July 21, 2025 • 47 mins
Today, we’re diving into a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of parenting: effective communication. As parents, we all want our kids to express themselves confidently, but how do we teach them great communication skills?
Our guest today, Lenora Edwards, is a Board Certified Speech-Language Pathologist and Chief Knowledge Officer at Better Speech. She’s an expert in speech development, language learning, and effective communication, and she’s here to help parents understand how to foster strong communication skills in kids from a young age.
If you’ve ever wondered:✅ Is my child’s speech development on track?✅ How can I help my child feel more confident speaking?✅ What are the biggest mistakes parents make when communicating with their kids?…then this episode is for you!
"Make sure you grab your juice box, grab a snack, and let's jump into the conversation."
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Communication in Parenting
01:51 The Importance of Understanding Communication
08:02 Impact of Speech Development on Confidence
11:14 Navigating Professional Help for Speech Issues
21:25 Common Mistakes Parents Make in Communication
24:55 Setting Realistic Expectations as Parents
27:12 The Impact of Screens on Communication Development
27:41 The Impact of Screen Time on Communication Skills
30:30 The Importance of Real-Time Interaction
31:47 Consequences of Missed Social Development
34:06 Building Communication Skills Through Micro-Interactions
37:13 Encouraging Safe Social Interactions
41:15 Final Thoughts and Parenting Advice
47:03 Outro
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:10):
And welcome back to the Young God podcast.
I'm your host, Jay. Whether you're outside grilling,
mowing the lawn, changing dirty diapers, or maybe just maybe you
got a moment to sit back, relax and listen to your favorite
podcast. Thanks for being here.
And of course, thanks for tuningin and thanks for tuning.
Telling a friend as always, because I know you do that.
Today we're diving into a super important but often overlooked
part of parenting, communication.
(00:32):
As parents, we all want our kidsto express themselves
confidently, but how do we actually teach them great
communication skills? Well, my guest today, Lenora
Edwards, is a board certified speech language pathologist and
Chief Knowledge Officer at Better Speech, Not Better help
Better Speech. She's an expert in speech
development, language learning and effective communication, and
she's here to help parents understand how to foster strong
(00:54):
communication skills in kids from a young age.
So if you've ever wondered, is my child's speech development on
track? How can I help my child feel
more confident speaking? What are the biggest mistakes
parents make when communicating with their kids then?
Well, this episode's for you. And if you're one of my trolls
in the comments that's always commenting on my speech, my
speech dependent and whatnot, humble yourself and listen to
(01:16):
this episode. You'll learn something here.
So whatever. So make sure you grab your juice
box, grab a snack, and let's jump into the conversation here.
Lenora, welcome to the show first and foremost.
Thank you so much for having me,I love the idea of grabbing a
juice box. It just makes the makes you
listening to a podcast even better and it's possible to next
snack makes everything better. I completely agree with this.
(01:39):
Yeah, so before we get into all the details of speech
communication, I would love to hear what got you passionate
about helping kids, families andprofessionals improve the way
they communicate. That is a great question.
I have always been a very chattyperson.
I am definitely 100% Italian andI grew up in New York, so
(01:59):
communication was always something that was very well
known and very popular in my life.
But actually when I went to school, I started in nursing and
when I was in nursing school, itjust kind of aligned that it was
not my area of expertise. And the things that I really did
like favored more in line with communication.
So I started taking courses actually in sign language.
(02:21):
That was one of my first coursesand it just grew and grew from
there. And it's an amazing field.
And after school I got even further into the field of truly
understanding what communicationis.
So in the, on the surface we would think, oh, it's just
words. It is so much more than words,
and especially when you're a parent having to understand your
child, whether they are able to verbally communicate or they're
(02:44):
not, it's something you want to really deeply work at so that
you can better understand them. The better you can understand
them, the better you can supportthem.
And there's more than one way tocommunicate, right?
A lot of parents, I think we only think of kids, need to
communicate with the work, right?
But our kids communicate beyond that.
I work in mental health myself and so trying to help parents
(03:06):
understand that there's communication beyond just words
and verbalizing your, their behaviors are communicated
communication, the way they walkaround their body language,
Those are all different ways of communication, things that
they're doing. They communicate in a bunch of
different ways. So it's just really interesting
to have this conversation. And also, you're the first
speech language pathologist I'veever had on.
(03:27):
That's super exciting. A first time for everything,
still over 200 episodes later. So it's really cool.
So what made you so? You've always kind of been
passionate about it. It's something you've always
wanted to do. But why specifically?
Speech, language, mythology. So a lot of the time when we
hear and to your point about communication, there is a
varying statistic that says, well, I'll go on more of the
(03:51):
conservative side, 80 plus percent of how you communicate
is non verbal. So what does that mean?
That means like you had said, your body expression, there's
also your facial expression, there's expressing with your
energy. There's so much more that goes
into communication and we start picking it up because we are
designed to observe and explore and to learn from our
(04:14):
environment. So that's why parents of very
small children can hear the difference between the cries
because they know that their child is communicating and that
child, although not consciously aware of, well, this is, this is
me communicating. They are working to be
understood, to have their wants and their needs met.
(04:35):
So there's truly is so much morethat goes into it.
When we start to talk about the the surface level of
conversation and speech and language.
Speech is everything that is coming out of my mouth.
The clarity, the intelligibilityof how I speak language is
actually two parts. Language is the ability to
understand language. So think about everything that
(04:57):
you're listening to on this podcast.
You're not actually expressing it.
You're listening to it. You're absorbing it, you're
understanding it. So when we give our kids
commands such as, OK, let's go find our shoes and go, let's go
get our hat and gloves command and they actually are receiving
that information. They're processing through it
and then they have to carry out the task.
So there's that receptive part of language.
(05:19):
The expressive part is the language in which that I'm
producing. So the grammatically correct
format of our language, how we label things, that's part of
language. There's a lot of different
pieces. And when people say or they hear
that I'm a speech language pathologist or they'll speak
with somebody and they'll hear that their speech therapist that
go, oh, how's my speech? And there's really so much more
(05:42):
that goes into it. Because as a speech language
pathologist, I often tell peoplewe work from the neck and up
because in my field, we've worked with children that are
having swallowing difficulties. We work with children that are
building their oral motor skillsto be able to chew food from the
right to the left to be able to swallow safely.
We also work with how they're communicating.
(06:03):
And then as we continue, there'sthat cognitive component.
Are they able to effectively communicate their wants and
their needs? Then how are they reasoning?
How are they following sequences?
Are they able to understand stories?
And yes, we work with children, absolutely.
But we actually work all the wayup through geriatrics.
So my youngest in my entire career was probably about 30
(06:26):
weeks somewhere in there becausethey were premature baby.
And my oldest husband, 105, who was in a skilled nursing
facility. It is quite the range, right?
It's. Very quite the range, but it's
really, it's really interesting to hear, right?
Because you know, I'm an adult, I get a stutter from my dad and
(06:47):
then I have this underbite that I have from, well, just genetics
and whatnot. So my speech has always been
something that I especially do in a podcast, like those those
three things don't normally lineup.
And so it's definitely somethingthat's been in my comments.
Like why does he sound like that?
Why do you sound like that? And it's like people are, I'm
just like, well, if you pay attention and you listen to
(07:10):
where it comes off, you could tell it's a list and you could
tell that sometimes I stutter and chip over my words and that
happens. That happens.
It's OK. Like I'm not, I'm not
embarrassed by it. It's OK.
It's. Totally OK, But I love that
you're sharing as much as you dowith the world because it gets
to show people that wherever they are, they can still make an
impact, they can still help, andthey can still share incredibly
(07:33):
valuable information and insights and perspectives.
Yeah, 100%. I just always think of the song.
I think it's by, I want to say it's by Wu Tang, one song by Wu
Tang Clan and just of course is like I look funny, but hey, I'm
making money kind of thing. It's like, yeah, I sound funny,
but you know, I make money and stuff and things like that.
(07:54):
I'm making an impact. So it's really cool, but it's,
you know, the speech and language development, it is more
than just how things sound, right?
It's more than that. It's how you process the
language, how you receive the language and how you interpret
it and what you do from there. So it's, it's really
interesting. So how does the speech language
development overall impact a child's confidence, social
(08:15):
skills, and even future success as a whole?
I would say very much so. And a lot of the time,
especially when parents reach out to a speech therapist or us
at Better Speech and Better Speech as an online speech
therapy platform. So I love that you said the
distinction between better health and better speech.
When parents reach out to professionals and say, hey, I
(08:36):
think there's something wrong. I don't know what it is, but I
have questions about my child's speech.
A lot of the time, the first thing that I share with them is
they're not supposed to know. It's OK.
Follow your instincts. If you think something isn't
quite right, you're probably right.
Follow your instincts. That also being said, they'll
(08:59):
try. Some people will try and say I
have no idea or I think this is what's going on and they'll
share so much information, whichis a great thing.
And I always share that. It does not make them stupid.
It does not make them a poor parent.
It does not mean anything that people often equate to.
Now my child needs speech therapy.
Oh my God, what did I do to my child?
(09:20):
Because as a parent, there can feel such an inadequacy around
it that they did something wrongor something else occurred and
it's somehow the parents fault. So that's why I share what I
share immediately. They're not supposed to know
what happened or how to fix it because that's my area of
expertise. From their standpoint, they
(09:41):
didn't do anything wrong. And I think that's truly
important for parents to deeply understand.
When you come to a speech therapist or physical therapist
and occupational therapist, understand that the person that
you're reaching out to went for special training about this area
and we will offer insights and perspectives.
And that's a great thing becausethere can be such a stereotype
(10:03):
that goes along with it. And as a parent, you want to
show up for your child. You want to take care of your
child to the best of that your ability.
And if you're thinking that's something you did, did did this
occur and Oh my God, I'm a bad parent, it's not going to be as
supportive. So when you're reaching out to
professionals, it's really important that you have a good
connection, a good rapport with that professional.
