Helping Kids Communicate: A Guide for Parents – with Local SLP Jenna Hillier

In this episode of Clarksville Insider, host Josh Atkins talks with local speech-language pathologist Jenna Hillier of High Pointe Therapy about the critical role of early intervention in speech therapy for children. Jenna shares her journey from working in the school system to transitioning into private practice, and why she’s so passionate about helping kids reach their full communication potential. She breaks down important developmental speech and language milestones, signs parents should watch for, and how early support can make a lasting difference. Whether you're a parent in Clarksville, TN, or simply curious about childhood speech development, this episode offers practical insights, heartfelt stories, and expert advice from one of the area’s leading pediatric SLPs.

SPEECH RESOURCES:

https://highpointetherapy.com

https://www.tn.gov/disability-and-aging/disability-aging-programs/teis.html

https://www.chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dph/dmch/ecdb/Pages/keis.aspx

Transcript

0:02

Well, welcome back to Clarksville Insider, your inside track to all things Clarksville. And I am your host, Josh Atkins, like the diet. And when I'm not complaining about traffic or roundabouts, I really like to get into local connections and people in their occupations and jobs and how they all contribute to our community because there's different ways that different people just... different spots, even around town and different locations can really contribute to Clarksville as a whole. And today I'm joined by my guest Jenna Hillier, and she is a speech therapist or an SLP, I wrote it down to make sure I get it right, speech language pathologist at High Point Therapy. Is that right? Yes, yes sir. All right, well thanks for coming in here. Yeah, good to be here. Yeah. I usually like to start out with how you ended up here. How did you get to Clarksville? How long ago was it? Because I got here 13 years ago and I feel like the, I might be a local, but I'm not a native and there's different layers to it. When did you get here? How long have you been here? And just kind of give us a brief, as brief as you'd like. intro and how you got here. Yeah, yeah, so I'm kind of similar to you. I'm a transplant. I, family's originally from Chicago. Most of my family still lives there. I've got a brother and his family that live in East Tennessee, grew up in East Tennessee, went to high school, all of that stuff. And then was just ready to get out of small town. I grew up in the oldest town in Tennessee. So lots of history there, Jonesboro. And, um, was just ready to get out of that. So went to MTSU, Middle Tennessee and Murfreesboro, did undergrad there and then was looking for a job right out of undergrad and came up to Clarksville and worked in the school system as a speech and language teacher. And I mean, honestly, there was no thought behind it aside from it was a job and my friend from undergrad was coming up with me and she and her husband were here and we kind of just. made the move and worked through grad school while I was working as a speech language teacher. in the school system. And so when was that? That was in 2010. Okay. Started here in 2010. So no, 2015. Yes. 2015. Yes. Hitting the 10-year mark. Yeah, 10-year mark. That's crazy. So in all of that, the job just started as a, I guess I could do that, as like, did it come from the major, like you majored in that in college? Yes, yeah, yeah. So I graduated with my bachelor's in communication sciences and disorders. And most of the time to do therapy or to evaluate kiddos, have to have a master's degree, which I did not go to grad school straight after my undergrad. So. the jobs are limited when you only have a bachelor's degree and the system is one of the ones that hires. So I was lucky enough to get hired here and just kind of made life happen. How did you, just one step back before that, how did you end up out of all the majors, all the business degrees or the communications or all that kind of thing, how did you even settle on like Were you thinking education, but not really? how did you even settle into that? So I went into school, into college not knowing what I wanted to do. And my sophomore year, I decided, literally woke up one day, decided I was going to be a finance major. I called my mom and told her that. And she was like, what are you thinking? You've never been good at math. And it took me about one semester to figure that out that that was not for me. Did not like econ or any of that. my roommate at the time in undergrad, she was majoring in speech and I was like, ah, sounds fun. Think I'll try that out. And so it just kind of stuck. Sometimes that's how it works. I feel like a lot of people have the story of someone that they've known that's been affected. I really don't have that. It just sounded like a good idea and sounded interesting. And I was like, what better than to have a roommate that you can study with? Like they understand you can do group projects with. Yeah, you can do your worksheets and flashcards and all that kind of stuff. Right, right. Studying all this stuff. So you get here and working in the school system, feel like that would be, I assume it was an interesting and kind of a cool experience because you weren't just at one school. You got to go visit different schools. How did that just kind of lay the foundation? How did it help you develop or grow? I assume it was a, well, there you go. Was it a little bit of that? like, here's your schools, go to it. And then from there, you really built your own way kind of thing? So yes, but they also don't want to set you up for failure either. So as a speech language teacher, I had to have a speech language pathologist that was supervising me. So everything that I did kind of went through her. So being at different schools, that means I had different SLPs that were kind of help guiding me, helping to guide me along the way. So that was really, really good to have. mean, it's very, helpful. people that are, you know, kind of where I wanted to go in life and to learn from them. But also my first couple of years, I was split between an elementary school and a middle school and high school. So I kind of got experience with, yeah, a variety of age ranges there. So I had clinical experience in undergrad, but it was just that, it was clinical. So the kiddos came to us in the clinic at that point, that's one-on-one environment, and the school system, that's just not the case. We've got, or the school system has high caseloads, right? So seeing a kid one-on-one was, that was not it, right? That didn't usually happen. In extremely rare cases, you would see a kiddo one-on-one. But most of my sessions were group