Speech Therapist Reacts to Supernanny

Hey, guys, this is Ming here, a speech therapist from agentsofspeech.com today we're going to react to Super Nanny. And you don't want to miss this because you'll learn a lot from her. I learned quite a bit from her as well. And I want to show you three clips that I watched and I'll react and tell you what my thoughts are. Okay, so the first one is about a child who doesn't speak that well, who has a speech disorder. Let's take a look. All right, let's take a look.

Right now they understand him. It's creating these meltdowns. And really mum needs to understand that. Hold on a minute. Because he's talking to you.

Okay?

Come down. When he's shouting, just come down. Listen to him.

Okay?

When you don't understand what he's saying, just tell him that I don't understand you.

I can hear you.

That way we can get him to.

Start talking, engaging that conversation. All right, So I, as you can see just now, that was gold advice right there. You see what the child was doing and what she said was that when parents don't understand the kid and the kid's trying to get their message across, they get pissed off. And so when he was like, the mom didn't stop what she was doing. In fact, the mom was like, what do you want? Like that kind of attitude, right? So what happened was Super Nanny told her to get down at his level and say that, hey, man, sorry, I don't understand. You know, it works a lot because it will only trigger him even more. When you want him to talk more, you should stop his talking and see how you can get him to gesture to you or point to you or, you know, at least you can see his mouth and kind of guess and make sure that he can see your mouth so that he can imitate you and see if that helps the situation or not. Okay. What doesn't help is that you keep on being very tall, right, like right here to him and keep on just pretending that you don't like you still talking and stuff. That really pisses a child who cannot communicate. Well, let's keep on watching.

Yeah, because when he feels like he's ignored, it freaks him out.

Okay? That's right. So if a child feels ignored when they put out their, like huge, like the best effort they can with you, that really, really freaks a child out. I can tell you this is the best advice I've heard a non speech pathologist say before. Sure. Super Nanny is overqualified. She's a lot better than I am with kids, obviously. All right, so let's watch this place where super nanny demonstrates what to do.

Things that are key to his early development. This little one needs time, okay?

And yeah, he does need time sitting.

Down and having a conversation and having him watch your mouth.

So watching a mouth is a good strategy for kids like him. Not every kid is going to like it. So I think this is a good advice for this child in particular. And so if we skip forward a little bit, you will see comes from.

The fact that his parents don't understand what he's saying and he gets frustrated. JoJo's t shirt is what color.

So you can hear that his pronunciation is really bad. This is what we call a speech disorder or probably not a speech delay at this point because he's getting a lot of these sounds incorrect. And he was supposed to say red, but he said brown, I believe from, like, the way that he's saying it. So he's a little bit. His language is a little bit wonky as well. So let's keep on looking in a bit.

So here, eye contact and being repetitive with your vocabulary.

So they're trying to say blue here. Super nanny is doing very well. Is telling him to look at exaggerated mouse shape. Okay, so like a blue. He's getting the B incorrect. The L he cannot really do. That's fine for his age. I don't know how old he is, but like, L should be mastered at around four, four and a half, depending where you're living, culturally speaking. And so her exaggerated mouth shape at eye level will help him a lot in producing a B sound. What I would add here is I would actually just as well, I would take my hand and I will go, like, just put two fingers on his. On his lips and say. Or even like that. Very easy. Like blue, blue. And then just give him a little more tactile as well. As you can see later on that what happens is that the kid starts to touch the nanny's mouth.

It was really interesting when Joe and Bronson were working together that he placed his hand over her mouth.

So what happened here? You see here after he puts his hand on super nanny's mouth and then he puts it back on his. So tactile, he's asking for more information from the sound, which is tactile information, which is great. So that's why I think prompting will actually help. Like, physical prompting will actually help with a lot of sounds. So if your child is in this situation, please go to a speech Therapist and then check out which sounds are incorrect and go ahead and ask the therapist. Okay. Which sounds should be T. Teach first and then what kind of cues should we use? So super nanny, super smart here figured out that, oh, actually tactile will help, and also visual cues will help. So when you are an adult and you stand really tall and you're talking to your kid, you can provide no help because all he can see is your chin. And you're not helping by slowing down. Right. By providing visual cues and providing tactile cues. So kudos to super nanny here. Let's watch the next video. So this video is really interesting. The first is that Super Nanny asked Dr. Lynn. I forgot her last name. The last name is blurred here. But anyways, let's watch it.