(10:26):
Because what's going to happen from that?
You're going to build trust. You're going to feel like you
can ask your questions, you're going to feel like you can share
your stories, and then you can help your child even more
impactfully, ultimately allowingyou to effectively communicate
with them and them to effectively communicate with
you. And that effective communication
(10:46):
does a long way, right? Very much so, and.
That helps them in every area oflife.
And I love that you said that parents, we just need to trust
our instinct, right? If we feel something off, it
could be off. But there's also the part of it
too, that it's like if like in every parent's head, there's a,
there's a sting where it's like,well, you know, it, it, it'll
come around, come around kind ofthing.
It'll come around when it comes around kind of thing.
(11:08):
And not to like, worry about it too much, not to play into it
too much, not to intervene when maybe there's no intervention
needed kind of thing. That is definitely a beautiful
possibility. Also, that's what I love about
reaching out to professionals because you can absolutely say I
have some questions. I might be overthinking it, but
can you share some light with me?
Can you explain a few more details about this?
(11:29):
And especially when you reach out to a professional and you
kind of feel like that professional brushed you off a
little bit where they didn't really hear you.
They were just no, no, no, you're fine.
You're fine. You're, you're overthinking it.
You're an overbearing parent that sometimes isn't the most
effective, and unfortunately there are plenty of
professionals in the world that can be dismissive.
(11:50):
If you still feel like somethingelse is going on, absolutely
reach out to another professional.
Ask your questions and if you'renoticing, OK, now they've said
this, they've said a similar thing.
Now things are starting to make sense.
Allow yourself to build on that because you are absolutely
right. It could just be, you know what?
It might work out in time. My child didn't hit this exact
(12:13):
milestone at this exact point, and Oh my God, it's OK.
Children do develop in their owntime, and there's a huge
variation, especially between the ages of two to three.
There's a massive explosion of language.
Some kids start really, really early.
Some kids are a little bit later.
It's all OK and it's all where that child is individually.
(12:37):
And also you as the parent saying how else can I best
support my child? From 2:00 to 3:00, from 3:00 to
4:00 to 4:00 to 5:00, like it's a different child year over
year, it's completely different.Like there is so much rapid
change. It's like, yeah, that that 2
year old that turned 2 that's now turning 3 today, It's a
completely different child head to toe, inside and out.
(12:59):
And it's really cool to see, butit is, it's, it's also
important, like you mentioned here, like if you go to one and
they brush you off, it's OK to go to another.
There's nothing wrong with that.You know, if one you're not like
vibing with or connecting with, it's OK to try another one.
There's nothing wrong with that.It's OK if there's not a match
right off the bat. And then there is such that
broad range, right? It's one of those things that
(13:22):
it's OK to ask you. Don't.
Don't be afraid to ask. Very much so.
And then when you can ask questions, if you go in
thinking, Oh my God, I sound so stupid, Oh my God, there's
something wrong with me. I can't believe I don't know
this. Allow yourself to stop judging
yourself. Allow yourself to say, you know
what, I'm really curious. There's a lot in this world that
(13:42):
I do not know about, and child language development might be
one of them right now. My child's too.
And I don't know everything under the sun.
Let me ask questions because thebetter questions you ask, the
more information you can receiveand then understand where your
child is. And I love that you also
mentioned if you're not vibing with your, with your clinician
(14:05):
or your speech therapist. And this can be said for anybody
wherever they are. And I, I was on a podcast once
and she had framed it as date your speech therapist.
And what she was saying was feelthat connection with your speech
therapist. If it doesn't feel like a good
connection for you or your child, to allow yourself to
(14:27):
still stay with that clinician and then start to look for
another one. The first speech therapist that
you work with, whether it's a speech therapist or an
occupational therapist or a physician, whatever it is, might
not be your last. And that's OK.
Allowing yourself to say, OK, this is where I am right now.
I'm going to keep looking. I'm going to look for a
different occupational therapistthat might be able to offer
(14:48):
different insights or something else in that realm.
Whether whatever field you're in, it really lets you become
the detective and also experience being educated by
other professionals to best support you and your children.
Let's say a random question here.
Let's say the parent can recognize that the, let's say
(15:09):
speech, the SOP is really good for the kids specifically, but
there's just something really off between the parent and the
SOP. So the parents can really say,
OK, they do really well with them.
They're making progress. Like things are good, they're
helpful. But then when it comes to me,
they're just, we just, there's just something, something there
that's, you know, broken or justnot working between us two.
(15:32):
Maybe they push me too hard. Maybe they, you know, call me
out too much or whatever it is. How can what?
What if a parent's in that situation?
Kind of what? What could they do?
I would say to ask better questions, as in if for example,
let's say your child is going for outpatient speech therapy
and they come out and they had the best time in therapy.
(15:54):
The things that you want to notice is great.
They have a great connection. My child feels safe with them.
My child actually feels so comfortable that they can talk
with them. This is a great thing.
They played games. Cool.
What else did they work on? You want your clinician to be
able to share with you what was worked on, why they did that
(16:15):
approach, and then how to implement it at home.
And it's not, especially as new clinicians emerge, especially in
2025. And keep in mind that I
graduated in 2009, so my communication skills with a
parent are very different than when I first started out.
Sometimes new clinicians that are coming out of school and
(16:36):
they're talking to somebody who clearly is older, they can feel
like, Oh my God, they're thinking that I don't know what
I'm talking about because I'm soyoung, or they don't know why
I'm doing what I'm doing. And now I have to justify it.
So you're working with a clinician that might have their
own insecurities that might still be working to build their
skill set. So when you're talking with the
(16:58):
clinician, ask your questions tothe best of your ability in a
non judgmental way. They're not wanting to say fix
your child in one second, their child's perfect goodbye.
They're not going to do that. And it's also important to set
your expectations of this is going to take more than one
session. This is going to take commitment
(17:18):
and dedication and this is goingto be an experience over.
It might be two months, it mightbe 12 months, you might be with
that clinician for three years, depending on where your child
is. Allow yourself to have clear
expectations of what you're wanting with that connection
with your clinician for your child and for you, and then also
(17:38):
know what to do when you go home.
You want to see that carry over.You want to see that building of
that skill set for your child. It's not just on your clinician
to work with your child for 30 minutes or 45 minutes once a
week and then boom, they're done.
You need to be educated properlyby your clinician to implement
(17:59):
it at home, so the better questions you can ask your
clinician and to have that open conversation will allow that
fluid communication between the two of you.
Well, you recommended this to melast week.
Here's what we did. What are your thoughts?
Keep me posted. Y'all, that communication is
really important rather than open line asking those
questions, knowing how to implement it at home.
(18:21):
Those things go a long way because right, the, the kid may,
the kids only working with that,with that provider like one hour
a week, right? Where are they spending all the
other hours? Spending all the other hours at
home, right? So you have to be on the same
page. You have to know what's going
on. You have to be able to follow up
with it. And it's really important to be
involved in that as a parent very much.
You don't. One of the things I was going to
(18:45):
actually share, so all the work that I do is online.
So sometimes I will see school students online, sometimes I
will see private students, but they're again online.
Allow, or if that's happening, allow them to record the
session. And when you record the session,
it's not for social media purposes.
(19:06):
What recording that session doesis that lets you go back and
review, especially when you're with a clinician, They have a
finite amount of time to work with that parent, to work with
that child. And sometimes this tort of
information is coming out of your clinician to you and you
want to try and get as much as possible.
When you record it, you can actually go back and review it.
(19:28):
You can take notes, you can think from a different
perspective. And you don't have to rely on
this burst of information that somebody gave me in 3 minutes
and try to remember all of it. When you record it, you get the
ability to go back and review. And that's a great thing.
Not only do you get to go back and review, your significant
other gets to go back and review.
And then you also if you have a babysitter that's around, if you
(19:50):
have grandparents that are around, they can see what else
is going on and they can implement the strategies also.
That's really helpful. Now we have continuity across
the board and we have that ongoing literal progress of
saying. Here's where your child was last
week. Here's where they are this week,
here's where they are. You get that record.
(20:12):
And that's a great thing becauseyou yourself get to see that
progress and not go when how long ago were they doing that?
When was that? No, you actually have the
recording now. You get to see it clearly.
Continuity I think is one of thebiggest aspects here, to make
sure that everyone's on the samepage in helping the kid.
(20:33):
Everyone that's involved is involved, even if that's
grandparents who are around oncea week.
It's important for them to know so then they are able to help
and be supportive there, right? The more support, the better,
and we're kind of leading in right into the next thing.
I kind of want to talk about here that a lot of parents, we
unknowingly discourage our kids from speaking up, but I feel
like there's a lot of mistakes we also make along the way,
(20:54):
right? We put them in these programs,
right? Like speech, speech, speech
therapy or something. And it's like, okay, that's
gonna fix my kid, or we put themhere and that's good, or OT and
that's going to fix them here, that's going to fix them here
and that's going to fix them here.
So we're outsourcing a lot of things, but at the same time,
you know, it's, we're not helping them as much as we could
be. So along with not having the
continuity, are there any other mistakes that parents typically
(21:17):
make when it comes to implementing the things they're
learning in speech or when it comes to teaching communication
in general? That's a really great question
and I love what you shared. You know, I'm going to bring
them here and it's going to fix it.
I'm going to bring them there and it's going to fix it.
Understanding that your child isnot broken.
Your child in maybe having some difficulties or maybe navigating
(21:40):
a certain obstacle, but they're certainly not broken.
And you as the parent are on that journey with them to help
them, to support them, to guide them, to learn, Especially
because when we outsource, let'ssay, OK, I'm going to go, I'm
going to have them go to speech therapy and I'm going to sit in
(22:00):
the waiting room or they're on with the, they're on with the
clinician. I don't have to worry about it.
And parent sits down or a parentgoes to do something else.