sessions. But because I was in elementary, middle, and high, I had different age groups, different levels of disability that I was working with, and also had different supervisors. So I learned a lot. Everyone's different in how they do therapy and kind of how they approach the job. mean, everything is based on evidence, but everyone is just different how they approach it. So it was really, really helpful for me to be able to have those people to look forward to. Shout out to Angela and Sarah. Those are my girls. They really help me through. And then of course, having the support of, like I said, my best friend from college, Nikki, it's nice to have someone else going through it so we can kind of bounce ideas off of each other and commiserate sometimes. And figure things out and how to get through those things and learn. Because you know, it's... When you're working in education, there's just so many legal guidelines that I didn't learn about in college. mean, I'm sure it was skimmed over and talked about, but I didn't feel like I truly had a good understanding of like FAPE and legal guidelines that you have to adhere to. So I learned a lot about that, especially in the first couple of years. But then really once I got my master's degree and was an SLP, that's when you learn a lot. So the master's degree allows you to... be the SLP? That's your certification for that? so with my bachelor's degree I was able to do therapy, right? I could develop IEPs for kiddos, but those were always under the guidance of my supervisors. So once you're an SLP, the difference is that you're able to assess and diagnose for speech and language impairment, pragmatic disorders, so social skills, things like that, and then, you know, voice disorders, things of that nature. Since I'm in a pediatric setting, Most of what I'm assessing for is language impairments, articulation impairments, pragmatics. I don't see a lot of voice kids personally, fluency, so like stuttering, things of that nature. So once you become an SLP and have your master's degree, you're able to test for those things and kind of dig into the root causes of some of that. And so now being Would you call it private practice? that kind of the term for it? Yeah, private practice, outpatient. So getting into that, seems like a jump. had to make a decision like, OK, I'm doing it. And is it? series. Yeah, I was imagining it's almost like stepping out. It's like, well, I hope people come and ask for my services. Is it kind of like that? you? Yeah, so you know, leave in job that you that's all you've ever known, know, like working in the school system that was I had six years of that before I kind of took that leap of faith into outpatient, into private practice. But the beautiful thing about private practice is that I joined a clinic that was already established here in town. they kind of it's not it wasn't me having to look for clientele. They already had the clientele lined up, you know. So I wasn't really starting from ground zero. It's more so people are seeking out services and I can help. And would you say most of your day is... is it actual like speech therapy or is it testing... is it all kind of the same? Yeah, so it honestly, it depends on the day. A couple of days a week, I have evaluations, the assessment, where the kiddos come to me for about an hour with their parents. And we talk about all things background and you what's going on? What's the issue? Here are some things you can do to help. This is what I want to do to help you. But the rest of the time, yeah, it's straight therapy. So back to back, I have a new patient every 30 minutes. You know, it's very, very fast paced. I like it. It's nice to always be on my toes. So yeah. And with that, do you feel like I I know with being one, like a one-on-one, it, it seems like it'd be a little both. Like it'd be intimidating or maybe not, but like, okay, I got 30 minutes. What am I gonna do? But at the same time, it's freeing. like, man, I got 30 minutes. Like, this is awesome. imagine it could be both and maybe it is at different times. it can be. I mean, it depends on the kid. It depends on their mood. It depends on the day. know, in an ideal world, you have, as an SLP, you kind of have a plan that you have set forth for each kid, maybe for the day of what you're gonna work on or address. Obviously, each kid has different goals that they're working on, but that's just not how life is. And sometimes two-year-olds don't wanna do what you have planned. So you kinda have to be able to pivot and be flexible. Yeah, most of the time, the nice thing about being with pediatrics primarily, they love to play and there's lots of evidence surrounding play-based therapy. I get to use lots of toys and lots of play with them. It's not so much like, you know, when you think about, I feel like most people that are not SLPs or in a therapy realm, they think about a speech therapist and what their mind immediately goes to is elementary school when some kid from your class was working on their R sounds and they had to go to speech. And almost you were probably jealous of those kids. I remember being jealous of the kids that had to go to speech. I want to go to speech. Right, right. You get put out of class. So I think that that's kind of... what people's minds go to is, the speech therapist, work on kids' lists, or the speech therapist, they work on how kids say they're ours, and Wadjoe Wabbitt is, you we're gonna fix that. But, well, that is not the case at all. me personally, most of what my therapy is is all early intervention, meaning kiddos that are little. So, My earliest one, my youngest one is probably about 18 months old. But the nice thing, you know, with those little ones, they want to play and that's just kind of how therapy is. You know, I can expect a kid to sit. But what my point was is, you you think about kids going to speech therapy in the school system and, know, when you were a kid and the therapist is sitting there doing flashcards or whatever it was with them, that's just, that is like a minuscule part of my day. So that's what's nice about being with the little ones is. you can get so much out of playing with them and it's so important to play with them. It seems like when you're playing or distracted, it seems like you may be able to get somewhere with them then, like further or more intently or more quickly than you would if you were speaking directly to them about this thing. It's almost like when I'm trying to connect with... you know, my eight-year-old. It's like, well, let's go play catch. There you go. And then just while you're throwing, while you're shooting, you're talking about the day. And it's just some sort of... You're tricking them into it. Yeah. You're just tricking them into it. I've been out here. Oh. Yeah. And