#22 What Are Your Child Speech And Language Millstones? With Lenora Edwards

What’s the difference between speech and language?
What are the milestones for kids ages zero to eight?
Why is it important to address speech and language concerns?
What could be some signs indicating a child might benefit from speech and language therapy?

 Lenora Edwards is a ASHA Board Certified Speech Language Pathologist and Chief Knowledge Officer with Better Speech. Since obtaining her CCC’s in 2010, she has worked with individuals of all ages from little ones who are learning to understand and express themselves to adults who want to improve their speaking skills and become more fluent and effective communicators. 

So join me as Lenora shares what are some red flags that indicate your child might benefit from seeing an SLP and why it’s important to address that.

Also, check out the Betterspeech website,  resources, and social media content (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube), or start 15 min free consultation! 

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Transcript

Tammy Afriat: 0:00

Hey Lenora, good morning. How is your warning so far?

Lenora Edwards: 0:02

Good morning, Tammy. My morning is, so far so good. How's your morning?

Tammy Afriat: 0:06

it's busy and good, and I am really excited to have you here. I think speech And language is something that we expect our kids to just do it, but. more kids needs that support. And so I'm happy you are with me today and you can share with us more about speech and language. So I want to start with, what the difference between when speech and language.

Lenora Edwards: 0:33

Absolutely. So my name is Lenora Edwards as you mentioned, and I am a speech language pathologist with Better Speech. I am actually the Chief Knowledge Officer with Better Speech, and we are an online speech therapy company that is across the nation and international. And as speech language pathologist, what we do is we help people communicate and we help people communicate in effective ways. So very specifically, the difference between speech is. Speech is the articulation, the fluency, and how we're talking with our voice. Whereas language is two parts. It's actually our ability to understand language. Everything that you're listening to and you're hearing and understanding, that's the receptive part of language. And then everything that I'm expressing is the expressive component of language, so how we create grammatically correct sentences and how we use our vocabulary. That's the. expressive component of language.

Tammy Afriat: 1:25

So basically as soon as the baby is born, he's actually working on both things. Like he's starting listening, so he's starting to understanding, which is the. receiving part, and then he started to making those noses and working on the speech skills.

Lenora Edwards: 1:42

Absolutely, absolutely. So our field is really quite large. We see little ones for such as feeding related difficulties. So when little ones are born, if they're in the NICU and they're not able to get enough nutrition, we'll see them for their ability to safely receive nutrition. We also see individuals for their communication, so the speech and language component. And the voice and the fluency. We also see individuals for, their cognitive component, whether it be an adult, is experiencing Alzheimer's or memory loss, Parkinson's, cognitive fo or covid brain fog. And we also see people for swallowing. So our field is very, very broad. So that's a great thing when it comes to little ones when they're born, what they're actually doing. And I love to suggest to as many people as possible when you're little one, , once they're born, what we know is little ones are hearing us all the time. Picking up information. They're picking up our voices, the sounds in our environment, because if you think about it, they come into this world not knowing anything, and us as the parents and the guardians and the caregivers , our role is to explain this entire world. To them and help them make sense of it, what we're doing is we're talking, we're offering them language and information., especially when you're face to face with your little one. 70% of our communication is nonverbal, which is why it's important to talk face to face. They're picking up this facial information. They're also understanding the pace and the rhythm of our language, and they're also understanding. how to follow these rules of communication, including turn taking, including knowing when somebody's talking in a specific voice to somebody else, and knowing when to shift that communication. Pattern to when you're talking peer to peer or child to an adult, they go back and forth and they have to be able to learn how to socially communicate and also what is eye contact and what is engagement mean. So as they're growing, they're learning all these things that we really don't consciously think about. You know, most parents don't sit there and go, okay, do they have joint attention? Are they able to do this with a checklist? But this really is what's happening. These are the milestones that as professionals we are looking for. We are looking to see if your little one is engaged As you're talking to them, are they looking at you, focused on you? How long are they focused on you for? What are they playing with? So a lot really, really goes into the, our little ones learning out language right from the start. So keep talking to your children. That is a great rule of thumb.

