Speech Therapy Center

Feeding our Children’s Brains

Nutrition and wellness go hand in hand. Food is what fuels our bodies and our mind, giving us energy to move, think, and learn. Nourishing our bodies appropriately provides us with the necessary ingredients for maintaining a health body and mind.

In the following blog, I will discuss some of the components to a balanced diet including: minerals, vitamins, proteins and water.

The Importance of H2O

Water is the most important element to our existence. Did you know that the Earth is covered by water with a 75% proportion? And similar to the earth, 60% of our bodies are made up of water, and believe it or not; our brains are 70% water.

Water is in our blood, skin, bones, muscles, and organs. And it is one of the main rudiments that allocates proper functioning in our bodies. Drinking 6-7 glasses of water a day is highly recommended as part of a healthy diet. Not drinking water may cause problems such as dehydration, and painful kidney stones. Dehydration can cause cells in the brain to deteriorate and thus cause symptoms such as physical lethargy and mental fatigue.

http://www.ehow.com/about_5134897_signs-symptoms-brain-dehydration.html

The Food Pyramid

The food pyramid was created to provide us with a model for what our eating habits should look like. Before discussing the pyramid, please click on the following link, so you can see the pyramid for yourself:

http://www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/index.html

Grains: Beginning at the bottom, you will find the grain group. Most of our food intake should come from there; about 6-7 servings a day. By grains, I mean hearty, and whole grain foods such as whole wheat bread, brown rice, whole wheat pasta products, and cereals, as well as oatmeal. Whole grain foods contain fiber, which is a much-needed ingredient. Fiber helps with digestive health and it is what enables us flush out unneeded toxins in our bodies and remain at optimal health!

Fruits & Veggies: Second on the pyramid, are the vegetable and fruit group. They supply us with natural nutrients like vitamins, proteins, fibers, sugars, and water.

As for vegetables you should have at least 3-5 servings of vegetables a day. Try a variety of vegetables such as dark green vegetables (bok choy, broccoli and collard greens), orange vegetables (acorn squash, butternut squash), dry beans and peas, starchy vegetables (corn, green peas, potatoes) and other vegetables (artichokes, asparagus).

Fruits should be consumed at a rate of about 2-4 servings a day.

Protein: This group is a good source of iron, zinc, and B-12. Beef, chicken, pork, fish, seafood, eggs, beans, tofu, nuts, and even cheese make up this group. Although meat is a great source for protein and iron, it is also high in fat and cholesterol. Therefore, too much intake from this group may lead to a higher risk for cardiovascular disease, and hypertension. 2-3 servings of meat per day are recommended for a balanced diet.

For a Vegetarian/Vegan Diet, the meat’s section can be replaced with seeds, nuts, beans, tofu, and soy products. At your local supermarket, you can find some of these products in the frozen foods section. Brands like BOCA and Morning Star have veggie burgers, and chicken products made from soy. As for dairy products; soy, rice and nuts can replace the milk products from animals. Vegetarian & vegan lifestyles are just as healthy as non-vegetarian lifestyles.

Keep in mind that both vegetarians and non-vegetarians must make educated decisions with food choices remember in order to maintain whole body wellness.

Dairy: Dairy (milk, yogurt and cheese) and gives us calcium, which is excellent for bone health, as well as vitamins A and D. Milk products are high in fat and cholesterol and we should only have about 2-3 servings per day.  Luckily, we do have diary products that offer lower fat, such as low fat and skim milk products as well as alternative products such as soy, nut and rice milk.

Oils, Fats, & Sweets: Fats and sugars from candies, cookies, and ice cream should all be kept to a minimum. However, good fats are essential for brain development. Fat makes up the myelin, the protective sheath that covers communicating neurons in the brain. Our brain needs two types of fatty acid to remain at optimal functioning, omega-3 found in flax seeds, chia seeds, walnuts, sea vegetables, and green leafy vegetables, and omega-6 found in sunflower, safflower, corn, and sesame oils.

All natural vs. Organic foods

All-Natural products that are not chemically processed and therefore are believed to be healthier than other foods, due to decreasing the body’s exposure to toxins.

Organic foods are naturally, all-natural, but additionally free of harmful hormones, pesticides, and preservatives that are used in farms to make fruits and vegetables and animals grow quicker. In order for a food to be considered organic, it must follow a list of required standards. They are also regulated by government organizations like the US Department of Agriculture, whom label them as organically grown.

