling up, but you’re just spinning your wheels. Where do you start? What’s the lead domino? Write everything down.

It’s hard to prioritize effectively if you’re not looking at a full list of the things you have to accomplish. If you have limited time to complete a number of tasks, you can’t always dive in blindly and hope for the best. Write down every task, assignment, or action that needs to be done. Once it’s all written down, you have a clearer idea of what things already have fixed times (class at 12:30, soccer practice at 4), providing structure to build around. At that point, you have everything you need to map out a realistic plan!

Planning is the first thing we do at Untapped when we sit down with students. We take every assignment, test date, dentist appointment, and violin lesson of the week and assign them to the appropriate days. If we don’t write down a test date, we might forget to account for study time in the days leading up to the test. If we don’t write down a violin lesson, we could incorrectly assume the number of hours available to do homework that night. Creating a plan is one of the best lead dominos, on both micro and macro levels, when you find yourself needing to get started. Whether you’re looking at your week as a whole, or you just can’t bring yourself to get to work on a specific project, take a moment to make a plan and organize your thoughts.

The Lead Domino Series: Part 2 - Beyond Academics

2023-02-06T09:11:00.001-05:00

We are pleased to share the second part of a three-part series by a new team of guest bloggers, Brandon Slade and Katie Zak of Untapped Learning, whose first post for The Yellin Center Blog explained the concept of the Lead Domino as a way to look at Executive Functioning.

When we talk about the lead domino with our students, it’s often in the context of school.

If you can finish the missed homework assignment in math from Monday, you’ll have a better, more complete understanding of that section, then you’ll be able to finish your review packet, which will set you up for focused studying material for the chapter test next week…

However, we sometimes face situations where our lead domino is something outside of academics or work; it’s actually just a small change we could implement in our everyday lives that would make things run more smoothly.

One of our favorite lead domino examples to help people start their day off on the right foot is the landing/launching pad. For adults, the landing pad is where we drop our wallet, keys, and sunglasses as soon as we walk in the door. When we leave, it becomes our launching pad. Because we’re taking the step to place our necessities in the same spot every time we come home, we aren’t scrambling the next time we head out the door. Everything is right where we left it, every time. We can simply scoop up those essentials and leave on time. For students, a launching pad can be an organized backpack sitting by the front door each morning. At night, if you and your student can take the time to pack their laptop, chargers, pencils, all binders, etc., and even make lunch before heading to bed, you can prevent the majority of conflicts that usually take over your mornings.

Another lead domino that can positively affect our day is exercise—we know that exercise is the miracle drug. Exercising helps us activate neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. When we find ourselves stuck, unmotivated, or overloaded, getting up to go for a 20-minute walk can change the trajectory of our whole day and our productivity. This exercise increases blood flow to the brain, triggers those neurotransmitters, and helps us concentrate. When we return to our to-do list, workload, or whatever it is that’s overwhelming us, we’ll find that our focus has improved significantly thanks to that exercise and its impact on our brain. When students are stuck on a homework assignment and have been sitting in front of a computer for too long, the action they need to take is entirely non-academic; they just need to get up and move.

One of the most important, and hardest, lead dominos that sets us up for success, is sleep. Sleep can dictate almost every aspect of our lives: focus, mood, energy level, etc. It has the power to positively or negatively define a day, or even a week. However, getting more sleep is never a quick fix. Behind better sleep is a routine that must be developed and maintained.

The lead domino can be, but does not always need to be, an action or a task that defines your whole day. It may simply be a choice that can help you move forward in a small series of events, and you probably have a few lead dominos that you could choose from that would all result in the same outcome—you just have to get started. Common examples of this include: jumping in the shower, making a cup of coffee, or choosing to face the one task you’ve been putting off that’s hanging over your head. All of these actions can help you move forward in a small way, but that little bit of momentum can make it easier to tackle the rest of your day. Two hold-ups we see, in both adults and in adolescents, are: struggling to follow-through with the lead domino, and getting caught between two actions and not being able to decide the best way to move forward.

For example: You’re trying to brush your teeth and get out the door to go grocery shopping. As you’re putting toothpaste on your toothbrush, you realize you have a load of clean laundry that needs to be moved from the washer to the dryer. So you put down your toothbrush to go flip the laundry, but on your way to the basement you stop to pick up and put away shoes that were a tripping hazard. As you’re putting them away, you notice some empty mugs on the coffee table, which reminds you that you haven’t had a single sip of water all morning. You pause for a minute to go grab and drink a nice, big glass of water. As you set the glass down, you remember the laundry, but you also remember that your toothbrush is sitting on the bathroom sink, locked and loaded for you to brush your teeth. What’s your next move?

Brush your teeth, flip the laundry—you just need to decide. Committing to that decision and moving forward will help propel you to achieve your original goal: getting out the door and making it to the grocery store.

Does this series of events sound familiar?

As parents, educators, or just trusted adults, we can get so focused on helping students succeed that we forget that everything we relay to our students also applies to us. We’re not above facing those daily challenges, they just typically don’t come to us in the form of math assignments. When we can apply our own advice to ourselves, we model real-world efforts and accomplishments for our students, showing them the effectiveness of our lead dominos outside of school.

The Lead Domino: A Unique Way to Look at Executive Functioning

2023-01-30T09:39:00.001-05:00

We are pleased to welcome a new team of guest bloggers, Brandon Slade and Katie Zak of Untapped Learning, who today begin a three-part series, introducing a new way to look at Executive Functioning.

Introduction

Some days, we feel stuck. Maybe we have a clear to-do list with reasonable tasks, maybe we have a full page of high-priority items. In both scenarios, we can feel overwhelmed and find ourselves spinning our wheels. Why can’t we just pick something from the list and get to work? In these moments, we debate if we should choose the easiest tasks just so we can knock them out quickly, or if we should start a harder, longer task that’s the source of some tangible anxiety. Instead of getting caught between these two options, we have a third: Find the lead domino.

