Helping Kids Thrive

Guest: Gena Mann, special needs parent of 4

During this episode of Helping Kids Thrive, Nicole is joined by Gena Mann, one of the original co-founders of Wolf+Friends and special needs parent of 4. Together they discuss the nuances of parenting multiple children including children with autism or medical and sensory needs. They discuss practical solutions to balancing all of the varying needs in their home and ways that they work intentionally to support the sibling experience of their neurotypical children.

Episode Highlights:

• How being a sibling to a disabled child looks different than a typical sibling experience
• Tips for helping your child understand the needs of their siblings
• Ways to support and connect with neurotypical siblings
• The need for outside support for neurotypical siblingss

Resources:

• Huddle Up
• Connect with Gena
• Connect with Nicole

Guest: Kristina Parro, M.S. CCC-SLP

During this episode, Nicole chats with Kristina Parro, M.S. CCC-SLP, a mom and pediatric speech language pathologist, about speech delay in young children. Kristina gives an overview of typical communication development and talks through important milestones parents should watch for in order to make sure that theri child's communication is developing as it should. As she points out in this episode, 50% of late talkers do not catch up on their own, so just waiting to see if they catch up is not always sufficient. But the good news is that we can help! Kristina talks through ways that parents can help their child develop their speech and language skills and gives recommendations for how to pursue more specialized help if needed.

Episode Highlights:

• Typical communication development milestones
• When should a parent be concerned and what should they do if they are
• TIPS for parents to improve speech and language development at home

077Resources:

• Huddle Up

Guest: Matt Maxion, M.S. CCC-SLP

During this episode of Helping Kids Thrive, Nicole is joined by speech language pathologist, Matt Maxion, M.S. CCC-SLP to discuss how to support children who stutter. As a person who stutters, Matt offers personal insight into the internal experience of stuttering and gives practical suggestions for the best ways to offer support at home and in the classroom.

Episode Highlights:

• What is stuttering and what causes it?
• What does it feel like to stutter?
• How does stuttering impact a person's life?
• How can a parent support a child who stutters?
• How can a teacher or therapist support a child who stutters?

Get in touch with Huddle Up.

Guest: Nicole Pounds, M.S. CCC-SLP

Join Nicole for the very first solo episode of Helping Kids Thrive as she shares her experience advocating for her child to receive a medical procedure that he needed despite the team not initially being on board. She first learned about the connection between sleep and ADHD as a result of a previous episode of Helping Kids Thrive, which prompted her to do more research and begin to advocate for a sleep study for her child, resulting in a diagnosis of sleep apnea and a need for more follow up evaluations.

Episode Highlights:

• Background into Nicole's family
• Signs & Symptoms they noticed with their son
• Helping Kids Thrive episode that prompted this need for advocating
• Advocating for a sleep study & the results
• Why Nicole believes parents are the best advocates for their children

Guest: Amanda Unrau, MA, CCC-SLP, Speech Language Pathologist

'Tis the season to be messy!

With the holiday season right around the corner, the kitchen once again becomes the busiest area of our homes. How about considering training little chefs to help you out with all the food preparations? Although cooking might actually be the messiest way of bonding with the kids, it can also be quite fun. It just requires extra patience on the side of the parents.

In this episode, Nicole is joined by fellow Speech Language Pathologist, Amanda Unrau to talk about how to utilize cooking as a tool for our child's development. Amanda shares the benefits of involving your child in cooking, what parents should keep in mind during the process, and the skills that cooking can help develop such as motor and verbal skills.

Learn how to make cooking Fun and Educational, all at the same time!

Episode Highlights:

• Benefits of involving your children in Cooking
• Techniques on how Parents can make cooking Child Friendly
• Skills naturally targeted with cooking: Verbal, Motor, and Social Skills
• Tips for Parents
• Connecting with the Family through Food
• Variety of activities related to cooking: grocery shopping, listing ingredients, etc.

Connect with Huddle Up.

Guests: Samantha Russell, OTR/L, Occupational Therapist & Olivia Holubeck, MA CCC-SLP, Speech Language Pathologist

Looking for some last minute gifts this holiday season?

This week on the podcast, Nicole is joined by occupational therapist, Samantha Russell, OTR/L, and speech language pathologist, Olivia Holubeck, MA CCC-SLP to talk about some of their favorite toys for promoting your child's development. Samantha and Olivia share their top 3 favorites to use during sessions and give insight into how to best use these toys to promote communication skills, sensory exploration, and fine motor development.

