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COVID changed our world in ways we may have not even realized yet. Are you worried that your child may be experiencing a speech delay from COVID isolation? I have Rachel with me today to talk about the effect the March 2020 lockdown had on her son Everett.
Rachel has been in our lives since she was a teenager and later was a mother’s helper for me when she worked with Lucas. After about a 10-year loss of touch, she is back and now is the Program Director for Turn Autism Around. Because of her experience as an educator and working with children with autism, she was not concerned about autism as a diagnosis for Everett. However, as time went on, she knew he was significantly delayed in natural speech progression.
Like many families, during the COVID lockdown, there was less opportunity to leave the house, and Rachel and her family were mostly home together. She notes that even when she did leave the house, Everett stayed home with dad. This meant Everett was having less opportunity to experience language in natural environments. He was hearing less diverse language and seeing fewer people. Because of this, Everett was 18 months old with only 10 words that were pop-out words, and he had no echoic control.
Rachel has listened to every episode of the podcast and taken all of my courses so she is as prepared as it gets. Everett had been cleared on the M-CHAT for risk of autism, so working seriously on speech was the obvious step. She used strategies from the book and the course to really work with him, so much so that speech therapy wasn’t necessary. Activities she did with Everett included singing songs, the shoebox program, Mr. Potato Head, and putting items in bags. She made talking exciting. However, she didn’t start seeing big improvements until they were able to get out of the house and back into public settings. This change in an environment, new sights, and sounds jump-started his speech back on track. Everett’s speech improved, even more, when he began daycare.
Rachel and her husband wanted to start Everett in daycare to expose him to a more diverse environment and provide an opportunity for him to talk with peers. She shares some of her top tips to look for and questions to ask.
While at this time, autism is not a concern for Everett, and his speech delay is gone, for now, anything can happen to any kid at any time. Rachel talks about her experience with a tooth-brushing aversion that developed shortly after he started daycare. Rebuilding the tolerance for this task is all about pairing it with favored things and making it exciting and fun again. There are so many options that I talk about in my book and courses that you can use to regain compliance with necessary tasks.
In today’s episode, I said, “No therapy is better than bad therapy”. This is important because we do not want to unpair all of the things we are teaching at home. The tips Rachel gives about finding a daycare can even be used when finding the right therapist or therapy center. Even more than that, anyone can provide great therapy to their child when they have the right training. Information in this podcast, my book, and my online courses can provide you with the tools and set you on the path to being the best therapist and advocate your child can have!
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