Part 1: Identifying the Lead Domino

Take a step back. Look at your list. Maybe even look beyond your list. What one thing could you do that might positively impact the rest of your day? Maybe it’s not a work or school task, maybe it’s just jumping in the shower. Maybe it’s pausing to really prioritize your to-do list. Maybe it’s committing to not checking your phone, email, or other distractions that can pull your attention, until the task with the closest deadline is complete. Regardless of what your specific “lead domino” is, it has the power to positively impact your day. By knocking it down, you’ve opened yourself up to a strategy and system that can more easily carry you through the rest of your responsibilities. One domino knocks over the next, and the next, and the momentum is perpetuated in a chain reaction.

If you begin with a “lead domino” task, you can build the momentum needed to cross off the rest of your list items more easily—even if they are exponentially larger. Often, by achieving one key task on the list, the rest of the tasks will be significantly easier.

If you set up 13 dominos in a row, each domino one and a half times bigger than the one before, the first domino could be five millimeters tall and the last domino could be more than one meter tall and weigh 100 pounds. If you knock the first domino over, after just 13 “reactions,” the largest domino would topple over easily. We can apply this idea to our lists. The “lead domino” task is like the five millimeter domino; if you get this one accomplished, toppling the 100 pound domino at the end will be much easier than trying to push over the heaviest domino first. How can we identify the lead domino?

● Slow down: This may feel counterintuitive when the goal is to accomplish your long to-do list, but by slowing down and taking the time to examine which tasks will help achieve other tasks, you will make your systems more efficient. Taking the time to identify the lead domino allows us to re-evaluate priorities, reorganize your list, and maximize efficiency.

● Ask yourself: How do these tasks relate to one another? How can you shift the order of your tasks to best maintain your momentum?

● Make a new list: Based on the information you’ve observed, make a fresh list. For example: As a busy college student, creating an email template will help you cross off the three emails that you need to send to professors, allowing you to figure out what your missing assignments are, which then will let you get to work on those assignments. All of those tasks are grouped together and they depend on tipping over that lead domino: creating the email template.

Completing your lead domino may take awhile and be more tedious than you’d like, but by tackling this task first, the other tasks will be easier to complete going forward. Your lead domino could be anything from outlining a paper to going to the gym for a workout! Both of these activities are examples of lead dominos that give you the momentum to get your work (or your day!) started.

image by wirestock on Freepik

It's FAFSA Season - And We Have a Guide to Recommend

2022-10-18T14:19:00.000-04:00

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid -- FAFSA -- is the universally used form for obtaining federal and other sources of student aid for college. These can include scholarships, loans, and work-study jobs. The FAFSA application is used by colleges as well as the federal and state governments -- and the new form became available on October 1st.

One very useful resource for those dealing with the FAFSA form for the first time -- and for those who have tackled it before -- is the book FAFSA: The How-To Guide for High School Students (And the Adults Who Help Them). The book is available in ten languages. -- from Arabic and Bengali to Urdu, and plenty in between. This guide is downloadable for free and has a highly accessible approach that deals with a wide array of questions that students and parents may have. It is written by college professionals and comes from UnderstandingFAFSA.org, which is a partner of the well regarded InsideSchools.org, which we have long used as a resource for information about NYC Public Schools. Both organizations operate under the nonprofit umbrella of The Center for New York City Affairs.

What Does a Speech-Language Therapist Do?

2022-08-16T15:11:00.000-04:00

We are delighted to welcome a guest blogger, Craig Selinger, M.S. CCC-SLP, Speech Language Pathologist, who will share important information about speech-language therapy. Craig has nearly 20 years of experience in the field and is presently CEO and Founder of Brooklyn Letters, serving NYC metro area families with at-home in-person 1:1 specialized services.

A speech-language therapist (SLT), speech-language pathologist (SLP), or simply language therapist is someone who specializes in human communication and how it impacts individuals at school, home, and work. It is a licensed field governed by the state. To become a licensed SLP, one must complete a masters in Communicative Disorders, pass a national examination, and complete a Clinical Fellowship Year. Many people don’t realize the breadth and scope of what SLPs do. Some SLPs are also trained in bilingualism and multilingualism. A speech-language therapist’s main responsibility is to prevent, assess, diagnose, and treat speech, language, cognitive-communication, social communication as well as voice and swallowing disorders.

Speech-language therapy involves evaluation, assessment, and treatment of communication and speech and language disorders in young children, school age students, including working with teenagers, and adults. Speech language disorders may begin during infancy and progress into adulthood. In other instances, certain impairments may have resulted from a sudden injury or illness.

WHAT ARE SPEECH DISORDERS?

A speech disorder is characterized by difficulties with speech production, including articulation and enunciation. These include:

Articulation disorders - Difficulties producing the correct sounds, such as consonants or vowels, in the beginning, middle, or end of words.
Phonological disorders - Refers to systematic speech production error. A common example of this in children is the dropping of the /p/ sound at the beginning of words or substituting sounds, like /w/ for /r/.

On the other hand, communication disorders, which are not considered speech disorders, include:

Fluency disorders also referred to as stuttering: These difficulties include partial-word repetitions (“t-t-two”) in which the flow of speech is interrupted by unusual stops, prolonging syllables and sounds (s-s-s-s-shape), and sometimes blocks.
Voice resonance disorders: Problems with voice resonance make it challenging for someone to be understood by listeners. These involve difficulties with pitch, volume, or quality of the voice.

WHAT ARE LANGUAGE DISORDERS?

