First Bite: A Speech Therapy Podcast

173: Community Engagement for Caregivers

February 23rd, 2022  |  1 hr 4 mins

asha, ceu, continuing education, slp, speech language pathology, speech pathology, speech therapy

Guest: Megan Branham, LMSW - Megan discusses community support for caregivers in this episode. If our caregivers are in crisis or even in a time of need, they cannot be fully present and engaged in speech therapy for the little ones we are called to serve. So, where does that leave us? What can we do? Megan and Michelle spend this precious hour discussing strategies for holding a crucial conversation to determine what needs are at critical mass, community partners that are available to support food and shelter needs, and community partners to help with educational and medical conditions.

172: SLP Role in Language and Literacy

February 16th, 2022  |  1 hr 8 mins

asha, ceu, continuing education, slp, speech language pathology, speech pathology, speech therapy

Guest: Angie Neal, MS, CCC-SLP - In this episode, Angie, who keeps every audience on the edge of their seat with laughter and love, shares her extensive knowledge on how an SLP can become involved in a child’s journey in literacy. In addition, she explains how phonological awareness can impact literacy, who to refer to in an academic/medical setting and why their role is critical when a child presents with concerns for dyslexia.

171: #CallitPFD Takeaways: ASHA 2021 Rising United Convention Highlights

February 9th, 2022  |  1 hr 8 mins

asha, ceu, continuing education, slp, speech language pathology, speech pathology, speech therapy

Michelle and her favorite co-host Erin Forward, MSP CCC-SLP, CLC, relive the best parts of the 2021 ASHA Convention: Rising United related to all things pediatric feeding disorder. To celebrate the inaugural pediatric feeding and swallowing disorder track, Michelle and Erin attended several courses and are bringing their favorite new facts directly to you! So, whether your current clinical setting is working in the NICU, Early Intervention, or even a local public school, the ladies of First Bite have you covered. To start, they’ll share the highlights of ethically implementing the newish PFD ICD-10 codes, then discuss how the differences between our settings can be overcome through open dialogue, and round out with ethical considerations for implementing a treatment plan PFD in the LEA. Let Michelle and Erin share the inspiration they received from the great minds and hearts at ASHA 2021 with you.

170: Ethics for PFD: Evaluations through Treatment

December 16th, 2021  |  52 mins 42 secs

asha, ceu, continuing education, slp, speech language pathology, speech pathology, speech therapy

Guest: Erin Forward, MSP, CCC-SLP, CLC - Today on the First Bite Podcast we are running through some very important information for our community and listeners! We will be tackling the subject of ethics for Pediatric Feeding Disorders and going over some of the new PFD codes that have been introduced. We also offer some helpful examples and implications, as well as the best resources for you to get on top of this important stuff! Even with the best intentions, you can find yourself in some tricky situations if the regulations are not adhered to, and putting in the time and energy to stay abreast of the field's standards is very necessary. We talk about the best practices to using the codes, including coding backward from what you are officially and specifically treating, to concerns around communication and confidentiality, and much more! So to hear all about where to start with staying HIPAA compliant and offering the best service to those special small clients, join us on the show today!

169: Triple Delight: When a Certified OT, RD and CLC is Treating PFD

December 1st, 2021  |  1 hr 6 mins

asha, ceu, continuing education, slp, speech language pathology, speech pathology, speech therapy

Guest: Bianca Roe, OTD, OTR/L, RDN, LDN, CLC - Bianca Roe is a Doctor of Occupational Therapy and Clinical Pediatric Registered Dietitian, and has almost a whole alphabet worth of letters behind her name! She is a certified OTD, OTR/L, RDN/LDN, and CLC working in the PFD space and we have her on the show today to unpack exactly what that means, how she made her way into this unique role, and why it is important to look beyond your immediate field and work to improve your practice and care. In our conversation with Bianca, we talk about the basics of what she does, looking at what the job of a registered dietician entails, and contrasting that with the role of a nutritionist. We also talk about her desire to become a qualified occupational therapist along with her work in feeding. She also talks about switching hats and how she knows when to step into which role. We get to tackle the subject of interprofessional learning, and how beneficial this can be to your expertise and the care that you provide, so to hear all this from a young powerhouse, who we cannot wait to have back on the podcast again, listen in!

