WEBVTT - Session 453: What Speech-Language Pathologists Actually Do 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:14.480 Welcome to the Therapy for Black Girls podcast, a weekly 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:19.320 conversation about mental health, personal development, and all the small 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:22.480 decisions we can make to become the best possible versions 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:26.600 of ourselves. I'm your host, doctor joy hard and Bradford, 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:32.040 a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information or 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:35.600 to find a therapist in your area, visit our website 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:39.440 at Therapy for Blackgirls dot com. While I hope you 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:43.479 love listening to and learning from the podcast, it is 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:46.400 not meant to be a substitute for a relationship with 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:57.279 a licensed mental health professional. Hey, y'all, thanks so much 0:00:57.280 --> 0:00:59.279 for joining me for session four fifty three of the 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.200 Therapy for Black Girls podcasts. We'll get right into our 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:14.800 conversation after word from our sponsors. The ability to express 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:17.520 ourselves through speech remains one of the most important ways 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:20.280 we communicate. It's at the root of how we connect, 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:23.680 understand each other, and even how we explore our own identities. 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:26.720 From childhood, we learn that what we say and how 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:28.959 we're able to say it can impact how we move 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:32.480 through the world. Speech pathologists help those of us who 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:36.440 experience challenges in expressing our thoughts in processing language, and 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:39.480 as important as this work is, there are still disparities 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:43.000 in who receives care. A recent study from twenty twenty 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:45.839 four found that black patients are about thirteen percent less 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:49.840 likely to receive speech language pathology services than white patients, 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:53.720 even after accounting for differences in health and demographic factors. 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:57.440 That's why I'm excited to welcome doctor don Ellis. She's 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:01.400 a speech language pathologist, advocate, and educator whose journey led 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:05.320 her to a career helping children, families, and communities communicate 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:10.519 with confidence. In this conversation, we explore language development, identity, 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:14.119 and how communication intersects with mental health, particularly for black 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:17.560 women and families. If something resonates with you while enjoying 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:20.640 our conversation, please share with us on social media using 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:23.880 the hashtag TBG in session, or join us over in 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:26.560 our patreons and talk more about the episode. You can 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:29.880 join us at community dot therapy for Blackgirls dot com. 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:37.560 Here's our conversation. Hi, doctor Ellis, thank you so much 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:41.239 for joining us today. Hi, thank you for having me. Yeah, 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:43.520 it's a pleasure to chat with you. So can you 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:46.519 start by telling us about your journey in speech and 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:49.120 language pathology and what drew you to this field. 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:52.760 Sure. So when people ask this question, I think about 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:57.560 my Cotilion book that in there, my under my picture 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:00.520 I had listed I wanted to be a child physists. 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:04.160 Not sure what that is. But fast forward to going 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:08.600 to college. I was accepted into cal State Fresno, and 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:11.320 when my parents got there to drop me off, they 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:13.720 said they had their quota of black students. The letter 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:18.040 hadn't reached them yet, and so I could not enroll, 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:21.639 I couldn't stay. And so I'm not sure and I 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:24.120 would tease my mom how this happened. But on the 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:28.440 way home, they stopped at Bakersfail College and they knew 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:32.280 that they had dorms and they had a space. Someone 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.560 didn't show up in the dorms, and so they left 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:38.240 me there and they were like, oh, we'll get her 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:42.240 enrolled and all of her aid and everything will transfer 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:46.119 because it was this state school. And so my work 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:48.840 study job was in the handicapped Service center and I 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:54.720 was assigned to the speech language pathologists. Wow. And so 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:58.240 I always say, God makes no mistakes. And so then 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:02.000 I finished my two years they and transfer to cal 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:06.440 State University Northbridge, where I got my bachelor's in Communicative 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:09.720 Sciences and Disorders and then onto Howard University where I 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:11.240 got my master's at my doctorate. 