In Santa Barbara, and I'm the clinical director of the Autism Research and Training Center.

Okay. Great credentials. I. I think that she knows what she's doing. I've watched this before. She's great. So let's skip ahead and let's look at this thing in particular.

Dr. Cagle made a special routine for Tristan that involved pictures at point.

His visual is probably better than his verbal.

Right.

So explaining the things will be more difficult to him. But what we want him to be able to do is see each activity and when he's done.

Okay, cool. So you see after he's done and.

Put it in a little envelope.

In an envelope. So a lot of children, a lot of therapists, a lot of parents are actually doing this. This is called a visual schedule, if you haven't seen this before. So basically, it tells the child to like any kid who is on the spectrum or a person, they get anxious about routines, like a change in routine. So to let them know visually how the whole day is going to be laid out adds a lot of stability in their life and adds a lot of routine. So that's why this doctor forgot her name, is doing this for the parents because it's adding stability inside of the everyday life, and it's going to make. It's going to pay dividends later, even if the kid doesn't understand it right now. She said something really good. Is that her. His visuals are probably better than his, like, auditory, like listening. So that's usually true for a lot of children who are not verbal yet. They use their eyes to comprehend the whole situation, and they guess right. So this helps them to understand the world a little bit better with something they're good at. So let's move on here. I think Dr. Kagan here talks about.

How to use this to try to talk for. Tristan loves the swing, so we use that to provide opportunities for him to say swing. Just push them a little bit and get them involved in the activity. And then stop the swing and say swing.

Okay.

All right. So here she actually talks about something we talk about a lot inside of Agents of speech. This is a very, very old technique that we use. Still works like gold. Okay. And what we do is we create a routine, something that they like, give it to them, and then when they come back, stop it. It's like going through a toll at the highway, right? You pay, and then where the toll, it opens, and then they can go. All right, so let's see how they actually go. Go on with it.

This is the highlight of his day.

Yeah. So let's stop him.

And now, so always start off with something fun, Right? And that must be something that they enjoy. You cannot try to make them. I had a parent ask me, can I make a child who is two to listen to me reading books? Every time I read them a book, they fall asleep. Well, do something that's fun, right? Something rewarding. Let's see what's happening here.

Now try to prompt it. The second step is prompting him to talk, and the third is rewarding him for any attempt or any good word.

That's right. So any good word means even if it's just a squeak of sound, like, I will still let go of him and let him swing. Right. And you see here that I think something we can add a little bit like, that we do differently nowadays, is that even if he doesn't say anything because he's looking and he's being a good boy, I'm still gonna let him go. But here you can see that the prompt goes on for quite a few times.

Swing.

Swing, Tristan, swing.

Okay. That's what we need. Wanna avoid here. Okay. We've talked about a lot in Agents of speech is that when we are engaging a child inside of a routine, no matter if it's using, like, reward, snacks or whatever, if the child doesn't talk, we still allow him to have the thing and continue with the activity. Because what we're trying to do is to reinforce the whole interaction, the social interaction. That's number one. Number two is that I'm giving you stuff for free, and therefore I'm a good buddy to hang out with. Right. And third of all, is there a step down? Is there a step down from verbal? I know that this kid can talk, okay? But can we use a gesture, a sign or teach him some action imitation so that he can continue with the activity. So maybe it's just like, like that. I don't know, anything. It could be, I don't know, swing or whatever. Any movement that is appropriate can be used here so that he can continue with the, the game asap. And he won't get pissed off because when he gets angry, that's the end.

Say the word 10 times before he'll even try to say it or attempt to say it. And he'll be upset, which. That's going to be really hard for me as a mother because he's my baby.

I want him not to swing too.