168: Evolution in Practice for Pediatric Feeding and Swallowing Disorders

November 17th, 2021  |  1 hr 4 mins

asha, ceu, continuing education, slp, speech language pathology, speech pathology, speech therapy

167: Filling your EBP SLP Cup via Clinical Case Studies with “The Cup of Council” SLP Trio!

November 3rd, 2021  |  1 hr 18 mins

asha, ceu, continuing education, slp, speech language pathology, speech pathology, speech therapy

Guests: Cup of Councel - Today we have a special roundtable conversation dealing with helpful case studies, and are joined by the three wonderful hosts of the Cup of Council Podcast! Amy Gundlach, MA, CCC-SLP, Katie Joyner Robinson, MA, CCC-SLP, and Brittany Schultz, MA, CCC-SLP sit down with us and share some enlightening experiences that you are not going to want to miss. These three speech-language pathologists have a combined total of over 30 years of experience in a number of settings and we get to speak about the importance of thinking outside the box and developing new types of therapy while shining a light on their most important moments of professional growth. The conversation covers examples of new types of innovative approaches, and we also get a taster for their amazing podcast, which we recommend you check out as soon as you finish listening to this! So if you want to hear this open-hearted and enlightening chat, dealing with our strengths, weaknesses, and everything in between, join us and catch it all!

166: The Fabulous Fed Life of a J-Tube User

October 27th, 2021  |  1 hr 5 mins

asha, ceu, continuing education, feeding tube, slp, speech language pathology, speech pathology, speech therapy

Guest: Breanne Dalton - Complications that arise from issues in the gut are plentiful and complex, something that we in the world of feeding disorders are all too familiar with. Here on the show today to share about her work and own journey with digestive problems is Breanne Dalton from the University of Southern Mississippi! The life-altering first-hand experiences that Breanne has had have enabled her to connect with little ones on a very deep level, and serve them with a real understanding and empathy. We celebrate Breanne and her heroic work, how she has turned her own needs around feeding tubes into a way to help others! In our conversation, we get to hear from Breanne about J-Tubes and G-Tubes, the important steps on her path to where she is today, her attitude towards normalizing feeding issues, and why food and eating are so central to the human experience and building relationships. So, to hear it all from our great guest, be sure to listen in with us today!

165: Executive Functioning Disorder for Pediatrics

October 20th, 2021  |  1 hr 6 mins

asha, ceu, continuing education, slp, speech language pathology, speech pathology, speech therapy

Guest: Sucheta Kamath - As SLP’s, we tend to focus on our specific area of expertise; language or speech production or cognition, for example. However, our guest on the show today, the wonderful Sucheta Kamath, believes that this lack of a big picture perspective is problematic and that there is a better way to do things. Sucheta has focused her career on the functioning of the brain as a whole, and the intersection between brain functioning, psychology, sociology, and education. After listening to this episode, you’ll have a better understanding of executive functioning, metacognition, and the variety of factors that impact these. Sucheta shares the strategies that she utilizes to help children master executive functioning, how to determine whether a child has executive dysfunctions, as well as a few stories which highlight what can go wrong when our executive function isn’t operating at its full capacity.

164: The One Where We Get Acquainted

October 13th, 2021  |  1 hr 7 mins

asha, ceu, continuing education, slp, speech language pathology, speech pathology, speech therapy

Guest: Erin Forward, MSP, CCC-SLP, CLC - This is our 164th episode and until now we have not had an episode dedicated to our backstory, and some of the silly things that also make up who we are, so we decided to spend today answering some of your questions and helping our audience getting to know us a little better! We still find some time for some serious thoughts on the life of an SLP but you can expect some talk about movies, our favorite character from Friends, which podcasts get us the most excited, and much more! Other questions we answer include how we first met, dealing with the demands of work and finding time for family, alternative career paths, and the best memories from our careers in speech therapy. So, if you have ever felt like you would like to get to know Erin and Michelle just a little bit better, and fill in some of the gaps, this is the show for you!