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:14.920 Wow, that is quite a story. I love that it 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:17.200 has come full circle for you. Actually it has been 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:20.080 a field that you have thrived in. So what did 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:22.479 you intend to major in when you were going to college? 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:25.600 I knew I wanted to work with children, and so, 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:28.480 like I said, I don't know what a physiologist was 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:32.520 what I put in that or answered that question, but 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:37.960 probably I was thinking psychology. I was probably thinking child psychology. 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:40.240 But I knew I wanted to work with children. So 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:44.200 at Howard they had a grant from Department of Ed 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:48.800 Office Special ED program, which is another full circle moment 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:52.159 because I later in my career I became one of 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:55.599 the competition managers for that program at Department of Ed. 0:04:56.080 --> 0:05:00.479 But it was specializing in zero to five. So that 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:04.000 was when the law had changed, the Individuals with Disabilities 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:08.160 Education Act where it went down to age zero, so 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:10.960 it started from at three to twenty one and the 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:14.839 law had changed. And so what the department event put 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:17.719 out programs which I now know to make sure that 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:21.240 people are trained both what we call pre service, which 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:24.760 is at the university level, and in service, which would 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:29.240 be what you're a professional and getting like continuing education units. 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:33.960 But through my masters, I was trained in pediatrics, so 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:36.520 we had to take twelve more units and have more 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:39.240 clinical hours in that birth to five population. 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:42.560 Got it. And so what does a typical day look 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:44.599 like for you as a special language pathologist. 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:47.240 Yeah, so now it's a little different from the work 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:50.279 that I do. But I have a private practice and 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:54.520 I'm also associate director of Technical Assistance Center. So my 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:59.120 private practice, I mainly my caseload is with individuals with 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:05.479 developmental with intellectual and developmental disabilities. So I see some 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:08.839 clients via telehealth and home health. And that home health 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:12.120 the clients can be in their natural home with their 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.560 parent or guardian, or they could live in supportive living 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.640 like a group home. So I try to focus like 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:22.840 one specific day for doing home health when I'm out 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:26.880 in the community going into the homes to see clients. 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:30.280 And then I have virtual clients, you know via telehealth, 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.520 and some clients that I see via telehealth. I also 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:35.920 I do like a hybrid model, so I make sure 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:38.359 that I see them like once a quarter, once a 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:42.840 month in person. So that's pretty much like a typical day. 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:46.760 In between that there's a lot of planning, there's billing, 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:50.320 there's I do service work. So I do a lot 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:54.280 of service work with my national professional organization, so I 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:57.359 may I sit on a committee right now, I'm on 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:00.560 the Committee of Ambassadors with the American Speed, Language and 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:05.080 Hearing Association, and I am the Speech Language Pathologist representative 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:08.520 for the District of Columbia. So in that there's a 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.720 lot of work just doing advocacy work. And then I'm 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:16.200 also the associate director of DREAM, which is a national 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:22.840 technical assistance center that supports minority serving institutions, including HBCUs 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:27.760 and tribal colleges to help them write applications and build 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:32.360 capacity to get federal funds to train personnel under the 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:34.680 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:36.800 Beautiful, You're a very busy woman. 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:39.320 Yeah. I get to do a lot of things that 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:42.240 I love to do and that have just built upon 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:44.640 my experience over the years. 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:48.000 Mm hm. So I feel like I've only i think 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:50.960 historically heard about speech and language pathologists as a part 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:53.520 of like elementary school, but clearly the work that you 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:56.840 do spans much later into life as well. So you've 0:07:56.880 --> 0:08:00.520 already talked about working in schools, having a private practice. 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:03.280 What other kinds of career paths might have speech language 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:05.840 pathologies be able to explore. 