Welcome to my little piece of the World Wide Web! My name is Rose Ann Kesting, M.A., CCC-SLP. I am an ASHA-certified, NJ-licensed speech-language pathologist with 30 years of experience. I am also the owner of The Kidz Kitchen of NJ, where I am known as “Chef Rose.” I graduated from Loyola University in Maryland, where I received my B.A. in Speech Pathology & Audiology, and then returned to my home state to attain my Master’s Degree at TCNJ (The College of New Jersey). I have practiced in a variety of settings, including public and private schools and clinics, with children ranging from pre-k to grade 12; however, the majority of my experience has been with the middle and high school-aged population. I’ve always enjoyed the challenges of this age group. It is rewarding to help guide them through these years and watch them grow into young adults. Currently, I work full-time in a private school for students, ages 8-18, with dyslexia and language-based learning disabilities. We are one of the only Orton-Gillingham accredited schools in the United States.
Cooking and baking have been an interest of mine for as long as I can remember. Since childhood, I have been preparing meals, experimenting with recipes, and exploring my culinary curiosities. As the oldest of four siblings, I often found myself in the kitchen helping to prepare breakfast, lunch, and dinner–and creating lots of snacks and desserts! My parents and sisters were subjected to many of my original concoctions like my peanut butter-brown sugar apple dip, scalloped potatoes in a béchamel sauce, and pineapple upside-down cake. I also vividly remember entertaining my younger siblings after dinner with my Julia Child impersonation (her voice, her mannerisms, the whole thing—move over Dan Aykroyd!) I found Julia’s personality so amusing. She was incredibly knowledgable about the technical intricacies of cooking (especially regarding french cuisine) yet her personality was approachable and down to earth. And she had such a flair for explaining her way through any mistakes she made on live TV–she was truly a pioneer in the food tv business! As the oldest sibling, I also clearly remember needing to be the “teacher” when we played “school” at home, much to my sisters’ disliking. I am the bossiest oldest, after all, so it was only fair! In elementary school, two of my sisters needed speech therapy for remediation of the /r/ and /s/ sounds. When I met their speech therapist, I thought she was so amazing! I wanted to be like her. I loved looking through the speech homework they brought home and listening to them practice their sounds! I guess these early experiences left a lasting impression!
Here are some other fun facts about me:
- As you may have guessed from the theme of my blog, I love food! Making it, writing about it, using it in therapy (when appropriate), and of course, eating it! I have been blogging about speech, language, and food since 2011! In my next life, I think I will come back as a pastry chef and own a small patisserie in Paris! For now, I will settle for sharing my passion with my family, friends, and students! You can browse my site for lots of food-inspired activities and TpT products with a food theme!
- Practically my whole family is in the education business! My husband is a school principal. He used to teach middle school Spanish and started his career as an elementary school teacher. My three sisters are middle and high school English and science teachers. My brothers-in-law are music and physical education teachers. We always joke about opening our own school someday. I think we have all our bases covered!
- I learned to play the guitar at a young age. I was taught by a nun (no, not Maria Von Trapp! lol!) I played at all the folk masses in my church, and as a teenager, I studied classical/acoustic guitar with an amazing British guitar teacher. When I became a parent, I loved writing fun and silly songs for my baby boy. Maybe one day I will get up the nerve to play for my older students—but I better learn something cool so I can impress them! I am a big advocate of using music in speech/language lessons when possible. It’s such a great motivator!!
- I played sports throughout my childhood and at the high school and college levels. Sports can teach so many life lessons—hard work, persistence, dedication, success, and failure. I became a fitness instructor as an adult and spent many hours working on my kickboxing, strength training, and step aerobic routines. It’s a good thing I love exercising to balance out my love for food!!
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Back in January 2013, I participated in a “Chain Letter Link Up” with several other speech pathologists. If you want to learn more about me and my blog you can check out the interview questions and answers:
1. Your name, email, and TpT store if you have one. If not, feel free to leave me your blog link.
Rose Ann Kesting
rokesting@verizon.net
http://www.speechsnacks.com
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Speechsnacks
2. When and why did you start blogging?
I started my blog in Sept 2011. I had been following a couple of speech-language blogs and felt inspired to create one of my own. My passions are my profession and cooking. I wanted a place to be creative and collect my ideas. I have always been a “think outside the box” kind of person, and I think the uniqueness of my blog reflects that. I love new challenges and considered starting a blog a true challenge, especially since I had absolutely no experience with creating a website. I originally figured out how to set it up without assistance, which was very frustrating and time-consuming at times, although, I have had updates made by web designers over the years. That being said, I am proud of what I have accomplished and I learn new things about blogging every day.