Nutrition and Body Growth

Proper nutrition will ensure that a child’s body and brain is growing at an accurate rate. According to MyPyramid.gov, “there is a wide range of ‘normal’ growth, between the ages of 2 and 5, the average child grows about 2 ½ inches taller each year, and also gains 4 to 5 pounds each year.” Check is this link to for a personalized growth reading:

http://www.mypyramid.gov/preschoolers/Growth/growthcharts.html

Supplements

To make sure that your child is receiving their proper nutrition, it would be wise to opt for a multi-vitamin and an omega supplement. Look for a high quality brand in your local health food store.

Tips for Keeping Your Children Healthy

•    Provide healthy snacks such as apples, bananas, or carrots
•    Carry a recyclable or reusable water bottle with you at all times
•    Drink low fat or skim milk or alternative milk products
•    Promote exercise routines
•    Vary your veggies
•    Serve lean protein sources

Model Good Behavior

As a parent, you need to take care of your body as well. Exercising daily and eating healthy will contribute to a longer and healthier life, and thus more time and energy to dedicate to upbringing your children. Most importantly, leading by example will teach your children to live healthy lives!

For more information on nutrition, click on the links below. They are both very informative and child friendly.

http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/nutrition/kids_food_guide_pyramid.html

http://www.nutritionexplorations.org/kids/nutrition-main.asp
Stay tuned for upcoming articles regarding special populations that require diet modifications for optimal learning.

Setting Educational Goals: Meeting Your Child’s Academic Needs During Summer Break

Prepare your child for the next grade by setting clear goals for the summer. Start by making a list of things for your child to do to prepare him for the new academic year. Then plot the activities on a calendar. You can use a white board and erasable markers, or use a pre-made calendar in order to give yourself and your child a visual reinforcement. On your calendar, jot down goals to accomplish daily, weekly and monthly. Every child is different, so every calendar will be unique. The main idea behind this task is that your child will return to school ready for the new academic year. Remember to reward yourself and your children for the accomplishments of summer learning.

Here is an example of activities for a student approaching first grade:

Monday: Review or learn how to add single numbers
Tuesday: Practice book report writing
Wednesday: Practice handwriting letters and number and drawing shapes and figures
Thursday: Learn (10) new words
Friday: Practice letter and sounds

FUN in the SUN

Check out a list of summer activities for your children in the city of Miami.

Speech Therapy Center
Age range: 3-14
Cost: $40-$120/week
Location: Speech Therapy Center, 1450 SW 22 Street, Suite 12
Description: Personalized programs can be developed for your child in order to stimulate speech and language goals and or promote literacy and learning for academic advancement

Miami Science Museum Summer Camp
Age range: 3-14
Cost: $90-$210/week
Location: Miami Science Museum, 3280 South Miami Avenue
Description: Educational camps for kids covering exciting topics, including plants & animals, shape identification, cultures, chemistry, astronomy and more!

Miami Dade Parks Summer Camp
Age range: 6-14
Cost: Various
Location: Various
Description: Miami Dade Parks & Recreation offers a wide range of outdoor camps to kids at park locations throughout the county. Camps include programs for general activities, swimming, sports, environmental and children with disabilities.

Fit Kids
Age range: 6-14
Cost: $95-$115/week
Location: 9395 SW Bird Road
Description: Weight management camp for children and teenagers.

Camp Gulliver
Age range: 3-13
Cost: $100-$500/week
Location: Various locations in southern Miami-Dade County
Description: Long-standing summer program put on by Gulliver Schools featuring swimming, tennis, gymnastics and sports.

BUCKids Summer Camp
Age range: 5-13
Cost: $125-$180/week
Location: Barry University
Description: Barry University’s summer camp includes structured physical activities, arts & crafts, computer time, dance, instructional and recreational swim time, and special field trips.

University of Miami Summer Programs
Age range: 4-18
Cost: Varies
Location: University of Miami, Coral Gables
Description: The University of Miami offers a wide range of summer programs including reading programs for grade-school children and a variety of enrichment programs for high school students.

MOCA Summer Camp
Age range: 6-12
Cost: $130-$150/week
Location: Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami
Description: MOCA’s summer camp program offers students the chance to develop artistic skills in drawing, plainting and sculpture.

Miami Children’s Museum Summer Camp
Age range: 3-10
Cost: $195-$220/week
Location: Miami Children’s Museum
Description: Campers ages 4 – 10 will enjoy a fun-filled learning experience as they explore the Museum from top to bottom, while developing new interests, and making new friends.

Stimulation Debate: Making Educated Decisions for You Child’s Summer Activities

Summer break can be wonderful because it gives kids a break from stressful academic overload. However, some parents find that by the time kids start the new school year; they do not want to do their schoolwork and contribute this to laziness caused by the summer break.