I imagine it's a similar situation. Yeah, that's actually a really, really good analogy, honestly. And what a great way to work on communication skills with your kid. You know, you're doing something that's engaging to them. You as the dad probably like to do that with them too. You have that kind of connection with them and that activity. yeah, it's very, very similar. know, some of the biggest strategies that I tell parents of my little ones, one, twos and three year old kiddos is you got to do something that's motivating to them. You know, like they're not always going to want to look at a book or they're not going to want to look at pictures. So always, always doing something that's engaging for them and you kind of meet them where they are. And talking about those things I mean so right making conversation around that and kind of narrating what's going on around them in that environment So if we're if we're playing with a racetrack or whatever it might be, I mean, we're always talking about oh Here's the fire truck. The fire trucks going to the top of the racetrack. What's gonna happen? Is it gonna go down? Is it gonna go fast? Is it gonna go slow? So kind of just narrating what it is in their environment that's motivating to them So they have some buy-in to it, right? These little ones, if you try to stick something in front of them that they have no interest in and don't care about it, you're gonna get nowhere. Well, and it seems like, like with the fire trucks, like it seems like it would make the connection. of the action versus the word. So you're saying if it's going to go fast, I imagine at some point you're, you make it go fast. So they're making the vocab connection or is going to go up high? Is it going to come down low? Is it going to go slow or is it going to pass the car? And it's all those connections. And meanwhile, like instead of a checklist, instead of going, okay, let's, let's evaluate it's more. Like, let's really get into it. There you go. You just got to play with them. And I mean, that's motivating to them. It's exciting to them. They love, I'm going to say most of the time, the kids are just shocked that a grown-up knows how to play. Like, they're so excited that someone else knows how to play and they're learning all these new words. But yes, I mean, you kind of just bombard them with all of these words, all of this language. in order for a kid to express themselves, they have to understand those words first. So if they're not understanding that this is a fire truck or what go means or what fast means, how are they going to be expected to say those things? You know what I'm saying? So you kind of have to model those words and teach them. And the only way you can teach them is by talking to them. Yeah. I would imagine that helps getting them there, getting them in the room from the lobby out of the car into the building. Like if it was something where they knew it was, and know, every kid's different and those kinds things, but it seems like it would be helpful if they're going to play or their understanding of it. Is that some of it too? Like it helps get them there and get them actually into what you're trying to get them to see? Yeah, so you know, Again, every kid is different. So usually like the first couple of sessions, especially the first one, the kid is like, this is a doctor. I don't want to do this, you know? But once they realize that what we're doing is really fun and exciting, most of the time they're willing to come back and have a good time. It's not like that every day. I'm not going to say that it's all, you know, rainbows and fairies. Sometimes kids just don't feel it. And I, as an adult, I get that. Sometimes I don't feel it either. I feel you, man. I really do. Exactly. And, you know, a lot of times that's what I'll use though is to get them back from the lobby to my room. You want to go play? What toys do we have? What should we go see? What do you think is going to be out there today? So I mean, there's absolutely some motivation in that. at our clinic, we have a huge play set, an indoor play set, slide, monkey bars, fire pole, all the things. We have rock walls. We have sensory swings. And that's all just out in the main open gym. So in order to get to our rooms, you walk through that gym and they see all these big bright colors and that's just engaging to them. Imagine like a a mocha's and minis, right? But in a therapy space and maybe not as messy. That's fair. Less of those kind of things. more control. So normally it seems like, and you hit on it, the idea of speech therapy having like maybe a stigma or a I'm going to speech, like a very schoolish feel. But I would imagine it's a lot broader. I imagine what you do is a lot broader. You see a lot more different levels of kids. And it's not just can't say my Rs as you mentioning. probably a lot of different things. How do you even get on the radar? Or how does maybe a parent even see that they might even be eligible or to be thinking about, this is something to look for or listen for? I know that's like 10 questions in one, but just kind of even loading up the idea of to be most helpful. Maybe there's a parent listening that's OK, maybe. Maybe that could be helpful or we've had trouble with this and this. Just even like early signs or just even milestones, I guess, might be a word to use. Yeah, that's what I would say. you know, typically our first word is spoken around 12 months, you know, give or take. might be 10 months, a kid starts babbling and, ma, ma, da, da, da, whatever it is. And it might be 14 months where a kid starts doing that. So typically in that range is when our first word comes about. I wouldn't... you know, be worried if the kid is 14 months old and hasn't said a first word yet, but I would absolutely expect them to be cooing, babbling, even if it's not a word with true intent, you know, where they're looking at you and saying, da, or they're looking at their dog and saying, da, whatever it is. But making sounds and vocalizations, I would absolutely expect that by 12 months. And first word, I would say by 14 months. It would be my personal cutoff. You know, with little ones, you go into these well-child checks every few months, you know, and then it turns into every year. So most of the time, the doctors are going to ask you questions. Your pediatrician will ask you questions about this stuff, about milestones. Like I said, my youngest one currently is about 18 months old. So a of doctors will catch something early. Oh, the kids at their well-child check at 12 months, you know. The kid's not making any sounds, not vocalizing, we're not playing, we can't attend to anything. It's just, they're not really reaching those early, early developmental milestones. So would you say a lot of the