Much without saying, okay, cool. That's something that the mom has put in words for a lot of the parents who are watching this because, you know, you don't want the child to be angry, but you don't want to give in. So where is the good point? Like the middle point, the sweet spot? Right. That's difficult. That's why we teach gestures. This is where me and the doctor here have a little bit of a discrepancy. I believe she just wants to, like, push him a little bit.

So she says, oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Oh, gosh.

So what happened here is that the kid already knows what the doctor wants to do. She's like, oh, I know what you're going to do. You're going to swing me and then you're going to pull me up at the top and keep on saying swing until you give up, right? So he's like, dude, I don't want that. That's not fun. So that's why he ran away. Okay, so let us see a little longer. And apparently what happened was. Okay, here we go. So here is a classic way of getting a child to talk is with a piece of snack, right? So with this piece of snack. This is what we teach as well. Agent speech in the beginning, why snack works is because it's small crumbs and we can just give it to him. And in the long run, it's going to be, like, easy to teach him how to speak, how to imitate stuff and so on.

He's pretty upset. Look at me. You want to do everything to keep your kids happy. But, you know, the only thing is he won't learn to talk that way. He's gotta. We've gotta teach him the words to say and that this doesn't work anymore because we don't want him to be 21 doing that.

No, definitely not.

Deirdre did A great job. I felt like it.

Well, I think they did a great job, too. And I think that using the swing and also the food was too reinforcing for him without a step, step down. So given that he waited for a little bit, like this much, and then he got mad already, so that's not cool. That means the. The food is too reinforcing for the demand, Right. If you don't teach him something lower in order to get it, he's gonna get pissed off. All right, so let's keep on watching. I think at the end, they do something that is totally cool, which is tickle, which I use a lot, that.

He learns that he's got to try to say the word in order to get the item that he wants.

Tickle.

Tickle.

Tickle, tickle.

All right. Yeah. So, like, why did this work? Why did this work? And why did those ones work? It's because the kid is on the floor looking at the mom right here, if you can see. And then what happens is that because of this hand gesture here with the hands like this, right? What happens is that the child can anticipate what's about to happen. It's not too far that, like, oh, it's external thing. It's a swing or it's a cookie that they're not willing to. Wait. This one, if he doesn't get it, he's just lying down anyways, right? He's not going to get angry, right? So sometimes what happens in this situation is that the kid tries to pull your hand towards the tummy just to get a tickle. So that's also okay. I would, like, totally accept it. But what you need to understand here is that there should be a differentiated, like, reward. What is. What does that mean? So I tell you that you can use gestures and action imitations instead of talking in the beginning, right? So those ones, you don't give as much fun when you take it, or you don't swing them as hard, or when you give the cookie, you give a little bit of the cookie, not the whole thing. But when they talk, it's the whole cookie when they talk is a long, really fun tickle with, like, sound effects and so on. If they talk, then when you swing, you swing them really hard, you catch them, you swing them one more time, right? So it needs to be differentiated. They're like, oh, when I talk, I get so much more. All right, so that's really cool. I really liked it. And as you can see, you need to have a routine to teach. So the doctor Knows her stuff when, when she's taught, like teaching children who are on a spectrum. That's really cool. So let's watch another one, the last one and that will be it. Okay, so let's see. So it's a doctor again. This time we're dealing with a Down syndrome baby. And as you can see, the whole therapy is already very different from teaching a child on the spectrum. You see, the eye contact is already established, social interactions are established. The doctor is on the floor. No need to engage the child here with like external things. It's just them playing together with a toy, which is still external thing. Right. But anyways, it's a lot more natural. That's what I mean. Right. So let's see what they're up to now.

Okay, you do it.

Paint. Is it your turn?

Say my turn.

All right, here it comes. Great. And that was perfect because instead of just saying yes, she went a step further to have her say my plan out was excellent.

All right, that's a good, very, very good advice for down syndrome children is that. Or any children who are not on the spectrum for that matter. Why? Because they already have a motivation talk talking to and playing with you. Right. And if you always ask yes or no questions, that's going to limit their response. Okay. And what you know, I do is you want to ask some opener questions. It's not totally open, right. Because it's like whose turn is it if it's not you? It's my turn. Right. It's. It's still kind of close. But at the same time you're teaching new vocab. When you help them answer it, you ask the question and then you answer it. Answer it for them. So you say whose turns? It say my turn on my turn. And you give it to them. So now they understand. Oh, it's a question number one. And number two, the response is my turn means it comes to me. Okay, so let's keep on watching.

