ADHD is often seen as a challenge—but what if it’s actually a clinical advantage? In this episode, I share six ADHD “superpowers” that have made me a stronger speech-language pathologist and researcher. From divergent thinking to resilience, these traits allow SLPs to see the whole child, advocate with courage, and energize therapy in powerful ways.

If you’ve ever felt that your ADHD (or your students’) is only a barrier, this episode flips that perspective. You’ll walk away seeing the hidden strengths that can transform your practice.

👉 Want materials designed for creative, outside-the-box SLPs? Join the SIS Membership for weekly therapy resources that help you channel your ADHD energy into meaningful, evidence-based progress: https://www.kellyvess.com/sis

In this episode of the Preschool SLP Podcast, Kelly Vess takes a deep dive into Marge Blanc’s Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) framework for children with autism. You’ll explore the six stages of gestalt language development, what they reveal about a child’s journey from echolalia to self-generated speech, and the strengths and weaknesses of using this approach for assessment.  Kelly also shares why objectivity is critical in language sampling, how to avoid the pitfalls of subjective interpretation, and why looking at intra-repetitive speech can provide a more reliable measure of progress.  If you’re looking for practical ways to bring these insights directly into therapy and bridge them to the home, the SIS Membership provides you with weekly, ready-to-use, empirically-based activities—including Google Slides decks that help families support communication beyond the therapy room.  👉 Join today at www.kellyvess.com/sis.

1. When it comes to assessing preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder, language samples are one of the most powerful tools we have. But if we’re not careful, our methods can lead to unreliable or misleading data. To truly capture a child’s authentic communication, we need to take a neurodiverse approach — one that matches how children with autism learn and use language.

In this episode of the Preschool SLP Podcast, Kelly Vess shares her five favorite hacks for language sampling that ensure valid, reliable results while respecting each child’s neurodiverse profile. These practical strategies will help you stop wasting time on flawed samples and start gathering data that truly drives therapy.

🔑 What You’ll Learn:

1. Keep the activity consistent – why changing toys skews samples and how to use alphabet boxes to control variables.
2. Mirror, don’t model – how to avoid “sampling yourself” by limiting your speech and only echoing the child’s words.
3. 25 utterances are enough – the research-backed shortcut that saves hours of therapy and transcription time.
4. Use growth curves with MLU – how to track progress meaningfully, even when children are on their own developmental trajectory.
5. Measure IRS (Intra-Repetitive Speech) – the overlooked but critical quality marker that shows whether speech is becoming more spontaneous or more repetitive.

Kelly argues that MLU alone is not enough — we must also track the quality of communication. By measuring IRS, we can see if a child is moving toward more generative, spontaneous speech or regressing into more scripted repetition.

💡 Ready to streamline your assessments and make your therapy sessions more effective? The SIS Membership provides educationally rich, empirically based, ready-for-use weekly activities that align perfectly with these evidence-based principles.

👉 Join SIS today at www.kellyvess.com/sis

Gestalt language isn’t something to apologize for — it’s something to celebrate. For children with autism spectrum disorder, gestalt speech is a powerful first step in learning language. Just like memorizing the ABC song, children memorize bundled phrases before they can break them apart and use them generatively.

In this episode of the Preschool SLP Podcast, Kelly Vess unpacks why gestalt language is not only good for children, but also essential knowledge for speech-language pathologists who want to be more effective. You’ll learn:

• What gestalt language is and why it matters.
• Why memorization and scripting are critical stages before generative language develops.
• Seven characteristics of gestalts (repetition, melody, emotion, multimodal input, etc.) that reveal how children with autism actually learn language.
• Why “caveman talk” or telegraphic speech is harmful — and why longer, grammatically rich models lead to stronger language outcomes.
• How children with autism are our teachers, showing us exactly what works.

Kelly challenges outdated, non-research-based practices and offers a neurodiverse approach for a neurodiverse brain. More is more when it comes to language input, and the evidence is clear: children with autism thrive in linguistically rich environments.

💡 If you’re ready to integrate strategies like these into your therapy sessions, the SIS Membership gives you educationally rich, empirically based, ready-for-use weekly activities designed to build language, literacy, and social communication.

👉 Join SIS today at www.kellyvess.com/sis

Are you talking more or showing more in your therapy sessions? If you’re doing most of the talking, you may be missing one of the most powerful strategies for creating real, lasting change.