early, early intervention, a lot of the early, early kids that are coming to you, are they doctor referrals or is it... parent inspired like hey I think we need to go see or is it more I would say it's more so doctors you know if a parent is really well informed and has done the research about what should my kid be doing at this age and this age and this age then absolutely it could be a parent telling the doctors hey I'm concerned about this and then the doctor will make a referral but most of most of our referrals seem to be coming from the doctor themselves but absolutely parents can be the ones that advocate for their kids you do have to have a referral from a doctor. So if that's concern that you have, definitely bring it up to the pediatrician because we do have to have a referral from your pediatrician in order to even evaluate you. as far as milestones and such go, looking for things, responding to where questions, not necessarily verbally responding, but if you walk into talking to your 12 month old or 14-month-old, whatever it might be, and ask them, where's daddy or where's the ball? Are they looking towards those things? Can they find them? Will they go get those things? That's a big one to look at, like, receptive language skills. So what they're understanding is that receptive language. So what's coming in, just about what's coming out. you go. Like I said a little bit ago, you have to have a good understanding, receptively, of things before I can expect you to express them. So if we aren't talking to our kids, if we aren't narrating our play actions, you know, the fire truck's on top and it's going down, how are they going to learn those words without us? having taught them. You know what I'm saying? So that's where a lot of play-based therapy comes in for my little ones. Now, it's obviously I'm not playing like that with my 10-year-olds, but the goals at that point are a lot different. The skills I would expect are a lot different. Yeah, I mean, just like in school. Like, little league baseball as a 10-year-old is different than T-ball. So it just adjusts as they do. you go. So I would imagine early intervention getting at it quick helps tremendously. yeah. And I don't know if there are, I'm sure there are stats out the door of things and ways to help. Is that really where you like to focus and push to get as early as possible? And if not, that's okay too, but really if you can get it in or identify, that kind of what? Absolutely. Early intervention is key in any type of delay or whatever you're seeing in life. If you catch things earlier and you address them earlier, then they're going to get better quicker, right, and sooner. So not just with speech, with, I mean, it could be physical milestones, gross motor milestones. It can be feeding, things like that. You know, if you have a concern, you got to say something to do something about it. You know, I don't think there's any concern that's not valid. It just needs to be addressed, right? So early intervention, you know, there's so many resources available for those in Tennessee and Kentucky. You've got TEIS, Tennessee Early Intervention Systems, that's available to kids from birth to age three. It's a service that's provided by the state free of charge. determined by the therapist there if the kiddo meets criteria to receive services. So TEIS, Keys, Kentucky Early Intervention Systems, all of those are federal programs that are provided free of charge, like I said, from birth to age three. And Tennessee, just a couple of years ago, extended that program to where if the kiddo is already in early intervention at the time they turn three, they can extend up to age five if they would like. But once they get age three, they're also eligible to receive services at the school system for preschool, developmental preschool. And those are also free of charge. based on evaluations completed by the school system, of course. The idea of the free services, I'm going to try to put links to those in the show notes so people, you can find them. that way it's just a link instead of remember. OK, so it's going to be T-E-I-S and K-E-Y-S. K-E-I-S. See? That's why add. They call it keys. In Tennessee, they don't say T's. They just say T-E-I-S. But Kentucky, they call it keys. But yeah, K-E-I-S, Kentucky Early Intervention Systems. See, that's why you got to confirm the spelling. And so with parents, I feel like there's a level of maybe not hopefulness, almost like a... You get to a point where you're like, okay, when do I need help? When does my kid need help? And it seems like it's an issue that, you know, I got a 10-year-old and an eight-year-old and... Like at school, mean, just dealing with that and understanding, they're struggling here or not quite hitting those milestones. But there's still an element of me having to say, I need help. How do you or maybe even like a story or something where you've been able to come alongside parents? Because I would say there's probably a high percentage of a lot of what your work. and what you do is to parents and not just play time with the fire truck. It's, hey, mom, hey, dad, here's what you can be doing. You're doing great. Probably encouragement, a cheerleader, all Counseling. That's part of it is counseling, right? And kind of teaching parents how they can incorporate these strategies at home. So I lost track of your first question. I think I was almost to a question with that. I think it was the longest setup in history. And really just the idea of what are some ways to help parents, just even along the journey or even start the journey to encourage them to know it's all right. Like it's OK to get help. I'm here for it. My team is here for it. Like how do you kind of get them into it and keep and help them along the way? Right. So I mean, as a parent, you're your kid's biggest advocate, right? your 18 month old cannot advocate for themselves. So if you see something that you're concerned about as far as development goes, or mean any issue in life really, you're the one that's gonna have to help your kid with that and advocate for that. So I think that being very open and honest with yourself about my kid is not doing this and they're 18 months old, they've not spoken their first word and they're 18 months old and that's not typical. I need to talk to someone about that. So I think a lot of it has to do with being comfortable with asking for that help to... to start with and that is okay. I mean, we all need help, right? We all need that support sometimes in some way or another. So if you see something that you're worried about, then say something, right? It's not gonna hurt to ever have an evaluation done when it comes to therapy. You know, what's gonna happen is we're gonna say, okay, they need support in these areas or they're