163: Freddie the Fly Buzzing By with Kimberly Delude

September 22nd, 2021  |  1 hr 1 min

asha, ceu, continuing education, slp, speech language pathology, speech pathology, speech therapy

Guest: Kimberly Delude, MA, CCC-SLP - As SLPs, there is only so much that we can do in the short weekly sessions we have with our patients. That is why the activities that kiddos do outside of our therapy rooms are so important to their speech and language development. The research on this is clear, but there is a major time lag between research and implementation. Fortunately, some SLPs are ahead of the curve, and in today’s episode, we are joined by one of them. Kimberly Delude, MA, CCC-SLP, realized early on in her career the importance of involving caregivers in their children’s SLP journeys. This realization inspired Kimberly’s second series of award-winning books, Fairy Tales 2.0 (her first was Freddie the Fly, which she was motivated to write when she noticed the lack of child friendly resources targeting social skills). In our discussion, we cover a variety of examples of how parents can incorporate speech and language activities in their pre-existing routines; a concept called functional carryover. Kimberly also shares some of the strategies she uses in her own sessions, including her take on narrative retelling and her use of self-rating feedback sessions.

162: All Things Speech Sounds and Dyslexia with the CLaSS Lab

September 15th, 2021  |  1 hr 4 mins

asha, ceu, continuing education, dyslexia, slp, speech language pathology, speech pathology, speech therapy

Guest: Dr. Kelly Farquharson - Scientists now know more than ever about dyslexia, but there are still a lot of misconceptions about this common learning difference. In this episode of the First Bite Podcast, we are debunking some popular myths surrounding dyslexia and language-based learning disabilities with today’s special guest, Dr. Kelly Farquharson! Kelly is a speech-language pathologist, associate professor, and director of the Children’s Literacy and Speech Sound (CLaSS) Lab at Florida State University. She studies the cognitive, linguistic, orthographic, and environmental factors that influence how children with speech and language disorders acquire literacy skills. Specifically, her research examines the intersection between speech sound production and literacy acquisition and, in this episode, she shares her unique insight with us about the very real intersection between speech sounds and dyslexia. Believe it or not, dyslexia is a phonological impairment disorder, not a visual one, which means that SLPs can and should play a very important role in its assessment and treatment! Listen in to learn more about why phonetics matter to clinicians, the importance of taking a code-based approach, and why strategies like eye tracking exercises aren’t necessarily helpful. We also touch on the value of both real word and non-word assessments, phonological input, and collaboration between SLPs and teachers, and Kelly emphasizes the need for patience, persistence, and advocacy when it comes to addressing dyslexia in your institution. This is a fascinating discussion that you won’t want to miss, so make sure to tune in today!

161: Gaining a Voice on the Playground

September 8th, 2021  |  1 hr 4 mins

asha, ceu, continuing education, slp, speech language pathology, speech pathology, speech therapy

Guest: Brianna Emanuel, MC, CCC-SLP - Children who use personal AAC devices face a unique challenge on the playground. When playing outside with their classmates, taking an AAC device with them means that device can easily get broken or lost but, without it, they have no means to communicate with their friends or teachers. Today’s guest set out to address this challenge in her local community. Brianna Emanuel is an inspiring SLP working in the Appleton Area School District in Wisconsin who is passionate about augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Together with Talk To Me Technologies (TTMT), she created a custom AAC board and had it installed at her local adaptive playground. This incredible action gives countless children a voice while they're playing with their peers, allowing nonverbal children to easily communicate without the use of personal AAC devices. In today’s episode, Brianna shares her journey to becoming an SLP and gives us a glimpse into the process of working with TTMT to design a custom AAC board with inclusion in mind. She also highlights the importance of coaching for parents and teachers and the benefits of long-term loans and trials when finding the right AAC device for yourself, your students, or your children, as well as how she handles the daily challenges that come with working with nonverbal children and children with special communication needs. Tune in today for a conversation full of passion, inspiration, and functional guidance with real-life superhero, Brianna Emanuel!