Tammy Afriat: 4:16

I wanna ask you, so is it The best to speak like you would talk to an adult Or. it's too hard on the child?

Lenora Edwards: 4:24

Speak how you would normally speak to your little one. A lot of people will say like, oh, I shouldn't use baby talk, or Should I use baby talk? It's natural how you talk to your little one. It's instinctive for you. So if you find that that's what's working for you, I go with ever. I don't think there's one rule for everybody., if there was a rule then it would be to keep talking, but talk in a way that is for you. Cuz what you're doing is you're developing that bond with your little one. How you connect and how you communicate and how you talk to them is really important. Cause they're reflecting it back to you. So little ones are actually talking. So let's say you are four month old. They are communicating with you. They're communicating in babs and cries and vocal plays. Uh, playing with that, having that vocal play is communication. Having that eye. Is communication. As they get older, they start to understand that, Ooh, when I cry like this, I get this. Which is why there's a distinction in their cries when they also understand, oh, when I make this noise, they come running to me. Great. That's what I want. That's an intentional communication. That's how smart little ones are. They start to piece this together, that that is the communication component. Now, when you're talking about the intensity of your voice or the language that you choose, if it's right and true for you, how you are normally talking within your family, go with that. That's very natural for you. If you're playing with them. If your little one is making noises and going, uh, model them and have yourself give back to them what they just gave to you. That is a back and forth of communication and that is them learning. The rules of language, that is them learning their skills. There's a lot going on there because as they're modeling you, you are modeling them and it's a back and forth, and that's how communication, that's how their continue to grow and compound and build upon themselves.

Tammy Afriat: 6:25

So I just picked the first tip that you gave us today, which is it doesn't matter how old your child is, but if you wanna model and create those turn taking skills, then you would, once he said something, then you would pick that up, maybe repeat that, and then. Add something to it. And so this is the way you model that,

Lenora Edwards: 6:46

yeah.. Once you start to hit. 3, 4, 5, 6, and older, as those grammatical skills start to emerge, you will start to shift your language also because you naturally want them to have that great. Communication. so if you have a four year old, you're not gonna go where Daddy, you're gonna say , where did daddy go today? And you'll make a longer sentence, you'll make , a more grammatically correct sentence for that two year old where daddy, that's very appropriate for them. They should have two words at a time. They're not going to string five words together. But those skills where daddy, where is daddy, where did daddy go? Those skills will build on top of each other, and that is the expansion of language. That is the growth of their language skills. So anytime you want to, let's say you have a three year old that , you're to build from two words to three and four words. If they offer you one word, you can. Another, in addition to that, you can support that. So let's say you have a two and a half year old and they're saying, where daddy, you can go, where is Daddy? Just changing that from where Daddy to where is Daddy is shifting that entirely is adding that grammatical component by one word and having them have a greater understanding. And you also built from two. To three words for them. You offered that model that is growing upon their language. That's a great thing.

Tammy Afriat: 8:18

Got it. And I think you just started,, touching my next question,

Lenora Edwards: 8:22

Ah, there.

Tammy Afriat: 8:23

can you please share with us the milestones in terms of speech and language for kids ages two to eight?

Lenora Edwards: 8:30

Absolutely. So for your little ones, when they start to emerge quite early, their first sounds, so pb and m, the letters pb and m or button tend to typically be the first sounds that emerge at one year old because your little one has now been watching your mouth for so long while you're talking to. Those letters, PB and m, those sounds are made right, on your lips, so they're actually able to see them, which is why mama or ma tends to emerge first, or mm. Tends to emerge first because they're watching you and there's a lot of repetition going on, especially between encouraging them to say their first word. You've also now been going Mm, for several months when it comes to food,

Tammy Afriat: 9:13

so they mimic you.