Connect with Huddle Up.

Guest: Stephanie Fisher, MHC, LPC, Licensed Professional Counselor

Raising children with special needs can be overwhelming and isolating. Parents often feel guilty about the extra support that their family requires so sometimes they try to carry the burden all on their own, believing no one will understand them or no one else is capable. In today's episode, licensed professional counselor, Stephanie Fisher, walk us through the types of support system we will need, the importance of a support network, and practical tips to help us identify who we can keep in our inner networks.

As we strive to provide support to our children in their growth, may we realize that we ourselves need to be supported. Nobody deserves to feel isolated. Listen with us and together, we will learn to grow our own support networks.

Episode Highlights:

• Different types of support system that every parent needs
• Barriers faced by parents in acquiring the support system they need
• Ways to overcome barriers to growing your support system
• The importance of having a support system
• Additional resources to add to your support system in addition to friends and family
• Stephanie shares her experience in building a support group for her son

Connect with Huddle Up.

Guest: Katie Emde, Autism Parent + Disability Advocate

Entering a new and unfamiliar world can be challenging. When you're just beginning, it can get lonely and confusing. As a parent of a child with special needs, you need to find the right support group and team to navigate through this uncharted waters.

In this episode, Nicole is joined by Autism Parent, Disability Advocate, and IEP Coach, Katie Emde, as she shares her journey of searching and establishing the right community for her children and their needs. Katie narrates her beginnings of finding the right people to connect with as she journeys through the world of Autism with her son Avery.

In this episode, Katie shares her encounter with the "bleach therapy", the world of autism from a parent's point of view, tips on how to verify information, and building a team of people that has you and your child's best interest at heart.

Helping kids thrive begins with helping parents find the right and credible guides!

Episode Highlights:

• Searching for a community
• Expanding knowledge on autism
• Bleach Therapy; a Medical Risk
• The Advocacy: how it started and its main goal of helping families with the same situation, to avoid misinformation
• Building a right and strong community for you and your children

Connect with Katie:

• Facebook: AJourneyForAvery
• Instagram: @katieemde

Connect with Huddle Up.

Guest: Steven Nava, NCSP, Nationally Certified School Psychologist

October is ADHD awareness month. ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood. According to the CDC, in 2016, 6.1 million children in the US had been diagnosed with ADHD which averages out to be about 9.4% and boys are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than girls.

In this episode, we are joined by Steven Nava, a school psychologist, as we talk about living with ADHD. We will dive deep into what ADHD looks like, how it is diagnosed, some methods of treatment, and some new research that links ADHD to sleep disorders.

Take the opportunity to listen to learn more about how you as a parent can support your child with ADHD.

Episode Highlights:

• What is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Signs and Symptoms of ADHD
• The process of how a child is diagnosed with ADHD
• Attention Deficit Disorder(ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD)
• Treatments and medications for ADHD
• Sleep disorders in patients with ADHD
• Steven's advice for parents of ADHD children

Resources Mentioned During This Episode:

• Journal of Nature and Science of Sleep: Sleep disorders in patients with ADHD, impact and management challenges
• Episode 16: Setting Up a Sleep Routine for Your Child
• Episode 58: Orofacial Myology - What is it and how can it help my child?

Connect with Huddle Up.

Guest: Denise Minyard, MS, CCC-SLP, Speech Language Pathologist

There are approximately 15,000,000 premature births globally every year. With this statistic, an infant's stay at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is not uncommon.

Having experience working in NICUs, Denise Minyard, a pediatric speech language pathologist, reveals the unseen world of preemies. From therapies, developmental delays, transitions from hospital to home, and the aftercare support parents must have for themselves and their babies - this conversation is sure to open your eyes on how a NICU stay affects development later in life.

So stay tuned, and get ready to walk with us as we take this journey into understanding the struggles and the long term effects of NICU stays on families, and most importantly, how to be their support system.

Episode Highlights:

• Denise shares some experiences working in the NICU
• How NICU stay affects parents and child
• Struggles and therapies premature babies face in the NICU
• Differences between premature and full term births
• Aftercare precautions after getting out of NICU
• Importance of a support group and where to find them

Connect with Huddle Up.