160: A Functional Pediatric How-To-Guide in Collaborating Between OT and SLP with Karen McWaters

September 3rd, 2021  |  1 hr 9 mins

asha, ceu, continuing education, slp, speech language pathology, speech pathology, speech therapy

Guest: Erin Forward, MSP CCC-SLP, CLC and Karen McWaters, MOT, OTR/L - In today’s show, Erin and Michelle are joined by Karen McWaters to discuss the very important topic of interprofessional collaboration. Healthcare professionals generally tend to silo themselves in their own disciplines, and according to the Autism Research Journal, there are four main barriers to communication which exist. This disconnect is very unfortunate because, as you will hear in this episode, collaboration across professions has the potential to be a very powerful force. Erin, who is an SLP, and Karen, who is an OT, worked concurrently with a child who, when he first started therapy, was communicating using signs. A year into his sessions, he was asking to be dressed up like the Pixar lamp and trying to find a dark room he could “light up!” With palpable joy, Karen and Erin share the story of this boy’s progress, which highlights the benefits that arose from their commitment to working together and learning from each other, and they offer valuable advice for anyone interested in doing the same.

159: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work for PFDs in Public Schools

August 25th, 2021  |  1 hr 11 mins

asha, ceu, continuing education, slp, speech language pathology, speech pathology, speech therapy

Guest: Dr. Kristen West, M.A., CCC-SLP - In today’s episode of First Bite, we are delighted to welcome back Dr. Kristen West, M.A., CCC-SLP, to discuss her work as an SLP in public schools. Kristen is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania and is currently also pursuing her educational doctorate at Slippery Rock University. In our conversation with Kristen, we delve into the challenges of setting up a program in public schools and how her journey led her to work in that space. We spend some time appreciating the role that advocacy plays when it comes to special education services in schools and how our host Michelle Dawson, in collaboration with Angie Neal, was able to pass a proposal that countless children in South Carolina will benefit from for years to come. Listening in, you'll hear Michelle break down the many aspects of working as an SLP in public schools and what she has learned throughout her career. She expands on the inextricable relationship between nutrition and learning, why cafeterias pose a unique challenge to children with PFDs, and why teamwork between nurses, teachers, and parents is essential. We loved having Kristen back on the show and we know you’ll find the conversation as informative and inspiring as we did! For all this and much more, join us today!

158: Childhood ACEs and the SLP

August 18th, 2021  |  1 hr 4 mins

asha, ceu, continuing education, slp, speech language pathology, speech pathology, speech therapy

Guest: Megan Branham, LMSW - In the past thirty years, our knowledge of trauma and its effects have progressed significantly, but there is still plenty of research that needs to be done to further deepen our understanding. In today’s episode of First Bite, we get together with Megan Branham to discuss adverse childhood experiences, known as ACEs. We unpack how our knowledge of trauma is integrated into the field of SLPs, pediatrics, specialists, and social workers and the many challenges inherent to that mission. Megan holds a Master's in Social Work and is a graduate of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Leadership for State-Based Advocates. She currently serves as VP Strategy for North, a media company based out of South Carolina. In our conversation with Megan, we discuss how ACEs first gained attention in the 1990s after new research found that these experiences led to a myriad of adverse health outcomes from learning disabilities to mental health problems, to chronic health conditions. We also discuss new insights into intergenerational trauma and how its biological impact alters human physiology on a cellular level, increasing the likelihood of adverse health outcomes and other issues. We cover a variety of topics that practitioners are confronted with regularly when it comes to dealing with trauma, like how to protect yourself when your personal trauma is triggered, and engaging in advocacy when you recognize policy failures. Join us for this fascinating and in-depth discussion on ACEs and how to be trauma-informed!