Helping Children Find Their Voice
An Interview with Natalie Tipakov of ChattyKiddo Pediatric Therapy
As a dedicated mother of three, Mrs. Tipakov combines her professional expertise with a personal commitment to supporting families. As the founder of her own pediatric speech therapy practice, she leverages her experience as both a mom and a skilled therapist to create individualized family-centered therapy programs that help children communicate confidently. Follow along as we learn more about her family, her passion for working with children, and her creative approaches to speech therapy.
Q: Can you share your child’s age and how long they have been attending Arborland?
Matthew is almost 6 years old and he has been at Arborland since he was 2.5. We have loved the school from day one and Matthew's developmental leaps continue to amaze us.
Q: What events do you enjoy participating in with Matthew here at Arborland?
We love all the events but our favorites are International Culture Day and Costume Party. The school does a fantastic job organizing these events and we always have the best time with other parents and kids.
Q: As a parent, what has been your most memorable moment at Arborland?
It’s laughable, but our most memorable moment remains- learning that Matthew became potty trained (after he had only been at the school and toddler room for a total of 3-4 days). Arborland has been beyond helpful in meeting our every milestone from day one and potty training was the first one so how can we forget?!
We asked a few questions to learn how Mrs. Tipakov supports children at ChattyKiddo in Fullerton, CA, helping them become confident communicators through Speech Therapy.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about what a speech pathologist does?
A speech pathologist screens, diagnoses and treats all sorts of communication and feeding related disorders, including speech articulation disorders, language delays, social pragmatic disorders, and feeding issues (typically a specialty). We are trained to analyze the child's ability to understand speech and language/ language concepts, express themselves using a variety of words/concepts, as well as use language meaningfully and across all contexts. Sometimes a communication disorder is a stand alone issue; other times it's a consequence of a neurologically based problem/ diagnosis.
Q: What’s your favorite part of working with children, and how do you make speech therapy fun for them?
My favorite part would be connecting with each child and helping him/her open up (so I can collect my data and know where the problem is rooted). For this to happen I must become a child myself. We make therapy fun by following the child's lead and natural interests and offering a variety of materials, including sensory bins and board games.
Q: What are some common speech or language challenges that children face in school?
Being shy, reserved, or altogether anxious about speaking due to difficulties with limited expressive language skills or a speech articulation delay (saying some speech sounds wrong) that makes the child sound younger than they are; this can affect early friendships kiddos build with peers as well as hurt their self esteem. Some kiddos may even avoid speaking situations or prefer to play with much younger children to feel confident speaking.
Q: What advice would you give to kids (and parents!) who might feel nervous or embarrassed about going to speech therapy?
To an older child we often say- let's try making this ______ sound/ working on learning _____ concept and if it gets hard we can do it together! I'm here to help you use your words better so you can be the best at talking with friends and teachers. We also encourage our speech kiddos to make buddies and if frequently turn into friendships so they don't feel alone learning speech-language.
Q: Can you share a success story or an example of a student whose communication skills have significantly improved through therapy?
Oh boy, there have been so many. We have had many children walk through our doors who "couldn't speak a word" but with weekly therapy and parents following through with a home program many kiddos show tremendous improvement only after 4-8 weeks of therapy.
Q: How can parents and teachers support speech and language development outside of your sessions?
We provide a home program to incorporate into all daily routines and teach specific strategies to elicit speech-language at home. We support our parents every step of the way because only through teamwork we can see a child make connections and progress. My therapists and I keep in touch with other teachers to make sure collaboration is ongoing.
Q: Is there anything else you like to share about ChattyKiddo that you have not shared yet?
We take pride in servicing children from a variety of different cultural-linguistic backgrounds and provide information and ongoing support on how to maintain and further develop bilingualism or multilingualism at home. Many of our children are bilingual which is a gift. More importantly, lots of research that came out in the last decade shows that learning and strengthening both the heritage and language and English (especially for our ESL children) is strongly correlated with having above average cognitive, academic and even social skills in the future.
For more information, please visit ChattyKiddo online!
Website: https://www.chattykiddo.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chattykiddo
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