Looking to stimulate speech with your child through play? Here are some great toys for stimulating play, language, and social skills. Bildopolis Made from 40% recycled-content cardboard, this kit can transform durable cardboard into a 3D rocket ship, castle or another favorite creation. Attach the boards using the included Velcro dots. Each kit comes with square, rectangle, and triangle shapes …
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Providing a Voice
The Orange Effect Foundation empowers children and young adults to communicate effectively. Recently, the Orange Effect Foundation helped a child find his voice by funding a communication device called the Dynavox T-10. Take a look at how this device and other augmented and alternative communication devices help individuals with disabilities lead fuller and richer lives. This is Inspiration Day at …
Special Needs Apps Guide
Speaking, listening, and communicating are essential for school and social life, but many kids struggle to master these skills. For kids with challenges such as speech and language impairments, communication can be particularly difficult. Apps are one way for children to practice speech and language skills. Common Sense Media has compiled a list of apps for beginner, intermediate, and advanced …
Building Speech Through Books
Do you know that reading repetitive books with infants and toddlers builds language development? Repetitive books are also essential tools for helping children with speech disorders. "Do you like my hat? I do not like that hat." The Child Apraxia of Speech Association of North America (CASANA) states that the "predictability, use of carrier phrases, frequent practice of a target sound (s), …
Does Your Child Need a Speech Evaluation?
If you're like many parents, you own a parenting book or two (or three!) that carefully describes important developmental milestones in your child's life. Using these as a guide, you anticipate your baby's first smile, first steps, first word. While so many of these milestones are given a very broad time frame ("between ages 1 and 3 your child will grow a full set of 20 teeth") others are much …
How Can You Describe the Importance of Communication?
Some of us are shy or introverted, so you won't see us giving a speech in front of a group, or leading discussions in a group setting. But we can still communicate. We understand what other people are saying to us. We can physically hear them. We can then reply, whether that is non-verbally by nodding our head, or by using our voice to respond. Unfortunately, this basic exchange of …
Registration Now Open for 10th Annual Golf Outing!
THE 10th ANNUAL ORANGE EFFECT GOLF FOR AUTISM August 8, 2016 Elyria Country Club 12:00 pm Shotgun Start $150 per golfer Includes 18 holes of golf with beverage cart cooler, lunch, dinner, gift bag, prizes, raffle, and drinks. ($200 per golfer after July 15) Open to 120 Golfers All funds raised will benefit the Orange Effect Foundation. The Orange Effect Foundation empowers children and …
Orange Effect Foundation Awards Two New Grants!
CLEVELAND--The Orange Effect Foundation announced today, following a quarterly board meeting, that it has awarded grants to fund essential speech therapy to two applicants in Northeast Ohio. The recipients are both under the age of five. The Orange Effect Foundation recognizes that the earlier therapy is received the more successful the outcome is likely to be. One recipient, age two, will …
“You’re Going to End Up Alone, Probably in a Jail Cell, and it’s All Your Fault.” Part 2
Part 2 of the story of one father's journey to reach an appropriate diagnosis for his son. Ages 11-12 By the time TQ turned 11, his academic progress had ceased. My wife valiantly kept trying, she wasn’t about to throw in the towel yet. But he just wasn’t retaining anything long enough to build on. He’s a very bright kid, so learning the concepts themselves wasn’t the problem. But without …
“You’re Going to End Up Alone, Probably in a Jail Cell, and it’s All Your Fault.”
I clearly remember saying those exact words to my then-11-year-old son who I’ll call TQ. Cruel? Absolutely. Disgusting even? For a father to say something like that to his pre-adolescent son while they sit together in the car in a Wal-Mart parking lot… it’s unconscionable. You’re right. But don’t judge me just yet. Let me tell you our story. Routine Beginnings TQ is our firstborn. …
The Power to Communicate
The Power to Communicate In addition to speech therapy, the Orange Effect Foundation funds Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices. These extraordinary devices give nonverbal individuals the power to communicate. Watch this video to see how one device, the Dynavox T-10, enables one teen to share his feelings about having autism. …
Giving Wisely
Ten Things to Consider When Deciding Where to Donate Chances are you’ve had someone reach out and pull you up when you were down at some point in your life. That hand up helped set you on a course that led you to the successful, happy life you lead today. Now you want to return the favor and donate to a non-profit, but you’re not sure how to choose one. Here are ten things you should consider …
