Andy began at BPHT as a volunteer and is a BPHT therapy aide.

Brief background: Andy graduated from Western Washington University in 2003 with a B.A. in History and an emphasis in Secondary Education.  He is currently in school to complete prerequisite coursework in order to apply to a Doctorate program and become a Physical Therapist.

Andy was born in Alaska, but grew up in Puyallup. He has had family in Bothell since the early 1900′s. Andy and his wife Andrea are expecting their first child, a daughter in June of 2012.  

Learn more about Andy and other BPHT staff members

“My son is hard of hearing, so we sought out more speech therapy then the school district was offering here at BPHT.  My son has made great gains, during his time here.  He is integrating into General Education classes, making new friends and better able to participate in youth sports because he is more understandable when he speaks.”

“After several months of speech therapy with Abbie, Odin became so chatty at preschool that his teacher had to ask him to be quiet during circle time! Thanks Abbie”

“Speech Therapy has given my kids the freedom to be understood and the ability to express themselves.”

“Blake most recently has made significant progress in maintaining a conversation with people while staying with the topic!

Sydney is using our newly accquired Springboard AAC device

Most children learn to talk on their own.  Although there are sometimes some bumps along the road, this process can feel like magic.  After all, parents do not need to sit down with their child and teach every word he or she may ever say.  However, sometimes learning to talk is really hard.  This can happen for many reasons, including autism, cerebral palsy, and childhood apraxia of speech.  This is where augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) comes in.  A child at any cognitive level is capable of using AAC strategies – there are no prerequisite skills.

AAC can take many forms.  For some children, it looks like using sign language, sometimes paired with vocal sounds.  For others, it looks like pointing to or giving pictures.  For early learners, behaviors, gestures, cooperative actions, and sounds can be considered communication, paving the way to more complex skills.  There are also methods that use the great technology available today, like touch screen computers and text-to-speech abilities.   Choosing an appropriate AAC system requires input from the child’s family, trained professionals, and anyone else the child interacts with on a regular basis.  Whatever method is chosen, it is always customized to meet the unique communication needs of the individual child.  Just as no two children are alike, no two AAC systems are alike.   An AAC system will also evolve and grow with the child, as their needs change.

Using AAC does not mean giving up on natural speech.  Instead, it often acts as a bridge, helping the child to meet their communication needs now and understand that they can influence the actions of others in their environment, facilitating the development of verbal communication (talking).  AAC also can enable them to develop a language system that will help with reading and writing later on.

Not being able to speak is not the same as not having anything to say.  AAC helps children express what they want and need in a way that others can understand, paving the way for communication success.

Our speech-language pathologists can help you decide if AAC is right for your child, recommend the most appropriate form of AAC, and help your child become a more successful communicator.

Words in English are composed of strings of sounds called phonemes. Speakers of English can create all the words they ever need by using various combinations of 44 different speech sounds.  When we listen to another person talk, we listen to and process the information without actually being aware of the individual phonemes in words themselves. However, because phonemes are represented in written language by letters, learning to read requires that children become consciously aware of the phonemes as individual elements of words. 

Phonological awareness refers to awareness of phonemes as well as all different levels of awareness of words. This includes rhyming, awareness of syllables in words, knowledge of letter sounds, and identifying individual words within a sentence. Important phonological awareness skills also include being able to segment phonemes (for example, realizing that the word “cat” contains three individual sounds) and blending phonemes (for example, when hearing the sounds d-o-t, realizing that they can be blended into the word “dot”). More advanced phonological awareness skills would include a listener identifying the first, middle or last sound they hear in a word  (what is the first sound you hear in “dog?”) or manipulating sounds (if you take /s/ out of “stop” what word is left?).

Since phonological awareness is strongly tied to beginning to read, most schools test Kindergarten and first grade students in this area.  Phonological awareness skills are not innate, but rather learned and are a significant part of the curriculum in these grades. However, if you are concerned that your child is struggling to develop phonological awareness skills, speech-language pathologists are able to treat deficits in this area.

We are offering a phonological awareness therapy group this summer. Please visit BPandHT.com/Summer for more information.

I always wanted to work with people and help people have a better life as part of my career. When I was growing up I thought that would be as a teacher. With a special education teacher for a mother, I was inspired by her devotion and the influence she had on young children. However, as I grew older and was exposed to more professions and field of study, I found speech-language pathology. I first learned about the profession as part of a job shadow in high school, but had never fully considered it until college. I had started out in the Communications field of study and quickly learned I was not passionate about the business world and wanted to devote my life to helping others. When I inquired about the speech and hearing sciences program, I was inspired by the devoted faculty and the passion they felt for their job.  After taking my first class in speech and hearing sciences, I never turned back. Now, I could never imagine doing something different with my life. I love the children I work with every day and the impact I have on their lives. I think helping young children learn to talk and communicate with people in their world is the most fulfilling job in the world.