A language disorder refers to difficulties or problems in understanding spoken language compared to peers. It also involves trouble with putting words or sentences together to communicate ideas. A language disorder can impact individuals at various levels such as slow acquisition of grammar, word-finding difficulties, and telling less coherent narratives.

Language disorders involve vocabulary, grammar (verbs and sentence construction), and social language use. They are classified as:

Expressive language disorder – Refers to difficulties with finding the right words and using age-appropriate grammar when speaking with others or expressing oneself compared to peers. It can also include children who produce less robust narratives, have reduced vocabulary, and demonstrate difficulties with social language.

Mixed expressive-receptive disorder – A combination of expressive and receptive language disorders characterized by difficulties in listening, understanding, and expression. Someone with a mixed expressive-receptive disorder will typically have trouble, compared to peers, following directions, listening to stories, and understanding sequential information.

Cognitive communication disorders – These are difficulties in communication skills that involve attention, memory, perception, regulation, organization, and problem-solving.

WHAT ARE DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES?

Someone with a developmental disability is born with it and it is hopefully discovered in early childhood development. Developmental disorders become more apparent when a child has a significant delay compared to peers and doesn’t seem to outgrow it. Some of the most common developmental disabilities are:

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) – A neurodevelopmental disorder that affects social communication and interaction and involves restricted and repetitive behaviors. People with autism will often have trouble with joint attention, responding to social situations, and using verbal and nonverbal communication compared to peers.

Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) – A neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by lack of attention, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness, ADHD is diagnosed in childhood but also occurs in adults. ADHD interferes with how a student regulates their attention in a variety of settings.

WHAT DOES A SPEECH-LANGUAGE THERAPIST DO?

A speech-language therapist provides speech-language therapy to individuals of all ages, from babies to adults. They conduct therapy sessions on a one-on-one basis as well as provide information to families, support groups, and the public.

A speech-language pathologist is equipped and licensed to perform a variety of therapies or treatments to address a patient’s difficulties. These include:

Language Intervention Practices: For younger patients, the SLP uses play, casual conversation, illustrations (such as pictures, books, objects), or on-going events to stimulate language development. A speech language therapist will teach and model the proper use of grammar and vocabulary and use repetition exercises to build up language skills. These interventions are targeted at students who struggle with their language skills.

Literacy: SLPs help students with all aspects of literacy: reading comprehension, decoding, spelling, and writing skills. Many students who need help with their reading comprehension and writing skills also receive executive function support from their SLPs as well.

Articulation Treatment: Articulation or sound production exercises involve having the therapist teach and model the correct sounds in sounds, syllables and words during play activities. The level of conditioning and exercises is individualized, age-appropriate, and targeted.

Swallowing and Feeding Therapy: The SLP teaches how to use the lips, tongue, and jaw to handle food and liquids. The SLP can also introduce different food textures and temperatures to extend a child’s oral awareness during eating and swallowing.

WHO NEEDS SPEECH-LANGUAGE THERAPY?

An individual with the following conditions may consider speech language therapy:

Learning difficulties

Difficulties with producing age-appropriate vocabulary, sentences, stories, social language use.

Difficulties with understanding age-appropriate vocabulary, directions, understanding stories, misinterpreting social language cues.

Students who struggle with reading comprehension and their expressive writing skills.

Articulation issues

Cleft lip or cleft palate

Fluency e.g. stuttering

Cognitive (intellectual, thinking) or other developmental delays

Autism

Hearing impairments

Traumatic brain injury

Feeding and swallowing disorders

Respiratory problems (breathing disorders)

Chronic hoarseness (voice)

And more!

Many students with speech language disorders also demonstrate co-morbity with other disorder, such as ADHD.

Therapy should begin as soon as possible. Children who receive speech language therapy early on (before five years old) demonstrate more progress or results than those who begin therapy at a later stage.

HOW CAN PARENTS HELP?

Parents and family members play a vital role in the success of a child’s speech or language therapy. When parents are actively involved, children will progress more than when parents are less involved in speech language therapy.

With the SLP’s guidance, parents can further support their children by doing exercises and activities at home. Finally, it’s essential for parents and household members to understand that overcoming speech and language disorders will take time, effort, and patience. Many students with language disorders will struggle with language throughout their lifespan but language therapy will offer strategies to help overcome these language challenges.

Finally, parents who are concerned about their child’s speech, language, and communication development can seek the help of a speech-language therapist.

To learn more about speech language therapy, contact the American Speech Language Association (ASHA) for more information. You can also contact your insurance for in-network and out-of-network options as well. Each state also offers free Early Intervention services (birth-3 years of age). For children three and older, find out about free services can be provided through your child's school for children who have IEP's or Section 504 Plans.

Letting Students Struggle May be the Key to Academic Success

2022-04-24T11:18:00.000-04:00

A piece earlier this month in The New York Times looking at research in how to maximize learning after the disruption of the pandemic examined the work of several educators -- and led to an interesting conclusion.

When students, especially students with learning challenges or those for whom teachers may have had historically low expectations, are not challenged, they do not get the depth of understanding that they would gain from strugging to master material. The article describes a number of ways of thinking about the process of struggling to learn material that can result in deeper learning and more complete understanding.

Some educators use the metaphor of a "learning pit", a place where students can visualize the fact that they need to ask for help, work on the material, and through serious effort eventually "climb out" of the learning pit to a place of understanding. This process encourages students to become "comfortable with being uncomfortable". Another metaphor that has been used when students are encouraged to work through their discomfort with not understanding a lesson or subject is that of learning to ride a bicycle. If a teacher holds firmly to the back of the bicycle while the student is learning to ride, the student avoids the "cognitive wobble" that requires them to think more deeply.

