Now what?

So, this is different.  We are all home.  Teachers are trying to teach from home.  Kids are trying to learn from home.  Parents are trying to balance their roles as parents and facilitators of the teaching.  We are all feeling the stress of this new and unprecedented experience.  However, every cloud has a silver lining they say.   Maybe our silver lining is a forced break from a normally very busy and hectic life.  Experiencing family time in the summer months often looks like vacations, summer camps, play dates, etc.  All of those are not an option so now as parents you are left with the task of 24/7 occupying your children's time.  In our world of speech and language, we do see an opportunity for all kids to develop so many of their speaking, listening, and conversation skills.  There is now time to engage in activities that enhance children's communication.  Here are a few suggestions:
       * Cook together.  Bake something, make a simple dinner, have kids help prepare a lunch.  This will teach them direction following, sequencing, vocabulary, sometimes math (fractions), and functional skills.  At the end they get a natural good consequence to their efforts as well.

January Speech and Language Tip

           Hi Parents,

                  It's January and getting close to the mid year of school.  This is a quick tip to help you help your children develop their language, listening and speaking skills.  Consider going "old school" with your kids when it comes to playing, especially the very young ones at home.  What I mean by this is make sure your children are getting plenty of play time.  Get out the blocks, dolls, play kitchens, play food, play vehicles (without the noises), play animals, pots, pans, spoons, old paper towel rolls, etc. (you get it).  Use anything you can think of to help stimulate their imagination and their imaginative play.  For example if they have plain wood blocks, model how to pretend one of them is a fire truck.  Drive it around making the noises of the siren, saying "hey chief, I'm on my way to the fire."  and other pretend phrases.  Use play food and dish sets and make a tea party, pretending to prepare the food and serve it to your guests.   During these interactions, your children learn social and communication skills, they hear and use language, they practice speaking after hearing role model speech from an adult, have time to interact, and develop their ability to imagine and create images in their minds.   The more time they have to be creative with their play and the less time they have that creativity designed for them through technology the better prepared they will be for listening, attending, planning, and learning.  

Use this link for more ideas for imaginative play at home:

https://www.learning4kids.net/list-of-imaginative-play-ideas/

Back to School - Time to Communicate

   We are back to school again and the first month has flown by.  It's been fun seeing all the kids and getting to hear about their summers.  It's been especially nice to hear all the outdoor activities they have been doing and not so much about screen times (YAY! Parents).  Now they are back to school it's time to remind our kids about being good communicators.  This takes both speaking and listening.  It doesn't matter if your child struggles with speech production issues or not, there are still some ways they can improve their communication.

Expected Speaking:

S:  Slow speech is always the way to go.  Model good speaking rates and
      remind your child to speak slower when they go too fast.

                              Listening and Attention

       Listening and attention continue to be one of the largest complaints that parents and teachers have about their children.   These skills do not usually just naturally develop but require some lessons and practice and early on.   For some children listening can be something that they are choosing not to do, but for others it's something they simply do not know how to do or the importance.  Too much instant gratification with today's technology, being able to switch instantly when bored, being allowed to not focus on directions are all contributors.  Let's start teaching children the importance of listening.  The following link is from Parent's Magazine and provides a list of books for children that help teach listening.  We should all be reading to our young children any way so why not read these cute stories with positive lessons:  https://www.parents.com/fun/entertainment/books/best-books-to-teach-listening/ .  Follow up these stories with incentives or praise when you catch your child performing one of the positive behaviors portrayed in the story.

Screen Time and Social Language Development

Screen time is often unavoidable.  Cell phones, tablets, and televisions can be found almost everywhere.  How has this explosion of electronic media affected society and what can we do about it?

The American Academy of Pediatricians (AAP) updated their recommendations regarding screen time in November 2016.  For preschoolers, they recommend no more than one hour of high quality screen time a day (preferably with an adult) and no screen time during meals or one hour before bedtime.  They also recommend that media not be used to help children calm down on a regular basis.  So what about those all those great apps meant to prepare our children for school?  With a few exceptions, these apps tend to focus on rote skills and are not based on developmentally appropriate practice.  They also tend to reduce the time that preschoolers spend interacting with other people, which is proven to increase language and social skills.  In fact the AAP states “It is important to emphasize to parents that the higher-order thinking skills and executive functions essential for school success, such as task persistence, impulse control, emotion regulation, and creative, flexible thinking, are best taught through unstructured and social (not digital) play, as well as responsive parent–child interactions.”

ROAD TRIP

Have you ever realized how much time you spend in the car with your children? Driving to and from school, a quick trip to the grocery store, visiting family or friends, or sports activities. Much of our day is in the driver’s seat, and our children in the back seat.  The car is a perfect opportunity to incorporate speech and language into every day life.