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:08.520 Sure, And that's a great question. So I think about 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:12.640 my own career path where I started working in schools, 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:16.320 in early intervention, which is in community based settings, going 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:21.960 into home, also at daycares, in hospitals, so that's some 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:26.800 of the places that you can work hospitals, rehabilitation, in 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:31.040 the home. I've been on faculty both at Oklahoma State 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:36.240 University and Galadette University, also adjuncts here in the area 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:40.320 like Howard University of District of Columbia, and also I 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:45.200 worked for my national professional association, the American Speech Language 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:49.360 and Hearing Association, where I worked in their research department 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:54.440 where I was the director and manager of federal funds, 0:08:54.600 --> 0:09:00.280 which gave me federal experience, and then working you know, 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:03.600 in federal service for the government. Living here in the 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:06.480 District of Columbia, I had the mindset that I wanted 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:08.760 to work in all of these because there are some 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:13.360 really unique opportunities being here in the nation's capital. So 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:15.360 I wanted to touch all of those and so I 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:19.360 felt like I was successful doing that. But you can 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.160 be in academia you can work at the university level 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:26.320 as a faculty member or a clinical educator where you 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:32.240 are supervising students doing like practicum because usually the university 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:38.280 settings have a speech and hearing clinic where scholars or 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:41.280 students get their experience first in the clinic before going 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:45.120 out to like a practicum site. There's just so many 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:49.960 opportunities in different settings that people can work in. I 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:54.120 have friends that are colleagues in private practice that also 0:09:54.400 --> 0:10:00.240 work with, say, actors on modification of a dialect for 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:03.319 a role in a movie. There are some that work 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:07.080 in the corporate setting that may want to help people 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:10.760 communicate better. That's a job that's more of an elective. 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:15.240 It's not a deficit, but it's something that corporations may 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:19.080 want to offer as a benefit to people, and just 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:23.960 not to accent or dialect reduction, but also just to 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:27.120 be an overall better and more effective communicator. 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:31.439 So, doctor ellis, what are some of the common speech 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:34.480 and language and communication disorders that we might be both 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:37.240 familiar with, but maybe some that we also aren't familiar with. 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:42.000 Yes, so when we talk about speech, we think of production, articulation, 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:48.520 motor planning, voice fluency. All of those fall under speech 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:52.400 and talk about familiarity versus non familiar One of the 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:56.000 things we like to talk about fluency, which most people 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:58.000 may know as stuttering. We don't like to use that 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:01.199 term because we don't want to label individuals, but mainly 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:04.439 refer to the characteristic of the speech, which is a 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:08.320 disruption in the flow. So we talk about fluency disorders. 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:13.200 When we think of receptive language, what we understand expressive language, 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:17.360 you know what we're able our words or grammar are sentences. 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:22.680 Then there's vocabulary, grammar, and pragmatics, which is more social 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:27.640 communication and how you use the language in a social context, 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:32.760 and then communication overall social communication, we can talk about 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:38.520 alternative and assistive devices, agnitiative and alternative devices. That's part 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:41.839 of communication, so people that may use a device to communicate, 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:49.960 and then cognitive communication, memory and attention, executive function, and 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:56.080 multimodal communication, sign language, people using gestures, body language. Those 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:59.480 are some of the areas that communication could be effective. 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:02.280 Might seek out a speech language pathologist. 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:04.800 Yeah, so such a wide variety, right, And I think 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:07.160 when you hear it broken down that way, you realize, 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:10.480 like how many parts there are to speech in communication. 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:13.760 So maybe we just start with like fluency, right, which 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:15.640 you talked about, used to be known as stuttering, but 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:18.720 the more appropriate term now is a fluency concern. When 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:23.800 you talk about fluency, is this typically a physiological kind 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:27.840 of concern? Is it more social emotional? Like? What is 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:31.360 typically the cause of a fluency concern? Yeah, it can be. 