Dr. Manu Kapur, an educational psychologist whose meta-analysis of studies looked at how students learn best, found that simply teaching a topic was not the most effective method for achieving student mastery. Instead, students who had to struggle to solve problems before being taught precisely how to solve them learned better than when they were first taught a concept and then given a chance to practice it.

For this "productive failure" approach to work most effectively, students should work collectively and should know that the goal of the lesson isn't to get to a specific correct answer. In addition, the problems presented should be difficult but not impossible and should have a number of possible solutions.

All of the educators mentioned in the Times discussion noted that when work is too simple, and students do not have to struggle to understand and master material, they do not have the opportunity to deepen their learning. Especially now, when many students have been derailed by pandemic learning loss, it is important to make them aware that working hard, seeking help from their teachers and fellow students, and being comfortable with being uncomfortable can all contribute to better, deeper learning.

Using visual routines to help toddlers learn new daily life skills

2022-01-14T14:28:00.005-05:00

Former Yellin Center Learning Specialist Renée Jordan is back today with more tips from her work with younger children .

Kids have so many routines to learn in the early years. Whether it is potty training, washing their hands or getting out the door in the morning, there is a stepwise process that they need to learn. However, the CDC, in looking at developmental milestones by the age of two, notes that two or three-step directions are all that most kids that age can hold onto. But most of these routines require kids to master way more steps than that. Kids simply don’t have the active working memory to navigate these routines yet, which often results in tantrums and resistance.

One way to help these pre-reader aged kids learn these routines, and stay on track during the process, is to use a visual routine. Each step is represented by a visual so they don’t need to be able to read the word. As they go through the routine, if they forget the next step they can independently look at the routine and figure out what they need to do next.

The first few times a visual routine is used, you will do it with the child and teach them the steps of the routine. However, after a few uses, they will be able to look at the chart and follow the routine on their own. Over time, they will internalize the routine and no longer need it. They will have learned the steps, and be able to navigate the process independently.

On the Earlybird platform you can find cut & paste versions of helpful visuals that let you personalize routines to your child, or you can print several of their premade routines for bedtime, laundry, morning, hand washing or learning to use the bathroom. Or, you can create your own visuals, perhaps using characters from your child's favorite book or video.

Early Childhood Education Increases Academic and Professional Success

2021-12-17T09:23:00.000-05:00

Today we are concluding our series on early childhood learning by former Yellin Center Learning Specialist Renée Jordan.

In the 1960’s, a pilot project, called the Perry Preschool Project, was conducted that gave children access to a preschool experience and supplemental home learning using high-quality programming that was designed to develop their cognitive, motor and social-emotional skills.

Initial participants in the Perry Preschool Project showed greater academic achievement, as well as higher income earning later in life when compared to a control group (those who hadn’t had access to early learning). Participants also had higher graduation rates and IQ scores, as well as reduced incarceration rates and a higher likelihood to own their own homes.

Recently, researchers followed up with participants (now in their 50s) to see if these significant positive outcomes held -and they did. Not only that, but when researchers looked at the participants' children, they saw generational gains in terms of academic achievement and income.

One interesting element of the Perry Preschool Project is that it included home learning support using the same rich educational programming. When parents and childcare providers provide developmentally appropriate materials and time for children to play with them, children reap immeasurable benefits that set them up for success in school and in life.

However, it can be tricky as a parent or care provider to know what early childhood skills your child should be developing. Thankfully, there are resources, like Earlybird, that give you the information you need about child development, and the no-prep activities and materials you need to apply that learning.

Photo by Andrew Ebrahim on Unsplash

The School Readiness Skills Your Child Needs

2021-12-06T11:21:00.000-05:00

We are continuing our series on early childhood learning by former Yellin Center Learning Specialist Renée Jordan.

If you have a child under the age of five you may be wondering what skills you need to be working on to ensure they are school ready and set up for success upon starting kindergarten.

School readiness skills are the cognitive, social-emotional, motor, and attentional skills that lay the foundation for future school success. The thinking used to be that all your child needed was to recognize a few letters and numbers. However, current research shows that school readiness goes beyond just the basic literacy and numeracy skills. Motor and social-emotional skills are critical. Higher thinking skills such as creativity, problem solving, and imagination are of equal importance to academic skills (Pan, Trang, Love & Templin, 2019).

Sesame Workshop, the educational research organization behind Sesame Street, commissioned the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study to examine school readiness skills in today’s children. Their findings were released in the Kindergartners’ Skills at School Entry report. The study found that 44% of children enter school with one or more developmental risk factors that have the potential to impact their success in school.

The good news is that you can develop these skills at home or childcare while your child plays, using the materials you already have around. Children are "hands-on" learners. They acquire knowledge through playful interactions with quality materials and meaningful interactions with their caregivers (Hedges, 2000; Whitebread et. Al., 2009).

Painting, play dough, and coloring build motor skills. Letters, colors, numbers and shapes can be reinforced while children play with their toys. Dramatic play is grounds for rich social-emotional learning. Higher thinking skills are cultivated as a child builds puzzles, solves mazes and engineering towers out of their blocks.

One great resource that makes sense of the early years for parents and caregivers is Earlybird. Beyond providing fun, engaging play-based learning activities, Earlybird will also teach you what developmental skills each activity is targeting, giving you the knowledge, confidence and resources to ensure your child is school ready.

Making Sense of Early Learning for Parents and Childcare roviders

2021-11-29T13:21:00.008-05:00

Today we welcome back blogger Renée Jordan, who last wrote for us in 2016. We are delighted to have her contributing to our blog once again. Read about her story and hear about the exciting learning resources she has helped create.