just fine. They're doing all right. So, I mean, You're just getting more information and then throughout that evaluation process with at least with speech, we're going to be giving you strategies and support to implement at home as well. Now, you you asked about like a specific, you know, case that I might have had where I've a parent along. There's one right now that's come into my head that, you know, sometimes the field can be hard and that you're the one who is. given the parent the bad news, right? No one else has ever said anything to the family. Friends haven't said anything to the family about things you're seeing, you know, and the one that I'm thinking about, the kiddo, I had concerns for autism and I'm the one that's breaking that news to the parent. So it can be really, really tough to say, here's what I'm seeing. And of course I cannot diagnose autism, but I feel like I have an ethical obligation to say something if... I see something, you know what I'm saying? If I had these concerns, then I have to tell the parent of what I'm seeing. And in a kiddo like that, it takes a lot more than speech therapy to be able to address their needs, right? So this kiddo, I'm referring, I made all of these referrals and I remember telling the parent, I'm referring to a developmental pediatrician who's the one who does SSFRA autism. I made referrals to physical therapy, occupational therapy, feeding therapy. And I remember telling the parent, feel like I'm hitting you with so much information right now. And you know, I would imagine it's probably a lot to take in as the parent. You're new to this field. You just started speech therapy two months ago and here comes this SLP that's like, let's do this and let's do this and let's do this and let's do this. But really I'm just trying to make sure that I'm meeting the needs of the kid every way that I can because all of the therapies are just kind of intermingled. You know, we can kind of help each other out. So in the case of like occupational therapy, when you've got kiddos who... or having a tough time with sensory needs in their environment, right? They're getting overstimulated or something is bothering them, then OT, occupational therapist, can come in and help me help the kid, right? We can kind of work together to meet the needs of the kid to make sure that they are in the most conducive environment for them to be able to learn and take all this new information in. So like I said, you have to kind of be open and honest. with the parent. I just think that honesty is the best policy when it comes to that. I not like to be the person that has concerns and doesn't tell a parent that have concerns about something besides just speech, right? But a lot of times, if a kiddo will take autism out of the conversation, I've got kiddos that have come to me a little and they're just working on language. We're not using words at all. And then, all right, the kid starts talking and we're talking, everything's good, language is looking great. But then we've got these articulation errors, right? So they're talking and they're doing great, but you can't understand half of what they're saying. So then it's like, all right, now we got to address this. So therapy can, it can be daunting, you know, for an adult because this is like a weekly appointment. I have to do it every single week and I have to work on these things at home. So it's not just a, get to come to speech for 20 minutes a week and. Hope for the best, right? It's a lot. You have to keep up. do your work. Right, right, right. It's a lot to keep up with. know, in our therapists, our clinic, we often give out calendars. So here's an activity that you can do every single day for your kiddos to kind of help support communication. And it's really just kind of a guideline of, oh, these are things I could be doing at home all of the time to help my kiddo. So I mean, it's just an on-taking. know, therapy is not easy, and it takes a long time. I would imagine the calendar, if you look, if you got it, I bet there's a lot of normal stuff on there. And just stuff that you don't even think about. like, I just keep using the red, the fire truck, the red truck analogy. So I, it seems like that'd be very helpful. Because it's like, oh, I never thought of that. But we do that, or we could do that so easily. You know, I think about, when you become a parent, if you've never interacted with a kid, right? You don't know how to play with a kid. You know, it's awkward. You don't know what you're doing. I mean, even me, when I was fresh out of college, like, I didn't have any younger siblings. I didn't have any nieces or nephews at that point in time. You know? Seriously. Like, you're like, OK, I've got this three-year-old in front of me. What am I supposed to do with you? No, I got 28 minutes left. Right, right So I mean in that aspect you just kind of learn as you go right and you take continuing education courses and you teach yourself But as a parent who's never had that you sometimes parents are I mean no fault of their own that ish don't know how to interact with their kids so That's what I love about one of the things I love about my job is the the parents are able to come back to my office with me back to my room with me and they can kind of observe what I'm doing and then they can mimic that at home and help them at home. And again, with the calendar, I give them daily activities of very, simple things that you can be doing. mean, some of it's just like playing board games. Interact with your kid in using a game. That's a great way to teach turn taking, sharing, having conversation. You may be having some banter back and forth. It's a great way to learn skills like that. Well, because at the same time that they might be working on something speech-wise or developmentally wise, they're still learning how to be a kid too. It's everything else. They're still an eight-year-old. They're still a six-year-old, five-year-old, whatever. so it seems like you're seeing how to add the speech part into all of the rest of the things that are happening. That's one of the biggest things. You have to make it functional for them. You know, and that's the best way they're going to learn how to use what we call functional vocabulary. You know, if for example, if we're working on the word please or want, mean want and more, those are typically some of the first ones that we'll work on with a kiddo who's not yet speaking with us because it's so functional. Like I want that. So we're going to teach them the sign. We're going to teach them the word. We might bring in AAC, which is augmentative or alternative communication. That's when they're using typically. I mean, at this point it's an iPad, right? High tech. where they can touch an icon on the iPad that says