Lenora Edwards: 9:14

do mimic you. They model you all the time. So their attempt at MA and it comes out ma, it's a constant and vowel, they will start to blend that. So their attempt for bot, uh, for bottle will then go from B to baba. That's growth in language and that is taking a consonant vowel and building a consonant and a. Now . What's important is that between 18 months and moving to 24 months. They're starting to label a ton of things. You're gonna ideally see a vocabulary explosion they're gonna start to name things more frequently., then you're gonna start to hear that vocabulary start to combine from that one to two words. so as they start to get into two and three years old, what you're gonna start to notice is that they go from two to three words. And as parent. That's encouraging this great things to do are to offer things like nursery rhymes early on, reading to them early on. Cuz what you're doing is you're offering that language component and as you continue to do that, that repetition will continue to build upon itself, especially with nursery rhymes because there's a lot of melodic intonation when you start to get to four and five years old. You're now seeing grammatically correct sentences for the most part. What you'll start to notice is that verbs will start to shift, plurals will start to shift, and they'll start to become more appropriate. So rather than I eat eggs for breakfast, or I eat eggs, you're gonna hear, I ate eggs. And that's the appropriate component as they start to emerge. You're not gonna. First eight, you're not gonna hear that at three and four years old. And that's okay. It's in a later emerging skill, which is why that language component continues to build.

Tammy Afriat: 11:00

So they add the grammar. They pick the grammar

Lenora Edwards: 11:03

the grammar

Tammy Afriat: 11:03

like four or five, is that the thing? Mm-hmm.

Lenora Edwards: 11:07

five and six, and you'll start to hear a later developing skill with that verb from jump to jumping verse jumped. That's a much later developing skill.

Tammy Afriat: 11:15

my, home. Country language is different. So learning English was really hard for me in terms of grammar cuz there are 16 sentences.

Lenora Edwards: 11:23

there. There's a lot of variation in our language.

Tammy Afriat: 11:27

I was like, how could a kid possibly get that? But it seems, correct me if I'm wrong, it seems like they hear it. So they just kind of sense what's right. Is that the way it

Lenora Edwards: 11:40

that's why early development language is so important, offering them that language and that communication. We naturally pick up our language from birth, because we're listening, it doesn't make sense, but our brains are so amazingly intellectually advanced that because of that information going in, our brain has the ability to make sense of it and store it where it needs to go without us having to consciously control. Nobody cracked into my mind and said, okay, put the word the here, Lenora. It just happens.

Tammy Afriat: 12:11

Yeah, it's totally fascinating, the ability of our brain to pick stuff. I'm sorry I stopped you in the middle of the milestone and we were, when there. Four to five peeking the grammar, having a full sentences

Lenora Edwards: 12:23

absolutely. No, you're perfect. You're perfectly fine. they start to understand things more at four and five. Their understanding continues to grow. So if you give them two and three steps, commands first do this, then do that next, do this. That component continues to build upon itself because they're hearing it in their environment. They're hearing. Okay, well, let's first stop and put on our socks and shoes. First stop is a word. Put on is another piece of information, socks and then shoes that's building upon it. If we said that initially to them, that's pretty confusing. But because that language continues to build and it has a really strong foundation of repetition and you talking and actually carrying out the experience multiple times on end, it's much easier for them to put on their socks and shoes at four and five years old and not even think about. It's on autopilot, and now they're able to take on more information and they understand the process. As they're four and five, you're gonna start to see more understanding. Their ability to understand their letters and numbers very consistently and make much more sense of it, which is why reading skills continue to emerge , and it's really important to offer that. They don't all emerge at the same time, but presenting it to them is what's really important. Allowing them to see it on repetition, allowing them to see it frequently and hearing it frequently will continue to build.

Tammy Afriat: 13:49

So it's almost like as much as they receive in a higher level, then they're able to express themself in a higher level, right? That's way the process work. Okay. I love it. I got it. So what happens when they turn 6, 7, 8?