When I went to college, one of my favorite courses was an introductory linguistics class.  Learning about early language development was fascinating to me.  It still amazes me how most young children are able to learn such a complex skill without special instruction. 

When I was choosing a career, I knew that I wanted to work with children and help people.  My early experiences with speech-language pathology paired with my interest in language development made the field of speech-language pathology a perfect fit for me.  I know it was the right choice because I am constantly feeling rewarded by seeing the progress in the children I work with and seeing the smiles on their faces as they gain confidence in their skills.

A child with Apraxia of Speech:

• May not coo or babble as an infant
• Uses only a few different consonant and vowel sounds
• Has problems combining sounds; may show long pauses between sounds 
• Makes inconsistent sound errors that are not the result of immaturity
• Can understand language much better than he or she can talk
• Has difficulty imitating speech, but imitated speech is more clear than spontaneous speech 
• May appear to be groping when attempting to produce sounds or to coordinate the lips, tongue, and jaw for purposeful movement
• Has more difficulty saying longer words or phrases clearly than shorter ones

It is often difficult for a child with Apraxia of Speech to communicate their wants and needs using words.  These children typically have normal, if not strong overall communication skills and can compensate well.  For example, when a child is unable to sequence the sounds in “big,” he could gesture using his hands while attempting a vocal approximation of “big.”

A quick look at treatment:  Childhood Apraxia of Speech involves difficulty coordinating the muscles used for speech; it is not a muscle weakness.  Use of strength-building exercises will not improve the coordination difficulties observed in these children.  Speech therapy for apraxia focuses on improving coordination for specific sounds, syllables, and words.  Basically, the goal is to “over-learn” which muscles need to be activated and in what order to produce words. 

If you have concerns about your child’s speech sound development, do not hesitate to schedule an evaluation with a Speech-Language Pathologist.

This annual event provides opportunities to raise awareness about communication disorders and to promote treatment that can improve the quality of life for those who experience problems with speaking, understanding, or hearing.

Check back all month long for important articles about speech-language development and therapy, kid’s conversation questions of the day, and our Speech Stars success stories!

Through working with children and adults with ASD, I have noticed that many individuals struggle with creating daily self-care routines for themselves.  In order to address this issue, I co-created an educational website to help parents navigate this part of life, located at www.dailylifeonthespectrum.com. Website information was gathered from current literature on the topic, from practicing occupational therapists, and from in-depth parent interviews. It focuses on unique teaching techniques that often work with children with ASD, and on the reasons why self-care routines can trigger varying reactions to sensory stimuli.

The website has three distinct areas; first is an overview and common challenges, second tips and hints, lastly is a list of resources and research.

Though the website is fairly new, it has been getting much attention from local therapists, and I was selected to show its information at this year’s national American Occupational Therapy Association conference.  I invite you to have a look at the website for yourself, and to add to the list of strategies that have worked for your son or daughter. Together, we can promote healthy self-care routines for children with ASD.

I recently had a patient with a finger fracture ask me if I get bored with my job since I only treat hand injuries.  Little did he know that I had just finished stretching a patient’s shoulder that was recuperating from rotator cuff repair surgery and my next patient scheduled needed an elbow splint fabricated to treat a nerve compression injury.  My day never gets boring! 

The “Hand Therapy” world is so much more than just hands.  We cover so many orthopedic conditions of the upper extremity from the tip of the fingers to the shoulder and neck complex. 

The "Hand Therapy" world is so much more than just hands.

In a  typical day, I could be treating the wound of a middle finger tip amputation, finger contractures from Dupuytren’s disease, wrist stiffness from a distal radius  fracture, pain at the elbow from lateral epicondylitis (aka tennis elbow), and decreased shoulder range of motion from adhesive capsulitis (aka frozen shoulder). 

In addition to the treatment of orthopedic injuries, the wide world of Hand Therapy can also branch out into Industrial Rehabilitation where the focus of treatment is geared toward returning an injured worker back to their job of injury. 

I am excited to continue the growth of the Hand Therapy Clinic at Bothell Pediatric & Hand Therapy with nonstop treatment of the multiple diagnoses that enter the practice, as well as potentially offer Performance Capacity Evaluations (PCE’s) to help determine a patient’s ability to return to work.