I Spy – This classic guessing game can focus on articulation and language. Pick something that contains a targeted sound (“I spy something that starts with a ‘t’”) or utilize vocabulary skills (“I spy something that is red and round”). 

20 Questions – Think of an object, animal, person or place. Have your child ask up to twenty questions to try and guess the targeted word.  For example, “Is it something you eat? Can I hold it in my hand?” Next, switch it up and you ask the questions! Great way to address question formulations and answering questions, vocabulary.

Categories – Pick a category and list as many items as possible. For example, if the category is “restaurants”, name as many restaurants you pass by on your trip.

Alphabet Game – Find things along your route that begin with the letters of the alphabet. Starting with A and ending with Z, see if  you and your child are able to find them all before you arrive at your destination. Another version of this game is finding words on signs that begin with the targeted letters.

Make up a Story – Each person generates a sentence one at a time to create a story. This focuses on sequencing skills, grammar use and vocabulary all at the same time.

Camping Trip – This activity is great for auditory memory, attention and phonemic awareness. Begin by saying, “I’m going on a camping trip and I am going to bring ______” and fill in the blank with something that starts with “A”, such as apple. Your child then repeats the sentence and has to recall your response of “apple” and add another word beginning with “b”,   (“I’m going on a camping trip and I am bringing an apple and a blanket”). Play continues utilizing the letters of the alphabet.

Movie showtime – If it is time to put in a DVD and watch a movie, make it a language activity also. Ask questions (Who was the movie about? Where were they? When did it happen?). Have your child retell the movie in his/her own words. Focus on the sequence of events throughout the movie or problem solve issues that may have happened throughout the story.

With the scenery always changing, traveling can be a perfect time to develop your child’s communication skills. Whether it’s a five minute ride down the street or hours on the highway, talking with your children in the car can make the time fly by!  

iPad Apps for Speech and Language Practice

IPad Apps for Speech and Language Practice:

With the prevalence of iPads and other tablets in school and at home, many parents look for ways to use them to help their child practice their speech and language skills.   There are many apps available that target a variety of skills and the list below includes just a few highlights.

**Please keep in mind that these are not required for home practice!  If you would like feedback on how to use any of these apps or an app that is not listed here, or you would like ideas or guidance on non-electronic home practice activities, please contact your child’s speech-language pathologist or check out their individual webpage.  

For speech sound production:

1.     Quick Artic – A free app that features many, common, target speech sounds in all positions of words (initial/ medial/ final sounds).   This app is no-frills, but offers a good way to practice single words at home.

2.     ArtikPix – This app features a few free sets of words for the /th/, /w/, /h/ and /y/ sounds, however other sounds are available for an additional purchase of $2.99 - $5.99.  Students can practice with flashcards or play a matching game.   

3.     Articulation Carnival – The main app is free, however, individual speech sounds must be purchased for between $2.99 – $5.99 per sound.  This app offers the opportunity to practice each sound in all positions of words, as well as in phrases and sentences.   Students can hear a recording of the word, phrase or sentence and they earn desired carnival games after completing a designated number of correct responses. 

4.     Articulation Island – This is a classic-looking video game in the style of Mario Brothers where the student navigates through a variety of obstacles in search of crates containing their target speech sounds.  This app is currently priced at $3.99, which includes all the speech sounds and does not require any additional in-app purchases.

**Please keep in mind that articulation practice requires the help of an adult listener to provide feedback on the accuracy of sound production.     

For language skills:

1.     Super Duper Storymaker FREE – This is a fun app for students to design and develop scenes that can be organized into narratives.  A wide variety of items can be added into the scene and the student (with a helping adult, if necessary) can write out the story in text boxes.  A paid version of the app is required in order to save stories.

2.     Sentence Maker – This app allows students to drag words into place to make grammatically correct phrases and sentences that they can then imitate aloud.  It is a good reinforcer for complete sentence forms and is fun for beginning readers!

3.     First Grade and Second Grade Antonyms and Synonyms FREE – Students can practice synonyms and antonyms in four different games and activities.  Additional target words are available in a paid version of the app for $3.99. 

4.     Bitsboard – This is a free app that allows you to customize sets of vocabulary words and pictures for your child.  You can choose from a large store of stock photos or upload your own photos in order to include family names, pet names or favorite vacation in your child’s practice repertoire.  Word sets can be designed to practice vocabulary and also speech sounds. 

It is important to remember that any electronic media should be used with parental supervision and interaction in order to get the greatest speech and language gains.   Please check out the blog entitled “Developing Communication Skills: Unplug to Plug In” on our “Let’s Talk” blog page for recommendations on managing students’ use of technology.  And most importantly, remember to TALK, TALK, TALK with your children!