Many parents try to fix that problem by putting kids in educational summer programs like science camps and tutoring classes. It is important to keep in mind though, that leisure camps that involve swimming, sports and crafts are a great way to socialize kids, and do promote physical and creative learning. We believe that a balance between the physical and intellectual should be attained year round.

For years there has been an endless debate on whether there should be year round school. The following information has been taken from About.com:

Arguments for Year Round Education

-Students tend to forget a lot during the summer, and shorter vacations might increase retention rates.
-Schools that are not being used in the summer are inefficient.
-Short breaks can provide time for students to receive enrichment education.
-Remediation can occur when it is most needed during the school year.
-Students get bored during the long break of summer.
-It’s easier to schedule vacations because not everyone wants to travel at the same time.
-Other countries around the world use this system.
-More students can be accommodated at one school through multi-tracking.

Arguments against Year Round Education

-Studies have been inconclusive to its academic benefits.
-Students are going to forget information whether they are out of school for three weeks or 10. Therefore, teachers will be performing four beginning of the year reviews instead of just one.
-Summer programs such as youth camps suffer.
-Student summer employment will be virtually impossible.
-Many schools are older and do not have air conditioning.
-Band and other extracurricular programs could be hurt because of problems scheduling out of school practices and competitions.
-If the entire school district does not go year round, parents could have students at different schools on different schedules.
-With multi-tracking, parents could have students at the same school on different schedules.

We will leave the final decision up to you as the parent. The purpose of this article is to get your to start thinking about the pros and cons of the decisions that you make for your children.

Here is a list of local summer camps. Let us know what you choose!

Sparking Fun in Your Summer Routine!

In order for children to truly enjoy reading, it is important to establish a routine at a very early age. Thus, the routine will stimulate interest and fun into the task of reading. Without interest, their motivation for reading is going to be very low. And motivation for reading should never be low. It is your job as a parent to spark fun into reading so that your children can be academically successful.

We stress the importance of early exposure to books and stories. Children from an early age can begin understanding ideas such as: characters, setting, and plot in books as well using these elements to build stories of their own. As your child progresses through more advanced reading levels other elements such as vocabulary, conversation and reading comprehension skills become more and more significant.

Reading for Toddlers:

Although babies cannot read, you can read to them. Ideally, you want to pick books with many pictures, colors, and textures. This will expose your child to a multisensory approach in the development of their senses of hearing, sight, smell, and touch. This interaction of the senses will make reading all the more interesting.

Many of the books that are made for babies and toddlers have very little words, and many things to question about. For example, if you see a picture of an animal with texture; as you read the book, you can instruct your child to feel the animal while providing them with new vocabulary. The fact that you have introduced experience through the interaction will increase their likelihood of remembering these new words.

Babies are very stimulated by color. Therefore providing books with vivid imagery may capture your child’s attention for a more prolonged period of time. As you read to your child, remember to point to things you are reading about. You want to make sure your child knows what you are talking about.

Keep in mind, that a child’s attention span is very different from adults. Do not overwhelm your baby with reading, if you notice he/she is shifting his/her head around, stop reading the book and move onto another activity or simply give he/she a moment of rest. Remember, the idea of these activities is to get your child interested in reading, not make them feel like its a chore.

Here is a list of some great books to read with your toddler. They should all be introduced as hard cover, with thick pages at this age. This will prevent them from breaking easily since babies like to chew, drool, and touch everything they discover.

-Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? By Bill Martin, Jr.
-Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
-Dr. Seuss’ ABC by Dr. Seuss
-The Touch Me Book, by Pat and Eve Witte (texture based book)
-The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle
-Peek-A-Boo by Janet and Allan Ahlberg (pop-up book)

Books for your “Big Kids”

Yeah, I know you’ve conned your kids into doing things by telling them “you’re a big kid already, and big kids like to read!” By this age, your child has already begun reading in school, using sight words, and practicing reading at home. You are probably thinking of ways you can help your child become a better reader. The easiest way is with a little creativity and dedication.

At this point, your goal is to motivate your child to like reading. Setting up a selected time for reading, and naming it “reading time,” will definitely make things easier for you. That way your child knows that reading is both important and fun.

You can also introduce the idea of story time as well. Story time will be different than reading time because during story time, you will encourage your child to make up stories; and further enhance their creativity, language, grammar, and articulation skills.

Remember; do not force your child to read. If one day he/she tells you “I don’t feel like reading” you tell them to just read 3 pages, and that way you compromise. Most likely, if the book you are reading is appealing and entertaining to your child, they will want to continue reading.

