A happy baby begins with you:it's all about communication... as always!

I've always been  against more harsh forms of parenting and believe that parents should listen to and respond to their little ones. This is a post from Sara Bingham of Wee Hands.


In an effort to provide WeeHands Instructors with opportunities for professional growth and to allow our Instructors to provide value added services to support their work with thie class participants, WeeHands has developed a cross marketing relationship with The Happiest Baby on the Block, Inc.

As many may know, Dr. Harvey Karp created his program to teach parents how to calm and soothe their crying baby in minutes. This revolutionary approach has been endorsed by some of the most influential organizations in the country, such as Prevent Child Abuse America. Dr. Karp's book is the only book endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics as a must have for new parents.

In 2005, Dr. Karp introduced a program to certify educators to teach his program in their local communities. Since that time, the program has expanded worldwide and has over 4800 individuals involved, 2800 of them have finished certification. Educators are in hospital settings, military installations, pregnancy programs, state and county health departments and independent educators.

WeeHands has developed a collaborative cross marketing relationship that would allow our licensed and certified WeeHands Instructor to also become a Certified Happiest Baby Educator, at a discounted rate. This will allow the WeeHands members the opportunity to expand their educational expertise and bring more information to the parents you touch each and everyday. This as an excellent opportunity to provide an additional option for teaching and marketing avenue through The Happiest Baby.

In return, WeeHands will be inviting Certified Happiest Baby Educators the opportunity to join our association and expand their educational opportunities as well. This is a win win situation that will benefit both organizations with continue education.

We would like to encourage all of our Instructors to take the time to visit The Happiest Baby website,
www.thehappiestbaby.org for more information on the certification program. The regular cost of the program is $225.00; however WeeHands has negotiated a discount for our Instructors to bring the price to $180.00 plus S/H. If you would like to take advantage of this excellent opportunity, please contact the Happiest Baby Education Department at 888-980-8062. They will be happy and available to answer any questions you may have about the program.
Sara Bingham is the founder of WeeHands and the author of The Baby Signing Book. WeeHands is the world's leading children's sign language and language development program for babies, toddlers and preschool children.

How to prevent cleft lip and palate

When I worked in Aylesbury in the 1980s, there was a fantastic surgeon at Stoke Mandeville Hospital with a highly skilled team, who operated on new-born babies with cleft lips, usually within 48 hours. Mr Desai felt that there were bonding issues and a need to have the baby looking better before the arrival of the grandparents, which were worth the associated risk. I watched several operations one morning with awe and admiration. He had the cricket on the radio and a tremendous air of respect for the fragile head cradled in his left hand. He operated on their palate at 3 months. This wasn't the case elsewhere in the country who left it  to a much later, safer time. 

I read with interest, therefore, about the recent findings of some American specialists who have decided that early surgery, pre-natal diagnosis and well-coordinated care by a team of specialists is 'vital'.  

Cleft lip and/or palate -- which occur in the first trimester of pregnancy when the roof of the mouth fails to fuse properly -- affects more than 7,000 babies born in the United States each year and is the second most common birth defect. The figures here in the UK are around in 1 in 700 babies.

Dr. Richard Redett, the author, a pediatric plastic and reconstructive surgeon and co-director of the Cleft & Craniofacial Clinic at Johns Hopkins Children's Center offers some tips to help prevent cleft lip/palate:

• Women planning to become pregnant should take 400 micrograms of folic acid a day.
• Pregnant women should not smoke and should avoid secondhand smoke.
• Pregnant women also need to tell their doctors about any prescription or over-the-counter medications they are taking or planning to take, since certain medicines can cause or increase the risk of birth defects.
• Patients with a family history of cleft palate should talk with their GP about a genetic link.

Parents in the UK are advised to consult the Cleft Lip And Palate Association website 

http://www.clapa.com/

Related articles

• Why are some babies born with a cleft lip? (zocdoc.com)
• Will I be able to treat my cleft lip after a craniofacial consultation? (zocdoc.com)
• Cries Of Two-Month-Old Infants With Cleft Lip And Palate Predict Language Development (medicalnewstoday.com)
• How effective is cleft lip surgery? (zocdoc.com)

This is a blog hop!!

Make up a word

Ever chillax in a nifty gaff?

Tell Afasic your favourite made up word and support the Afasic 'My Word' challenge
Children's communication charity Afasic is asking thousands of schools to support their 'My Word' challenge. Pupils can choose a word that they use on a regular basis that's made up or not currently in the dictionary, write it on the 'My Word' postcard and explain what it means to them. The aim is to have fun, start a conversation and increase children's understanding of communication.

Postcards are then sent back to Afasic who will produce a booklet from all the postcards they receive to share during the national year of communication. All pupils can take part in the fundraising activity and all participating schools will receive a certificate from Afasic's President and Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow MP.