I used to be a learning specialist at The Yellin Center. I eagerly joined the incredibly talented team as soon as I finished grad school at Columbia. My years at the Yellin Center are where I grew my knowledge of child development and how a child’s brain learns and grows. Working alongside Dr. Yellin deepened my understanding of the neurodevelopmental constructs that are fundamental to the work of The Yellin Center and my commitment to helping families and children make sense of their cognitive strengths and challenges to ensure they find success in school and beyond.

I left the team in 2016 to return to my hometown to focus on fertility treatments in hopes of starting a family. Leaving NYC and The Yellin Center was one of the hardest decisions we have made to date. But finally, in 2018, we welcomed our son Anderson. While on maternity leave, I began creating and doing easy activities with Anderson that targeted the core neurodevelopmental domains. When I began sharing them on Instagram I generated a following of fellow parents and childcare providers who were looking to make sense of the early years for their own kids.

It was during this time that I met Sarah, the other half of Earlybird . Sarah is an entrepreneur with a robust business knowledge and incredible sense of design. After we both had our second children, we decided now was the time to partner and build a platform outside of social media where parents and childcare providers could come to find the information they needed to know about child development, as well as the evidence-based activities and materials they needed to apply that knowledge. So in the middle of the pandemic, with four kids under three-years-old between us, we launched Earlybird.

Earlybird’s goal is to nurture every child’s intellectual, physical and social-emotional development to ensure they are ready for school and life. Anyone caring for children will find that Earlybird equips them with the confidence, knowledge and resources they need to create child-centered and developmentally appropriate play-based learning experiences that build a child’s literacy, numeracy, motor, social-emotional and creative thinking skills.

We keep it simple for you by using everyday items in our little to no prep activity ideas. On the platform you can filter resources by subject, specific skills, and ages. Then do the activities now, or save your favorites to your saved folder for later. We take the guesswork out of the early years for you.

Stay tuned for more posts looking at the research behind the early childhood tools we have developed.

ACT Exam to Use IEP/504 Accommodations

2021-07-29T13:31:00.000-04:00

Last week, the ACT Exam announced a change to how they would offer accommodations to students with learning, attention, and other disabilities. They now align with the College Board, which administers the SAT, AP, and other exams, and which implemented changes at the beginning of 2017. The College Board uses a "two question" inquiry for students seeking disability accommodations: 1) does the student's IEP or 504 Plan contain the accommodation they are seeking and 2) has the student used the requested accommodation for school exams?

As the ACT noted in a press release, "Beginning with the 2021-22 testing year, students who already receive accommodations at their school under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act will automatically be eligible to receive the allowable testing accommodations when they register for the ACT with accommodations."

This means that students no longer need to go through a separate process of providing evidence of their need for accommodations, such as extended time, to the ACT. If a student's school has approved accommodations as part of an IEP or 504 Plan, the ACT will simply require that for "examinees who have a valid, current Individualized Education Program (IEP) or Section 504 Plan (504 Plan) a copy of the IEP or 504 Plan will be sufficient to demonstrate eligibility and need for the same allowable accommodations on the ACT test."

Note that the ACT still will exercise some oversight into which accommodations they will allow; they discuss certain Guiding Principles, which require that any accommodation should be reasonable and not fundamentally alter what the test is designed to measure.

This is a welcome change, but it raises some questions. Among these are:

What about students who don't have an IEP or 504 Plan?

The ACT still will consider the needs of such students for accommodations. The "shortcut" they have announced doesn't change that and they will continue to apply the "reasonable accommodation" standard of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that they have always used.

What about students who have "informal" accommodations?

If students are enrolled in a public school, we urge them to formalize their accommodations via a 504 Plan or even an IEP, if appropriate. For most private schools, a 504 Plan is not an option, but private schools should consider creating a more formalized plan memorializing accommodations they provide.

Getting Ready for the New School Year - A Webinar

2021-07-19T15:25:00.000-04:00

Last week, Dr. Paul Yellin and Susan Yellin, Esq. presented a webinar for ADDitude Magazine on “9 Ways to Prime Your Child for a Positive School Year." The discussion, with slides and a Q&A session at the end, focused on using the remainder of the summer to prepare for a return to what for most students will be in-person learning this fall. More than 700 attendees watched live and over 6,000 more signed up to watch it later

The Yellins' recommendations included both steps that parents should take and those that were more focused on student readiness - all keeping in mind that it's been a rough year and a half and that students and their families need a chance to engage in summer activities that are enjoyable and that build social as well as educational skills.

Parents were reminded that this summer would be a good time to review their child's IEP or 504 Plan, and seek to make changes to it, if needed, before school begins in the fall. For children who are taking ADHD medication, Dr. Yellin discussed the importance of working with your child's doctor to monitor the effectiveness and side effects, if any, of medication and to keep a "medication diary" to share with your child's prescribing physician. Dr. Yellin spoke about the importance of frontloading and having a "growth mindset'" as discussed by Dr. Carol Dweck in her book, Mindset.

Both speakers mentioned a number of tools, apps, and websites that could build skills that may be needed to begin the next school year primed for success. These included those that were free and fun, like Bedtime Math to others that are more focused in their approach, such as IXL

You can access this presentation as a video replay, listen to the podcast episode (#363), and download the slide presentation, with numerous slides and suggestions, from ADDitude, all at no charge.

Back to Basics - Tuition Reimbursement

2021-06-24T12:14:00.000-04:00

When we began this blog back in the summer of 2009, we wrote a number of posts about the basics of special education law and how families could navigate the laws that would provide services and support for their children. We addressed all sorts of topics -- How to get your district to pay for an evaluation, How federal disability laws differ from each other , What are Related Services? and many others.

Parents sometimes have questions about these or other subjects related to special education and we often find that the best way to answer their query is to share our blog(s) on the subject. But, as you might imagine, our readership has grown and changed over the past 12 years and parents' questions have made us realize that it might be time to address some old and new topics that are fundamental to understanding students' rights in special education.