It's really important to be present with them because what's
happening and a lot of people, and it is a very big demand on
parents, but you want that parent to have the bandwidth to
(22:23):
be present with them. It doesn't mean that it has to
be boring. It doesn't mean that you're
chained to the computer now because now your kid needs
speech therapy and now you're bored out of your mind too.
You want to be powerfully present because you are setting
the example to be with your child.
If you want your child to have that progress and to make that
(22:45):
progress, you're in it with them.
You're holding their hand, you're going through it also,
and that's something to really notice as an experience.
You get to be your child's biggest supporter.
You get to be your child's cheerleader.
At the same time, it can be verydemanding and very exhausting.
And when that's happening, you as a parent want to notice that
(23:09):
and say, OK, we need to shift some gears.
We need to find a way to allow myself to get that break because
I'm not being present with my child.
I'm not enjoying this. I need a break and a lot of the
time parents don't realize, especially in our culture of
2025 and the hustle culture and be hooked up on caffeine for 30
(23:32):
hours of the day and get your high quality 8 hours of sleep
and be present all the time. The the expectations that the
culture in the media are blasting on repeat are
extraordinarily difficult to keep up.
Allow yourself as the parents tosay, what do I want to do with
my child? As in, how do I want to support
(23:53):
them? How do I want to show up for
them, and how do I want to show up for myself?
When I put my head down on that pillow, I want to be able to say
I did a great job today. I'm proud of me.
I did enough. I was present, I gave myself
breaks and I was able to supportboth my child and myself, and
that's a great thing. Start setting your own
(24:16):
boundaries. Start setting your own
expectations of what it looks like and let them be true to you
and not because somebody told you this is what that parent
does. What do you do as a parent?
How do you want to show up? What do you want to be?
Remember I. Think the expectation piece is
like the biggest part of it, right?
Like tampering your own expectations.
(24:37):
Tampering the expectations you have for your kids kind of
thing, and not over pushing the expectations, not overdoing what
you're expecting from them on any given day, not overdoing it
on your own personal expectations on what you can and
can't do every single day. You're only one person, right?
There's only one kid. Everyone has the same amount of
time in the day, right? And your time is stretched
(24:57):
between work and kids and all the things that you do on a
regular basis. Very much so, I think something
to really notice. And I've worked with many
coaches over my life and personal growth coaches and
speaking coaches of all sorts. And this was all outside of
school. This is not in school.
And one of them pointed out to me that I was moving the goal
(25:20):
posts all the time. So when I would reach a goal,
I'd still extended another 5 yards.
So I'd never actually reach the goal.
There has to be this conversation between you and you
that says I'm doing enough, I'm doing a good job taking care,
I'm doing the best that I can right now.
The tools and the time and the knowledge and the energy
(25:43):
available to me. I'm doing enough because if you
look out into the world, if you are scrolling on social media,
if you are consuming every commercial and every product
they're pushing on you, you willnever feel like enough.
It's so important to be able to set your own goals, your own
standards, your own values and notice how you are doing and to
(26:05):
be kind to yourself, especially because the voices in your head
can really dominate on some days.
Allow yourself to have that experience with yourself that
you can communicate better with yourself and then you
communicate better with your child because now it's family
based. Now it's just between you.
It's not you defending yourself to this culture or you saying
(26:27):
let me move the goal another 5 yards, let me move the goal
another 5 yards between you and you, You and your child, you and
your family. Leave the culture out of it.
Touched on on screens and media there and so I wanted to I just
something I really wanted to touch on here too.
So our our kids today are spending a lot of time more and
(26:48):
more time on screens and less time actually talking to each
other. There's a lot of typing.
There's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of non speech, but
communication at the same time, right?
So how from what you've seen, how is all the screens and kind
of the screen takeover affectingspeech and communication
(27:10):
development for kids just kind of overall?
Overall it I would say drastically, significantly and a
lot of the time people. For the better, for the worse.
For the worse depending on what's going on.
So let's isolate an event. 2020 was a cluster, and a lot of kids
(27:31):
ended up in front of the screen,standably so.
Parents had to work, parents hadto keep food on the table and a
roof over their head, and screens became the babysitter.
Completely understandable. As a result, what happened was a
lot of those children are now inspeech therapy.
When a screen is involved, even if you're watching an
(27:53):
educational show, and there are plenty of phenomenal educational
shows out there, the difference is passive communication versus
active communication. So when you're watching a show
like Louie or something, when you're watching that show,
you're literally seeing people communicate or the characters
communicate, the characters problem solving, the characters
(28:14):
are finding ways to talk kindly to each other, but they don't
understand really what's happening because they don't get
the ability to execute on it. So when you and I are
interacting, even in this conversation, yes, completely a
screen is involved, but we're having a back and forth
conversation. You can hear my tone, you're
watching my facial expression. Same goes for you.
(28:36):
When children do that, whether it's on the screen or when
they're playing, they're gettingto use their communication
skills, they're problem solving in real time.
And what's in short, what's happening is your brain or their
brain is firing and wiring in a completely different way.
And that's a great thing. We want children to grow.
We want them to problem solve. We want them to have problems so
(28:59):
that they can know how to solve them, how they can navigate
through them, how else they can interact with other children.
When we're watching something, yes, there is a communication
component. It just happens to be a passive
1. And children aren't getting the
ability. They're doing a lot of
receiving, they're not getting the ability to express language.
(29:20):
And it's really important that they are able to express
language and when we're talking.So even a lot of the time,
especially when people have verysmall children, we will say such
as newborns or one year olds, 2 year old, we want to communicate
with them on their level. Which means if I have a 2 year
old that comes for speech therapy, and this is if I was in
(29:42):
person or when I'm sharing with a parent, you want to be on
their level because what you're getting, their eyes are getting
all of this. They're getting my facial
expression, they're getting my mouth movement, they're getting
this engagement, their understanding that I'm really
excited because they can see that I'm really excited.
What happened when there was a mask involved is we took away
(30:03):
half our face. And when somebody goes, I'm
really excited and they can't see what excited looks like.
It's a communication breakdown for them.
They don't, they can't process it because they, they missed a
huge chunk of information. So it's really important that we
are going back as clinicians, that teachers are actively
engaged, people are paying attention because these children
(30:26):
missed vital communication and their brain still developed,
which means even though guidelines changed, we have
primal wiring that has evolved for years upon years upon
decades upon decades and generations upon generations.
It did not stop evolving just because somebody said these
(30:49):
guidelines are different and it's important that people
understand the brain is still developing and we need to offer
that input so that brain can develop that I.
Had not thought of it that way at all.
Cuz I've noticed more and more this school year, more than any
school year in the past, the past couple years since
reopening and things like that, that this year there's just
(31:13):
something being like that five year mark, right?
And now that we're back in the school for about 2 1/2, three
years now, I think this is the second full year that we're all
back, everyone's back, right? And there's just, there's so
much missing with these kids at every state high school, middle
school, elementary school, but especially at that higher
elementary age, that 4th, 5th grade age today, because those
(31:37):
were the kindergarten first, first graders when they were
first going into when everythinghappened.
So they got they, this happened to them at the worst possible
time, right? The worst time.
And they, they missed out on, onso much social development.
They missed out on so much of this language development that
you're talking here. And then I didn't even think
about the part. I've never thought about the
part where it's like, OK, they had to learn emotions and
(32:00):
communications just based off half a face and verbal tones and
things like that. And now they just, they don't
know, right? They don't know that, oh, that
person's actually joking, Because I can see on their face
that they're joking or that person, they're just
communicating this way because they're, they're just, maybe I
can see that they're mad. They don't know what that
frustration looks like. They don't know what that
annoyance looks like on other people's faces.
(32:22):
They don't know what these things necessarily look like as
they get older because they missed two years of it
essentially, right? Those are so really important.
Two years. None of these, none of our kids
are getting back, right? Like if they were in 8th grade
and now they're in 10th or, you know, you know, two years later,
now they're in 10th to 11th going back to school, finishing
up high school now, right years later.
And it's just the aftermath, theconsequences that we're seeing
(32:44):
of our own actions, right? The consequences that we're
seeing of our own actions, you know, really puts things into
perspective of that whole situation and whatnot.
But just the, the aftermath thatit has has in our kids.
It's like, man, we, we're, we'reyears behind time didn't stop
moving forward. Like you're saying here, brain
development didn't stop, but we we now have a generation of kids
that are when they turn 18 and they graduate high school
(33:07):
because, you know, no kids are held back anymore anywhere for
worse. I think, I think that should
still be a thing. But you know, it's not my
choice, but neither here nor there.
But you know, our kids are goingto be graduating over the next
however many years and they're all going to be behind a couple
years in so many aspects, right?So many aspects.
And then of course you have Gen.Z and Gen.
(33:28):
Alpha coming up with their own slang and whatnot.
And you know, every generation does that.
So that's not anything differentor anything, but it's just you,
you see these kids and there's going through all of it and it's
like, man, they're just, they'rejust a struggle because they're,
they're just behind. You can just tell all these kids
are just behind. Some of them are OK, some of
(33:49):
them are OK. But then the majority of them
are just be they have quote UN quote behavior problems or they
have quote, UN quote emotional, you know, mental health
problems, right when it's just they're they're just behind
developmentally. Maybe we should have held all
the kids back a couple years. It kind of kind of reset.
Been a perspective for sure. Especially think of how many
(34:10):
experiences they missed out. I mean, for example, you
probably played on the playground when you were very
little. You probably went for swim
lessons when you were little. Or hey, can they come out and
play? They, they, they lost it.
They didn't even have the choiceto have the experience.
That's gone forever now too. It feels like, like that's just
not even a real public possibility because of public
safety and health safety, healthconcerns, like that's just
(34:33):
completely off the table now. It takes very, it's just kind of
areas like there'll be little pockets in different areas where
it's like that's a normal kind of thing still, or that's like
renormalized. But like, yeah, we have to
renormalize that. We also have to get become much
more safer as a whole. Very much, yeah.
