Esmeralda is a certified bilingual Speech-Language Pathologist. She has been practicing for over 9 years. She obtained a double Bachelors in Speech Therapy and Spanish with a minor in Women's Studies from Saint Xavier University in Chicago and a Master’s degree from the top 20 nationally ranked Speech Therapy program –Indiana University with a specialization in working with Spanish and English speaking children through the STEPS program.
Are you interested in services for your child? Founded by Esmeralda Sánchez M.A. CCC-SLP/L, Bilingual and Brilliant Speech Therapy, LLC provides Speech Therapy in-home and via teletherapy in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs.
Mindfulness can be defined as paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally” (Kabat-Zinn, 1994,p.4). Being mindful means having your mind on what you are doing. It's the opposite of rushing or doing too many things at once. Essentially, Mindfulness teaches children, teenagers, and adults how to be calm, which puts them in a better position to learn and respond to conditions and stressors in the world. Mindfulness is a great tool that can be applied to almost anything with great success.
Is there any real evidence that it can help with speech therapy? Yes.
Studies have found that mindfulness greatly improves an individual’s executive functioning skills. What are executive functioning skills? Executive functioning skills are a set of mental skills that include: working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control. Trouble with these 3 skills can make it hard to focus/understand, follow instructions, and control emotions among many other things. By improving our focus we improve parts of the brain that are responsible for learning, retaining, and executing language skills. By remaining calm, children, teenagers, and adults also can be more effective communicators.
Mindfulness helps individuals improve:
Attention to a lesson
Awareness of what is happening and what is being asked to do at the moment
Understanding of what new vocabulary means and making semantic connections
Remembering and using vocabulary learned
Decision making
Organizational skills
Slowing down rate of speech with individuals who “mumble or slur their speech”
Using strategies to improve pronunciation of error sounds
Reducing frequency of stuttering
Cycles of negative thinking
Decision making
Ask us how we can incorporate Mindfulness Interventions during our initial consultation!
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