• Home
  • My Story
  • Membership
  • Courses
  • Contact

Speech is Beautiful

5 things to Do When Your Child Won’t Sleep — and Why it Matters for Speech!

Tips

2 Sep

Lack of sleep is one of my pet peeves. So many students show up to speech class sleepy and not ready to learn. Not only do I like to get a full night of sleep myself, I want my students to sleep well so they can perform at their best. Sleep is so important for children to stay focused!

But I know how hard it is to parent children that don’t sleep well. When I was pregnant with my first son, I figured that there would be a period of sleepless nights for a few weeks after he was born and then he would sleep through the night. I was so naive! I didn’t realize that although many kids do start sleeping through the night as babies (highly variable), if they get sick or are teething, they stop sleeping through the night for a period of time. Then they get off-track and, with how many colds kids get during the school year, sleep can be elusive. My oldest is turning 8 and my youngest will be turning 4 this fall so I have had many years of experience getting children to sleep. I’ve found some solutions for those tough nights:

  1. Check make sure that your child is warm enough. Even though they seem warm when you put them down, it might be a good idea to make sure there’s plenty of layers on them. I loved the sleep sacks when my boys were younger — you can zip them into them they can’t take off. Even my 3-year-old is warm when I put him down, in the middle the night he gets cold! So I put him in a sleeper that he cannot remove. Hopefully when he turns four he will learn how to pull a blanket up over himself consistently at night.
  2. A space heater. If you live in an older home, temperatures can vary from room to room. I’ve found that when I close the doors to my sons’ rooms, it gets cold. A space heater is an energy hog so be aware that you might notice an increase in your bill. But it works! I put the space heaters on the side of their rooms. Don’t use an old space heater; make sure you have a newer one that complies with all the latest safety rules.
  3. Bedtime snacks work! I know it sounds weird to say, but I really need to fill my kid up! My kids eat an early dinner and by the time it’s bedtime, they are a little hungry. Sometimes it’s fruit, but on special occasions they do get ice cream.
  4. Invest in blackout curtains. Curtains and blinds don’t block out all the sun. I have curtains and blinds in my kids’ rooms and on top of that I bought inexpensive paper blackout curtains at Home Depot for $5 per panel. The paper blackout curtains are easily customizable for the size of your window because you can cut them to fit. Many studies reveal that light at night interrupts the some of the cycles in the brain. Simple blackout curtains work great!
  5. Use a Dreamlight. A dreamlight is a nightlight that the child can push which will put stars on the ceiling of the room. It can usually in the shape of an animal and it will last for 45 minutes and then it will turn itself off.  Then it’s jet black night in the room for the rest of the night. The child has the ability to control the light in the room as they fall sleep. I found that with my younger son if he does wake up in the middle the night he can just walk over and turn on the light and go back to sleep on his own.

Those are my tips for parents of both little ones and big ones. Having well-rested children makes a huge difference in our lives, both at school and work and when we are together at home! I’d love to hear your tips for good sleep in the comments, or you can email me!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

« 15 Essential School Supplies for Speech Paths
30+ Side Jobs for SLPs »
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Latest on Pinterest