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:33.760 All of the above or parts of that. So I 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:37.680 think about when we look at children. Children can in 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:41.920 the developmental stages of language, especially at ages like three 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:48.400 and four, their receptive language always exceeds expressive. So children 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:51.520 are going to understand more than they're able to get out. 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:55.080 And so when they're trying to get all their thoughts 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:59.240 together and express that, and sometimes they know what they 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:00.840 want to say, but they don't don't have the words, 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:03.439 that can't put it into words, and that might sound 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:06.520 disfluent to a parent. So often we get oh, my 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:09.880 child's stuttering, you know. So first the thing is like, okay, 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:12.760 let's you know, we counsel parents, like we want to 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:16.000 talk about the characteristics and not label it. You don't 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:19.880 want to call attention to it because then that makes 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:24.240 the child self conscious about it, and you know, let's 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:28.439 give it time for maturation, for development, and you may 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:31.680 see those disfluencies go away. You don't be a good 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:37.520 model yourself is slowing down your speech and helping them 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:42.080 find the words by just modeling those words, not scolding 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:46.640 or shaming someone about not being able to get their 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:49.600 words out. But then we can see where there could 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:54.880 be an issue as time develops an age and a 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:58.880 person may still have those disfluencies. Sometimes it could be 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:03.920 related to trauma like adverse childhood experiences. Not all the time, 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:06.360 but it can be you know, something comes up, you 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:10.640 saw something, or you get in a situation where you 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:15.079 feel stressed. So therefore, and it could be a stressful environment. 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:19.600 And then it develops more into a pattern, and then 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:23.800 we see adults that as you get older, the individual 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:28.400 has maintained those patterns and may need to seek therapy 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:32.640 for just ways to modify and to control that. And 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:37.400 sometimes that also involves counseling, especially if there is some 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:43.320 trauma identify with how a person may have begun to 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:45.240 have some disfluencies. 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:59.080 More from our conversation after the break, are there particular 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.400 concerns that you feel like are often misdiagnosed or overlooked, 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:05.080 especially in the black community. When we're thinking about Speacian 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:06.680 language and communication disorders. 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:11.880 Yeah, just acceptance awareness. So under a lot of times 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:16.480 people aren't aware of a speech language pathologist, and people 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:20.480 think about speech only, but they don't think about the 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:25.360 language part or the cognitive and how all that works together. 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:29.680 So when we look in the school setting, their research 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:31.600 and you can look like there may be an over 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:37.920 diagnosis or overrepresentation of black children in special led programs. 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:41.960 But also there's some research that suggests that there is 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:48.359 an underidentification of people of color with speech and language disorders, 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:52.120 because when you look at individuals that are incarcerated, often 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:57.280 there is some evidence that there is a disability, whether 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:01.760 it's diagnosed or undiagnosed, that there's something going on there. 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:05.080 So there's two schools of thought there, you know, and 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:08.880 both could be true in different contexts. That's the same time. 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:14.160 But I think just the awareness and the acceptance that 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:17.880 my child may need to get help. And we're talking 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:21.480 about children here, because on the adult side, there are 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:26.560 things that happen like stroke, close head injury, traumatic brain injury, 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:31.520 which then you're in a medical setting where these services 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:35.840 speech OT or PT are presented to you based upon 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:39.720 your needs, but when we're talking about children and youth 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:46.120 sometimes there's acceptance. There's also I think we're coming out 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:50.440 of this. The stigma associated with someone that may have 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:55.480 a disability, that a communication disorder is part of this. 