BNM Professional Consulting Services, Inc.

Speech therapy can be extremely beneficial for children who are falling behind in their speech and language development. It can help your child work on skills such as learning how to form sounds correctly, work on strengthening their speaking muscles, and so much more.

Though it’s true that speech therapy can help a child with their speech and language development skills, many parents don’t realize that their child may be falling behind, and that working with a speech therapist can help them reach their goals. If you’re concerned that your child is falling behind but aren’t sure what to look for, we can help!

Here are some signs that your child may need speech therapy:

Children Aged 1-2 Years Old:

Your child...

• Doesn’t use gestures
• Hasn’t said their first word
• Has a hard time putting two words together
• Points to items that they want instead of asking for them
• Doesn’t try to imitate basic words

Children Aged 2-3 Years Old:

Your child...

• Can’t put together three-word phrases
• Has a hard time following simple instructions
• Has issues making specific letter sounds (such as b, d, f, g, h, k, m, p, and t)
• Doesn’t say basic pronouns
• Has trouble communicating with other children their age

Children Aged 3-4 Years Old:

Your child...

• Doesn’t speak in sentences
• Can’t answer basic questions
• Has unintelligible speech
• Can’t identify colors
• Doesn’t express their feelings

If you find that your child is falling behind in their speech and language development, please feel free to contact us to talk to an SLP in Chicago. Our team would be happy to answer any questions you may have, and can help you decide if speech therapy is right for your child.

Most of the clients that we work with all have one thing in common - they have a fear of public speaking. Once they get in front of a crowd, they tend to freeze up, become nervous, and may feel like they have a lump in their throat that they just can’t clear. If this sounds like you, there’s no need to worry! Many people across the globe have a fear of public speaking. Luckily, there are many tools and techniques that you can use to overcome your fear of public speaking, and all it takes is a little bit of your time and energy.

With that said, here are 10 ways that you can work on overcoming your fear of public speaking:

Know Your Topic From Head to Toe: Do plenty of research on your topic before you begin writing your speech. This way, you'll have a lot of knowledge on the subject and will be able to write, and present, your speech with ease.

Practice in the Mirror: After you’re done writing your speech, take a few hours out in front of the mirror to practice presenting. While you’re doing this, make sure to incorporate body gestures and deep breathing techniques that you can use while on stage.

Take a Deep Breath: Before giving your speech in front of your audience, take a long deep breath. This will help you to relax your mind and body.

Make Eye Contact With Your Audience: Though many people try to avoid eye contact during a speech, this will actually help you feel more connected to your audience and will remind you that they are human, just like you!

Remember Key Points: Another way to get rid of your fear of public speaking is to remember some key points of your speech instead of memorizing the entire thing. Doing so will make you more relaxed and will help with your overall delivery. Destress: An hour or two before your speech, take some time and do an activity that will help you to destress. Consider meditating, taking a bath, or even doing a quick exercise.

Rehearse Your Speech in Front of Someone Else: Ask a friend or family member if you can rehearse your speech in front of them. This way, you can get feedback before giving your speech in front of a larger audience.

Slow Down: Talking too quickly during a speech will only make you more nervous. Slow down, take a deep breath, and really focus on what you’re saying.

Don’t Overthink it: Try your best to not overthink your speech. Truth be told, the more you think about your speech, the more nervous you’ll become.

Know That You’re Doing Your Best: At the end of the day, just remember that you’re doing the best you can. If you come into a speaking engagement being prepared and most importantly, relaxed, you’re going to do just fine!

For help with your next speech, consider working with a Chicago speech coach. Executive speech coaching can help you prepare for that next big job interview, an upcoming presentation, or your overall communication skills. Contact us today to get started!

It always seems like no matter how much you practice for a speech, nerves and jitters start to hit once you’re on stage. Let’s face it, giving a speech in front of an audience isn’t always easy, and it’s very common for speakers to lose their confidence right before beginning their public speaking engagement. Luckily, there are some techniques that you can use to help boost your confidence during a speech such as simply adjusting your body language. From using gestures to making eye contact, here’s how you can adjust your body language to boost your confidence during your next speech.

Stand Up Straight

One of the first things you can do to boost your confidence (and maybe the most important) is to stand up straight during your speech. As humans, one of our natural instincts is to slouch, and lean to one side while we’re standing. Not only does slouching look unprofessional, but it may end up making you stagnant throughout the duration of your speech. Instead of slouching, stand up straight, pull your shoulders back, and take pride in the fact that you look confident and like a professional.

Slow Down

Another way to boost your confidence while public speaking is to slow down while you’re talking. When people get nervous during a public speaking engagement, they tend to talk really fast, which makes it hard for the audience to keep up and take in all of the information. Before starting your speech, take a deep breath, calm your nerves, and remember the message you’re trying to get across. Slow down your talking, and really think about the words you're conveying to the audience. Doing so will pull in your audience and get them interested in what you’re saying, which is sure to boost your confidence.