Lenora Edwards: 14:08

So when they turn six, seven, and eight, you're actually gonna see their reading and writing skills continue to develop, which is a component of language. So that greater understanding of spelling and that greater understanding of reading really starts to emerge. And this is, also when. You're if it depends, some people will start their little ones with phonics really early on. I know there's a couple of programs like My Baby can read, and the reason is because they've now seen this information and it's been presented to them in a specific manner that their brain was able to understand if some little ones don't want, or parents don't want to start program reading programs that early, you'll start to see these skills at that.

Tammy Afriat: 14:50

That's interesting. Starting , as early as their baby. That's a mind blowing, information for me. I've never thought about it.

Lenora Edwards: 14:58

quite impressive. Little ones are incredibly smart, especially because if you're talking in two different languages within the home, they understand the difference between the language simply by hearing it, but also by watching the different. As they're engaged in your mouth, little ones will go back and forth and typically, they'll start around four to six months really engaged in your eyes. Then around eight to 10 months, they go to your mouth and then they come back up to your eyes because there's so much information going on and our facial expressions and really understanding when you say Ouch, that. What does that look like on the face? They can understand that emotional and that emotional intelligence that you're expressing on your face, it's important to know when somebody's happy and it's important to understand when somebody doesn't look happy. And what does that look?

Tammy Afriat: 15:47

So I like how you say that. we talk about speech and language, but honestly, with communication there is a lot of nonverbal communication that comes into place and help us to understand what's going on with the other person we're talking

Lenora Edwards: 16:03

Absolutely.

Tammy Afriat: 16:05

that's a great piece. So, I was wondering, why is it so important to treat speech and language impairment?

Lenora Edwards: 16:13

Absolutely. It's really important because our ability to. Maneuver in this world is through communication. This is how we express our wants and our needs and our thoughts. So it's incredibly important to address concerns that you may have, whether it's concerns that they're not communicating or it's a concern that they're not understanding. Language. Those are both equally as important and they may show up in ways such as if you notice your little one is becoming really frustrated, the fact that they can't communicate to you effectively what they want or need is definitely something to be very aware of. Because we are naturally wired to want to communicate. We are naturally social. So if you're seeing this lack of communication, such as in, as we mentioned, following directions or attempts to communicate, attempts to play, attempts to engage, literally engage with the toy and engage with you socially, with eye contact and with play, joint play, those are very, very, I. And it's important that they get addressed because if they don't go addressed, it's only going to create more frustration and they're going to feel less heard, less seen, less understood,

Tammy Afriat: 17:30

so it gives them the confidence they can. Communicate with the people and express their needs and their want so, what are the red flags that would indicate. A child might benefit from speech and language pathologist.

Lenora Edwards: 17:49

If you're concerned, some signs of a delay would be, or some signs that , you may wanna explore speech therapy services would be if your little one isn't following directions, such as If you tell your two year old, see, let's put on our shoes, and they aren't able to follow the direction of shoes or, where's your teddy bear? And if they can't identify the teddy bear, those are things that are definitely important because it's important to understand that they, you're asking them to do something and it's also important that they are able to identify. Another thing is can they identify it without you pointing? A lot of the time, we'll gesture and little ones can understand what we want them to do because we've now gestured exactly what we want. But , if we're asking them to do something, oh, go find your bear, and they can't go and do that without you, that's definitely a sign of that. There may be a delay into contact. A speech pathologist, another one would. Early on, what are their sounds? Are they babbling? Are they playing with their voice? Are they modeling you? Are they making noises like that if they're not having one word, or, , if their words aren't their attempts of a word. So there's a word, mom. The attempt of that would be ma and someone would say that that is a word. That's also an attempt at a word, which is a great thing. We want them working to make that production of the word, so it completely counts as intentional communication or if they have words for things that are in their environment, are they able to express their wants and needs? so those red flags would definitely be not being able to follow directions, not being able to answer yes, no questions, not being able to identify things in their environment such as point to the pig, or show me the cow when you're reading a book or something along those lines. Not being able to identify is really important. And also being able to follow those commands like wave, hello, low kiss. It's wave. By engaging in those, especially when you're modeling them for them, the fact that they can't engage in them, those are definitely concerns. Lack of eye contact and social engagement, those would be concerns that you'd want to reach out to a speech language pathologist.

