ommunication. AAC is communication in a variety of ways, other than talking. This could be Alternative communication, to be used in place of speech. Or it can be Augmentative, to be used to support speech in order to make it more effective. 

AAC can include no-tech options, low-tech options, or high-tech options. Examples include:

AAC can be used for a variety of individuals, including young children with developmental disabilities, Autistic individuals, or adults who have acquired a disorder later on in life. 

These modes of communication allow for independence in the user’s environment. This could include allowing a child to communicate wants at home, being able to participate in conversations at school, making friends with same-age peers, and advocating for themselves in a variety of situations

All individuals have the fundamental right to communication. Reach out to your therapists with any questions you may have. 

https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/professional-issues/augmentative-and-alternative-communication/#collapse_1

https://www.asha.org/njc/communication-bill-of-rights/

AAC. What is it, and is it Right For My Child?

Long before I ever thought of physical therapy, before I knew what a pelvic floor was, I had a favorite picture book as a child titled “Everyone Poops.” Perhaps, even you read it yourself. Picture after picture of different animals and their piles of poop made me giggle, and I marveled at how even the tiniest ant pooped as I did.

But, what I didn’t know until I became a pediatric therapist, is that everyone 

poop with ease. And, even more importantly, the number of children affected by constipation and/or related urinary incontinence. According to van den Berg et al, up to 30 percent of children suffer from constipation and accounts for approximately 3% to 5% of all visits to pediatricians. Chronic constipation can result in a variety of long-term and short-term impairments including progressive bowel issues, enlarged rectum, colon dysfunction, and urinary incontinence at either daytime or nighttime.

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), by 5 years of age, over 90% of children have daytime bladder control. However, that leaves 10% of children over the age of 5 with daytime or nighttime leaks or complete incontinence.

With all that said, you might be asking yourself “how can a physical therapist help my child with their bowel and bladder problems?” I would have to agree it sounds a little out of the box. When I first became a pediatric therapist, I never saw myself impacting the way kids can void and manage their bathroom time. But, with lots of research, additional training, and a whole lot of love, I’ve been able to work with families and kids to achieve their goals and resolve daily leaks, decreased awareness of when they need to void, nighttime leaks, and constipation. How? By specifically targeting a group of muscles called the 

I like to tell parents to think of their child’s pelvic floor as a bowl. It sits at the base of the pelvis, and like a bowl, holds in liquids such as urine or solids such as feces. Now, imagine that the bowel is made out of really thin paper, or in other words is 

Do you think it would still hold in liquids well? I’d say not. A weak pelvic floor can result in leaks, daytime or nighttime, or urgency, i.e. when your child does the “potty dance” and can hardly make it to the bathroom in time. Together with other core muscles, the pelvic floor plays a role in posture, breathing, and relaxation for when we actually do need to use the restroom.

Which brings us to constipation. When the pelvic floor muscles are overactive or have trouble relaxing, your child may experience painful bowel movements or straining. This can result in withholding patterns, and over time causes chronic constipation. Chronic constipation can also lead to incontinence or leakage, as an impacted bowel press on our bladder and urethra.

But, how might a Physical Therapist address these issues, and what does a pelvic floor PT session look like?

First, an evaluation would occur. This would include:

●  Current voiding patterns such as when and how often

●  Current concerns you have for your child

●  A postural assessment in sitting, standing, and lying

, visual inspection of your child’s perineum

●  Discussion with you and your child about voiding awareness

Once you and your therapist determine what needs your child has, you meet with your therapist on a weekly or twice weekly basis.

This is where it gets tricky; pelvic floor therapy is a commitment. It requires additional homework for you as a parent, with various strategies, charts, and logs completed in order to best monitor your child’s progress. BUT, the end result is wholly worth it.

So what does the therapist do exactly? Your therapist will implement a variety of techniques, including core strengthening, biofeedback, SEMG biofeedback, games, pictures, and relaxation techniques to get your child engaged and their muscles working correctly. Each week, activities will progress or change to further challenge your child and achieve their goals.

Thinking your child might need pelvic floor therapy? Great candidates for this type of therapy include

●  Children leaks or “accidents” after being toilet trained for at least 1 year

●  Children that are having difficulty toileting training past age 5

●  Children experiencing leaks at night

●  Children with diagnosed constipation

●  Children who need >5-10 minutes to complete their bathroom routine

●  Children who report pain or discomfort when urinating or having a bowel movement

●  Children or adolescents who leak with activity, such as sports, jumping, running, or giggling

●  Children who have difficulty “holding” when they have the sensation to urinate

●  Children who experience “streaking” of feces in their underwear consistently

If you take nothing else away from this article, I hope that you know the following 3 things:

Have questions about incontinence, constipation, or your child’s toilet routine? Consider 

 us at Marshall Pediatric Therapy and scheduling a Pelvic Floor Evaluation today!