want for them and then they can make a request. That's such a functional thing. You the kid wants a bottle, the kid wants a snack, the kid wants to sleep. So that's such a great way to work on functional vocabulary. mean, you got like, again, you have to make it pertinent to them and what's going on in their lives. Now, of course, I mean, there's times like today I was working on ocean animals with a kid, right? I mean, we don't live near the ocean, sure, but it's engaging to the kid, you know? it's not going to hurt him to learn what a shark is or what an octopus is. And it's motivating because not only do I have books to go along with it, I've got toys to go along with it too. So then what we've taken and learned in a book and we've talked about in the pictures in the book, then we get to apply that then to a toy and make it functional that way. Well, and just even as a former teacher, know. Shout out to the P.E. Shout out to myself. shout out to Northeast Middle. Go Eagles. There is an element too of the different ways that you learn. And if you can hear the word shark, say the word shark, see a picture of a shark and put a toy shark in their hands. Now they're, I mean, they're touching, they're seeing, and they're using all of the elements. I mean, that's literally like a thing. Hear it, see it, say it. That is actually a thing. So there you go. You know, like you just kind of opened up a world right there. Yeah, because, you know, like if I'm trying to teach somebody, like a seventh grader, to dribble better, you know, I can give him a quiz on dribbling. I can show him dribbling, or I can put a ball in his hand and say, all right, let's do it. But the best way is all the ways and working with them all together. Then you understand it. You know what the concept means, but then you can apply it as well. you feel like you're still, and I would imagine just in general there is, but do feel like you're still just learning every day? All of the time. With each new kid, new situation and going, ooh, that worked. Ooh, I need to do that. It just seems like such a realm where you're learning, trying, twisting, adding every day. Yeah, because I mean, not every strategy or activity is going to work for every kid, right? So you kind of have to modify what you're doing in therapy. And the beautiful thing about High Point is they put such an emphasis on collaborating with the other professionals on your team. mean, we will call them like lunch and learns, right? We sit and talk about... cases that we're having that maybe we're having some difficulty with, right? I mean, I can go out and research and do my own research, but if my neighbor, Abby or Brittany, they've had a kiddo that's having the same issue and they found a strategy that worked for that kid, then I can maybe apply that with mine too. It's nice, again, I can go and read it, but it's nice to know that someone has tried it and maybe it was successful and then they can kind of help walk me through it. So that's been really good to have that. Because it also seems like the opposite, it could be very easy to say, this is the way I do it. You parent, you kid, you need to, I'm the expert. I mean, just like any environment where there's an opportunity for people to really be set in their ways. what kind I know it's a benefit, but what kind of benefit to the parents and families is it when you can really adapt and really fit into what they need? I mean, that seems like that'd be the best way to do it and start somewhere, but really go, and next week we'll see and we'll, here's our plan. And yet you get a little bit down the road and say, okay, mom, dad, here's what I'm seeing. Here's where I think we need to go. Is it some of that or do you really feel like you can, once you get set on a path, it's pretty straightforward? Oh, there are definitely twists and turns, right? There is no path that is straight and you you see the light, but you've got to get twisties and turns to get there, right? So, I mean, I think that getting buy-in... is that's a big part of the job, right? You have to teach parents that what you're doing is important and it's beneficial. And a lot of times, like I said, because therapy can take so much time and it's very daunting and it's very difficult to a parent to kind of do those things and change their habits at home too, to see the progress. But once you get buy-in and the parent is all in on what you're doing, that's when you start seeing the progress, right? Again, I would love to be able to fix your kid in 20 minutes once a week, but... I just, can't, you know? So I think that once you get the buy-in and you've really like built that connection and that relationship with the family, you can start working on things that are motivating to them too, and that are appropriate to them as well. And working on things that are meaningful in their household or in their culture, whatever it might be, but that you have to have open communication with your families in order to do that. So. I try to build those personal relationships as much as I can. It seems like it's almost like getting piano lessons. Okay. Like, I took piano lessons and or drum lessons or sports lessons or just insert lesson here where I can take my kid, I drop him off for, let's just say hitting lessons. He plays baseball. Take him for hitting lessons. water. The best way I can set him up is to be in there listening to the coach so I can reiterate three days from now. Remember what coach said. But he's got to swing the bat sometime between lessons and being able to get that practice, get those repetitions so that he's not relearning the same, like he's dropping his hands and so he spends 30 minutes with him getting his hands up and then he never does it and gets back and his hands are right where they were the week before and you're like, I we talked about that. Is there... Is there some... analogy. That's a really good one actually. I need to talk to PE teachers slash real estate agents more often, right? There are only a few. There's some of us out there. That's really good analogy, honestly. I like that. I'm gonna steal that. Steal it. Take it. Right? That's really good. So that's perfect. That's exactly... mean, that's perfect. Outside of therapy. of just in general. I imagine there's levels to just increasing just general literacy growth at home. Probably like just as much as there are things to help, are things that maybe hinder or get in the way. If I'm a... I am a parent, but like if I'm a parent like... speak to me as if like these these things can really help if I'm trying to because we're getting ready to go into the summer. Yeah, we're gonna have two and half months of if I'm getting services at the school or just even general I've got a second grader going into third grade fifth