Tammy Afriat: 20:12

So that's great. So now we understand why it is so important to address speech and language challenges and what are the red flags., so please tell us more about Better speech.

Lenora Edwards: 20:25

If you visit us@betterspeech.com, we offer a free 15 minute consultation where if you have concerns, you can absolutely reach out to us and we will do our very best to offer you guidance and answer your questions. We are nationwide and we're also international, so we have a team of over 150 speech language pathologists. And what's really important is that is because we are all certified by the American Speech Hearing and Language Board Association and we are also licensed in the state, so, which the differences, I had to pass a variety of educational components and then I had to sit for my boards to become what we refer to as ASHA certified. And then I also had to apply for licensure, which means to practice in that state. So even. I live in Pennsylvania. I'm actually licensed in five states so a lot of the time if you need to go to a clinic for your speech therapy services, you're, we're finding six months of a wait list. And even with early intervention, there's quite a long wait list. Whereas if you visit. At Better speech.com, we can connect you with a speech pathologist and you work remotely with them. So it's convenient, effective, and incredibly affordable. And the great thing is, is that the parent guardian and caregiver are able to be there a part of the speech therapy session. And I love that because I'm able to talk with the parent and the guardian and make it very specific and say, okay, this is where you are in your home. This is where we are for , our treatment. This is what I'm. Here's ways to implement it in your home.. And that makes it functional. Because I get to work with little ones, but I work with the little ones for a small period of time, whereas parents and guardians, they're there all the time. So it's really important to educate the parent and the guardian on what we're seeing and how to offer support, how to offer that. Queuing, how to offer that intentional communication so that those skills continue to build upon the.

Tammy Afriat: 22:18

So it's almost like the parents get the parent training, which is so important because you kept saying it's a lot goes into practice, into repetition. So if the parents would pick whatever the child was taught in session and he would repeat that over and over , time then now I see why it could potentially be so much more effective. Yeah. I love that.

Lenora Edwards: 22:41

it depends on what they're working on at the time. Sometimes I see little ones for their articulation, for their ability to literally produce sounds. So if I'm working on the sound or the Gus sound, the letter K, the letter G, I'm able to explain information to them. But I'm also able to explain it to the parent in the Guardian. What I'm doing, why I'm having it structured this way. Some people will say, okay, well why can't I say it in the sentence yet? And it's basically because if you can't say kick, which is really, really difficult, and you're saying tick instead of that, instead of kick. Putting it in a sentence is gonna be really hard. So I explain to the parent, this is where we have to start. And then we will build upon those skills. So we'll start at the sound, and then we'll start with the sound , and the vowel. And we'll build to the word, and we'll build to the phrase, but parents and guardians don't understand it because they never had to. They never had to think about it. And that's okay. Parents will often come to me very stressed like, I did something wrong. And it's like, no, you didn't do anything wrong. You did not do anything wrong. This is simply where we are. This is where we need to go next, and this is the treatment plan that we've now created for you and your little one. So , it's very, very personalized as it should

Tammy Afriat: 23:56

So I get that if a child is not pronouncing, letters as it should, like or replacing, words, that that could be sign., if he doesn't follow direction, could be assigned. If he's not able to express himself in a way that. Satisfy himself like, and you could see it because he's so frustrated and grumpy all the time. So that's another sign. is there anything that you could pick when your child is actually older,