I think also, you know, so keep in mind, I was born in 85.
(34:57):
Calling for pizza was a thing when I was growing up, going and
renting a movie was a thing. So as a child, I would go to the
movies. I'd go to Blockbuster with my
dad or my mom, or I would go andpick up the pizza with my dad or
my mom. I was expected to interact with
that person. I'd like to get this movie or
(35:20):
I'd like to order a large pizza and children don't have this
anymore. So a lot of the time I will
encourage parents to offer them micro experiences of having
interaction in a Safeway becauseso many kids.
I know one kid, he told me he would not go to the grocery
store with his mom anymore because she had to run and go
(35:42):
get like a box of cereal. And she left him at the checkout
counter and he didn't know what to do with the cashier.
Like, it's very normal experience for the cashier to be
like, OK, I'll wait, no problem,I'll keep scanning.
But the kid didn't know how to hold a conversation or feel OK,
(36:03):
that he was perfectly safe standing in a grocery store.
His mom was coming right back. So he started to refuse to go to
the grocery store. So we're seeing kids quite
literally separate out these very appropriate experiences of
being in common community placesbecause of discomfort.
So now when we say, oh, I'm going to the grocery store, do
(36:23):
you want to come? No, I'm good.
I'm going to stay home and play a game.
The parent doesn't necessarily realize or understand it's
because they don't want to have that social interaction.
And while there are plenty of people who might not love social
interaction, but it's still verymuch a part of our lives.
We are social creatures. We are constantly looking for
(36:44):
interaction because we're designed that way.
We can have safe interactions. So a lot of the time I'll say to
parents, if you, even if your kid knows where the cereal is,
have them go up and ask the person in the grocery store,
excuse me Sir, what aisle can I find?
The Lucky Charms have that interaction in a Safeway.
You're not sending them out on the corner and saying, good
(37:05):
luck, kid hitchhike home. You're in the grocery store with
them. They need to have safe
experiences where they can go and speak for themselves in a
Safeway and build that skill set.
It's so important because we don't talk to our coffee person
anymore. We don't order a pizza anymore.
We don't even have to go to the cashier anymore and have a
(37:26):
social interaction. We don't even need to see our
mailman if we're not out there. There's so many ways that we are
quite literally separating the social interaction.
And then children don't know what to do, so they think it's a
bad thing. It's not a bad thing to talk to
people in the grocery store. You're not getting in the car
with them. You're saying hello, how are
you? There's very appropriate, safe
(37:47):
ways to practice the art of communication, to practice that
engagement where they can learn.It's safe to speak for myself.
It's safe to speak up. Things are those little
opportunities everywhere, right?And you're framing on this micro
interaction, you know, and it's very simple.
(38:07):
Go and ask the person at the groceries.
I think grocery stores are a great place, right?
Or anywhere where there's like food involved, right?
Because then you have to, you'remotivated because you got to
eat. And if you tell your kid you're
5 year old, well, you're not going to get food unless you
order it yourself kind of thing.You can kind of force their hand
(38:29):
a bit. Yeah.
Now they have to, well, they know how to read or they know
how to point and say, I want thethat looks like a burger and
right, they know how to read thepictures more or less, maybe not
the words, but as I get older, you know, you can continue to
reinforce that. Hey, you, you order you.
Yeah, you order for you and you order for you and all order for
me. And you know, we'll all order
(38:49):
for ourselves kind of thing. I'm not doing it for you
anymore. You have to parents, we have to
like realize like we have to stop and like Target always has
stickers, right? And so if my daughters want
stickers, they're like, Daddy, can you?
Nope. I'm not asking.
I don't want a sticker. You want a sticker.
I'm not going to ask if you wanta sticker.
Yeah. And it forces them to ask.
Very much so, and that's a good thing.
(39:11):
No, it is good. It's good.
It's good for our social interaction.
It's good for them to be taken even if they don't want to be
taken. Yeah, they're like children.
You know, I'm very kind of hard nosed on this.
But like, if they're children and they don't want to do
something, you have to remember that you're also the parent.
And you can kind of tell them what to do because, you know,
you're the parent. And if they don't want to do it,
(39:31):
kind of too bad. Whether you want to go forcing
them or encouraging them, and either you're going to do this
now or OK, I'm going to wait till you're ready.
Whatever tone you want to chooseis the right tone for you as
that parent for you with that child.
That's entirely up to you. And that's the art of parenting.
(39:51):
You get to choose either way. I completely agree with you.
Oh, if you want the sticker, OK,I'm going to wait until you're
ready to go talk to them and give them, giving them some kids
just need a moment to process sothat they don't have a meltdown.
OK, We're going to sit and wait.I'm going to and I'm going to
sit down on this little Gray bench and I'm going to wait for
you to go up and talk and ask for your standard because it's
safe. They don't need to have a
(40:15):
meltdown. They don't need to have this
massive disconnect. You, the parent, are right
there. And that's what they need to
know is that I can do things in a Safeway and I can speak for
myself to. Build up their skills to be able
to do that and build up their confidence to be able to go and
do it. You know, different approaches
(40:36):
are for different people. I mean, I think mine's more of a
data approach. It's like, well if you want it,
you better go do it kid cuz you better go figure it out kind of
thing for sure. Well, that's a great thing
because that's also the difference between fathers and
mothers or masculine figures andfeminine figures.
Children respond differently. And This is why people tell me
my child's so different when herdad's around.
(40:58):
My child's so different when I'maround.
If there is a difference, it's OK.
How you communicate with your child, it's OK.
Before we jump into the dad's own here, is there anything from
the conversation to kind of wrapit up on your end that you want
to mention or Are you ready to jump into the dead zone?
The only thing that I would loveto mention is that if you, like
I said earlier, if you have concerns about your child's
(41:20):
speech and language, now that we've had this great
conversation with, yes, there's speech intelligibility, my child
can't produce their Rs or my gosh, my child can't tell a
story at all. What do I do about it?
Reach out to a speech language pathologist.
It's something that we are experts at helping people with
and with the platform that I work with, with Better Speech,
(41:41):
you can reach out to us and we can match you with a clinician
as early as the next day. So sometimes if you go to an
outpatient clinician or an outpatient clinic, they'll say,
OK, great, we'll put you on the wait list for three months when
you have the availability that we have a better speech because
of the way that we provide our services, we don't have this
overhead cost component that hasto be included.
(42:02):
Our sessions are very affordableand also you don't have to wait
three months. Time is of these essence.
Time is so important. Time is on your side.
Use it to your advantage and reach out to people who can
support you. Cool, cool thing here to talk
about, cool concept, really coolidea.
(42:24):
Getting it more on demand, more available.
That's always helpful. You know, the quicker you can
get to the resources, the better.
All right, into the Dad zone. So the dad zone is a series of
four questions here that are a bit fun to help us just kind of
come down from the conversation a little bit because sometimes
we get really deep into it. This just helps kind of bring it
to that light hearted aspect andthe people they live for the dad
(42:45):
zone that they tell me. So the first question here is,
and you're Italian, so please don't get offended by this
question. Does pineapple go on pizza?
Oh no. OK, see, every.
So I have another lady. Her name's Erica Diang Cargillo.
OK. And she runs a pizza shop.
I'll actually have to send you the address because if you're in
New York, they're on the East Coast.
(43:06):
This, this is somewhere really classic.
They're in New Jersey, but it's like this old Italian pizza
shop, D Ark's Pizza. That's.
Pineapple. Maybe it's in Pennsylvania, but
I will send it to you so that you can look it up.
You'll have to make a trip out because this pizza absolutely
looks amazing. If I was on the East Coast, I'd
be there. So you heard it now it's 2
Italian women that have said pineapple does not go on pizza.
So take their word for it. People who are three people dead
(43:29):
or alive that you would invite to a dinner party.
Oh. That's such a good 1-3 people
that I would invite would be JimRohn.
I would definitely Wayne Dyer beanother one and Maya Angelou.
And then what is your guilty pleasure food?
Gosh, I love food. I would say making my own ice
(43:52):
cream. You have a Ninja Creamy.
I do not. However, I do have a hack for
it. You know how if you, let's say
for example, you like Oreo ice cream and for some meeting like
me, it drives me bananas when there is not enough Oreos in my
cookies and cream ice cream. So I will go and I will get a
(44:13):
gallon of see I, I usually like till I'm the hook and it'll be
vanilla bean. And then I will go get Oreos and
I will bring it home and I will put my ice cream in the mixer
and then I will break up all theOreos that I want to go in that
ice cream. And that way I make my own ice
cream in a very fast way. That's.
(44:35):
Really cool, I got my got my wife one for Christmas.
That's awesome. We've used it quite a few times
and made some interesting concussions there.
I'm on a new like fitness program, so I like to put in if
I was to make some, I haven't made some in a while since I
started, but if I was to make some, you can mix in pretty much
whatever you want. So I can mix in like protein,
scoop protein powder into it andlike make my own sweet little
treat there. I don't know how it works, but
(44:57):
it's really cool. Last question here, what is one
piece of advice that you would offer to a young parent?
Let's say they're 18 to 22 yearsold, just starting out their
parenting journey. One thing that my dad did, my
parents were not that young whenthey had me, but one thing that
my parents did was every single night they touched me into bed.
(45:18):
And something that my dad would say every single night was what
your mind can conceive and believe you can achieve.
And one of my areas of expertiseis in the subconscious
reprogramming components. And when you tell kids positive
things, when you tell yourself positive things before bed and
they rest in those positive things all night long, you will
(45:43):
fire and wire that mindset of positive thinking, resilient
thinking, being able to problem solve effectively, helping them
take care of themselves whereverthey go in their life.
And that to me is an amazing idea of them.
So to parents who are 18 and 19,I come into bed and offer
(46:05):
something positive and sincere to them at night.
Well, Lenora, this has been so valuable, I think every parent
listening is gonna put their headphones away with practical
tips to help their kids become better communicators.