grader going into middle school. I want them to stay connected to you know books and rather than just saying okay you got to read for 30 minutes before you can watch TV like what are some things that I can be doing to really set them up for success, not just this summer. I mean, that's short term, but just in general, like this helps. Research shows this helps. Do this with your kid. Do you have like three things, top three, 10? I mean, I'm sure you got 100, but just like maybe just a few. I'll tell you the ones that I typically go to. So, I mean, yes, reading every day is very important. I will say that. So I know it seems... I don't know, repetitive and kind of boring, but maybe doing it in different environments. Take them to the library, take them to a friend's house, make it a game. I wonder who can read this in this amount of time, make it competitive. For the older kids, you know a middle schooler loves to compete, right? They wanna be the best. So make it a game, making competitive. For the little ones, obviously most of my experience is with little kiddos. I do mostly in early intervention, but... I have experience with my older kids, but for the little ones, obviously I don't expect a two-year-old to be reading yet, right? But I always try to bring kiddos' attention to the words that I am talking about. If we are going through a book, I'm not necessarily reading books word for word to a kiddo. I'm talking about the pictures that are in the book. Right? Because I'm not reading chapter books to my two-year-olds. I'm looking at picture books and interactive books where they're poking a dot in the book or... You're creating that connection to the things they see. word and item, right? So, I'm bringing their attention to that, and I am pointing out the words in the book or whatever it is that we're going through. Now, with my older kids, as we get older, my five, six, that they are starting to read, absolutely, we are looking at the words in the book or we're putting meaning between, like, for my kids that are working on, that are working on ours, right? All of my kids that are working on a speech sound that are able to identify, we're looking at pictures and words. They're also telling me what letter we're practicing. They're telling me where at in the word that is. They're identifying it. So if the word is robot, all right, here's the word robot. Now I want you to find the letter R. I want you to tell me where it's at in that word. Is it at the beginning, the middle, or the end of the word? And what sound does R make, right? So I'm also addressing like their phonemic and phonological awareness that way too, because that is important. Those are building blocks to reading, right? So they have to have that understanding before they're going to start reading too. So that was a huge word by the way. It was pretty awesome. I almost said to get off the on and off ramp on that one. was like, all right, every once in a while, you know, I'll pull them out. It sounds like even the calendar thing, it seems like the idea is to make everyday connections. when you're doing things, you're developing, even when you're getting ready for dinner, engaging them, talking about what you're putting, like ingredients and preparation and That's perfect, yes. Have them help you. I mean, if the kid is able, obviously, know, year fours and five-year-olds, even threes, I mean, they can help you pour the drinks or put the plates on the table. And we're going to talk about it. Oh, that's a great way to follow directions. That's a great way to learn the vocabulary. That's a great way to answer and ask questions. All right, we have the plate. What else do you think we need for food? Procedures, like order in which you do things. so I mean, you could do following directions. All right, Jimmy, go find a cup and then. Put it on the table. That's a two-step direction right there. And then having them follow directions. If you guys are doing something, you know, making homemade pizzas or whatever it is, first we're going to put the flour in, and then we have to put the egg in. We're going to mix it all together. Oh, look, it turned into a dough. So you're narrating again what you're doing. But when you can engage your kiddos into that stuff, they have much more buy-in in it, right? And there's a lot different when they get to get hands-on in something like that than like what you were saying, just talking to them about it, right? Like you're dribbling an allergy. Right. Yeah, my home pizza would be okay turn the oven on get it out of the box Make sure the pepperoni is all spread out because it's all clumped up Maybe add some more to it if we got some. Yeah, put some bacon on there maybe something to avoid or watch out for or maybe just one or two things, again, getting into a lot of upcoming free time that they're gonna have. what can parents maybe watch out for or just kind of be aware of that can really either, we'll probably wrap with this, but just getting an idea of, oh shoot, I didn't realize that it was such a big deal. or not a big deal, you know what I mean? Like just kind of things to be on the lookout for in the positive realm and then in the hey, watch out for, try to limit this or whatever. Yeah, so I'm gonna talk about the taboo subject, right, which is screen time. We are in the age of That's all folks, we are, no. That is it sometimes it feels like that. Hey, sometimes it feels like that. You know, we're in the age of tech and I think there's a time and a place for tech. I mean, I'm using high tech. communication devices and therapy, but there's a difference in a kiddo having a high tech communication device in front of them where they're using that to get their wants met or their needs met or to express to you that they are feeling frustrated about something because that's not really play, right? That's communication. They're not sitting there stimulated by what they're looking at to communicate with. So yeah, it's a taboo subject as far as screen time goes. My personal belief, I'm not going to tell you that's the correct belief. But I've read several studies where research is kind of, honestly, it's inconclusive as far as does screen time affect language skills and communication skills or does it not? I tend to lean to there's a time and a place for screens, you know? If you are headed on a 10-hour road trip, absolutely. Give the kid a movie, I understand, but I think that the issue comes in when we look to screens to be a babysitter or a pacifier for a child. You know, for example, if a kiddo is crying, right, and kid's upset and you don't know why they're upset and here you do, you just hand them a screen and all of a sudden they're fine. Well, then they've just learned that I can scream and cry and I'm going to get a