Habla Cadabra SLP

Wishing a Happy Mother’s Day to the mothers and caregivers whose love, strength, wisdom, and care shape generations.

Excerpt from “Growing Up” by Liz Ann Báez Aguilar, featured in Love to Mamá: A Tribute to Mothers, edited by Pat Mora.

This Mother’s Day, we’re reflecting on the important role responsive, back-and-forth interactions play in children’s language development. 💛

In a longitudinal study of Spanish-speaking mother–child interactions, researchers found that children’s opportunities to participate in conversations — including responding to questions and engaging in conversational turn-taking — were linked to later language development.

As children became more active communicators, mothers naturally adjusted interactions to create more space for their children’s participation.

A meaningful reminder that language development is supported through responsive interaction, participation, and connection.

Happy Mother’s Day to the caregivers supporting communication, connection, and culture every day.

What strategies do you use to support conversational turn-taking in your work?

Check out the article (IG - see our link in bio): https://pubs.asha.org/doi/epdf/10.1044/2021_JSLHR-21-00329

Spanish plurals made simple

If you support Spanish-speaking or bilingual learners, teaching predictable grammar patterns like plurals can strengthen vocabulary, morphology, literacy, and expressive language skills.

Here are 3 basic rules:
1️⃣ Ends with a vowel → add -s
2️⃣ Ends with a consonant → add -es
3️⃣ Ends with -z → change z to c + add -es

This is a great skill to target during:
✔️ vocabulary activities
✔️ literacy tasks
✔️ sentence expansion
✔️ bilingual language therapy
✔️ home practice carryover

📌 Save for future sessions
📤 Share with another SLP or educator
💬 What Spanish grammar topic should I cover next?

We’re continuing our series on bilingualism and autism.

There is still a common belief among both parents and professionals that if a child is autistic, hearing or learning more than one language will be “too much.”

But research continues to show that bilingualism does NOT harm, reduce, or slow down language development in autistic children.

Kaylie Holke’s review article also highlights something many families already know from experience - the real challenge is often not bilingualism, but lack of access to bilingual supports and services. When families do not have access to bilingual supports and services, they may feel less confident using their home language, even when they want to maintain it. For professionals, supporting bilingualism means giving families practical support to continue using their home language.

Some of the benefits highlighted in the article include:
• additional practice with social language rule sets
• stronger connections with family and community
• increased ability to transition during change
• greater flexibility in problem-solving

📎 We linked the article in our IGbio. https://pubs.asha.org/doi/abs/10.1044/2023_PERSP-22-00264
Save this post for later, share it with a family or professional, and keep it as a resource for advocacy.

Queremos compartir información sobre autismo y bilingüismo, comenzando con uno de nuestros artículos favoritos de Henry Angulo-Jiménez (2018), que responde preguntas muy comunes de muchas familias sobre criar a un niño/a autista en un hogar bilingüe.

La investigación es clara: hablar más de un idioma NO perjudica el desarrollo del lenguaje.

📎 El artículo completo está enlazado en nuestro bio.
Guarda esta publicación para volver a leerla, compártela con otra familia o profesional, y si te resulta útil, ¡también puedes imprimir el artículo como recurso!

We’re highlighting topics related to autism and bilingualism and wanted to share one of our favorite articles by Henry Angulo-Jiménez (2018), which answers common questions families often have about raising an autistic child in a bilingual environment.

The research is clear: bilingualism does not harm language development in autistic children.

https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/persp3.SIG1.98

📌 Save this post to revisit later, share it with a family or colleague, and feel free to print the article as a helpful resource.

If you’re working on verbs and early phrases in Spanish, this FREEBIE is for you.

New on the blog: a simple Spanish verb activity for speech therapy + a free download.

I’ve been using this one to target verbs, phrase building, and daily routines with my bilingual students, and it has been been low-prep, full of practice, and ends with a take-home activity. Check the link in our bio to read the post and get the download link!

Pilar is in California this week attending Convergence

She’s ready and registered for her sessions - she is going to divide and conquer with her conference buddies to get as much information as possible!

If you’re at the convention and see her, say hi! She brought some Habla Cadabra swag to share.

We love opportunities like this to learn and it’s been so fun to check out other state conferences too!

Are you attending any conferences this year? What sessions have been the most helpful for you? Any ones coming up you are excited about?

Yesterday I was at the post office when an older couple turned around and asked if I spoke Spanish. They wanted to make sure they got some important mail to El Salvador and asked if I would stay with them during their transaction. I was happy to be a support.

Growing up, my grandparents didn’t speak English. My grandfather had a stroke that left him unable to speak, and I struggled to figure out how to connect with him. We both lacked a way to express ourselves to each other, so our communication was mostly sitting next to each other, holding hands, and sharing glances.

For a long time, I thought my relationship with my grandmother might end up similar. She tried hard! Always gesturing, offering me food, and ready to give me a hug. Once I started learning Spanish, we began connecting in more ways. I got to experience her humor, her insight, and her little roasts of my aunts and uncles. She would whisper small requests to me, and I could sneak her favorite snacks when it became harder for her to move around.
I got to experience my grandmother as her authentic self.
Speaking more than one language gave me access to those moments.
Bilingualism isn’t just gaining more vocabulary or grammar. It’s connection, culture, personality, and belonging.
That belief is a big part of why we create Spanish therapy resources at Habla Cadabra SLP. When children lose access to their home language, they can lose opportunities to connect with their families and their communities. They lose the chance to fully express themselves—and for their families to fully express themselves to them.

Supporting bilingual language development helps keep those connections alive, and that’s why this work matters so much to us.