For parents who wanna learn more, get resources, or speak to
a speech to language pathologistfor their kids, they can find
(46:27):
you more, of course. betterspeech.com.
That's pretty simple. BETTBETTERSPE ech.com.
Or they can reach out at betterspeechslp@gmail.com.
Correct. You got it.
Yes, betterspeech.com would probably be the best one to to
(46:48):
reach out to them. Perfect.
So listeners, if you enjoy this conversation, please share this
episode with another parent who could use these insights today.
Make sure to follow, subscribe, leave a review.
It helps us bring more incredible guests into the show.
And until next time, keep talking, keep listening, and
keep helping your kids find their voice.
And welcome back to the Young God podcast.
I'm your host, Jay. Whether you're outside grilling,
mowing the lawn, changing dirty diapers, or maybe just maybe you
got a moment to sit back, relax and listen to your favorite
podcast. Thanks for being here.
And of course, thanks for tuningin and thanks for tuning.
Telling a friend as always, because I know you do that.
Today we're diving into a super important but often overlooked
part of parenting, communication.
(00:32):
As parents, we all want our kidsto express themselves
confidently, but how do we actually teach them great
communication skills? Well, my guest today, Lenora
Edwards, is a board certified speech language pathologist and
Chief Knowledge Officer at Better Speech, Not Better help
Better Speech. She's an expert in speech
development, language learning and effective communication, and
she's here to help parents understand how to foster strong
(00:54):
communication skills in kids from a young age.
So if you've ever wondered, is my child's speech development on
track? How can I help my child feel
more confident speaking? What are the biggest mistakes
parents make when communicating with their kids then?
Well, this episode's for you. And if you're one of my trolls
in the comments that's always commenting on my speech, my
speech dependent and whatnot, humble yourself and listen to
(01:16):
this episode. You'll learn something here.
So whatever. So make sure you grab your juice
box, grab a snack, and let's jump into the conversation here.
Lenora, welcome to the show first and foremost.
Thank you so much for having me,I love the idea of grabbing a
juice box. It just makes the makes you
listening to a podcast even better and it's possible to next
snack makes everything better. I completely agree with this.
(01:39):
Yeah, so before we get into all the details of speech
communication, I would love to hear what got you passionate
about helping kids, families andprofessionals improve the way
they communicate. That is a great question.
I have always been a very chattyperson.
I am definitely 100% Italian andI grew up in New York, so
(01:59):
communication was always something that was very well
known and very popular in my life.
But actually when I went to school, I started in nursing and
when I was in nursing school, itjust kind of aligned that it was
not my area of expertise. And the things that I really did
like favored more in line with communication.
So I started taking courses actually in sign language.
(02:21):
That was one of my first coursesand it just grew and grew from
there. And it's an amazing field.
And after school I got even further into the field of truly
understanding what communicationis.
So in the, on the surface we would think, oh, it's just
words. It is so much more than words,
and especially when you're a parent having to understand your
child, whether they are able to verbally communicate or they're
(02:44):
not, it's something you want to really deeply work at so that
you can better understand them. The better you can understand
them, the better you can supportthem.
And there's more than one way tocommunicate, right?
A lot of parents, I think we only think of kids, need to
communicate with the work, right?
But our kids communicate beyond that.
I work in mental health myself and so trying to help parents
(03:06):
understand that there's communication beyond just words
and verbalizing your, their behaviors are communicated
communication, the way they walkaround their body language,
Those are all different ways of communication, things that
they're doing. They communicate in a bunch of
different ways. So it's just really interesting
to have this conversation. And also, you're the first
speech language pathologist I'veever had on.
(03:27):
That's super exciting. A first time for everything,
still over 200 episodes later. So it's really cool.
So what made you so? You've always kind of been
passionate about it. It's something you've always
wanted to do. But why specifically?
Speech, language, mythology. So a lot of the time when we
hear and to your point about communication, there is a
varying statistic that says, well, I'll go on more of the
(03:51):
conservative side, 80 plus percent of how you communicate
is non verbal. So what does that mean?
That means like you had said, your body expression, there's
also your facial expression, there's expressing with your
energy. There's so much more that goes
into communication and we start picking it up because we are
designed to observe and explore and to learn from our
(04:14):
environment. So that's why parents of very
small children can hear the difference between the cries
because they know that their child is communicating and that
child, although not consciously aware of, well, this is, this is
me communicating. They are working to be
understood, to have their wants and their needs met.
(04:35):
So there's truly is so much morethat goes into it.
When we start to talk about the the surface level of
conversation and speech and language.
Speech is everything that is coming out of my mouth.
The clarity, the intelligibilityof how I speak language is
actually two parts. Language is the ability to
understand language. So think about everything that
(04:57):
you're listening to on this podcast.
You're not actually expressing it.
You're listening to it. You're absorbing it, you're
understanding it. So when we give our kids
commands such as, OK, let's go find our shoes and go, let's go
get our hat and gloves command and they actually are receiving
that information. They're processing through it
and then they have to carry out the task.
So there's that receptive part of language.
(05:19):
The expressive part is the language in which that I'm
producing. So the grammatically correct
format of our language, how we label things, that's part of
language. There's a lot of different
pieces. And when people say or they hear
that I'm a speech language pathologist or they'll speak
with somebody and they'll hear that their speech therapist that
go, oh, how's my speech? And there's really so much more
(05:42):
that goes into it. Because as a speech language
pathologist, I often tell peoplewe work from the neck and up
because in my field, we've worked with children that are
having swallowing difficulties. We work with children that are
building their oral motor skillsto be able to chew food from the
right to the left to be able to swallow safely.
We also work with how they're communicating.
(06:03):
And then as we continue, there'sthat cognitive component.
Are they able to effectively communicate their wants and
their needs? Then how are they reasoning?
How are they following sequences?
Are they able to understand stories?
And yes, we work with children, absolutely.
But we actually work all the wayup through geriatrics.
So my youngest in my entire career was probably about 30
(06:26):
weeks somewhere in there becausethey were premature baby.
And my oldest husband, 105, who was in a skilled nursing
facility. It is quite the range, right?
It's. Very quite the range, but it's
really, it's really interesting to hear, right?
Because you know, I'm an adult, I get a stutter from my dad and
(06:47):
then I have this underbite that I have from, well, just genetics
and whatnot. So my speech has always been
something that I especially do in a podcast, like those those
three things don't normally lineup.
And so it's definitely somethingthat's been in my comments.
Like why does he sound like that?
Why do you sound like that? And it's like people are, I'm
just like, well, if you pay attention and you listen to
(07:10):
where it comes off, you could tell it's a list and you could
tell that sometimes I stutter and chip over my words and that
happens. That happens.
It's OK. Like I'm not, I'm not
embarrassed by it. It's OK.
It's. Totally OK, But I love that
you're sharing as much as you dowith the world because it gets
to show people that wherever they are, they can still make an
impact, they can still help, andthey can still share incredibly
(07:33):
valuable information and insights and perspectives.
Yeah, 100%. I just always think of the song.
I think it's by, I want to say it's by Wu Tang, one song by Wu
Tang Clan and just of course is like I look funny, but hey, I'm
making money kind of thing. It's like, yeah, I sound funny,
but you know, I make money and stuff and things like that.
(07:54):
I'm making an impact. So it's really cool, but it's,
you know, the speech and language development, it is more
than just how things sound, right?
It's more than that. It's how you process the
language, how you receive the language and how you interpret
it and what you do from there. So it's, it's really
interesting. So how does the speech language
development overall impact a child's confidence, social
(08:15):
skills, and even future success as a whole?
I would say very much so. And a lot of the time,
especially when parents reach out to a speech therapist or us
at Better Speech and Better Speech as an online speech
therapy platform. So I love that you said the
distinction between better health and better speech.
When parents reach out to professionals and say, hey, I
(08:36):
think there's something wrong. I don't know what it is, but I
have questions about my child's speech.
A lot of the time, the first thing that I share with them is
they're not supposed to know. It's OK.
Follow your instincts. If you think something isn't
quite right, you're probably right.
Follow your instincts. That also being said, they'll
(08:59):
try. Some people will try and say I
have no idea or I think this is what's going on and they'll
share so much information, whichis a great thing.
And I always share that. It does not make them stupid.
It does not make them a poor parent.
It does not mean anything that people often equate to.
Now my child needs speech therapy.
Oh my God, what did I do to my child?
(09:20):
Because as a parent, there can feel such an inadequacy around
it that they did something wrongor something else occurred and
it's somehow the parents fault. So that's why I share what I
share immediately. They're not supposed to know
what happened or how to fix it because that's my area of
expertise. From their standpoint, they
(09:41):
didn't do anything wrong. And I think that's truly
important for parents to deeply understand.
When you come to a speech therapist or physical therapist
and occupational therapist, understand that the person that
you're reaching out to went for special training about this area
and we will offer insights and perspectives.
And that's a great thing becausethere can be such a stereotype
(10:03):
that goes along with it. And as a parent, you want to
show up for your child. You want to take care of your
child to the best of that your ability.
And if you're thinking that's something you did, did did this
occur and Oh my God, I'm a bad parent, it's not going to be as
supportive. So when you're reaching out to
professionals, it's really important that you have a good
connection, a good rapport with that professional.
(10:26):
Because what's going to happen from that?
You're going to build trust. You're going to feel like you
can ask your questions, you're going to feel like you can share
your stories, and then you can help your child even more
impactfully, ultimately allowingyou to effectively communicate
with them and them to effectively communicate with
you. And that effective communication
(10:46):
does a long way, right? Very much so, and.
That helps them in every area oflife.
And I love that you said that parents, we just need to trust
our instinct, right? If we feel something off, it
could be off. But there's also the part of it
too, that it's like if like in every parent's head, there's a,
there's a sting where it's like,well, you know, it, it, it'll
come around, come around kind ofthing.
