Markie Mickey

Background

About Markie Mickey

Experienced remote speech-language pathologist 2024 marked 20 years in the field of early childhood education for me. I started working as a preschool teacher when I was still in high school. I spent 5 years as a preschool teacher working with children ages 3-5. When I moved to Colorado, I got a job as a nanny to a 22 month old little girl, and I was absolutely entranced by how she was learning to speak and communicate. And I still am fascinated by the process every single day. A few years later, I enrolled in a Master's Program in Speech-language Pathology at the University of Northern Colorado. After graduation, I began working with preschoolers again, this time as an SLP! For the past 2 years, I have specialized in Early Intervention providing speech services in home (and virtually) to children birth to 3 years old. Every day, you can find me on the floor, playing with babies and toddlers and teaching them how to communicate through play. Working with very young children (ages 0-5) has always been a passion of mine. Babies learning to talk looks like magic. It is truly incredible how much they learn so quickly. From reflexive crying at birth to speaking in mostly complete sentences, telling stories, and using clear speech by age 4. That is incredible! But it isn't magic. There are some simple play and communication strategies any caregiver can use to encourage those precious first words.