It Hurts When I Poop, I Dance When I Pee, Why Your Child's Pelvic Floor is as Important as Their ABC's 

Disciplining and educating children on what is right and wrong are appropriate ways of instilling good behaviors in them. However, teaching good behaviors is challenging for parents without guidance from autism therapy support, considering many find it difficult to understand non-verbal communication cues. In addition, disciplining a child, especially one with autism, requires great patience, and as a result, most parents are torn between reinforcement and punishment strategies when implementing discipline.

Marshall Pediatric Therapy offers you a wide range of therapy services committed to providing support and opportunities required to promote overall development and independence from childhood into adulthood. In addition, we offer customized therapy sessions to meet individual needs since we understand children are different and might behave uniquely.

In behavior psychology, reinforcement introduces a favorable condition or stimulus to a child's desired behavior that is likely to happen or continue in the future. There are two basic types of reinforcement, namely negative and positive reinforcements. Both can be effective and useful when applied correctly in shaping a child with autism. Parents can also use reinforcement to teach a child the right skills for use in the future, such as table manners, communication, socialization, and self-helping.

Positive reinforcement involves adding a pleasant stimulant to enhance the desired behavior. For instance, a parent might reward a child by giving them access to their favorite toys for good and polite behavior. However, parents should not always reward children with something tangible. The use of verbal praise to applaud the child for displaying positive actions is highly encouraged. This lets the child know that their actions were appropriate and motivates them to continue displaying these positive behaviors. It also helps them to feel good about themselves, which is something children with autism continuously struggle with.

With negative reinforcement, parents remove an aversive or undesirable stimulus to enhance or increase a behavior. This method, however, rarely works with children with autism as they need direct instructions and ways to work within the structure their autism level requires.

How Does Reinforcement Help Change Behavior

Reinforcement is an effective tool in promoting good behavior among both neurotypical and neurodivergent children when applied correctly. Using reinforcement might not get you the most intended results, but it is the most appropriate tool to promote desirable behavior. Parents should also consider the interest of each child and identify their motivation accordingly when using reinforcement to ensure positive behavior change.

Punishing children with autism to make an undesired behavior less likely to occur is not a method that works well. It is crucial to understand positive reinforcement aims to increase a desirable behavior while punishment aims to decrease undesirable behaviors.

Positive punishment, also known as punishment by application, is the most common type of punishment people know. Positive punishment involves introducing an aversive stimulus after an undesirable behavior has occurred. For instance, a parent might scold or use verbal warning when a child with autism misbehaves. This method has been shown to be the least effective for children with autism. It lacks the structure needed for even children with a Level 1 diagnosis.

Negative punishment involves taking away a pleasant stimulus to discourage a behavior. In this case, parents might take a child's favorite toy when they get messy and fail to clear up the room after playing. In the future, the child will avoid cluttering the room or clear it up after playing to prevent their toys from being taken away. This also does not work for children with autism, no matter what level they are diagnosed with, even though this may work for neurotypical children.

The Role of Positive Reinforcement in Making Behavioral Changes

Positive reinforcement is most effective for children with autism. The goal is to teach appropriate social, academic, communication, and behavior skills that will become a regular part of their life as they grow and develop. Positive reinforcement is ideal for this because, as children, they are drawn to positive words and actions, and even as adults we tend to find ways to avoid things we don’t like.

Why Choosing Reinforcement Is Vital For Children with Autism

There are a variety of ways to encourage or discourage the behavior. However, choosing reinforcement over punishment is more effective. First, the process is painless (emotional or physical) and involves dialogue over physical action. It also promotes bonding between parents or guardians with children with autism. The key to implementing reinforcement successfully is consistency.

Call Marshall Pediatric Therapy Today For Therapy Service for Children with Autism

Parents can get in touch with our experts at Marshall Pediatric Therapy for more information since understanding the difference between punishment and reinforcement when parenting can be difficult.

 Marshall Pediatric Therapy at any of our multiple locations for all therapy services for your child with autism.

Punishment Vs. Reinforcement

Nurturing a child's growth and development through all aspects of life is both a rewarding and overwhelming parental responsibility. These continuous roles often result in parental burnout feelings. Understanding the signs of parental burnout is critical in positively identifying, combating, and overcoming it.

We offer Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Mental Health Therapy, and behavior services (ABA) through our Building Blocks Program for children diagnosed with autism.

Read on to learn more about how to manage and prevent parent burnout feelings.

There are many signs that you may be experiencing parental burnout, but the most common are:

The demands of parenthood make you anxious and reduce your daily task motivation. Your energy in tackling daily activities reduces significantly. For example, if you used to take great pleasure in preparing dinner at home but now find yourself dreading having to do it each day.

