Holiday Travel

Travel map, 1954, From RMC's Travel Brochure and Map Collection

The holidays are approaching!
As one of the biggest times of year for travel, your family may be one of the many who are planning a trip.

Click HERE to be linked to a fun quiz about whether your child is ready to travel.

Some ideas for traveling with children:

-Talk about your journey together with your child in advance. Show pictures of places or people you will see, plot out your destination on a map, and give your child a simple travel agenda so they know what to expect. Sometimes it's helpful to sketch simple pictures to go along with a written agenda.


-Let your child choose a favorite blanket or stuffed animal to take with them and let them know that while they may be away from home, they'll aways have their special item with them during their time away. Favorite books are always comforting too.

-Bring a blank book or spiral-bound notebook and create a travel diary with your child; older children can do this activity on their own to keep them busy while riding in a car or on an airplane. It's easy to do and will preserve special memories for a lifetime. In addition to recording each day's activities, you can add photos, postcards, ticket stubs, and even make your own drawings to commemorate the trip. For speech therapy clients, this could make a wonderful opportunity for your child to sit and talk about their activites with someone after they've returned from their trip.

-Travel Seek and Find: Create a list of things for your child to keep a look-out for during their travels and have them check them off as they see them.


-On car trips, older kids may enjoy keeping a list of license plates. See how many different state license plates you can spot!

-Buy inexpensive toys or books and wrap them. Dole them out to your child at prescribed intervals during the trip. This gives them something new to play with and something to look forward to.

-Definitely don't forget to bring non-sugary drinks and bags of healthy snacks to keep kids from getting thirsty, hungry, and cranky! You'll save money too.

-It is tempting to bring along enough DVDs to keep kids quiet during car rides, but seize the opportunity to exercise your child's creativity and imagination. Try an audio book; as they look out the window they can create images with their imagination as they listen to the story. Also consider a book by Oxford press called "250 Word Games"; they're verbal games you can play with your family. Create unique memories and great conversation!

Happy travels!

Fall has come to Clear Speech, Inc.

Natural elements are not only beautiful but are often of great interest to children, like these colorful fall pumpkins and gourds in our front room, arousing the interest and curiosity of our young visitors.

Can you believe these are paper plates? We love to have a gracious and child-friendly place to welcome our clients.

Colors and textures bring a warm autumnal atmosphere.

Welcome fall and your beautiful colors,

Glorious fall with all your wonders.

In autumn when the trees are brown

The little leaves come tumbling down

They do not make the slightest sound

But lie so quietly on the ground

Until the wind comes puffing by

And blows them off towards the sky.

Working with Vowels

A young client, also shown in a recent blog video (8/21/09), has progressed to practicing his vowels with his speech pathologist Lorioux Loup CCP-SLP, founder of Clear Speech, Inc. and Toft House.

Proloquo2go assistive communication ap

If you’ve ever priced an augmentive communication device or communication board, you may have discovered that they can cost up to an eye-popping $8000. The world of assistive communication may have been revolutionized by a new ap called Proloquo2go. It works on the Itouch and Ipod and sells for around $200. For demos and more information, click HERE to go the the Proloquo2go website.

"Free Friday Night Live" at Imagine Children's Museum

Great news for parents: Imagine Children's Museum in Everett, "Best Museum for Kids" by Nickelodeon Parent's Picks and Seattle Magazine is now featuring FREE admission 5:30-9:00pm the 3rd Friday of every month. For more information about the museum, click HERE.

Gross Motor Movement with Fun Activites can Stimulate Language Production

Gross motor movement, coupled with fun activities, can help language production for children who have verbal communication challenges. The home video below (featuring a Clear Speech client interacting with his sister) shows a young child’s first attempts at verbalizing when prompted with the promise of a highly-motivating, exciting activity. It can be very encouraging for a child to be rewarded for their attempts at language, even if their pronunciation is far from typical. It’s often very difficult for children with communication challenges to form sounds and words; focusing on meaningful play acts as a reinforcement and helps create a desire to keep trying and, ultimately, to be successful.

Challenge Air for Kids and Friends

Did you know that Challenge Air for Kids & Friends, a non-profit organization, provides special opportunities for children with disabilities and their two special guests to fly in a small private plane for a 30 minute flight around areas of Puget Sound?

Once a year, the Castle & Cook Hangar at Paine Field in Everett is tranformed into a carnival-like atmosphere where participants and their families can enjoy themselves before and after their special flight.

Private pilots offer their skills and use of their small aircraft so children with disablities can experience the freedom of flight.

Participants can forget the challenges of their disability as they gain a new perspective when they soar through the skies.

As quoted from the Challenge Air website: "Any child or youth living with a physical disability or life-threatening illness may pre-register for the program. Here is a list of qualifying examples: Spinal Cord Injury Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, Downs Syndrome, Spina Bifida, Autism, Cancer, Leukemia, Sight/Hearing Impaired, and others."

Visit the Challenge Air for Kids and Friends website for more information for becoming a participant, pilot, or volunteer. http://challengeair.com/