One question that has cropped up recently is whether a Committee on Special Education (CSE), the team that creates the Individualized Education Program (IEP) for a student with disabilities under the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) can place a student in a non-approved school and order payment for the tuition at such school. Parents have heard about getting their tuition paid at a private school and some assumed that this was how the process worked. Nope, it's much more complex than that. Let's look at the process, understanding that it can differ a bit from state to state.

First, parents can always place their child in a private school, whether a specialized school or one that offers a general curriculum and no significant supports. This discussion is about whether payment for a private school will be made by the public district.

The first step in that process is for a school district to be unwilling or unable to offer a child who is classified under the IDEA an appropriate IEP -- school setting, services, accommodations. This can be in the child's regular school or a non-public school that is "approved" by the state (a subject for another discussion). But here we are assuming that the parents do not find the proposed setting appropriate.

The CSE, even if it finds that the school that the parents want is an excellent setting, does not have the authority to pay tuition at such school. The parents have to give the district notice that they are unilaterally placing their child in the private school, and then file for a hearing before a state hearing officer, who will look at several criteria, including whether the IEP was really not appropriate and whether the placement the parents have selected is, indeed, an appropriate setting. At a minimum, the parent's choice must offer the special education services the child needs (so not just any private school will do).

The process takes months to complete and in almost all cases requires the parents to pay the tuition to the school and then get reimbursed if they are successful at a hearing. And the process must be repeated for each school year.

Many parents are successful and have worked out a system so that their child can attend a specialized private school offering special educational services. But it is not a simple process and success is not guaranteed. We recommend working with a special education attorney to make sure all the 'i's' are dotted and the 't's' are crossed.

Summer Tools to Prepare for School in the Fall

2021-06-08T13:59:00.000-04:00

As the age for vaccine eligibility falls and COVID rates decline, schools throughout the U.S. are moving away from remote instruction to in-person learning this fall. Here in New York City, all public schools will be fully in-person in September and there will be no remote learning options.

A year and more of online instruction has made it difficult for many students to make the kind of progress they would have made if they were attending school in-person every day. Some students were able to thrive during online instruction, but for those who struggled, we have some suggestions for tools that can be used during the summer to build skills in math and writing and get ready for the fall.

Math

We often recommend two software programs to help children build math skills.

Dreambox, for grades K-8 adapts to your child's skill level. Using your child's answers to different kinds of problems, DreamBox detects which skills a student has mastered and which need more work, then provides instruction and practice in the form of games. Parents can use the Dashboard feature to monitor their child's progress. Note that the lessons in Dreambox may not align exactly with what your child is doing in school, but can help prepare your child for math lessons when school begins in the fall.

IXL, for students from pre-K through high school helps students master individual math concepts and lets parents track student progress. Students learn at their own pace and can prepare for the math skills they will need once back in school.

Writing

The best way for students to improve their writing is to write more. By using creative formats, supported by artwork, younger students will be motivated to express themselves in writing and be better prepared for the writing assignments they will face in the fall. We recommend:

Storybird - grade 1 and up
This beautifully crafted, aesthetically pleasing website-based app provides support for writing and an avenue for self-publishing.

Comic Creator - grades 3 - 8
Students can design and save or print comic strips with this user-friendly site. In addition to creating stories, it is an inviting tool for summarizing books to help improve reading comprehension. Comic Creator keeps it simple with very basic graphics and pared down options, making it great for students who may find flashy extras distracting.

Story Jumper - grades 1 - 5

Younger students can choose between a seemingly limitless array of formats and pictures to supplement the stories they write. Books can be saved, shared, or purchased in hardcover form.

It hasn't escaped us that after more than a year, we are recommending more online instruction. But limited screen time and targeted lessons can be worth the "sitting still" time these programs require. We hope you and your student find them fun and helpful.

Moving Towards Normal

2021-05-25T15:59:00.000-04:00

The announcement this week that New York City schools will be open for in-person instruction in September, with no remote learning options, is one more step towards a post-pandemic world. But make no mistake - things aren't going to be the same. Even without the heartbreaking loss of life, this pandemic changed us all, in ways large and small, and it is unlikely that our families, our city, our country, and the world will go back to what some have called "the before times" any time soon.

Even as more of us are vaccinated, there still remain many Americans who cannot or will not get vaccinated, at least in the near future. The ages at which the vaccines are deemed safe and effective keep dropping, but young children still cannot receive the vaccine, which means that in families in which everyone 12 and up has received their shots, there may still be younger children who are not protected by these scientific miracles. And there are still folks who haven't gotten the vaccine and who may not be planning to. Some may have medical conditions that make a vaccination problematic. Others are skeptical for a wide array of reasons. We'll leave the reasons for this aside, but note that reaching "herd immunity" is going to be a stretch in many areas.

Our workplaces, too, have changed and it is not clear whether people will return to their offices on a regular basis, or whether a large number will continue to work remotely either full or part-time. Here at The Yellin Center we are thinking about what our offices will look like in the months to come. At some point, but certainly not yet, we won't need the plastic screens between our clinicians and our students. We will be able to take down the signs reminding everyone to keep their masks on. And we will even be able to put the magazines back in the reception area and the toys back in the family rooms. But not yet...

Students have missed so many of the learning opportunities and social rituals that being together in a classroom, in a school building, or in a school community provide. Goofing around in the hallway, lunchroom, or playground; graduation and proms; and creative classroom play for the youngest of students all have been lost for more than a year and it will take time for students and teachers to get used to them again. Learning loss over the past year and more has been significant. While some children (often those in private schools) had a good deal of in-person instruction, most students dealt with remote schooling most or all of the time. Students with learning or emotional difficulties were often especially challenged by sitting in front of their computer all day, lacking the level of support they had been used to receiving before the pandemic hit.