The following physical pains could indicate you are going through parental burnout:

Parent burnout feeling makes it difficult to concentrate, think clearly and make decisions. You feel like your thinking is slowing down, lacks clarity, or it's hard to keep track of multiple thoughts at once. It is possible to make frequent mistakes that are costly or inconvenient.

Exhaustion varies depending on the age of the child. Parents of young children often feel physical tiredness. At the same time, those with teens undergo emotional exhaustion due to conflicts with young adults. 

Although parents often want to get more sleep, they may sleep less than usual or differently. They may not be able to fall asleep easily or stay asleep for long periods.

How to Navigate the Feeling of Parental Burnout

It is possible to prevent and cope with parent burnout following these strategies:

Your physical and mental health is as critical as your parental responsibility. Have time for yourself to re-energize and build your well-being.

Talk about your parental burnout with family, friends, or parents experiencing similar feelings. A nonjudgmental positive engagement helps you manage the parent burnout feeling. Moderated communities and online groups are resourceful in navigating through this feeling.

If the parent burnout feeling is becoming problematic, reach out to 

. We offer mental health services in Kentucky.

Categorizing each task's priority under “Urgent”, “Important”, and “Can Wait” reduces the pressure so you don’t feel so overwhelmed. You can choose to clean the house on weekdays and do loads of laundry over the weekends. Encouraging children help with age-appropriate home chores can also be beneficial.

Design a functional schedule on a weekly or monthly basis. Know who does what and when. Involve your children in home duties like dinner ideas, grocery shopping, and picking out their outfits beforehand. When kids have a schedule and know they are helping, they are more willing to participate, and it helps them feel more accomplished,

We know just how hard it is to raise kids in today's busy world. When you're feeling stressed and overwhelmed, it's natural to wonder whether you're doing enough to give your kids the attention and support they deserve. 

Our goal is to provide parents with the best possible resources available to give them the tools they need to understand and manage the signs of parental burnout.

 through both individual and family counseling sessions. A referral is not required for this discipline, and we work with many 

insurance providers, including Kentucky Medicaid

. Our clinicians are knowledgeable about clinical excellence in all disciplines.

We are dedicated to providing high-quality therapy programs explicitly designed to address the unique concerns of each family.

Visit one of our Marshall Pediatric Therapy offices today to find relief from the stress of parenting.

Helping to Prevent Parental Burnout

Are you worried that your child might have dyslexia? There is so much information available online and in the community about dyslexia, that it can be tricky to know what to believe and when to seek help. Here is a quick look at just a few of the common myths about dyslexia and some guidance for seeking help if your child is struggling with reading or pre reading skills.

MYTH- If a child reverses letters such as “p,b,d, and/or q”, they have dyslexia.

FACT- Letter reversals may be an indication that your child has dyslexia if they persist beyond the end of first grade or past the age of seven. Prior to this, letter reversals are common and do not indicate the need for evaluation or intervention when occurring in isolation.

MYTH- Dyslexia is only a concern for school age children.

FACT- Dyslexia does not suddenly appear when children begin school. Many children who are later diagnosed with dyslexia were late talkers and/or struggled with non-developmental phonological processing disorders (patterns of speech sound errors). Children with language and speech sound disorders in preschool should be closely monitored for pre reading and early reading skills prior to beginning school. 

FACT- Individuals do not outgrown dyslexia. Dyslexia is a language based, neurological disorder that can be treated. Individuals with dyslexia learn to decode and spell through systematic, explicit instruction that may be multisensory based.

FACT- Dyslexia is not a problem with vision, although individuals with dyslexia can also have vision issues. It is important to screen and evaluate for vision deficits to rule out any effects of poor vision.

MYTH- Non-English speakers or English Language Learners cannot have dyslexia.

FACT- Dyslexia is not specific to English. It affects all cultures and languages; and individuals who have difficulty reading and writing in their native language will also have difficulty reading and writing in English.

MYTH- Only individuals with a high or low IQ can have dyslexia.

FACT- There is no correlation between cognition and dyslexia. Dyslexia is present across the continuum of cognitive functioning. Difficulty with reading can be present in those with a high IQ as well as those with lower IQs. Low IQ no longer disqualifies individuals from receiving intervention to address reading disorders.

MYTH- Reading to your child will cure dyslexia.

FACT- Reading to your child is key for building speech, language, and literacy awareness. It is also a tremendous way to encourage bonding, closeness, and shared attention. Shared reading will not, however, cure dyslexia. Intervention for dyslexia must include systematic, explicit teaching of the rules and patterns for decoding and spelling.

You should speak to your child’s SLP about dyslexia/written language disorder:

From Our Experts

AAC. What is it, and is it Right For My Child?

It Hurts When I Poop, I Dance When I Pee, Why Your Child's Pelvic Floor is as Important as Their ABC's

Punishment Vs. Reinforcement

Helping to Prevent Parental Burnout

Dyslexia Myths