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:58.040 And I was just thinking about yesterday. I was in 0:16:58.040 --> 0:16:59.880 New York and I saw Purpose and it was there 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:05.560 some underlying issues in the play about people not being 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:10.879 diagnosed about ural divergence and wanting to keep that hush 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:16.679 hush about what my child may be experiencing. So I 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:20.520 think there's that shame sometimes in that stigma. But the 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:25.320 more that we're aware, the more that there's awareness of 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:30.560 individuals across the board with disabilities, the more acceptance there is, 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:35.040 and the more acceptance there is to get help and 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:39.320 not feel that shame because my child is not perfect, 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:41.480 so I kind of want to keep it hush. And 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:44.880 I saw I was a girl Scout leader and when 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:48.280 my kids were younger, and I would have parents that 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:51.959 would not want to identify and they didn't have to, 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:55.000 that was their choice. But being in the field, it's 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:58.960 like I knew how to deal with that, but other leaders, 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:02.480 when it's not identify, may not and you're taking a 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:05.560 child out like on a camping trip or something like that. 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:08.680 And there are things that could be really helpful if 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:12.639 you knew, and that you can make accommodations for and 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:17.960 make it work. But just hoping that the more awareness 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:22.120 of people with disabilities and you know, including the communication 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:26.520 disorder and the fact that that doesn't mean that something 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:31.639 is wrong or is that you can't fully participate in society, 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:33.320 I think is key. 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:36.800 Yeah, yeah, you know. And as you're talking, I'm thinking 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:39.400 about like my two little ones, Like when I would 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:42.040 be filling out paperwork at the pediatrician, I remember questions 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:44.320 around like have they shared their first words? And like 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:47.680 they are all these milestones, and I'm thinking like beyond 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:50.679 like your pediatrician, and maybe if like a teacher or 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:54.399 somebody recognizes, like, hey, there may be some calls for 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:57.800 concern here, like what kinds of things should parents or 0:18:57.840 --> 0:19:00.240 caregivers be paying attention to well on the look up 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:02.800 for that there may be something going on that might 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:04.520 require some additional treatment. 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:07.719 This is a great question too, because I don't have 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:10.680 grandchildren right now, but a lot of my friends are 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:14.399 having aired first grandchild, and I get a lot of 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:17.600 cause about hey, can you come over and observe or 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:21.680 this is going on, and sometimes it starts with the grandparent, 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:25.240 you know, but and I haven't done that throughout my career. 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:30.240 But being aware of what the developmental milestones are, knowing 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:36.920 that a child's development and acquisition of sounds could be 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:40.960 through like age six to eight. So s is a 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:45.199 later developing sound or thch is a later developing sound. 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:51.199 So if they're using an easier sound to produce a 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:55.880 word than you know, rabbit for rabbit, then that's okay, 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:59.960 Like that's okay, They're not expected to produce that sound yet. 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:03.919 So being aware of what like milestones are, especially for sounds, 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:07.240 that's like one of the biggest one. Also not comparing. 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:10.000 We hear this throughout life. Right, she has a cousin 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:13.600 the same age and she is talking so much better, 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:19.040 but then also realizing that she's more repeating things. There 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:22.520 is nothing wrong, but it's just not the same. It's 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:28.120 hard not to compare, but every child is different. So 0:20:28.440 --> 0:20:33.159 just knowing what the milestones are, just making sure that 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:37.120 you are asking questions. And in a couple of these scenarios, 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:40.720 teachers have said or daycare like, hey, what does so 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:43.239 and so speech sound like at home? Or how are 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:48.520 they talking at home? Also in two days world, when 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:52.879 we're thinking about children that maybe three four thinking about 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:57.919 COVID babies, you know everybody was isolated so during that time, 0:20:58.040 --> 0:20:59.760 and you hear a parents say, oh, she was a 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:02.919 co baby. So not saying that things are delayed, but 