Your blogger, too, temporarily lost her writing muse and is just now emerging from a pandemic funk to look around and see things she wants to share with readers. As we spend time with family and friends and start to share hugs with those we have missed, as families send children off to summer camp, and as students think about buying school supplies for in-person education in the fall, things will slowly, slowly head back towards a new kind of normal. We look forward to plotting the way forward to post-pandemic life and learning with you.

Photo credit: Steven Cornfield on Unsplash

New Data Confirms Emotional Toll of Virtual Learning

2021-03-22T17:25:00.001-04:00

There has been much conversation over the past year about the impact that virtual learning has had on children and families. The ways that virtual learning has been used during the pandemic have varied -- sometimes abruptly -- as school systems and families have reacted to infection rates, clusters of outbreaks, and the availability of vaccinations for faculty and staff. But almost all students have faced reduced class time and many have dealt with the unavailability of effective online learning as well, when families lack computers or efficient high speed internet connections.

A new study released by the CDC has examined the impact of virtual learning on the mental health and well-being of children aged 5-12 by looking at almost 1300 families. Of those families, approximately 46% had children receiving only virtual instruction. Another 31% received in-person instruction and approximately 23% received hybrid instruction, both virtual and in-person.

The study looked at 17 indicators of child mental health and found that children who were getting virtual instruction scored worse on 11 of the 17 mental health indicators. In addition, children learning virtually full or part time spent less time outdoors, spent less time with friends (both in person and online), and reported decreased physical activity. And it wasn't only the children who were affected by virtual learning. The study noted,

"Parents of children receiving virtual instruction more frequently reported their own emotional distress, difficulty sleeping, loss of work, concern about job stability, child care challenges, and conflict between working and providing child care than did parents whose children were receiving in-person instruction."

None of the statistical findings of the CDC study will come as a surprise. Hopefully, with increased vaccination of teachers and school staff and lower Covid rates as more of the general population gets vaccinated, in person instruction will increase and families and schools can turn to addressing the academic and emotional challenges that have affected children and families during the past year. Making up for the impact of the pandemic will not be easy.

Watch Dr. Yellin Discuss How to Help Struggling Learners

2021-01-13T13:01:00.002-05:00

In case you missed a terrific discussion with Dr. Yellin, you can catch the video below. In a conversation with Laura Hart of Robofun, Dr. Yellin gives a clear explanation of the evaluation process and how it can help students of all ages.

The "call in hour" Dr. Yellin mentions in this video is scheduled for every Thursday morning (EST) from 8-9 am. Our office telephone number is 646-775-6646. If you can't get through, just leave a message and someone will get back to you.

Our Traditional Holiday Poem - For an Untraditional Year

2020-12-22T08:23:00.000-05:00

This terrible, horrible, no good year is coming to an end

It has broken our hearts and made things so hard

We’ve almost gone way ‘round the bend

But there have been some glimmers, some real rays of hope

That have helped us to power on through

And as we close out our year, we thought we would share

A few of these glimmers with you

Our office is open and our staff has stayed well

(And we pray will continue the same)

We’ve taken precautions, with distance and masks

We’ve removed all our books and our games

We’ve used telemedicine, Facetime, and Zoom

And can do many meetings online

We’ve been doing in-person assessments

And these are all working out fine

As kids work from home, with learning remote

Some challenges rise to the fore

We’re glad we can work with these students

Giving strategies, insight, and more

The election’s behind us, democracy holds

Though our system has been sorely stressed

As a new term begins, let’s hope justice wins

And our country can be at its best

In this year of great loss, there are new babies too

Arriving amidst the pandemic

Two new Yellin boys have brought us great joy

Though visits and hugs are too few

The vaccine is here and it brings us all hope

Though we’ll have to all wait for our shot

Still, it remains our best path

To go back to our lives

The very best chance we have got

So deep in this season of hunger and loss

We wish you some moments of light

With good things to come, good health, and warm homes

And may everything turn out all right!

The Yellin Center will be closed beginning December 25th, reopening on Monday, January 4, 2021.

We wish you all a happy, healthy 2021!

Photo Credit: https://unsplash.com/@racphoto

Still Thankful

2020-11-23T12:05:00.000-05:00

Every year around this time we have posted a Thanksgiving blog, noting all the ways in which we are thankful and sharing suggestions for children's books about Thanksgiving. We remain thankful this year but, as with so many aspects of our lives, in very different ways than we could have imagined even just a year ago.

We are thankful that The Yellin Center is able to be open and that we can see students in-person in our spacious, COVID-modified office space. We have found that many parents have seen new aspects of their child's challenges and strengths while watching them learn remotely, and we are glad that we can help support both students and their parents in these unique learning times.

We are incredibly grateful for the dedication and skill of our clinical and administrative staff, whom have kept us going through these difficult months. We are thankful that our staff has stayed safe and well and that our own kids and grandkids have too. Both family members and dear friends have lost parents to COVID and we have shared in their sorrow. And we know that so many others have also suffered losses. Our thoughts go out to them all.

We remain grateful for the front line medical workers - and the folks who work in the grocery stores, deliver our mail and packages, and do so many other things to keep us going in these difficult times. We are glad to see that here in NYC, wearing a mask and keeping distance is very much the standard, but we remain alarmed to see that these simple steps to protect ourselves and others are not universal, and certainly not once you get outside of our New York bubble. Why is it that our not-quite-three-year-old grandson always wears a mask when outside, but so many grownups still haven't learned this lesson?

We are thankful for the light at the end of the tunnel - the excellent news about soon to be available vaccines that can eventually bring this national crisis to an end. We are enormously grateful to the scientists whose tireless work and dedication will make this possible and look forward to this "shot in the arm" for all of us.