Make Eye Contact

You may be thinking: “why would I want to make eye contact with the very people who are making me nervous?”. Believe it or not, one of the most efficient ways to boost your confidence during a speech is to make eye contact with different people in the audience. It can be scary to look out and see tens or hundreds of people looking at you, but once you make that initial eye contact with an audience member, you’ll see that those people are just human, like you, and want you to succeed.

For help with your next speech, consider working with a Chicago speech coach. Executive speech coaching can help you prepare for that next big job interview, an upcoming presentation, or your overall communication skills as a rising leader. Contact us today to get started!

It’s true that all parents really want for their children is for them to reach their full potential and to have a positive quality of life. This is why it’s really easy for parents to be hard on themselves if something is affecting their child (such as developmental delays) and they don’t realize it quickly enough. This can sometimes be the case when children have autism. Their parents don’t realize that their child has autism right away due to the fact that they don’t know what signs to look out for. It’s important that parents understand and can detect the signs of autism early on so that their children don’t risk facing significant developmental delays.

The Early Signs of Autism

It may be time to talk to a speech language pathologist (SLP) about autism if you find that your child starts to exhibit the following signs:

• Delayed language skills.
• Loses previously acquired speech.
• Has unusual reactions to sounds.
• Has problems with pronouns
• Avoids eye contact.
• Prefers to be alone.
• Doesn’t respond to facial expressions.
• Doesn't show empathy.
• Doesn’t point to objects.
• Is uninterested in making friends.
• Is struggling to make friends.
• Doesn’t look at objects that you point to.
• Doesn’t respond to their name by the age of 12 months.
• Repeats words over and over again.
• Has a short attention span.
• Gets upset by small changes.
• Has delayed speech.
• Doesn’t play pretend.
• Doesn’t understand personal space.
• Only wants to play alone
• Has limited interests.

If you find that your child is struggling with autism, a speech language pathologist can help. An SLP will be able to talk to you and your child about what to expect with autism, techniques that your child can use, and most importantly, an SLP will assure you that being on the spectrum is nothing to be ashamed of.

To talk to an SLP in Chicago about speech therapy and autism, please feel free to contact us. We’d be happy to answer any questions you may have, and talk about the next steps for your child.

One of the most difficult parts of public speaking is coming up with an engaging beginning for your speech. The beginning of your speech sets the tone, which is why it’s crucial to start strong. If you can capture your audience’s attention right off the bat, it’s likely that you’ll have their attention throughout your entire speaking engagement, whereas a not-so-engaging beginning may lead to your audience tuning you out. If you aren’t sure where to begin in terms of a strong start to your next speech, we can help! Here are five powerful ways to start your next speech or presentation:

1. Ask a Question

One powerful way to start your next speech or presentation is to ask the audience a question. When you ask the audience a question, it captures their attention and makes them have to truly think about how they’d answer, thus, making them feel like they’re part of your presentation. For example, if you’re giving a speech on the topic, “how to give a powerful presentation”, you may begin your speech with, “Think of a time when a speech really impacted you. What did that speaker do? What made their speech powerful?”. Making an audience think about what you’re saying will ensure that they remember and retain the information in your speech.

2. Tell the Audience About Yourself

It’s important that you give your audience some background information about yourself. People want to know what makes you eligible to give a presentation on your chosen topic, so why not explain this to them at the beginning of your presentation. Show them your personality, tell them a little bit about yourself, and overall, have fun with it!

3. Start With a Story

Another great way to start a presentation is to tell a story. Stories can make a speech feel more personal, and are sure to pull in your audience. If you can’t think of a story that relates to your life as well as to your speech, you can always come up with a fun story that your audience will remember.

4. Use a Statistic

Starting off with a statistic (the more intriguing the statistic, the better), will get your audience thinking straight away. Statistics are an important part of giving a speech as they give the audience information that they may not have known before. A bonus about using a statistic in the beginning is that you can reference that statistic throughout your speech as well.

5. Say Thank You

Arguably the most powerful way to start a speech or presentation is to thank your audience for coming. It’s important that you acknowledge that the people in your audience made an effort to come and hear what you have to say. They thought that your speech/presentation was important enough to carve time out of their busy schedules, and that shouldn’t go unnoticed. For help with your next speech, consider working with a Chicago speech coach. Executive speech coaching can help you prepare for that next big job interview, an upcoming presentation, or your overall communication skills as a rising leader. Contact us today to get started!

If you’re struggling to help your child who’s on the spectrum with their speech and language development, you’re not alone. Speech delays are common in children with autism, and it can be hard as a parent to know exactly how to go about helping your child work on improving their speech. Luckily, speech therapists do know how to approach this situation and are more than happy to help your child work on their speech and language skills. If you find yourself struggling and needing some extra help, here are some ways that a speech therapist can improve speech in autistic children:

A Speech Therapist Can Help Your Child Communicate Their Needs

It can be more difficult for children with autism to communicate their needs. They may struggle to get their point across, which can leave them feeling frustrated, and ultimately may lead to them giving up when it comes to asking for your help. This is where a speech therapist comes in! A speech therapist can work with your child, and will teach them techniques that they can use in order to express what they want. One way that a speech therapist may do this is by using a picture communication board. The board includes photos of common items that your child may need throughout the day, and if they’re struggling with communicating what they need, your child can simply point to that item on the board. If for some reason the item they need isn’t on the board, a speech therapist can teach your child how to improvise.

A Speech Therapist Can Help Your Child Improve Their Articulation of Speech

When an autistic child is working on developing their speech and language skills, it’s crucial that they learn how to articulate their speech, and the best way for them to learn this skill is by example. A speech therapist will be able to slowly and clearly communicate with your child, which will help them better retain and understand the proper way to pronounce certain words and mimic specific sounds. A speech therapist will also be able to help your child put those words into sentences, and can give them exercises that will focus on any words and sounds that they may be struggling with.

A Speech Therapist Can Help Your Child Enjoy Communication

Considering that it’s more difficult for a child that’s on the spectrum to develop their speech and language skills, your child may not initially enjoy communicating with others. As we all know, one amazing part of being human is making connections through communication, which is why it’s so important that your child feels comfortable speaking to other people. A speech therapist can teach your child techniques that will help them be more open to expressing themselves. Once your child feels comfortable with communicating, you’ll find that they’ll actually start enjoying talking to others, and that they’ll start making friends with similar interests.

This year has brought on a lot of uncertainty, and with that uncertainty has come a lot of change. People have transitioned from working in the office to working remotely, kids have had to get used to doing their learning from home, and everyone has had to get used to this new normal - it’s been a crazy ride!

Now that families are at home together a majority of the time, parents have had to come up with some creative ways to help their children work on their speech and language development at-home. We understand that it can be hard to come up with activities that are both fun and that work on your child’s language skills, but that’s why we’re here!

If you feel like you’ve tried everything under the sun, here are some activities that will help improve your child’s speech development at-home:

Activities for Children Up to 2 Years Old:

Story Time: Read your child a colorful picture book. If you don’t feel like reading all of the words, focus more on the actual pictures in the book. Describe the images to your child and discuss what items, colors, and shapes you see.

Talk it Out: Talk to your baby through what activity you’re doing. For example, while you’re giving them a bath, you can say things like, “Now we’re going to wash your hair. Here’s the shampoo, here’s the conditioner. Now it’s time to rinse!”.

Activities for Children Ages 2 to 4 Years Old:

Object Guessing Game: Think of an object that’s in the room and give clues to your child that will help them guess that specific object. For example, if you’re thinking about a TV, you could give clues such as, “We like to watch cartoons on this and you use a remote with it. What object am I thinking of?”. After they correctly guess the object, have them think of an object and repeat the process.

Animal Sounds: Teach your child what animal sounds connect to the correct animal. For example, you could say things such as, “The cow goes moo, the dog goes woof, and the cat goes meow”. Then, if you think your child is up to it, ask them to repeat the animal sounds back to you.

Activities for Children Ages 4 to 6 Years Old:

Rhyme Time: Pick out some words that are easy to rhyme with and write them down on a piece of paper. Find a comfortable spot to sit down with your child and read off the words one by one. You then can take turns coming up with rhyming words for each word listed on the piece of paper.

What Doesn’t Belong: Gather a group of three objects - two objects that are similar and one that’s completely different. For example, you could grab a banana, an apple, and a coat. Ask your child to tell you which item doesn’t belong, and have them describe why that item doesn’t fit with the other objects in the group.

“Owning the room” is a common expression that most of us have heard, but may not exactly know what it means. According to Magnetic Speaking, owning the room means that you command your audience’s attention, respect, and action throughout the entirety of your presentation. If you haven’t mastered this all important skill quite yet, there’s no need to worry! There are some things that you can incorporate into your next speech that’ll help you work towards becoming an expert in owning the room.

With that said, here are some simple ways to own the room during your next presentation:

Have Confidence

The best way to gain the respect of your audience is for you to present your speech with confidence. There’s an apparent difference between a speaker that goes on stage believing in themselves and a speaker who goes on stage being timid and unsure. If you can prove to your audience that you know what you’re talking about, they’ll respect you and will also stay engaged throughout your entire presentation.

Be Prepared

One of the most important keys to owning a room starts before you get on stage. A common mistake people make is not preparing for their speech ahead of time. Let’s face it, it can be nerve racking to stand in front of a crowd and give them a presentation, and being underprepared will only make your nerves worse. Make sure that you take some time out to practice what you’re going to say before giving your speech. If you know what message you want to get across and can present it with confidence, you’ll have an easier time grabbing the attention of your audience.

Tell a Story

One of the easiest ways to own the room is to incorporate a story into your presentation. When you tell your audience a story, they get to see a glimpse into your life, and may feel like they know you personally. Not only does telling a story help connect you to your audience, but it also will keep them interested in what you’re saying and may help them retain the information in your speech.

Dress for Success

If you want to command respect from others, it’s important that you dress in a way that fits in with the feel of your speech and audience. This may seem straightforward, but there are actually many people that don’t dress appropriately when it comes to giving a presentation. For example, if you’re giving a business presentation, you’re most likely going to want to dress in business attire, but if you’re giving a presentation on cooking techniques, your attire is probably not going to be as formal. Look for an outfit a few days before your speech so that if you don’t own any appropriate attire, you can go out and buy some appropriate attire.

For help with your next speech, consider working with a Chicago speech coach. Executive speech coaching can help you prepare for that next big job interview, an upcoming presentation, or your overall communication skills as a rising leader. Contact us today to get started!

We’ve all been there. You feel totally prepared and confident before giving a speech, and then still somehow manage to mess up a few words or forget to go to the next slide on the screen. Everybody makes mistakes, and that’s okay! Believe it or not, there are actually a handful of common mistakes that people frequently make while giving presentations that you should be aware of. If you know what these mistakes are ahead of a public speaking engagement, it’ll be easier for you to avoid them when it comes time to present.

That being said, here are common public speaking mistakes you should try and avoid during your next presentation:

No Body Movement or Hand Gestures

One of the most common mistakes (and possibly the most common) is that many people have no body movement while presenting. A lot of times, speakers will stand still without walking around or using hand gestures - this is a big no-no. Try walking around and using hand gestures during your next presentation. Doing so will engage your audience and make your speech more interesting.

Having Low Energy

It’s very easy to spot when somebody has low energy while giving a presentation. Their face will look uninterested and dull, their voice will be monotone and flat, and they’ll most likely be slouching. People aren’t going to be excited about your speech if you’re not excited about giving your speech. You could be talking about a topic that may not closely relate to some of the members of your audience, but if you go up and present that topic with a smile on your face, an excited tone in your voice, and a positive attitude, you’ll more easily be able to engage your audience.

Lack of Organization

As we all know, being prepared for a presentation is extremely important. Not only does it help you feel more confident, but being prepared and organized can help with the overall flow of your speech. After all, no one wants to listen to a speech that’s all over the place. You’ll want to make sure that your presentation is organized in a way that makes it almost in a story format - a strong beginning, an informative middle, and an end that will make a long-lasting impact on your audience.

For help with your next speech, consider working with a Chicago speech coach. Executive speech coaching can help you prepare for that next big job interview, an upcoming presentation, or your overall communication skills as a rising leader. Contact us today to get started!

We all know how important it is for children to stay on track with their language development, especially as a toddler. As we all know, when a child begins to grow their vocabulary, they may not always pronounce words and phrases the right way. It can be very easy to just go ahead and correct your child when this happens, but when it comes to developing a toddler’s language skills, doing this can actually delay your child’s language development. 

If you find yourself frequently correcting your child’s speech, here are some ways you could be delaying their speech and language development:

Correcting Your Toddler’s Speech Can Affect Their Want to Learn

Your child is taking in a lot of new information in their early years of life, and it can sometimes be a bit overwhelming for them. This is why it’s important to make learning as pleasant of an experience as possible.

Consistently correcting your child’s speech can discourage them from growing their vocabulary. Even worse, correcting them all the time could possibly turn their “wanting to learn” feelings into “learning is a chore”. 

Correcting Your Toddler’s Speech Can Disrupt Their Natural Learning Process

We find that as years pass, the phrase, “you learn something new everyday” becomes more and more true. It’s important to remember that it takes time to learn something new, especially when it comes to something as complex as talking.

It’s natural for your toddler to struggle with words and phrases while they’re learning to speak. Give them some time to work out their new vocabulary. Instead of correcting them, set a good example by pronouncing the word or phrase the correct way. For example, if your child says, “I eat all my food”, simply say back, “you ate all of your food? That’s great!”.

Correcting Your Toddler’s Speech Can Discourage Their Imagination and Play

Singing and saying silly rhymes is a huge part of play for your kiddos. Your child may not always say the correct word or pronounce everything the right way while singing a song or rhyme, and that’s not always a bad thing.

Don’t correct your toddler if they make mistakes while shouting out a silly song or rhyme - join in along with them! Better yet, turn on a song that they know on your phone for them to hear. This will encourage their language development by allowing them to hear the correct pronunciation of the words in the song while also practicing singing them out loud. The best part? It’s a whole lot of fun!