The SLP Next Door Podcast

Today, we’re diving into new case study, where we turn early intervention speech and language evaluations and observations into goals and strategies you can use in speech therapy for toddlers.

If you’ve ever found yourself staring at an evaluation report or sitting in a session thinking, Okay, now what?, this series is for you. This week, we are walking through the case of a minimally verbal 27-month-old child with some emerging communication skills, sensory-seeking behaviors, and a few indicators of autism spectrum disorder. Let’s get started!

Okay, here’s what we know about this little friend:

• He's 27 months old and very active
• Exhibits some sensory seeking behaviors: mouthing objects and spinning wheels, toys, or self
• Parent reports the following words: milk, mama, go - these words have not been observed in therapy sessions
• Engages in play: rolling ball back and forth, scribbling on paper, lining up toys, spinning objects/self
• Recently emerged gestures: clapping and pointing (both imitation and spontaneous)
• Primary form of communication: behaviors, a few gestures, and a few reported words
• Enjoys being hugged, snuggled, and will sit in mom's lap during therapy activities
• Parent reports the following indicators of Autism: sensory differences, difficulties with joint attention, and often more engaged with objects versus people - no formal diagnosis [yet]

As of now, the focus in speech therapy has been addressing his functional communication skills; improving gestures and building on the words parent reports he has imitated or expressed. The parent really wants to engage with him.

This little guy has some great skills in place already when it comes to functional communication. His use of gestures is definitely something we can build from and if he has a few verbal expressions, we can work with that as well.

Check out this episode, where we talk about determining speech therapy goals, strategies to increase communication, and ways to encourage parent involvement.

Here is the series of episodes with Tara from Autism Little Learners, where we talk about signs of Autism in toddlers, strategies for speech therapy, and more ways to encourage communication in little learners.

If you have a tricky case on your caseload, let me know—I’d love to feature it in a future episode. Send me an email [email protected]

Don’t forget to subscribe, share this episode with your friends, and check out the Communicate & Connect handbook for even more resources.