It'll come around when it comes around kind of thing.
(11:08):
And not to like, worry about it too much, not to play into it
too much, not to intervene when maybe there's no intervention
needed kind of thing. That is definitely a beautiful
possibility. Also, that's what I love about
reaching out to professionals because you can absolutely say I
have some questions. I might be overthinking it, but
can you share some light with me?
Can you explain a few more details about this?
(11:29):
And especially when you reach out to a professional and you
kind of feel like that professional brushed you off a
little bit where they didn't really hear you.
They were just no, no, no, you're fine.
You're fine. You're, you're overthinking it.
You're an overbearing parent that sometimes isn't the most
effective, and unfortunately there are plenty of
professionals in the world that can be dismissive.
(11:50):
If you still feel like somethingelse is going on, absolutely
reach out to another professional.
Ask your questions and if you'renoticing, OK, now they've said
this, they've said a similar thing.
Now things are starting to make sense.
Allow yourself to build on that because you are absolutely
right. It could just be, you know what?
It might work out in time. My child didn't hit this exact
(12:13):
milestone at this exact point, and Oh my God, it's OK.
Children do develop in their owntime, and there's a huge
variation, especially between the ages of two to three.
There's a massive explosion of language.
Some kids start really, really early.
Some kids are a little bit later.
It's all OK and it's all where that child is individually.
(12:37):
And also you as the parent saying how else can I best
support my child? From 2:00 to 3:00, from 3:00 to
4:00 to 4:00 to 5:00, like it's a different child year over
year, it's completely different.Like there is so much rapid
change. It's like, yeah, that that 2
year old that turned 2 that's now turning 3 today, It's a
completely different child head to toe, inside and out.
(12:59):
And it's really cool to see, butit is, it's, it's also
important, like you mentioned here, like if you go to one and
they brush you off, it's OK to go to another.
There's nothing wrong with that.You know, if one you're not like
vibing with or connecting with, it's OK to try another one.
There's nothing wrong with that.It's OK if there's not a match
right off the bat. And then there is such that
broad range, right? It's one of those things that
(13:22):
it's OK to ask you. Don't.
Don't be afraid to ask. Very much so.
And then when you can ask questions, if you go in
thinking, Oh my God, I sound so stupid, Oh my God, there's
something wrong with me. I can't believe I don't know
this. Allow yourself to stop judging
yourself. Allow yourself to say, you know
what, I'm really curious. There's a lot in this world that
(13:42):
I do not know about, and child language development might be
one of them right now. My child's too.
And I don't know everything under the sun.
Let me ask questions because thebetter questions you ask, the
more information you can receiveand then understand where your
child is. And I love that you also
mentioned if you're not vibing with your, with your clinician
(14:05):
or your speech therapist. And this can be said for anybody
wherever they are. And I, I was on a podcast once
and she had framed it as date your speech therapist.
And what she was saying was feelthat connection with your speech
therapist. If it doesn't feel like a good
connection for you or your child, to allow yourself to
(14:27):
still stay with that clinician and then start to look for
another one. The first speech therapist that
you work with, whether it's a speech therapist or an
occupational therapist or a physician, whatever it is, might
not be your last. And that's OK.
Allowing yourself to say, OK, this is where I am right now.
I'm going to keep looking. I'm going to look for a
different occupational therapistthat might be able to offer
(14:48):
different insights or something else in that realm.
Whether whatever field you're in, it really lets you become
the detective and also experience being educated by
other professionals to best support you and your children.
Let's say a random question here.
Let's say the parent can recognize that the, let's say
(15:09):
speech, the SOP is really good for the kids specifically, but
there's just something really off between the parent and the
SOP. So the parents can really say,
OK, they do really well with them.
They're making progress. Like things are good, they're
helpful. But then when it comes to me,
they're just, we just, there's just something, something there
that's, you know, broken or justnot working between us two.
(15:32):
Maybe they push me too hard. Maybe they, you know, call me
out too much or whatever it is. How can what?
What if a parent's in that situation?
Kind of what? What could they do?
I would say to ask better questions, as in if for example,
let's say your child is going for outpatient speech therapy
and they come out and they had the best time in therapy.
(15:54):
The things that you want to notice is great.
They have a great connection. My child feels safe with them.
My child actually feels so comfortable that they can talk
with them. This is a great thing.
They played games. Cool.
What else did they work on? You want your clinician to be
able to share with you what was worked on, why they did that
(16:15):
approach, and then how to implement it at home.
And it's not, especially as new clinicians emerge, especially in
2025. And keep in mind that I
graduated in 2009, so my communication skills with a
parent are very different than when I first started out.
Sometimes new clinicians that are coming out of school and
(16:36):
they're talking to somebody who clearly is older, they can feel
like, Oh my God, they're thinking that I don't know what
I'm talking about because I'm soyoung, or they don't know why
I'm doing what I'm doing. And now I have to justify it.
So you're working with a clinician that might have their
own insecurities that might still be working to build their
skill set. So when you're talking with the
(16:58):
clinician, ask your questions tothe best of your ability in a
non judgmental way. They're not wanting to say fix
your child in one second, their child's perfect goodbye.
They're not going to do that. And it's also important to set
your expectations of this is going to take more than one
session. This is going to take commitment
(17:18):
and dedication and this is goingto be an experience over.
It might be two months, it mightbe 12 months, you might be with
that clinician for three years, depending on where your child
is. Allow yourself to have clear
expectations of what you're wanting with that connection
with your clinician for your child and for you, and then also
(17:38):
know what to do when you go home.
You want to see that carry over.You want to see that building of
that skill set for your child. It's not just on your clinician
to work with your child for 30 minutes or 45 minutes once a
week and then boom, they're done.
You need to be educated properlyby your clinician to implement
(17:59):
it at home, so the better questions you can ask your
clinician and to have that open conversation will allow that
fluid communication between the two of you.
Well, you recommended this to melast week.
Here's what we did. What are your thoughts?
Keep me posted. Y'all, that communication is
really important rather than open line asking those
questions, knowing how to implement it at home.
(18:21):
Those things go a long way because right, the, the kid may,
the kids only working with that,with that provider like one hour
a week, right? Where are they spending all the
other hours? Spending all the other hours at
home, right? So you have to be on the same
page. You have to know what's going
on. You have to be able to follow up
with it. And it's really important to be
involved in that as a parent very much.
You don't. One of the things I was going to
(18:45):
actually share, so all the work that I do is online.
So sometimes I will see school students online, sometimes I
will see private students, but they're again online.
Allow, or if that's happening, allow them to record the
session. And when you record the session,
it's not for social media purposes.
(19:06):
What recording that session doesis that lets you go back and
review, especially when you're with a clinician, They have a
finite amount of time to work with that parent, to work with
that child. And sometimes this tort of
information is coming out of your clinician to you and you
want to try and get as much as possible.
When you record it, you can actually go back and review it.
(19:28):
You can take notes, you can think from a different
perspective. And you don't have to rely on
this burst of information that somebody gave me in 3 minutes
and try to remember all of it. When you record it, you get the
ability to go back and review. And that's a great thing.
Not only do you get to go back and review, your significant
other gets to go back and review.
And then you also if you have a babysitter that's around, if you
(19:50):
have grandparents that are around, they can see what else
is going on and they can implement the strategies also.
That's really helpful. Now we have continuity across
the board and we have that ongoing literal progress of
saying. Here's where your child was last
week. Here's where they are this week,
here's where they are. You get that record.
(20:12):
And that's a great thing becauseyou yourself get to see that
progress and not go when how long ago were they doing that?
When was that? No, you actually have the
recording now. You get to see it clearly.
Continuity I think is one of thebiggest aspects here, to make
sure that everyone's on the samepage in helping the kid.
(20:33):
Everyone that's involved is involved, even if that's
grandparents who are around oncea week.
It's important for them to know so then they are able to help
and be supportive there, right? The more support, the better,
and we're kind of leading in right into the next thing.
I kind of want to talk about here that a lot of parents, we
unknowingly discourage our kids from speaking up, but I feel
like there's a lot of mistakes we also make along the way,
(20:54):
right? We put them in these programs,
right? Like speech, speech, speech
therapy or something. And it's like, okay, that's
gonna fix my kid, or we put themhere and that's good, or OT and
that's going to fix them here, that's going to fix them here
and that's going to fix them here.
So we're outsourcing a lot of things, but at the same time,
you know, it's, we're not helping them as much as we could
be. So along with not having the
continuity, are there any other mistakes that parents typically
(21:17):
make when it comes to implementing the things they're
learning in speech or when it comes to teaching communication
in general? That's a really great question
and I love what you shared. You know, I'm going to bring
them here and it's going to fix it.
I'm going to bring them there and it's going to fix it.
Understanding that your child isnot broken.
Your child in maybe having some difficulties or maybe navigating
(21:40):
a certain obstacle, but they're certainly not broken.
And you as the parent are on that journey with them to help
them, to support them, to guide them, to learn, Especially
because when we outsource, let'ssay, OK, I'm going to go, I'm
going to have them go to speech therapy and I'm going to sit in
(22:00):
the waiting room or they're on with the, they're on with the
clinician. I don't have to worry about it.
And parent sits down or a parentgoes to do something else.
It's really important to be present with them because what's
happening and a lot of people, and it is a very big demand on
parents, but you want that parent to have the bandwidth to
(22:23):
be present with them. It doesn't mean that it has to
be boring. It doesn't mean that you're
chained to the computer now because now your kid needs
speech therapy and now you're bored out of your mind too.
You want to be powerfully present because you are setting
the example to be with your child.
If you want your child to have that progress and to make that
(22:45):
progress, you're in it with them.
You're holding their hand, you're going through it also,
and that's something to really notice as an experience.
You get to be your child's biggest supporter.
You get to be your child's cheerleader.
At the same time, it can be verydemanding and very exhausting.
And when that's happening, you as a parent want to notice that
(23:09):
and say, OK, we need to shift some gears.