3. What is your favorite population to work with?
Our profession allows us to work with every age group– from pediatric to geriatric. I have appreciated working with different populations at different times in my life. When I entered the field 18 years ago I was an SLP in two middle schools and a high school. I worked mainly with self-contained students in the public school system. I worked with this population for almost 10 years. When I had my son, I decided to stay home to raise a family for a few years, while seeing clients privately from home. When I returned to work on a part-time basis, I decided to switch gears and work with preschoolers. Most of my caseload consisted of articulation and mild language delays. I am now back to almost full time and am fortunate enough to work at two great jobs—with the preschoolers in a clinic and at a private school with 8-18-year-olds with language-based learning disabilities—a very unique and rewarding work environment! I enjoy being in different settings with different age groups—-it keeps me on my toes—my job never gets monotonous!
4. How much time per week do you spend blogging and/or creating materials?
It all depends on how busy life is at the moment! My blog is very unique in that I have incorporated my passion for healthy cooking with ways to reinforce speech and language development. I usually base my
posts on the foods I prepare for my own family or themed to holidays and seasons. My blog started off geared primarily toward parents/families with the goal of informing them of ways to enjoy spending time cooking nutritious foods while reinforcing speech sound production, learning how to sequence steps in a recipe, building vocabulary by categorizing and classifying foods and other kitchen related words, etc. It became a bit more elaborate as time went on and I now include printable activities that tie in with the theme of the post so that SLP’s can also make use of my activities in the school setting. I hope that parents, therapists, and children can all take away something useful, fun and informative from my information.
5. What’s your favorite topic to create materials for?
FOOD, of course! I center each of my posts around a nutritious (and sometimes fun but not so healthy) recipe idea to make at home and, when possible, in the therapy setting. I include detailed, colored photos of each step in the recipes so if it cannot be made at school, the photos can be printed and then used for sequencing and direction following. My hope is that SLP’s will share these recipe ideas with their “speech parents “so that there will be follow-up in the home environment. My blog is versatile for many age groups—not only can you address various speech sounds with younger students, but older students who need to develop life skills and executive functioning skills can utilize the recipes for this purpose. I can’t think of a better way to strengthen communication skills than through cooking with your kids. And it’s a wonderful opportunity to spend some quality time connecting with them!
6. What’s the best thing about blogging?
It’s a great feeling to have an idea in your head and then see it materialize in writing and pictures. My 10-year-old son thinks I am a pretty cool mom for having a website and he often helps me with my recipes and some of the instructional videos I have posted on my site. His cousins and friends have also gotten in on the act! (You can check out my “Cooking Up Good Speech” video series on my site to see them in action!) It’s rewarding to know that I have made a positive impact on their young lives and maybe inspired them in some way! I hope I have helped my followers see cooking and healthy eating habits in a whole new light—a way to take what we do every day and turn it into a teachable moment!
7. Do you have any blogging tips?
1–If you don’t have a strong background in web development or setting up a blog, get some help–it will save you a lot of headaches and time in the long run! 2—Blog about what inspires you! You will be motivated to continue blogging if you are passionate about what you write about! 3–Keep a pen and paper near your night table…I have had many ideas come to me as I settled down for the night (I guess my mind is always racing or maybe I’m just always hungry!) You just might “dream up” some of your best ideas in the middle of the night.
8. Have you attended any good workshops lately?
Yes! This October I attended a workshop presented by the amazing Sarah Ward on Executive Functioning Skills. She shared many practical strategies that I have been able to utilize with my older students. It has helped me gain a better understanding of some of the weaknesses they experience in their daily life. She addressed time management skills, thinking in an organized way, organization related to homework, classroom management, and basic living skills. She had so much great information to share and was such a dynamic speaker! Her workshop also helped me realize that my blog is a direct way of working on so many of the areas she discussed. Cooking in the kitchen is a great way to address executive functioning skills—by practicing direction following in an organized, efficient fashion! One more great reason to follow me at www.speechsnacks.com