In this episode of the Preschool SLP Podcast, Kelly Vess introduces temporal cueing — the use of gestures and movement in space to support communication. Temporal cueing bridges the gap for children with auditory processing, motor, and proprioception difficulties by leveraging their visual and kinesthetic strengths.

You’ll discover how to use temporal cueing to:

• Build phonemic awareness through movement (e.g., rocking a baby for /b/).
• Improve speech sound production with visual-tactile cues for lip closure.
• Support word retrieval and vocabulary growth with gestures like forming a ball.
• Expand syntax and complex sentences using temporal cues for conjunctions such as “because.”
• Strengthen behavioral regulation with simple, visual hand cues.

By “talking less and showing more,” you empower children to actively generate language — ideating, retrieving words, sequencing, planning motor movements, and executing speech themselves. This is where the real growth happens.

🔑 Key Takeaways

1. Actions speak louder than words — gestures create deeper, multimodal learning opportunities.
2. Challenge creates change — temporal cues scaffold children to perform at their highest level.
3. Beyond speech — temporal cueing improves literacy, language, social communication, and behavior.

💡 If you’re ready for educationally rich, empirically based, ready-for-use weekly activities that integrate strategies like temporal cueing into your therapy, the SIS Membership is designed for you.

👉 Join SIS today at www.kellyvess.com/sis

One of the biggest challenges in speech therapy isn’t just making progress — it’s preventing regression when therapy time is inconsistent, attendance drops, or outside factors cut into your sessions. The truth is, children can lose hard-won skills quickly if we don’t structure therapy to be efficient, challenging, and resilient.

In this episode of the Preschool SLP Podcast, Kelly Vess shares how to “regression-proof” your therapy by focusing on the principles that drive the greatest gains in the least amount of time. Drawing on parallels from personal training and neuroscience, she explains why challenge creates change and how to work smarter when minutes are limited.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why complex treatment targets accelerate progress more than simple, step-by-step goals.
• How to use maximum scaffolding to support success without watering down the challenge.
• The secret to working multiple systems simultaneously (speech, language, vocabulary, attention) for exponential impact.
• Why strengthening attention unlocks spontaneous gains in language, behavior, and socialization.

Kelly breaks down exactly how to select goals, scaffold therapy, and design sessions that withstand setbacks — so children keep moving forward, not backward.

💡 If you’re ready for weekly, educationally rich, empirically based, and ready-for-use therapy activities designed to maximize progress while preventing regression, the SIS Membership is for you.

👉 Join SIS today at www.kellyvess.com/sis

If you work with preschoolers on the autism spectrum, you’ve probably felt the pressure of an endless list of therapy targets. The reality? You don’t have unlimited time, and neither do your students. That’s why it’s essential to focus on the single most pivotal skill that drives long-term outcomes: commenting.

In this episode of the Preschool SLP Podcast, Kelly Vess unpacks why commenting — both verbal and nonverbal — is the skill that can truly change lives. But it’s not just about asking a child to point, show, or bring an object. Those outward behaviors depend on foundational skills that children with autism often struggle with, including:

• Core strength and motor control – children can’t point or show without stability.
• Attention and executive function – sustaining focus and carrying out a task is harder than it looks.
• Visual perception and integration – kids need to orient their bodies and their gaze to communicate.

Kelly challenges the “wizard talk” often found in diagnostic criteria — vague language about motivation and intention — and instead shows how to target observable, teachable skills. She explains why hands-off, task-oriented movement activities are more effective than passive, hands-on methods like holding, guiding, or over-scaffolding. When we step back and let kids navigate their own challenge points, we give them the tools they need to build independence, attention, and, ultimately, the ability to comment.

🔑 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why commenting is the most powerful skill to prioritize in autism intervention.
• The hidden motor, perceptual, and attention demands behind commenting.
• Why over-helping holds kids back — and how to step back without stepping away.
• How to design therapy sessions around motivating, active challenges that foster communication growth.

💡 As speech-language pathologists, we don’t just need theory — we need practical tools we can use this week. That’s why the SIS Membership provides educationally-rich, empirically-based, ready-for-use weekly activities designed to build the exact skills discussed in this episode.

👉 Join SIS today and transform your therapy at www.kellyvess.com/sis.