screen, right? And as much as I would love for a screen to be able to teach our kiddos, they just can't, right? We just, as humans, we need human interaction with other people. and that's how we learn to interact with other people is through interaction, right? So you have to make time to do something active with your kid, to do something engaging and interactive. And I'm not gonna say that don't ever use screens, right? That's just kind of where life is at. So if you're watching a YouTube video with your kids, I would encourage parents to co-watch that video with the kid, to sit there and talk about what's happening in the video, to make it, I guess, to teach them about what's happening and use those words and use that language with the kiddos. So like I said, mean, this could be a rant that we could talk about for hours, but I would say that, you know, be mindful of it and don't lean on screen time over the summer. I know it can be easy. The kids are home from school. You've got them for eight hours and they don't know what to do. But as the adult, we can teach them something else to do with their time versus. watching Blippi or whatever it might be. It's, I get, almost get the idea that it's not necessarily a negative, like the screen time thing. It's not necessarily a negative that it's like taking something away, but it's not allowing you to get something positive, like instead of helping with dinner. So you're not, it's just something that you're. Does that make sense? Like I'm trying to say it and process it all at the same time based on what you said. But like sometimes it seems like there's... Like when you're eating like a salad. Yeah. Like it's not necessarily the lettuce is the best thing for you or the things in the bowl are like all of, but it's what you're not eating. And so by doing that, like you're, missing out on those cool moments. the screen time isn't necessarily just like the negative thing. It's man, but you could have had this. You could have had something better. could have an experience with somebody. You could have that make memories of doing something. You know, a rule that I like to kind of stick to is, you know, let's just say that you're going to tell your kiddo that they can have 20 minutes of screen time. Great. Then we need to do 20 minutes of something interactive and engaging together outside, inside, playing a game, doing dress up, whatever it might be. But if you're going to give them, you know, set screen time, then let's make set interactive time as well, where parents and siblings and grandparents, aunts and whatever, cousins, where you guys are engaging together with the screens put away. I mean, that's just, like I said, it's part of life and it's part of the world now, so I see no issues with screens, but I just don't want it to become what we rely on to pacify our kids. they just kind of have to learn to pacify and cope with things and how they're feeling themselves. without the presence of a screen, because they're not always going to have one either. You know, when they go to school, they don't get an iPad to help them make them feel better, right? So they kind of have to learn to cope themselves and work through those emotions internally versus relying on something external. Yeah, and then in that, they're not just putting plates on the table. They're not just telling you about their day in the car or going to the pool or, you know, whatever it's... It's making those connections, it's the memories, it's the developing, the vocab, like all those kind of things that come along with it that they don't even know that they're doing it. It's like, it's playtime at the therapy session. It's the car, it's the truck, it's the up, down and around. And if we can create those moments at home, it gives you an opportunity to really not just fill in the gaps if somebody's going to... therapy and receiving services like that, but just even develop them in general. In general, And just have those connections to it. Well, I am inspired. I'm like, all right, let's go home and make some memories. Right. Go do something together with your kids and your family, right? I mean, this has been really fun, eye-opening. convicting a little bit too, just even in my own world, which I think is okay. Sometimes I gotta be the one to be the bad guy. Well, that's why I brought you here. To be just the personal, all right, let me hear it. Let me have it. I also didn't realize what an analogy king you are. Like, you're good at that. I'm gonna have to start bringing you in for some references here. Just text me a situation. okay, this is what I need. Give me some sort of, I'll be the analogy GPT.com. gonna buy, I need to buy that before we wrap up. there, yes, is there like self promotion time? Is there a way to like connect with you like a professional page or find you, I don't know if it's just even at the, if anybody wants to reach out to you. What's the plug all your. Connections or social media or whatever you're able to or want to yeah, so I mean social media wise I'm not a social media girl I'm the one that watches in the background, right? That's all right But as far as connecting so you can always go to high point therapy comm there's an e at the end of point And then you can find my professional page there. My name is Jenna If you want an email address, it's Jenna at high point therapy comm You can reach out to the clinic with any questions you have. Just a reminder that if you are seeking out services, we do treat adults and children at the clinic, not just pediatrics at High Point. We do have adult therapists as well. And you do have to have a referral to access those services. So you'll have to get in with your pediatrician, and then we can get you scheduled for an evaluation. Cool. Yeah. Well, thanks for the time. Thanks for the words and insights and just ideas and... ways that we can connect with our kids and just even be challenged in our own lives. And really, that's all we got for it. I feel like we could go another hour. Oh, yeah. You know, a speech therapist, I can sit here and chat with you for a while. Let's save it for the next episode there. Absolutely. Thanks for having me. Yeah. well, thanks for listening. Thanks for tagging along with us during our conversation. And all of the References that she mentioned are going to be in the show notes We'll get those uploaded for you and even the high point therapy page and that way you can you can find there you can look at right on the show notes there for you and thanks for listening thanks for checking out Clarksville insider and tune in next time where we'll have another Conversation or rant by me depending depending on which episode you find me on but again I'm your host Josh Atkins and we'll catch you next time and you can see me around town