Dr. Lisa Dieker, a professor at the University of Kansas in the Department of Special Education, and Dr. Rebecca Hines, a professor at the University of Central Florida in the College of Community Innovation and Education, have worked with schools and parents across the country. Dr. Dieker directs a center in the Achievement and Assessment Institute called Flexible Learning through Innovations in Technology in Education (FLITE) and Dr. Hines directs several doctoral grants and the teacher preparation program. In this podcast, they take a fun and informal look at "practical" solutions from teachers, parents, and people with disabilities. The approach in this podcast is to provide fast, flexible thinking about "real" life problems. This podcast is not about the "legal" approach but their best advice from personal and professional experience.
In today's episode, Drs. Rebecca Hines and Lisa Dieker sit down with Jacqueline Towson, Ph.D., CCC-SLP. An Assistant Professor and Graduate Program Director in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Central Florida.
Lisa Dieker:
Welcome to practical access. I'm Lisa Dieker.
Rebecca Hines:
And I'm Rebecca Hines. And Lisa, I am excited about our guest today, we've had some collaborations, and I can't wait to talk about and get some advice, but give us an idea of who we're talking to and what to expect.
Lisa Dieker:
Well, I think today, we have to say Go Knights Charge On, we have one of our great colleagues here from the University of Central Florida with us, and is an expert in the area of Speech Language communication, and has a background in special ed. So we'll consider you a double threat, a triple threat, and also a very good friend. So Jackie Towson you want to give us a quick intro and
Jacqueline Towson:
Absolutely. So first of all, thank you both for having me here. Today, it was a really exciting opportunity. Anytime we can share good information with parents, it's a it's a, it's a good day. So I, as you said, I'm a duly certified speech language pathologists and early childhood special educator, I kind of came by that honest, I love language, and I love immersive language
Rebecca Hines:
Thanks, Jackie. And I'm excited because Jackie and I are currently working to put together an undergraduate program that kind of builds on her strengths and adds in our ex Ed side, so that our graduates would leave with a language disorder certificate as a part of our undergraduate program. And I know that our goal, Jackie, when we were thinking about this is, is to make sure that
Jacqueline Towson:
big questions today. So I think, you know, in my clinical experience, you know, the common thread often is, you know, kids have what what parents might refer to as a speech problem, Ai, really is a language problem coming up with the words. And I think that, as you said, it's kind of a thread amongst a lot of children with disabilities, where they, you know, might have a problem
Rebecca Hines:
Yeah, that's it? That's that's a good point. Do you you know, all of us on the on the podcast have children? I don't know if you're oj. And when my kids were little, I had a little bit of trouble distinguishing what was actually a speech or language issue. So what is the overlap? Or is there any if my kids don't pronounce certain letters the right way when they're young? You know,
Jacqueline Towson:
That's a great question, too. In fact, I was just developing some online content for one of my courses. And my one of my pages was titled language is not speech and other important things you need to know. So that's a really common misconception. speech is really the motor skills, the actual you know, where your brain is telling your mouth, your tongue, your cheeks, your lips,
Lisa Dieker:
one of the things I was kind of wondering is, you know, we've entered this world of zoom, Adobe, Google, Microsoft Teams. Let's see if I can get all those labels in there. What do you see as the challenges or advice maybe for teachers for kids who may be having hesitant to speak, even in a brick and mortar setting that might be helpful or any thoughts of how we address that better in
Jacqueline Towson:
I think online is presenting, you know, a unique set of circumstances we never thought we'd find ourselves in. So I would say it probably depends on the age. My favorite answer is, it depends. So when we're thinking about older children, you know, if you can always provide choices, I think anything where you can, you know, give kids an interactive opportunity. You know, I
Lisa Dieker:
Yeah. And then I was curious, you know, you Becky asked a great question. And I kind of thought about it in a different way. One of our guests mentioned to me that when this guest was young, didn't speak at all, and today is beyond brilliant. When When do we start to? Or how do we better identify when the lack of speech or communication facial body? I think with the rise of autism
Jacqueline Towson:
Yeah, for sure. So I think, you know, the guideline that is easiest for me to remember, is one year, one word, two years, two words. And that's a pretty easy thing to kind of get in your head. And what I mean by that is, by the time a child is one year, they should be using single words, even just a few of them. And by the time a child is two years old, they should be putting two
Lisa Dieker:
Well, and I think as teenagers and then I'll throw it back to you, Becky, you know, gesturing is overused is all I will say. word I agree with that. I think they go backwards. Three words. Two words, one word only gestures. But again, for those you have teenagers at home, I thought I'd add a little humor there.
Rebecca Hines:
Oh, Jackie, in our effort to keep it practical. Can you share like, you know, we've talked a lot about about what to look for as parents and we've talked about kind of some of the things that the early indicators, which I think is really interesting and helpful. So once kids do get to school and teachers realize there is a language issue, and even if the child is getting
Jacqueline Towson:
Okay. So, you know, there's there's a lot of thought about just experience of language, creating language rich environments, and we say this sometimes to parents, but it really applies to teachers as well talk a lot. Talk about what you're doing. If it's in if you're in contexts, that's really helpful for kids that really are struggling with understanding, if you have kids
Lisa Dieker:
I love that well. And you know, I love the fact you're just talking talking to kids, because I love to talk. So that's the easy part here. But I also think that that we do know, the more words kids experience, again, the better outcome and for kids with language issues, sometimes we assume they, you know, they need somebody to speak for them. And one of the thoughts that I would love
Jacqueline Towson:
Yeah, you guys ask really good question. So, you know, augmentative and alternative communication systems, you know, are where I would go first for child a, the one that doesn't have communication. And the really great thing nowadays is if you own a smartphone, you have access to apps that are readily available, and there's a plethora of, you know, kind of what we call low
Lisa Dieker:
seen as got mean
Jacqueline Towson:
appropriate language,
Lisa Dieker:
and nobody wants to hear it. I'm a bully. Yeah,
Jacqueline Towson:
that's, that's a little maybe outside my scope. You know, I taught preschool. So we always said, use your kind words, right? Um, but I think you know, sometimes giving, it's okay to express emotion, right, and letting kids feel valid in the fact that everything doesn't have to be happy and joyful all the time. But maybe there's a better choice of words that we can give them, you know, in those situations that might be a little more well
Lisa Dieker:
I don't really want to talk I sit in my chair, you know that that student who's reluctant speeches there it's not a language issue, but but it becomes one because they begin to be isolated and you know, sit by themselves from the playground to the lunchroom to the electives when they get into high school because they just don't feel the need to connect and I don't know, you
Jacqueline Towson:
Yeah, again, I think it depends on the child's motivation. I feel like I own one of those children who, you know, probably knows most of the answers but doesn't doesn't ever want to speak in public? And then I think sometimes it is a matter of referring to the right professionals, you know, is this something caused by anxiety? And, you know, can we help in that way? Is it
Lisa Dieker:
Thanks. Great, great answers. Thank you.
Rebecca Hines:
Yes. Thanks so much, Dr. Towson for taking a few minutes and talking with us today. I would like to wrap up my thoughts, encouraging our colleagues, Lisa, who are out there in schools, to remember to reach out to your, your your fellow Speech, Language practitioners expand our thinking about what we all need to be experts in. And that's why we invited Jackie here to talk today. And
Jacqueline Towson:
Great. It's been a ton of fun. Thank you so much.
Lisa Dieker:
Yeah, we appreciate it. And thanks. And if you have questions for us, please either send them to access practical on our Twitter account, or our Facebook account, @practicalaccess. Thank you again for joining us and we really enjoyed it. Thanks.
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