We need to find a way to allow myself to get that break because
I'm not being present with my child.
I'm not enjoying this. I need a break and a lot of the
time parents don't realize, especially in our culture of
2025 and the hustle culture and be hooked up on caffeine for 30
(23:32):
hours of the day and get your high quality 8 hours of sleep
and be present all the time. The the expectations that the
culture in the media are blasting on repeat are
extraordinarily difficult to keep up.
Allow yourself as the parents tosay, what do I want to do with
my child? As in, how do I want to support
(23:53):
them? How do I want to show up for
them, and how do I want to show up for myself?
When I put my head down on that pillow, I want to be able to say
I did a great job today. I'm proud of me.
I did enough. I was present, I gave myself
breaks and I was able to supportboth my child and myself, and
that's a great thing. Start setting your own
(24:16):
boundaries. Start setting your own
expectations of what it looks like and let them be true to you
and not because somebody told you this is what that parent
does. What do you do as a parent?
How do you want to show up? What do you want to be?
Remember I. Think the expectation piece is
like the biggest part of it, right?
Like tampering your own expectations.
(24:37):
Tampering the expectations you have for your kids kind of
thing, and not over pushing the expectations, not overdoing what
you're expecting from them on any given day, not overdoing it
on your own personal expectations on what you can and
can't do every single day. You're only one person, right?
There's only one kid. Everyone has the same amount of
time in the day, right? And your time is stretched
(24:57):
between work and kids and all the things that you do on a
regular basis. Very much so, I think something
to really notice. And I've worked with many
coaches over my life and personal growth coaches and
speaking coaches of all sorts. And this was all outside of
school. This is not in school.
And one of them pointed out to me that I was moving the goal
(25:20):
posts all the time. So when I would reach a goal,
I'd still extended another 5 yards.
So I'd never actually reach the goal.
There has to be this conversation between you and you
that says I'm doing enough, I'm doing a good job taking care,
I'm doing the best that I can right now.
The tools and the time and the knowledge and the energy
(25:43):
available to me. I'm doing enough because if you
look out into the world, if you are scrolling on social media,
if you are consuming every commercial and every product
they're pushing on you, you willnever feel like enough.
It's so important to be able to set your own goals, your own
standards, your own values and notice how you are doing and to
(26:05):
be kind to yourself, especially because the voices in your head
can really dominate on some days.
Allow yourself to have that experience with yourself that
you can communicate better with yourself and then you
communicate better with your child because now it's family
based. Now it's just between you.
It's not you defending yourself to this culture or you saying
(26:27):
let me move the goal another 5 yards, let me move the goal
another 5 yards between you and you, You and your child, you and
your family. Leave the culture out of it.
Touched on on screens and media there and so I wanted to I just
something I really wanted to touch on here too.
So our our kids today are spending a lot of time more and
(26:48):
more time on screens and less time actually talking to each
other. There's a lot of typing.
There's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of non speech, but
communication at the same time, right?
So how from what you've seen, how is all the screens and kind
of the screen takeover affectingspeech and communication
(27:10):
development for kids just kind of overall?
Overall it I would say drastically, significantly and a
lot of the time people. For the better, for the worse.
For the worse depending on what's going on.
So let's isolate an event. 2020 was a cluster, and a lot of kids
(27:31):
ended up in front of the screen,standably so.
Parents had to work, parents hadto keep food on the table and a
roof over their head, and screens became the babysitter.
Completely understandable. As a result, what happened was a
lot of those children are now inspeech therapy.
When a screen is involved, even if you're watching an
(27:53):
educational show, and there are plenty of phenomenal educational
shows out there, the difference is passive communication versus
active communication. So when you're watching a show
like Louie or something, when you're watching that show,
you're literally seeing people communicate or the characters
communicate, the characters problem solving, the characters
(28:14):
are finding ways to talk kindly to each other, but they don't
understand really what's happening because they don't get
the ability to execute on it. So when you and I are
interacting, even in this conversation, yes, completely a
screen is involved, but we're having a back and forth
conversation. You can hear my tone, you're
watching my facial expression. Same goes for you.
(28:36):
When children do that, whether it's on the screen or when
they're playing, they're gettingto use their communication
skills, they're problem solving in real time.
And what's in short, what's happening is your brain or their
brain is firing and wiring in a completely different way.
And that's a great thing. We want children to grow.
We want them to problem solve. We want them to have problems so
(28:59):
that they can know how to solve them, how they can navigate
through them, how else they can interact with other children.
When we're watching something, yes, there is a communication
component. It just happens to be a passive
1. And children aren't getting the
ability. They're doing a lot of
receiving, they're not getting the ability to express language.
(29:20):
And it's really important that they are able to express
language and when we're talking.So even a lot of the time,
especially when people have verysmall children, we will say such
as newborns or one year olds, 2 year old, we want to communicate
with them on their level. Which means if I have a 2 year
old that comes for speech therapy, and this is if I was in
(29:42):
person or when I'm sharing with a parent, you want to be on
their level because what you're getting, their eyes are getting
all of this. They're getting my facial
expression, they're getting my mouth movement, they're getting
this engagement, their understanding that I'm really
excited because they can see that I'm really excited.
What happened when there was a mask involved is we took away
(30:03):
half our face. And when somebody goes, I'm
really excited and they can't see what excited looks like.
It's a communication breakdown for them.
They don't, they can't process it because they, they missed a
huge chunk of information. So it's really important that we
are going back as clinicians, that teachers are actively
engaged, people are paying attention because these children
(30:26):
missed vital communication and their brain still developed,
which means even though guidelines changed, we have
primal wiring that has evolved for years upon years upon
decades upon decades and generations upon generations.
It did not stop evolving just because somebody said these
(30:49):
guidelines are different and it's important that people
understand the brain is still developing and we need to offer
that input so that brain can develop that I.
Had not thought of it that way at all.
Cuz I've noticed more and more this school year, more than any
school year in the past, the past couple years since
reopening and things like that, that this year there's just
(31:13):
something being like that five year mark, right?
And now that we're back in the school for about 2 1/2, three
years now, I think this is the second full year that we're all
back, everyone's back, right? And there's just, there's so
much missing with these kids at every state high school, middle
school, elementary school, but especially at that higher
elementary age, that 4th, 5th grade age today, because those
(31:37):
were the kindergarten first, first graders when they were
first going into when everythinghappened.
So they got they, this happened to them at the worst possible
time, right? The worst time.
And they, they missed out on, onso much social development.
They missed out on so much of this language development that
you're talking here. And then I didn't even think
about the part. I've never thought about the
part where it's like, OK, they had to learn emotions and
(32:00):
communications just based off half a face and verbal tones and
things like that. And now they just, they don't
know, right? They don't know that, oh, that
person's actually joking, Because I can see on their face
that they're joking or that person, they're just
communicating this way because they're, they're just, maybe I
can see that they're mad. They don't know what that
frustration looks like. They don't know what that
annoyance looks like on other people's faces.
(32:22):
They don't know what these things necessarily look like as
they get older because they missed two years of it
essentially, right? Those are so really important.
Two years. None of these, none of our kids
are getting back, right? Like if they were in 8th grade
and now they're in 10th or, you know, you know, two years later,
now they're in 10th to 11th going back to school, finishing
up high school now, right years later.
And it's just the aftermath, theconsequences that we're seeing
(32:44):
of our own actions, right? The consequences that we're
seeing of our own actions, you know, really puts things into
perspective of that whole situation and whatnot.
But just the, the aftermath thatit has has in our kids.
It's like, man, we, we're, we'reyears behind time didn't stop
moving forward. Like you're saying here, brain
development didn't stop, but we we now have a generation of kids
that are when they turn 18 and they graduate high school
(33:07):
because, you know, no kids are held back anymore anywhere for
worse. I think, I think that should
still be a thing. But you know, it's not my
choice, but neither here nor there.
But you know, our kids are goingto be graduating over the next
however many years and they're all going to be behind a couple
years in so many aspects, right?So many aspects.
And then of course you have Gen.Z and Gen.
(33:28):
Alpha coming up with their own slang and whatnot.
And you know, every generation does that.
So that's not anything differentor anything, but it's just you,
you see these kids and there's going through all of it and it's
like, man, they're just, they'rejust a struggle because they're,
they're just behind. You can just tell all these kids
are just behind. Some of them are OK, some of
(33:49):
them are OK. But then the majority of them
are just be they have quote UN quote behavior problems or they
have quote, UN quote emotional, you know, mental health
problems, right when it's just they're they're just behind
developmentally. Maybe we should have held all
the kids back a couple years. It kind of kind of reset.
Been a perspective for sure. Especially think of how many
(34:10):
experiences they missed out. I mean, for example, you
probably played on the playground when you were very
little. You probably went for swim
lessons when you were little. Or hey, can they come out and
play? They, they, they lost it.
They didn't even have the choiceto have the experience.
That's gone forever now too. It feels like, like that's just
not even a real public possibility because of public
safety and health safety, healthconcerns, like that's just
(34:33):
completely off the table now. It takes very, it's just kind of
areas like there'll be little pockets in different areas where
it's like that's a normal kind of thing still, or that's like
renormalized. But like, yeah, we have to
renormalize that. We also have to get become much
more safer as a whole. Very much, yeah.
I think also, you know, so keep in mind, I was born in 85.
(34:57):
Calling for pizza was a thing when I was growing up, going and
renting a movie was a thing. So as a child, I would go to the
movies. I'd go to Blockbuster with my
dad or my mom, or I would go andpick up the pizza with my dad or
my mom. I was expected to interact with
that person. I'd like to get this movie or
(35:20):
I'd like to order a large pizza and children don't have this
anymore. So a lot of the time I will
encourage parents to offer them micro experiences of having
interaction in a Safeway becauseso many kids.
I know one kid, he told me he would not go to the grocery
store with his mom anymore because she had to run and go
(35:42):
get like a box of cereal. And she left him at the checkout
counter and he didn't know what to do with the cashier.
