Welcome
To communicate well is to live well. This site is dedicated to bringing you information, suggesstions, products and services to help your child of any age become an accomplished communicator. I am a speech pathologist with almost 30 years experience working with children of all ages. I want to share with you what I have learned. From the moment your child is born s/he has an important message for you. Listen - we need to talk!
Looking at the world around us we can see that we are in a crisis mode regarding communication. Countries are unable to come to mutual consensus and understanding. Our political parties can't seem to agree on anything. We observe communication patterns on television, in the movies and on the internet that are often intimidating and belittling. How often do we see a difference of opinion come to name-calling and accusations? How often have you watched your favorite tv series or movie and found yourself thinking (or yelling) , "Just tell the truth. Let that person know what's going on. Let him/her know how you feel." Instead, our families have been witnessing deception, cover-ups, verbal abuse and bald-faced lies through the television and movie industry.
Yes, your child has a need to talk to you, to communicate with you. Your child needs to learn how to use and understand language. Your child needs to be able to use effective communication strategies. Through this site you may very well learn how to provide a healthy model of communication for your family.
Learning the skill of communication begins in the family. It is a skill that needs to be taught and nurtured. I contend that it is a vitally important skill to learn and deserves top priority. It is, in essence, a survival skill our children need to withstand the media blitz of contention, falsehood and bullying. But where to begin? If we are going to start building healthy communication in our communities we begin in our own homes with our own children one home at a time.
In order to talk to you, your child needs to use and understand his/her native language well. This site provides information and strategies that you can use to help develop language skills beginning in infancy. Developmental milestones throughout childhood will be explored. We will see that learning our native language involves much more than speaking verbally. Gestures, body language, tone of voice and vocal stress patterns also provide meaning. From learning to speak comes the art of communication. Here you will always find an emphasis on healthy, open and honest communication.