Irene Gutierrez

If you have ever looked around your living room and wondered, “How do we have this many toys?” you are definitely not alone. As parents, caregivers, and therapists, it is easy to get caught in the idea that we need the right toy to teach language. The talking toy. The educational toy. The toy with the alphabet, numbers, colors, buttons, lights, and approximately 47 different songs. But here is something we talk about often at Brainstorm: The toy is not the therapy. The magic happens in the...

Maybe your child repeats the question you just asked. Maybe they quote the same line from a favorite show every time something exciting happens. Maybe they say a phrase you recognize, but it seems completely unrelated to what is happening. Or maybe you hear the same words again…and again…and again. That repeated language is called echolalia. And one of the first things we want families to know is this: Repeated language is not automatically meaningless language. For many autistic children,...

When we hear “social skills,” we sometimes think about: “Say hi.” “Look at me.” “Share.” “Take turns.” “Say thank you.” But social communication is much bigger than following a set of social rules. It includes connecting with others, communicating needs, joining play, understanding different perspectives, solving communication breakdowns, setting boundaries, and knowing how to ask for help. At Brainstorm Speech Therapy, our goal is not to teach children to perform one “correct” way of being...