Here is a list of books we actually have in our library at the office and we personally highly recommend:

-The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter
-Corduroy, by Don Freeman
-Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crockett Johnson
-One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, by Dr. Seuss
-The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle
-Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Bad Day, by Judith Viorst
-Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak
-The Rainbow Fish, by Marcus Pfister
-Stellaluna, by Janell Cannon

Different Like Me: Book Review

Different Like Me: My Book of Autism Heroes, written by Jennifer Elder.

Excerpt taken from Amazon

Different Like Me introduces children ages 8 to 12 years to famous, inspirational figures from the world of science, art, math, literature, philosophy and comedy.
Eight-year-old Quinn, a young boy with Asperger’s Syndrome, tells young readers about the achievements and characteristics of his autism heroes, from Albert Einstein, Dian Fossey and Wassily Kandinsky to Lewis Carroll, Benjamin Banneker and Julia Bowman Robinson, among others. All excel in different fields, but are united by the fact that they often found it difficult to “fit in,” just like Quinn. Fully illustrated in color and written in child-friendly language, this book will be a wonderful resource for children, particularly children with autism, their parents, teachers, careers and siblings.

This children’s book is a good tool to promote literacy and self-development in your child while bringing awareness to the autistic community. Enjoy-

VitalStim Quick Facts

These statements were taken from the VitalStim website:

-Dysphagia is defined as the difficulty or inability to swallow;
-Dysphagia can occur as a result of a neurological disorder or event
(i.e. stroke, Parkinson’s, of ALS), head and neck cancer, or
de-conditioning as a result of age
-Can lead to aspiration, pneumonia, choking, chronic malnutrition,
severe life-threatening dehydration, an increased rate of infection,
longer hospital stays, long-term institutional care and even death;
-Traditional treatments typically focus on the symptoms of the
disease (i.e. starvation) with feeding tubes or special liquid-only
diets, rather than the condition itself;
-VitalStim Therapy is a non-invasive external electrical stimulation
therapy that was cleared to market by the FDA in December 2002 for the
treatment of dysphagia;
-VitalStim is an electrotherapy system that is used with electrodes
specifically designed for external application to the pharyngeal
muscles of the throat to promote swallowing.

For additional information on dysphagia treatment and education in the media, please check out their site at:

http://www.vitalstimtherapy.com/news_and_media/index.aspx

Support Yourself & Others Through Autism Speaks

According to Autism Speaks, 1 in 110 children are diagnosed with Autism and for boys it’s 1 in 70. Unfortunately, the number of children being diagnosed with autism only keeps increasing. This is a disorder, which manifests itself through communication, social, and behavioral challenges. Thus a large portion of the language-impaired population is being affected by this disorder. If you have a family member with autism, or know someone that does, please pass on this useful information.

Autism Speaks, Inc. is a non-profit organization that offers a wide variety of information on diagnosing and treatment strategies, community events, parental resources and education as well social networks for children and families.

Spreading awareness is extremely important in order to help children and families with Autism. This is a disorder than can be aided through therapeutic intervention. Thus, we must all be informed and do our part.

Please visit their site at AutismSpeaks.org to find out more.

When It’s Time to READ, It’s a Small World After All

Disney Digital Books offers a fantastic way to facilitate reading. This can be beneficial for children of all ages, and maybe even some teens. You have the option of trying out the website for FREE for 7 days so that you can experience how fun and easy it is.

They have over 700 books to choose from, ranging from the Disney classics, to new stories about sharing, friendship, family, and friends. I actually tried the 7-day trial and I truly enjoyed it. It is extremely child user friendly; if your child has a hard time reading a word, you click on it, and a voice will say it for you.

It also works on reading comprehension skills; throughout the story it will ask you questions about what you just read. As you answer questions correctly, you accumulate points for rewards and higher reading levels.

I think it is an excellent tool for reading; I really enjoyed this program myself. Log onto http://disneydigitalbooks.go.com/ to check it out!

Cristine R. Jimenez
Language Stimulation Specialist
Speech Therapy Center, Inc.

Feed Your Brain, Feed Your Heart

Are you looking for food that makes you feel good? Check out this groundbreaking restaurant near downtown Miami; which offers both culinary excellence and cutting edge technology. You will literally feel good as you eat foods that heal your body while they satisfy your senses.

John Scott is the creator of Lifefood Gourmet. His cuisine embodies food in the form of an art and a science, through his masterful creations. Not only are dishes at Lifefood Gourmet delicious, but, they are also nourishing and nutritious.

Ingredients in dishes, target body functions such as: the nervous system (brain and spine), the metabolic system (thyroid), the respiratory system (lungs), the circulatory system (heart, blood, kidneys), the immune system (lymphs), the digestive system (stomach, liver), the reproductive system (testes, ovaries) and the structural system (bones and muscles).

Thank you John for feeding, educating and healing the community.