Laura Wright Mize, Mississippi University for Women Class of 1988, is the founder of teachmetotalk.com, a business dedicated to teaching communication skills to young children, ages birth to 3. Laura received her BS in Speech-Language Pathology and was a member of the Lockheart Social Club and Meh Ladies.
As a pediatric speech-language pathologist in private practice in Louisville, Kentucky, Laura has spent the last 17 years evaluating and treating infants and toddlers, birth to 3, who have communication delays/disorders. She told us, “I am a practicing clinician with TONS of practical, real-life intervention ideas to share.”
In January 2008 she founded her website
www.teachmetotalk.com and now has
received millions of hits from parents and early intervention professionals from all over the world. She hosts a popular weekly podcast "Teach Me To Talk with Laura and Kate" which draws an international audience. Recent topics have included giving moms practical advice for ways to work with their non-verbal two-year-olds at home. You can access
past podcasts via her website.
In 2008 and 2009 Laura produced a series of DVDs to promote training for parents and professionals who work with children with developmental speech-language delays and disorders. Those DVDs and a newly published treatment manual, Teach Me To Play WITH You, are used by early intervention professionals and speech-language pathologists in graduate training programs and continuing education conferences throughout the USA, Canada, South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore, Israel, Australia, India, and the United Kingdom.
I had a few questions for Laura after reading about her company:
What makes your materials different? In other words, are your materials just mainstream stuff, packaged in easy-to-use videos and books, or are you doing something outside the mainstream, and if so, could you talk about it a little.
What a great question! My materials are COMPLETELY different from what’s been commercially available for late-talking toddlers and very young children with diagnoses that predispose them to developmental delays such as Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, prematurity, and autism spectrum disorder. For one thing, I don’t produce DVDs for toddlers to watch, but for ADULTS, namely the parents and professionals who work with infants and toddlers with language delays. Babies who are struggling to understand and use words don’t learn how to talk from being placed in front of a TV screen. They learn from moms and dads who love them and are totally committed to implementing strategies which we know are successful in facilitating not only those first words, but more importantly, the skills that are necessary BEFORE a child begins to talk.
I note that you are going a lot of workshops/conferences in Missouri and Indiana. Do you have any plans to do so in Mississippi any time soon?
I’d love to come back home and talk to SLPs and other professionals who do what I do! I hope the logistics work out to make that possible in the next year or so. So many factors have to come together to make an event like that happen.
Is there something about your MUW education that you believe made you more able/willing to step outside the normal practice of a speech therapist and to found Teach Me to Talk, and if so, could you talk about it a little.
I believe that inside every W girl is a dream to achieve things other women may secretly wish for, but be afraid to pursue. Being constantly surrounded by strong, female peers and role models inspired many of us to believe that our goals are attainable, even if they take 15 or 20 years to accomplish!
It sounds like you are wonderful speech therapist. I live in (someplace other than KY); and my child isn’t talking. Can you help me?
That’s my mission at teachmetotalk.com and the sole purpose I founded my website, produced my DVDs, and published my therapy manual. I strive to educate moms and dads as they begin their quests to find information about their own child’s specific issues. Learning that your baby is not developing typically is often a huge emotional blow for a parent. Most of the time, once parents deal with the initial shock, they begin to look for ways they can help their child. While no DVD or book can substitute for a professional evaluation, many times high-quality therapy services are not available, or parents need an additional resource to supplement what they are learning from their child’s own therapist. I hope to fill that gap for parents and now, with my conferences, for professionals who work in early intervention programs throughout the USA.
Can you tell me a little about your personal/family life—Married? Kids? Hobbies? Volunteer work?
I married the boy who swept me off my feet when I was a sophomore at the W 25 years ago this month! He’s actually more than my husband; he’s the other half of teachmetotalk.com! We have 3 amazing children that I regularly go on and on about, but there’s probably not enough space for that here! Truth be told, between all of my professional obligations with working with clients, writing, and traveling regularly, combined with all the personal demands I’m sure many of us face as busy wives and mothers, I am way too tired to have any hobbies J
I'd like to thank Laura for visiting with us today, and encourage all of you who have or know of a child with a communication delay to visit her website:
Teach Me To Talk