To download your postcard please click here or contact Afasic on 0207 490 9410 or emd@afasic.org.uk for further information.

Closing date for entries is Monday 4 July.

To find out more about Afasic's work and the Handbook they have recently produced with I CAN about specific language impairment, please clickhere.

Shine a light! Nominate someone you know who is making a difference to children's lives

The Hello campaign; national year of communication is inviting you to take part in the ‘Shine a Light’ 2011 Hello campaign awards for developing children and young people’s communication, launched today by The Communication Trust and Pearson Assessment.
Set to become the flagship event of the Hello campaign, these awards (www.helloawards.co.uk) will ‘shine a light’ on the excellent work and achievement by the children’s workforce in developing the communication skills of the children and young people they work with from birth to teenagers. These best practice exemplars will be shared with practitioners across the country to incentivise improved practice in 2011 and beyond.  


Wendy Lee, Professional Director for The Communication Trust, says; “The Shine a Light 2011 Hello campaign awards are unique; they are the first and only national awards scheme to focus on children and young people’s communication. At the heart of the Hello campaign is the fantastic work that takes place day to day by individuals, team and settings across the UK and these awards epitomise just this.  “By shining a light on the inspiring work that is taking place to support all children’s communication and those communication difficulties, we can ensure individuals and teams get deservedly recognised. We also hope to enthuse and spur on others who through the national year of communication are starting to tackle this subject head on in a range of ways – from small grassroots projects through to larger area‐wide initiatives. If you know a person or setting who has gone the extra mile to support communication development, then this may be their time to shine.


Twelve awards are available including three ‘Communication Friendly’ awards, three ‘Team of the Year’ awards, an award for ‘Communication Strategy’ and ‘Commissioning’ as well as the ‘Hello Young Person of the Year Award’. The winners will be celebrated at the ‘Shine a Light’ 2011 Hello campaign awards ceremony taking place at Pearson’s Head Office in London from 3‐6pm on Wednesday 23 November.Simone Gilson, Health and Education Marketing Specialist for Pearson Assessment, says; “Pearson Assessment are delighted to be sponsoring the ‘Shine a Light’ 2011 Hello campaign awards as well as the wider campaign to make children and young people’s communication development a national priority.  "Recognition of excellent and inspiring work is crucial. By celebrating it, we can share the
learning’s with others, use the best practice to shape our future assessments so that they truly meet the needs of those with SLCN, and most importantly build upon this as part of the legacy of the national year of communication. We encourage you to apply no matter what size and scale you are working at. If you think your work is special and making a tangible difference that you can evidence, we want to hear from you.”


Applications are encouraged from a wide range of settings, professionals and individuals – those who work with children and young people, those responsible for planning children’s services as well as parents and young people.  Log onto www.helloawards.co.uk where you can easily complete an application form and tell us how your work meets the ‘qualities’ we have identified. Applications will be considered by a judging panel including communication Champion, Jean Gross.  

Building blocks to language

A recent post about last month's Hello campaign, looked at the hidden parts of language learning, the building blocks to successful communication. Sometimes when a child has been referred because he's not talking, a parent can't understand why we're not working on their speech. We play posting games, sing songs, blow bubbles, maybe use the parachute and have snack-time to work on the foundations for language. The diagram above illustrates the 'pyramid' and the priority order.




I have others who are desperate for the therapists to work on their sounds but the level of the child's language and communication isn't sufficient to be able to do this, as their understanding and expressive language needs to develop first. A student recently asked me why, when the child's speech sounds were so bad was I not working on them and again, I showed her the pyramid to help explain.


There is much more on this for parents looking for ideas in Frances Evesham's kindle book,'How to help your child talk and grow smarter', available at Amazon.

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Teachers... is your voice strong enough?

As children's attention levels are deteriorating, class teachers have to spend more time re-directing and refocusing..... how? By talking louder than the hum of the noise generated by children who are also talking. To be able to do this they need to be able to project their voices rather than shout. When I was at University the lecturer on voice problems taught us rapidly and simply to be able to do this. Consequently, I can talk all day and didn't need a mike when I used to teach aerobics. The techniques she showed us were easy and took 3 sessions.


Speech & Language therapists, however, don't actually have to project their voices over noise all day like teachers do, yet how many teacher training courses include voice projection or how to look after your voice? Their voice IS the tool of their trade. Last year a teacher received thousands in compensation for losing her voice, and thereby her source of income, but I don't now any schools who have invested money into training so it doesn't happen in their school. There will be at least one teacher in every school who has trouble with their 'throat' or voice and all would benefit from being shown good practise.


The Speech & Language Therapists at Kerry PCT have put together a short video which you may find helpful http://youtube/jExkenbRm2c

For further details of good practise or to arrange training for your school info@smalltalk-ltd.co.uk
www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk