How Might Services be Offered to an Infant or Toddler?

Services for infants and toddlers and their families are designed with the families' lifestyles and needs in mind. Services may be offered in the home, where various professionals teach activities to the parents and/or caregivers and have them practice them between sessions (speech games, feeding ideas, massage, exercises, etc.). Services may be provided in a center, where parents and children with a variety of special needs come together for goal oriented "play groups" or a variety of therapies.

For children with fragile X syndrome, it is important to establish a routine. As a means to help anxiety of the child with fragile X and to make intervention most successful, the child needs to know what to expect. The various therapists and teachers should establish a routine and provide visual cues to help children anticipate and follow the sequence.

For example, if the speech/language pathologist comes to the home every week, she may always bring a bag of toys. She may have a picture chart of her schedule to use with toddlers, providing a sticker after each activity. The child learns to anticipate the games involved in bringing out and talking about each toy, looking at books and pointing to pictures, blowing bubbles (for oral motor strength), and eating a cookie or cracker (to work on chewing and swallowing).

Gail Harris-Schmidt, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Saint Xavier University
Chicago, Illinois

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