The Big Little Blog

When I was pregnant with my daughter, I had worked as an Early Intervention speech therapist for over ten years. I pictured myself playing on the floor all day, much like I do in therapy. Flash forward to today and being a mom is nothing like I pictured. Some days I’m low on energy and […]

It’s never too early to start reading to your baby. In fact, a recent study by Logan et al (2019) found that reading at least one daily exposes a child to 296,660 words by the time they are five years old! The key is to make the goal more about exploring the book together. Here […]

Updated CDC milestones for speech You may have heard the CDC updated the developmental milestones in 2022, including speech milestones. But what do these updates mean? And with different answers from speech therapists, pediatricians, and your neighbor down the street, no wonder it’s confusing trying to figure out if your little one “needs” speech therapy […]

Your toddler’s speech development One of the best things about my job as a pediatric speech therapist is sharing all of the amazing things that are happening “under the surface” with their little one’s speech and language development! Here’s why: It allows you to be majorly wowed by all that your little on is accomplishing […]

How babbling begins When we think of babies, we often think of their sweet little voices babbling away. But beyond being adorable, babbling is a huge milestone for speech development! During the first six months, baby’s sounds are primarily reflexive nature and aren’t under their control. This includes sounds like crying, burping, and coughing, Then, […]

I can’t understand what my toddler is saying! You’re not alone if you have you ever thought, “I can’t understand my toddler!” But here’s the thing- this can be totally normal!  In fact, norms on speech development tell us we expect to understand a 2-year-old about 50% of the time So how do we know […]

Gestures support speech development: You may have heard about the benefits of signing with your little one. Here are just a few: Gestures produced at 16 months were correlated with spoken vocabulary at 20 months (Capirci et al, 1996) Children who have more gestures for objects tend to meet their first 10 word milestone sooner (Acredolo & Goodwyn, […]

2-year-old speech milestones If you have a little one celebrating their second birthday, you know what a spunky, independent, joyful little person they are! So much is happening at this age with all of development and this post will give you a breakdown in milestones specific to speech and language. Understanding/Listening Talking Play and Social […]

The Ms. Rachel phenomenom My mom recently suggested I have a Ms. Rachel themed birthday party for my almost two year old and it hit me what a cultural phenomenon she has become! Screentime recommendations for littles: I have to start with the disclaimer that the CDC recommends no screentime for children 0-18 months, less […]