Lenora Edwards: 24:26

Older, absolutely four and five. So when they're four and five, you wanna hear those? sentences to be more correct in their grammar. Other sounds that will start to emerge at four and five include Ls, ss, rs, R is actually the hardest sound, the letter R or, the R sound is the hardest sound for us to actually achieve. So if they're not being able to produce it by the age of seven. Definitely reach out to a speech language pathologist because it's really important if you're still hearing wt. For Rabbit, it's important that it gets corrected, especially because R has over 30 combinations of how it actually is produced in our language, so it's very, very important that if they're not able to get their sounds clearly. What will actually happen, especially if they're not able to communicate clearly. You may start to see some things that they'll do, which is they will actually start to talk less. Their mouth will actually be closed more. They'll start to turn away from social interactions. A lot of the time you'll see, they'll even cover their mouth because they're now very aware that they're not able to communicate clearly. So those are some of the behaviors that you'll see. Another thing. They do then become a bit more prone to bullying, which is absolutely heartbreaking. But that's another reason that they may be turning away from social engagements and that social interaction with peers, which again is very normal for us because, we're social creatures so if you're starting to see them withdraw, it's something you absolutely want to address and it's really important. Those will continue to compound on themselves. If it's not addressed, you will see further interaction and you'll actually see a change in their academics or a change in their understanding, because this is quite literally impeding them very, very much so.

Tammy Afriat: 26:17

So it's actually affecting social skills and learning abilities. It's like affect everything. That's, oh my God, it's so much responsibility for parents to pick all those, you know, little clues and I'm glad you are here to give us their awareness of make sure you. Your child is on track., so now we got what are the red flag? And we know we can reach you online and we'll have your link on the website. And towards the end of our conversation, I want to hear from you if you have any more actionable tips that could help our listeners, to build those speech and language, healthy habits,

Lenora Edwards: 26:58

Oh, that's such a great one. I love healthy habits., , as I said earlier, to continue talking. Offering them that exposure to books is phenomenal because you're offering vocabulary that you may not say in everyday language. Another one is to have conversations around them, especially with the pandemic. There was a period of time where people weren't coming into the home and you weren't taking anyone out, so they actually missed out on a lot of social interaction and a. Things that would go on in the environment. You know, in 2019 you might take your little one to the grocery. Think about how much interaction is going on in the grocery store or if you were quite literally having friends over. They're hearing your conversation, which is a great thing cuz they're seeing this social dynamic of going back and forth. They're hearing a variety of different things, but when we now took that away, they missed a lot of social engagement. So, Definitely interact with other people, whether you wanna go to, the library like the library reading group or swim class or to the playground, get out in the community and really start to socialize with people again because it's incredibly important so that they can see this social and communication and that also they. Experience it themselves. When they experience it. It's a completely different understanding and it's really, really important for them. So I completely agree with you about functional language and healthy habits. That's a great one, a great way to say it.

Tammy Afriat: 28:27

So our last episode was, screen habits, and so I just thought about it, just same as book. You can have a follow up question after your child, just watch something on the screen and ask like, what do you think about it? Whatever. So I just think that every household nowadays has this time of the day that. Let their kids being on screen, so just , use this as another topic to have a conversation.

Lenora Edwards: 28:56

That's such a great point. Especially because what we're seeing is some teenagers or teenagers, tweens, when you ask your little one, like what, whether you, your little one is now seven or eight or nine or 11 or 12. When you ask your child, oh, what did you think about it? What was the book about? And they skate by with, oh, it was good, or, yeah, it was funny. That's a very, very surface component. That's not actually telling you what the story was about. When we say, oh, well, tell me the story. What was your favorite part of the TV show? Or what was your favorite part of the movie? Tell me the story. You're asking them. A very, very functional question, and it's a great one because it's open ended. When it's open, open-ended, they have to come up with the structure. Of that story, and they have to be able to tell you this information, what the character names were, what the storyline was, was their beginning, middle, and an end. And are you the listener able to understand what they're telling you? It's really important because they may have all this language, but if they don't know how to use it, Or how to effectively express it. That's absolutely something you want to reach out to a speech language pathologist for, because that's storytelling. That ability to communicate in steps. Tell me how you make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or how do you make your breakfast to be able to convey that is incredibly important. So if they're skating by with, oh, what did you do this weekend? Oh yeah, I went. What did you do outside? Ask for more detail. Because it's going to encourage them to offer detail, but you're also gonna get a better idea of how much they're understanding or how much they may not be understanding, and it's absolutely critical to address.