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:06.879 we know that when children are around other children, they 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:10.560 begin to pick up things, they begin to communicate on 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:14.520 their level with their peers. So that's another thing. Being 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:18.359 involved in play groups and talking to other parents, not 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:22.119 in a comparison way, but just to get information. But 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:25.879 of course all the things we hear about, continue to 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:30.399 read and expose your child to opportunities in everyday life, 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:34.440 going to the grocery store, talking, playing outside, just natural 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:39.520 things beyond technology and screen time. Not saying that that's bad, 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:42.639 but just early on putting limits on it and knowing 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:46.520 what to do. But it's just more being aware. And 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:50.560 if you do, don't wait, because for a child time 0:21:50.800 --> 0:21:54.280 three months seems like half a year or a year 0:21:54.440 --> 0:21:57.560 in growth. So if you do have concern, don't wait. 0:21:57.680 --> 0:22:02.280 There's child fine in every state, every county which you 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:05.239 can call, and if you don't know where to go, 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:09.560 help to get started with Hey, I have these concerns, 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:13.040 and how do I get started to figure out if 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:16.960 I need to do something further to give my child 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:17.960 the support they need. 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:23.080 Our speech and language pathology is typically covered by insurance. 0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:26.480 So yeah, so that's a good question. So yes, if 0:22:26.520 --> 0:22:30.359 there is a disorder, and so that's going to be 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:33.800 the key thing if you go the private route. So 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:37.480 that's why I encourage parents when they do if their 0:22:37.560 --> 0:22:40.760 child is under five, to use the resources like child 0:22:40.800 --> 0:22:45.000 Fine and Early Start or whatever it's called in your area, 0:22:45.560 --> 0:22:50.120 because you're entitled to those services through the school system. 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:52.800 So that's the place that I would always recommend that 0:22:52.880 --> 0:22:57.200 people start if your child is diagnosed. And each county, 0:22:57.240 --> 0:23:01.760 each state has their own criteria of how they determine eligibility. 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:05.840 So if your child is determined eligible for services and 0:23:05.880 --> 0:23:10.119 I'm talking about now speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy for 0:23:10.240 --> 0:23:13.800 the birth to five, then you can get those services 0:23:13.840 --> 0:23:17.399 through the school system and for zero to two in 0:23:17.520 --> 0:23:19.879 the home, so they can come to your home or 0:23:19.960 --> 0:23:24.520 community based setting to provide those services. Some parents want 0:23:24.520 --> 0:23:29.080 to go private services might be limited through childflying based 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:34.040 upon the eligibility criteria and the percentage that they may 0:23:34.160 --> 0:23:38.160 see a delay. We talk about delays in those early 0:23:38.240 --> 0:23:42.119 years versus disorders if there is some evidence of hearing 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:45.160 loss of course there and hearing laws we know can 0:23:45.640 --> 0:23:49.720 delay language acquisition, the acquisition of sounds. You don't get 0:23:49.720 --> 0:23:53.280 the feedback like everybody gets, so you're not really sure 0:23:53.400 --> 0:23:56.960 when the sound doesn't sound right. And that's for adults too, 0:23:57.000 --> 0:23:59.640 so that would be covered. Of course, there's a whole 0:23:59.640 --> 0:24:05.120 process this, but usually when it comes to insurance, there 0:24:05.160 --> 0:24:09.280 has to be a delay or disorder identified and whatever 0:24:09.400 --> 0:24:14.080 that eligibility looks like for that insurance carrier. M. 0:24:15.080 --> 0:24:16.919 So you've already talked a little bit about like the 0:24:16.960 --> 0:24:19.359 different dialect we may have because we maybe grow up 0:24:19.400 --> 0:24:22.960 in different regions. Right, How do you differentiate the difference 0:24:22.960 --> 0:24:26.760 between like a dialect or somebody's like natural way of 0:24:26.800 --> 0:24:31.000 speaking versus somebody that's something that's a delay or a deficiency. 0:24:31.320 --> 0:24:35.320 Yeah, so good question. We talk about delay or disorder. 0:24:35.400 --> 0:24:39.240 We also see this in individuals whose primary language may 0:24:39.240 --> 0:24:43.119 not be English, so it's important to know sound like 0:24:43.760 --> 0:24:47.199 how they're functioning in l one the primary language versus 0:24:47.240 --> 0:24:51.400 the secondary language. But also when we're talking about a dialect, 0:24:51.440 --> 0:24:54.200 so speaking a second language, is different. But when we're 0:24:54.200 --> 0:24:56.840 talking about a dialect, it's important to know what the 0:24:56.840 --> 0:24:59.520 features are to know if it's a difference or versus 0:24:59.520 --> 0:25:04.080 a disord. So also just because someone doesn't sound like us, 0:25:04.200 --> 0:25:07.680 or they move to a different region and they sound different, 0:25:08.040 --> 0:25:11.879 does not mean that it's a disorder. And when we're 0:25:12.400 --> 0:25:17.280 talking about school age, how is it affecting their academic performance? 0:25:17.320 --> 0:25:21.120 That's gonna be really important. So we all know their 0:25:21.200 --> 0:25:26.720 Southern dialect. There's New England dialects, there's dialects. I came 0:25:26.720 --> 0:25:30.479 from California to Howard. I went to school in a valley, 0:25:30.640 --> 0:25:33.840 so I was I had valley speech. That's what they 0:25:33.920 --> 0:25:38.080 told me. But also when I was at Northridge, parents 0:25:38.119 --> 0:25:43.040 would bring their kids into the clinic wanting this valley 0:25:43.119 --> 0:25:45.919 speech worked on and stuff. So that was like I 0:25:46.000 --> 0:25:48.520 was a student then, But I do remember that. But 0:25:48.680 --> 0:25:53.440 different regions, different areas. Even here in the DMV, you're 0:25:53.480 --> 0:25:58.320 gonna hear different what we call prosodic patterns, tone, maybe 0:25:58.359 --> 0:26:04.240 even different morphological patterns. We see that in African American English. 0:26:04.400 --> 0:26:08.639 There's also Southern White English. There's so many different ones. 0:26:09.040 --> 0:26:13.040