I wanted to work with Kathy to have her ask more open ended questions and more questions.

There we go. Okay, so let's skip forward a little bit.

Whose turn is it? That the cable Dr. Kegel.

You got a good memory, huh? You're so smart you remembered my name.

Paige did a lot of.

All right, so obviously they already established a good rapport. So that's why she's like, I remember this doctor lady, whatever I want to give you like. So they, they did like the turn a few times. Now she starts to point, even if the speech isn't very clear. You Understand what she means. And therefore, the interaction is very naturalistic, is very different from what we saw from the autistic child. Right. So let's watch them read a book. Okay. I want to highlight some of the techniques that the doctor talks about here.

I mean, I wouldn't do it if she starts turning her off, but.

Okay. Okay. Dog, Dog. What does the dog say?

Very good. That's perfect. So the. What the doctor said was a, don't overcorrect her if it turns her off. Okay. Because the last thing you want her to do is to get frustrated and don't want to talk anymore. Right. So if your child has some pronunciation problems. I'm talking about you Asian parents. Don't overcorrect your kid. Okay. If they cannot say it, like, do it a few times and if she tries in a good effort. Right. You know, like, give them a praise. Hey, nice try. I understand what you're saying. You said dog, right? Very nice. So you see that like when you're talking and playing with a, with a book, you need to ask questions. You need to ask him. What is this to describe a little bit more. So here I think the doctor gives really good advice.

Very good. That's excellent. That's excellent. Having her name and you. You know, she's doing so well. You might even want to go a step further. If she says cow, you could say brown cow and just say a little more after adding on to what she says, but that was excellent.

All right, great. So that is something that we always talk about in language facilitation. And what it means is that if a child can say one word, we want to add one more word as a feedback. All right, so if you say, oh, cow. Oh, what color is it? It's brown cow. It's a white cow. Whatever. I don't know what colors they are, but at the same time, that's where you want to add one more word. In front or behind, it doesn't matter. It's just to facilitate them to add one more word into their vocab. When you're referring that one thing you're both looking at at this point point in time. All right, so let's keep on looking.

That's a cake.

I was so happy with the progress that Paige made. And really, I have to give her mom credit, she must have said dozens of words just in a 15 minute period. So I was so incredibly impressed with how quickly Kathy picked it up and was able to just evoke that communication to get her talk.

All right, So I really think that this is very good advice from the doctor. And secondly, you see how she said, hey, I'm so proud of the mom for saying so many words in a short span of time. So the focus wasn't to, oh, I'm so proud of the kid for saying so much. No, we're so proud of the parents for giving so much language in a short period of time. That's language, Rich. Right? That's language facilitation. So that's something that you have to learn about as a parent. Right? It's that. It's not about the kid. It's about us giving as much language as possible. All right, so let's watch. Finish this real quick and see in this short 15 minutes, how much has this little girl evolved because of the mother? Okay, let's take a look.

Do as well as she did.

Okay. What else do we have here?

What's.

That.

Was great.

Wow.

So clear.

Just looking at what Dr. Cagle.

And also. All right, so when you hear a child suddenly speak so well because of your training before, right. In this video, she went Mickey Mouse. But then her M's weren't there, really, at the start of the video. So it must have been the mom was training her about, like, Mickey Mouse throughout the video and helping her to say it very clearly. So when that happens, you have to praise the kid and tell them, hey, that was the clearest I've ever heard. You know, that's really nice. That's really good. Good job. Okay, so that is all for this video. If you need help with starting home therapy, I would start off with agents of Speech.com checklist for a free list of tools and toys we recommend you getting before you start. Okay. And if you have any questions about this or any comments, please put them in the comment section below. I read nearly all of them, and I hope you have a good one. I'll see you guys next week. Bye. Bye.