Here are some great and easy child safety tattoos that may be used with any kids with or without special needs. They are great for any kind of outing: community, school field trips, family, etc.  There is a cute picture on each and a space to write in the adult’s name/cell #.  Go to:  http://safetytat.com/  for more info to see the selection of tattoos available.  Hope these are helpful!

Everyone seems to have an opinion about thumb sucking!!  Right?!?  Especially if you ask your mom, mother-in-law, pediatric/ dentist, pediatrician, etc.  Well, here are some facts on thumb sucking that I hope will guide your decision.  After all, each child is different; what is right for one child and family, may not be right for the next one. 

Thumb sucking is the earliest and most common habit in children—affects almost 45% of young children (Garrattini et al., 1990).  By 5 yrs old, 85-99% of children no longer suck theri thumb—according to the American Dental Association.  So the reverse is that 1-15% of children over age 5 will continue.  Approximately 30-50% of preschoolers suck their thumbs. 

The thumb is readily available for infants and young children who need to self soothe.  It doesn’t "fall out" like a pacifier does and require parental assistance to reinsert.  As an infant this accessibility is great, but as a child grows older discretion of when to suck is still his/hers.  Thumbs aren’t tied to clothing as are pacifiers.  If a pacifier drops on the floor it is easily cleaned.  As a child’s thumb comes in and out of his/her mouth, he/she can infect others if he/she is sick and can get infected by things/toys that are touched.  Hand washing is very important, especially when thumb sucking occurs at preschool or daycare.   Yes, thumb sucking has been known to harm the front teeth and the palate (roof of the mouth)—the more vigorous the sucking, the more damage is likely.  The longer the habit continues; the more damage will occur. 

Most pediatricians are not in favor of breaking a thumb sucking habit.  There does not appear to be any conclusive correlation between thumb sucking and bed wetting or nail biting.  Until a child is old enough to reason (around 6 yrs), any direct pressure applied to dicontinue thumb sucking can turn a normal developmental phase into a "crutch".  First, a child must decide that he/she is getting something out of it too—what is the "buy in"? The child must want to make a change.

Usually, the peer pressure of starting Kindergarten will either stop the thumb sucking or increase it due to "stress".  If an increase occurs, dealing with the school issues should reduce the sucking.  If a child is bored and then sucking, try occupying his/her hands with fidgets (a small squishy stretchy toy) or giving him/her a job which requires both hands. 

If  you and  your child are ready to tackle thumb sucking, here are a few ideas: 

1.  Response/ Reward system–child stops and then gets a promised item

2.  book- Helping the Thumb Sucking Child by Rosemarie VanNorman  simple and fun program with step-by-step guidelines

3.  My Thumb and I- by Carol Mayer, SLP; for 6-10 yrs; simple sequential parent-child program

4.  Mr. Wizzard’s Thumbs Out video- by Linda Bejoian, SLP; for kids 3-8 yrs; sock puppets; Mr Wizzard uses magic to convince kids to stop sucking

5.  An Elastic Bandage; for kids over 5 yrs who really want to stop; cut a piece of elastic bandage and loosely wrap aroung the elbow of the arm with the sucking thumb; serves as an alerting device–"here comes my thumb"; child still chooses to suck or not, but teaches self-choice, self-discipline, and accomplishment

6.  A Man’s Wool Sock–use a wool sock over the child’s sucking arm and pin to pj’s at night; do a few nights/wk; increase as appropriate

7.  The Thumb-Guard–"T-Guard"–clear plastic, non-abrasive device that slips over a child’s thumb and snaps in place; must be cut off; no suction can be achieved; 6yrs and up

Good luck! and remember—-if your child is an infant or preschooler, the majority opinion is to let thumb sucking run it’s developmental course! 

Info from The Pacifier: Making the Decision by Charlotte Boshart, SLP

Help Me Speak is now trained in the SCERTS (Social-Communication Emotional Regulation Transactional Support) model—which is a comprehensive educational approach for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). 

Dr. Rydell, one of the authors of SCERTS, was the keynote speaker at the Maryland Speech-Language Hearing Association (MSHA) convention on March 28-29th. 

He described the SCERTS model as appropriate for children who are at the Social, Language, or Conversational Partner stages of communication. The Social stage is the "pre-symbolic" stage in which a child is using mostly gestures and vocalizations as well as behavioral/ sensory-motor means for emotional regulation.  The Language stage is "early symbolic" where the child is using early speech, pictures/symbols, &/or signs to communicate as well as language skills for emotional regulation.  The Conversational stage is where a child can use sentence/conversations and "develops metacognitive strategies for emotional regulation".  The SCERTS model teaches kids to become active problem solvers as they learn to become part of their social/emotional environment.  As Dr. Rydell stated "Less time coping = more time spent learning". 

The SCERTS model includes 2 parts—Assessment & Intervention.

The SCERTS Assessment Process (SAP) is a "developmental curriculum-based intervention that leads directly to intervention".  It is criterion referenced and uses a 0, 1, 2 rating scale, which is rated via a team effort.  The SAP focuses on pragmatic skills in it’s functional use—nonverbally and verbally —and via socioemotional abilities.  It is ‘family-centered’ since the family is an active participant in the decision making process. 

SCERTS Intervention is based on a child’s needs with the core challenges in ASD: Joint attention, Symbol use, and Emotional dysregulation.  After assessment, the next step is to establish Joint Action Routines (JARs). 

For more information: visit www.scerts.com  or call Help Me Speak, LLC

To schedule an evaluation for your child, call Help Me Speak, LLC at 410-442-9791

Last Sunday, January 20th, there was an article published in Parade Magazine in The Baltimore Sun titled "Fight for Your Health Care".  It discusses 5 tips that you can use to increase the likelyhood that your insurance claim will be reviewed and approved—and that you will get reimbursement.  Click on this link to view the full article.    http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2008/edition_01-20-2008/Fight_for_Your_Health_Care 

Look for future Insurance tips from the experienced SLPs and families at Help Me Speak, LLC.  More to come…..

Help Me Speak’s new office location will finally be open as of January 3rd, 2008!  We are so excited to be able to upgrade our services so that we may continue to offer the state-of-the-art in therapy!  Come & visit us!  We now have: 4 therapy rooms w/large observation windows, a sensory-motor room w/swings, etc., a kitchenette (for language therapy/groups, and Help Me Eat services), an ADA compliant client bathroom, a waiting room w/play area, and an administrative assistant! 

We will schedule an OPEN HOUSE in late Jan/ early Feb—so check back for details.