Like, it's very normal experience for the cashier to be
like, OK, I'll wait, no problem,I'll keep scanning.
But the kid didn't know how to hold a conversation or feel OK,
(36:03):
that he was perfectly safe standing in a grocery store.
His mom was coming right back. So he started to refuse to go to
the grocery store. So we're seeing kids quite
literally separate out these very appropriate experiences of
being in common community placesbecause of discomfort.
So now when we say, oh, I'm going to the grocery store, do
(36:23):
you want to come? No, I'm good.
I'm going to stay home and play a game.
The parent doesn't necessarily realize or understand it's
because they don't want to have that social interaction.
And while there are plenty of people who might not love social
interaction, but it's still verymuch a part of our lives.
We are social creatures. We are constantly looking for
(36:44):
interaction because we're designed that way.
We can have safe interactions. So a lot of the time I'll say to
parents, if you, even if your kid knows where the cereal is,
have them go up and ask the person in the grocery store,
excuse me Sir, what aisle can I find?
The Lucky Charms have that interaction in a Safeway.
You're not sending them out on the corner and saying, good
(37:05):
luck, kid hitchhike home. You're in the grocery store with
them. They need to have safe
experiences where they can go and speak for themselves in a
Safeway and build that skill set.
It's so important because we don't talk to our coffee person
anymore. We don't order a pizza anymore.
We don't even have to go to the cashier anymore and have a
(37:26):
social interaction. We don't even need to see our
mailman if we're not out there. There's so many ways that we are
quite literally separating the social interaction.
And then children don't know what to do, so they think it's a
bad thing. It's not a bad thing to talk to
people in the grocery store. You're not getting in the car
with them. You're saying hello, how are
you? There's very appropriate, safe
(37:47):
ways to practice the art of communication, to practice that
engagement where they can learn.It's safe to speak for myself.
It's safe to speak up. Things are those little
opportunities everywhere, right?And you're framing on this micro
interaction, you know, and it's very simple.
(38:07):
Go and ask the person at the groceries.
I think grocery stores are a great place, right?
Or anywhere where there's like food involved, right?
Because then you have to, you'remotivated because you got to
eat. And if you tell your kid you're
5 year old, well, you're not going to get food unless you
order it yourself kind of thing.You can kind of force their hand
(38:29):
a bit. Yeah.
Now they have to, well, they know how to read or they know
how to point and say, I want thethat looks like a burger and
right, they know how to read thepictures more or less, maybe not
the words, but as I get older, you know, you can continue to
reinforce that. Hey, you, you order you.
Yeah, you order for you and you order for you and all order for
me. And you know, we'll all order
(38:49):
for ourselves kind of thing. I'm not doing it for you
anymore. You have to parents, we have to
like realize like we have to stop and like Target always has
stickers, right? And so if my daughters want
stickers, they're like, Daddy, can you?
Nope. I'm not asking.
I don't want a sticker. You want a sticker.
I'm not going to ask if you wanta sticker.
Yeah. And it forces them to ask.
Very much so, and that's a good thing.
(39:11):
No, it is good. It's good.
It's good for our social interaction.
It's good for them to be taken even if they don't want to be
taken. Yeah, they're like children.
You know, I'm very kind of hard nosed on this.
But like, if they're children and they don't want to do
something, you have to remember that you're also the parent.
And you can kind of tell them what to do because, you know,
you're the parent. And if they don't want to do it,
(39:31):
kind of too bad. Whether you want to go forcing
them or encouraging them, and either you're going to do this
now or OK, I'm going to wait till you're ready.
Whatever tone you want to chooseis the right tone for you as
that parent for you with that child.
That's entirely up to you. And that's the art of parenting.
(39:51):
You get to choose either way. I completely agree with you.
Oh, if you want the sticker, OK,I'm going to wait until you're
ready to go talk to them and give them, giving them some kids
just need a moment to process sothat they don't have a meltdown.
OK, We're going to sit and wait.I'm going to and I'm going to
sit down on this little Gray bench and I'm going to wait for
you to go up and talk and ask for your standard because it's
safe. They don't need to have a
(40:15):
meltdown. They don't need to have this
massive disconnect. You, the parent, are right
there. And that's what they need to
know is that I can do things in a Safeway and I can speak for
myself to. Build up their skills to be able
to do that and build up their confidence to be able to go and
do it. You know, different approaches
(40:36):
are for different people. I mean, I think mine's more of a
data approach. It's like, well if you want it,
you better go do it kid cuz you better go figure it out kind of
thing for sure. Well, that's a great thing
because that's also the difference between fathers and
mothers or masculine figures andfeminine figures.
Children respond differently. And This is why people tell me
my child's so different when herdad's around.
(40:58):
My child's so different when I'maround.
If there is a difference, it's OK.
How you communicate with your child, it's OK.
Before we jump into the dad's own here, is there anything from
the conversation to kind of wrapit up on your end that you want
to mention or Are you ready to jump into the dead zone?
The only thing that I would loveto mention is that if you, like
I said earlier, if you have concerns about your child's
(41:20):
speech and language, now that we've had this great
conversation with, yes, there's speech intelligibility, my child
can't produce their Rs or my gosh, my child can't tell a
story at all. What do I do about it?
Reach out to a speech language pathologist.
It's something that we are experts at helping people with
and with the platform that I work with, with Better Speech,
(41:41):
you can reach out to us and we can match you with a clinician
as early as the next day. So sometimes if you go to an
outpatient clinician or an outpatient clinic, they'll say,
OK, great, we'll put you on the wait list for three months when
you have the availability that we have a better speech because
of the way that we provide our services, we don't have this
overhead cost component that hasto be included.
(42:02):
Our sessions are very affordableand also you don't have to wait
three months. Time is of these essence.
Time is so important. Time is on your side.
Use it to your advantage and reach out to people who can
support you. Cool, cool thing here to talk
about, cool concept, really coolidea.
(42:24):
Getting it more on demand, more available.
That's always helpful. You know, the quicker you can
get to the resources, the better.
All right, into the Dad zone. So the dad zone is a series of
four questions here that are a bit fun to help us just kind of
come down from the conversation a little bit because sometimes
we get really deep into it. This just helps kind of bring it
to that light hearted aspect andthe people they live for the dad
(42:45):
zone that they tell me. So the first question here is,
and you're Italian, so please don't get offended by this
question. Does pineapple go on pizza?
Oh no. OK, see, every.
So I have another lady. Her name's Erica Diang Cargillo.
OK. And she runs a pizza shop.
I'll actually have to send you the address because if you're in
New York, they're on the East Coast.
(43:06):
This, this is somewhere really classic.
They're in New Jersey, but it's like this old Italian pizza
shop, D Ark's Pizza. That's.
Pineapple. Maybe it's in Pennsylvania, but
I will send it to you so that you can look it up.
You'll have to make a trip out because this pizza absolutely
looks amazing. If I was on the East Coast, I'd
be there. So you heard it now it's 2
Italian women that have said pineapple does not go on pizza.
So take their word for it. People who are three people dead
(43:29):
or alive that you would invite to a dinner party.
Oh. That's such a good 1-3 people
that I would invite would be JimRohn.
I would definitely Wayne Dyer beanother one and Maya Angelou.
And then what is your guilty pleasure food?
Gosh, I love food. I would say making my own ice
(43:52):
cream. You have a Ninja Creamy.
I do not. However, I do have a hack for
it. You know how if you, let's say
for example, you like Oreo ice cream and for some meeting like
me, it drives me bananas when there is not enough Oreos in my
cookies and cream ice cream. So I will go and I will get a
(44:13):
gallon of see I, I usually like till I'm the hook and it'll be
vanilla bean. And then I will go get Oreos and
I will bring it home and I will put my ice cream in the mixer
and then I will break up all theOreos that I want to go in that
ice cream. And that way I make my own ice
cream in a very fast way. That's.
(44:35):
Really cool, I got my got my wife one for Christmas.
That's awesome. We've used it quite a few times
and made some interesting concussions there.
I'm on a new like fitness program, so I like to put in if
I was to make some, I haven't made some in a while since I
started, but if I was to make some, you can mix in pretty much
whatever you want. So I can mix in like protein,
scoop protein powder into it andlike make my own sweet little
treat there. I don't know how it works, but
(44:57):
it's really cool. Last question here, what is one
piece of advice that you would offer to a young parent?
Let's say they're 18 to 22 yearsold, just starting out their
parenting journey. One thing that my dad did, my
parents were not that young whenthey had me, but one thing that
my parents did was every single night they touched me into bed.
(45:18):
And something that my dad would say every single night was what
your mind can conceive and believe you can achieve.
And one of my areas of expertiseis in the subconscious
reprogramming components. And when you tell kids positive
things, when you tell yourself positive things before bed and
they rest in those positive things all night long, you will
(45:43):
fire and wire that mindset of positive thinking, resilient
thinking, being able to problem solve effectively, helping them
take care of themselves whereverthey go in their life.
And that to me is an amazing idea of them.
So to parents who are 18 and 19,I come into bed and offer
(46:05):
something positive and sincere to them at night.
Well, Lenora, this has been so valuable, I think every parent
listening is gonna put their headphones away with practical
tips to help their kids become better communicators.
For parents who wanna learn more, get resources, or speak to
a speech to language pathologistfor their kids, they can find
(46:27):
you more, of course. betterspeech.com.
That's pretty simple. BETTBETTERSPE ech.com.
Or they can reach out at betterspeechslp@gmail.com.
Correct. You got it.
Yes, betterspeech.com would probably be the best one to to
(46:48):
reach out to them. Perfect.
So listeners, if you enjoy this conversation, please share this
episode with another parent who could use these insights today.
Make sure to follow, subscribe, leave a review.
It helps us bring more incredible guests into the show.
And until next time, keep talking, keep listening, and
keep helping your kids find their voice.
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