We are thankful, too, that our nation seems to be slowly moving past a gut-wrenching election process and that the path to presidential transition seems to be growing clearer. We continue to hope that everyone involved puts the good of our country first, and that January 20, 2021 dawns clear and sunny, with blue skies ahead.

So, as your blogger plans a Thanksgiving feast for our immediate family, with a break for a Zoom call with the multitude of Yellin relatives who usually make our holiday so wonderful, we wish you all a happy, healthy Thanksgiving!

Take N.O.T.E. - A Tool for Parents

2020-10-19T09:09:00.000-04:00

Two of our favorite organizations - The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Understood - have teamed up to create a tool for parents to help them recognize when and how their children may be having learning difficulties and the steps to take to help them.

Take N.O.T.E. breaks learning issues down into four steps:

NOTICE is the first step, with subject by subject guidance on how a parent can be certain there’s something going on with their child that’s out of the ordinary. Areas of concern need not be academic and include:

Reading and writing
Math
Focus and organization
Self-control and hyperactivity
Frustration, stress, and anxiety
Developmental milestones

OBSERVING comes next. Once parents notice a problem, the program guides parents in how they can learn how to find and keep track of patterns in their child’s behavior with downloadable observation tools.

The third step of the process is TALKING. The program includes tips and conversation starters for parents to use when talking with those who know their child best, like teachers, aides, and other caregivers, as well as talking to their child about what they are observing.

The final step is to ENGAGE, helping parents figure out how and when to connect with experts like pediatricians and school specialists, who can help you figure out if your child might have a learning and thinking difference.

The Understood site includes links to helpful articles and videos designed to illustrate the issues in each of the steps involved. So far, so good, since Understood is known for its helpful information for parents. But Take N.O.T.E. goes further, and that's where its partnership with the AAP comes in. The AAP urges pediatricians to be familiar with the steps in the Take N.O.T.E. program and shares links to information from Understood. Furthermore, it offers guidance to its members on how to discuss learning and developmental issues with families, including suggestions to start with open-ended questions, asking for details, and getting more information.

Dr. Yellin serves as one of Understood's "Experts" and is a resource for numerous pediatricians who seek to refer their patients for a better understanding of their learning, behavioral, and related difficulties. Parents and professionals are welcome to contact our office for more information.

Looking at the Election Through the Lens of Time

2020-10-01T10:51:00.000-04:00

One of the interesting things about having written this blog for eleven years, starting in August 2009, is that we can sometimes look at a topic through the lens of time, seeing what we thought and wrote about something over the course of a number of years.

As we thankfully put the first Presidential Debate behind us and as many folks around the country have begun to vote, by mail or through in-person early voting, we took a look back at some of the blogs we have written about past presidential elections.

In 2012, we wrote about bringing your child with you when you vote, something we took very much for granted at that time. We also directed teachers to the resources about elections on the TeacherVision site, including charts and printables. In 2016, we shared information about iCivics, founded by former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, with the goal of transforming civic education for every student in America with innovative, truly engaging games and resources. In 2020, iCivics has a Guide to the 2020 Election, including a countdown clock to Election Day and a guide to the Presidential Debates, along with games, including Win the White House.

One issue which is new to this tumultuous election is how to vote safely and securely in the midst of a pandemic and political upheaval. All but the youngest children are likely to have heard about the pros and cons of voting by mail and all of us have been urged to make a plan for how we will vote. This can be a good conversation to have with your children. Talk about how voting used to be almost exclusively in person on election day and discuss the options this year for voting in person, on election day or during an early voting period, or voting by mail. Have a conversation with your children about how you plan to vote this year and why. Your blogger remembers entering the voting booth with her parents and, in turn, bringing her own children to vote with her when she was a young parent. While this isn't a safe option this year, we look forward to a time when it is again a routine part of parenting and civic education.

Supporting Your Remote Learner

2020-09-08T14:00:00.002-04:00

Labor Day is behind us and schools are opening -- one way or another -- all around the country. Most students are engaged in some form of remote learning, at least part of the time, since being in school full time seems to be the exception in most places.

It was with the continuing challenges of remote learning especially in mind that Dr. Yellin and his colleagues from QED Foundation, Kim Carter and Betsey Bradley, presented a webinar last week focusing on Observations and Opportunities: Supporting Your Child in Remote Learning.

They used Betsey’s experiences with her own son to frame the challenges and possibilities that learning from home presents for students and parents alike. Betsey had noticed that her son was struggling with writing tasks. She knew that he had a good vocabulary and was a strong reader. But when it came time to create a report or write an essay, his work wasn't up to the level of his conversational skills. So she put on her parental detective hat and used the Neurodevelopmental Framework for Learning (NDFL) that underlies QED's approach, to examine where and why he was having difficulty.

Betsey knew that writing involved a number of tasks that had to be performed simultaneously -- coming up with ideas, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, organization, punctuation, and actually forming the letters to write. But her son struggled with handwriting (graphomotor function) and attention difficulties made it hard for him to handle all the tasks of writing at the same time. Watching her son work at home gave her insight that she might not have gotten from just looking at a paper he had brought home from class. Once the bottlenecks in his writing became clear, it was possible to put together specific supports to help address the areas that made writing difficult.

Some of the tools that can help students who struggle with writing can be found on the Resources page of the Yellin Center website. Graphic organizers can be especially helpful for students who need to put their creative thoughts or academic knowledge into an organized story or essay.

Parents whose children learn from home this fall -- even part-time -- have a unique opportunity to observe how they learn. Doing this while doing one's own job and managing other kids is not easy. But if circumstances allow, watching your child work through a lesson can provide useful insight into which areas might be challenges for him or her and how to help him or her improve.