Tammy Afriat: 30:43

there's something else that I was thinking about. So kids are using bottles and just going back to the very first of being able to use our. Mouth is there any recommendation around when to stop using the bottles and switch to the c cup?

Lenora Edwards: 30:59

That's a great one. you can introduce an open mouth cup or a sippy cup as early as six months, and that way it'll help continue to build that oral motor skill set for them. And absolutely to move into what We in our field refer to Open mouth cup to really encourage that because that does change when we're withdrawing liquid from a bottle. It is a different pattern, especially with a pacifier. You don't wanna keep that pacifier for too long because what's happening to the mouth is the mouth is continuing to grow and those teeth are continuing to come in. So when you restrict it and when you actually leave that pacifier with them for too long as in their age time, That mouth is continuing to grow and their teeth will shift if they hold onto that pacifier. Another thing is for little ones, if they're communicating and they have a pacifier and say they're moving around the home, , with a pacifier or they're crawling with the pacifier and they're trying to actually talk to you. Have them. Remove the pacifier, encourage them if you want, even reach over and help them. Remove it. Allow them to talk because we don't wanna encourage talking around the pacifier. They will develop a different pattern, but also it's not effective if you also, you keep the pacifier in for too long and you let them fall asleep with it in their mouth as their teeth are emerging. Like I mentioned, their teeth will actually. In differently, that mouth is continuing to grow, so it's important to support that. And when you support it, you are offering that open mouth cup or you are also offering straw drinking, which is a good one too. What's happening with the bottle? Your mouth, your actual oral motor skills are shaped in a different way. Whereas if when I drink from. My upper lip has to stretch much more and I have to learn much more control with my tongue and my oral motor skills. I have to make sure my seal is completely different around my cup versus around my bottle. These are skills that are absolutely important that they emerge. So to follow the guidelines on when to introduce an open mouth cup is really important. To follow the guidelines on when to transition away from a bottle is absolutely important, and it's. Because the body is growing and it's critical to support it in that growth and to not hinder it.

, Tammy Afriat: 33:17

so just before we closing up, is there anything else you want to add to the discussion?

Lenora Edwards: 33:25

Absolutely. If you guys have questions, please feel free to follow us on social media. Feel free to reach out to us@betterspeech.com where we offer that free 15 minute consultation. I don't know about you, but I don't like to have

questions at 2: 33:36

00 AM so the earlier in my day, I can talk with a professional, the better off I am. So I don't like to have to wait six months for an evaluation. And also what's really important is. If you have questions and you set up an appointment with an outpatient clinic, you may be on a wait list for a really long time, but that little mind and body are going to continue to grow. So it's really important to address it early on, and if you say, you know what, , let me sign up with better speech for a period of time, and then I'll go over here. Great. What is most important?, the first thing that is most important is that you, time is of the essence. So whether you work with us at Better Speech, we offer a week to week plan, or we offer a monthly plan and we are completely available for you., we set people up as early as the next day. Absolutely. The most important thing is reaching out and asking questions and getting the knowledge, getting the information, we also offer a super bill, which allows you to return to your insurance company and say, I would like these services covered. Thank you very much. And it comes with all this great information that the insurance company will need so that ideally you can be reimbursed for speech therapy services. And the other thing is, oh, we have a phenomenal practice library. So you get to play tons and tons of games and you don't actually have to. Homework or pieces of paper to try and figure out what you're doing. We will show you exactly on our platform how to use the games and they're a hundred percent free. And , you can learn and grow with us.

Tammy Afriat: 35:09

I actually have done some of those games I didn't know about , better speech at the time, but I did it like differently and those are awesome. That's why, , I know that online services works because. We've done a little bit of that and it's so much fun. Like kids, some kids are even more into tech, like into the working on screen than just having another piece of paper. So I'm so glad we got to connect and Thank you so much for providing the information and giving us some tips. it was lovely

Lenora Edwards: 35:44

It was so great chatting with you. Thank you so much for your time, and I really, really appreciate you. Thank you.

Tammy Afriat: 35:50

You're welcome. Have a good

Lenora Edwards: 35:51

You too.