  • Get hundreds of trials by having students say their target words and then coloring one square per word! These grids take multiple sessions to complete and you will end up with a beautiful mosaic of colors and patterns customized by the student. They can choose the colors or their favorite team. All you need are colored pencils! PRODUCT CONTENTS: 1) TINY GRIDS 2) MEDIUM GRIDS 3) LARGE GRIDS 4) PLAID PATTERN GRIDS EACH PACK INCLUDES ONE PAGE PER SOUND AND ONE PAGE OF STIMULUS WORDS
  • Using classic fables and nursery rhymes in speech therapy is a great way to teach story retell skills to young children, while continuing the tradition of oral story telling from our culture. 15 STORIES EACH CONTAIN: -Story Printable -Story Cards -Drawing to Describe -Writing to Describe PRODUCT CONTENTS Pg 3-6 – TARJETAS PARA CONTAR LOS CUENTOS Pg 7-12 – HICKORY DICKORY DOCK Pgs 13-17 – HUMPTY DUMPTY Pgs 18-24 – LA ARAÑA PEQUEÑITA Pg 25-30 – JUAN Y JUANITA and more!
  • Do you like knocking out multiple goals during speech therapy? Do you have kids who need to learn category vocabulary words and also benefit from fine motor practice? Each mini-book includes a list of the vocabulary words with boxes to check. Black-and-white is perfect for easy printing. These books will take multiple lessons to complete, which is great to use over multiple lessons. Students can add the mini-books to their portfolio of work or take the mini-books home
  • Olivia is a classic book adored by kids and also enjoyed by educators. Olivia covers the basic life skills PRODUCT CONTENTS: Pg 3-5 – El resumen del cuento Pgs 6-16 – Las acciones (Tarjetas, Escritura, Comparamos & Contrastamos) Pgs 17-28 –La ropa (Tarjetas, Escritura, Comparamos & Contrastamos) Pgs 29-41 – La rutina de la mañana (Tarjetas, Secuencias, Dibujando y Escribiendo) Pgs 42-52 –Vocabulario de la playa (Plurales, Coloreando, Comparamos & Contrastamos) All pages are black and white
  • Olivia is a classic book adored by kids and also enjoyed by educators. Olivia covers the basic life skills PRODUCT CONTENTS: Pg 3-5 – El resumen del cuento y ¿Qué pasó? Pgs 6-16 – Las acciones (Tarjetas, Escritura, Comparamos & Contrastamos) Pgs 17-28 –La ropa (Tarjetas, Escritura, Comparamos & Contrastamos) Pgs 29-41 – La rutina de la mañana (Tarjetas, Secuencias, Dibujando y Escribiendo) Pgs 42-52 –Vocabulario de la playa (Plurales, Coloreando, Comparamos & Contrastamos)
  • If you are treating phonological processes in Spanish, these flashcards are unique and ones you will refer to over and over again! CONTENTS (Color and Black & White): -14 pairs of cards for Velar Fronting -14 pairs Final Consonant Deletion -12 pairs Weak Syllable Deletion -10 pairs Cluster Reduction -12 pairs Initial Consonant Deletion -12 pairs Voicing TWO VERSIONS: 50 pgs color and 50 pages BW flashcards (quarter page size) 30 pgs color and 30 pgs BWflashcards (six per page)
  • CONTENTS (Color and Black & White): -14 pairs of cards -Velar Fronting -14 pairs of cards for Final Consonant Deletion -12 pairs of cards for Weak Syllable Deletion -10 pairs of cards for Cluster Reduction -12 pairs of cards for Initial Consonant Deletion -12 pairs of cards for Voicing TWO SIZE VERSIONS: 50 pgs color & 50 pgs BW quarter page size 30 pgs color & 30 pgs BW six per page
  • CONTENTS (Color and Black & White): -14 pairs of cards -Velar Fronting -14 pairs of cards for Final Consonant Deletion -12 pairs of cards for Weak Syllable Deletion -10 pairs of cards for Cluster Reduction -12 pairs of cards for Initial Consonant Deletion -12 pairs of cards for Voicing TWO SIZE VERSIONS: 50 pgs color & 50 pgs BW quarter page size 30 pgs color & 30 pgs BW six per page
  • Using classic fables and nursery rhymes in speech therapy is a great way to teach story retell skills to young children, while continuing the tradition of oral story telling from our culture. 15 STORIES EACH CONTAIN: -Story Printable -Story Cards -Drawing to Describe -Writing to Describe PRODUCT CONTENTS Pg 3-6 – TARJETAS PARA CONTAR LOS CUENTOS Pg 7-12 – HICKORY DICKORY DOCK Pgs 13-17 – HUMPTY DUMPTY Pgs 18-24 – LA ARAÑA PEQUEÑITA Pg 25-30 – JUAN Y JUANITA and more!

Copyright © 2022 · Website Design By Jumping Jax Designs