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‘Speech Therapy’ Category

  1. “Launching” Speech & Language Skills

    March 10, 2013 by Breanna

    As I mentioned in my previous post, I recently purchased some new toys and games for my speech room and am excited to share all the fun ways to help your child increase speech and language skills!

    Many of you are familiar with the “Angry Birds” game on iPhones and iPads.  When I ran across the Matchbox “Angry Birds Slingshot Launch” I couldn’t be more excited to find a way for my kiddos to move away from the technology and into a more engaging and interactive game!  Keep in mind that the same activities I recommend can be used with any “race” type car activity.

    Angry Bird Slingshot LaunchArticulation:

    • As always, fun games can be used as a reward to saying ___ number of speech sounds.
    • This track has three “Pigs” that you can knock off when you launch the car.  Instead of the pigs, you can place artic cards to crash!

     

    Language:

    • Other Matchbox brand cars will fit on this track.  Place a variety of cars in a container that you have control of and wait for your child to communicate they need “more” “cars,” etc.  You can also withhold cars to wait for non-verbal communication such as eye contact and pointing
    • Give them choices around language concepts such as “Do you want a big or little car”  Often they will choose “big,” but then they are working on problem solving because the “big” cars do not fit on the track
    • Problem Solving: There are a few steps required for this game to be fun.  You have to be able to pull back on the launcher to get it ready for the car and set up the pigs to knock down.  Most of my kiddos cannot do this alone so it provides a good opportunity for them to ask for help or for you to have them follow directions (e.g. pull on the yellow button)

     

    Pragmatic Language/Play Skills:

    • If you are working on shared attention and engagement, this is just a fun game for you to play WITH your child.  If your child is known to play independently, this game can provide opportunities for your child to interact with you to get the game going.
    • This game is also a great way for you to use affect to help your child engage and interact with you.  It should be more fun to watch mommy or daddy say “Wow!” “Look out” “Crash!” then to play the game independently
    • Place yourself at the end of the track so the car can “crash” into you and your child can laugh and delight in mommy or daddy getting “crashed”
    • Turn taking with other adults or peers to launch the car
    • You can begin working on pretend play by placing characters at the end of the track to crash such as a “mean animal” or a person that can respond with “ouch I’m hurt and need help!”

     

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  2. Rocketing Speech and Language Skills

    March 7, 2013 by Breanna

    While shopping for new speech materials (most likely in the toy section…no flashcards for me thanks!), I discovered one of my new favorite toys for both speech and language development.  Check out this fun stomp rocket that costs between 10-15$ at your local Walmart, Target, Toys R’ Us, etc.  One of my first recommendations for parents in toy buying is finding a toy that has some sort of cause and effect and is more enjoyable when someone joins! Take a break from all the electronic, light up, noisy toys!

     

    Rocket

    Articulation

    • Reward for “good speech sounds” (e.g. Say 10 of your practice words and we’ll shoot some rockets!)
    • Tape speech cards to a wall and “shoot” your sounds–You can do this at the single word level or expand to phrases “Shoot ___” “I got___”
    • Tape speech sounds to rocket and see which speech sounds go the farthest

     

    Communicative Temptations

    • Say “Ready…set…” and WAIT for  ”go” “blastoff” etc.
    • Keep all extra rockets in a clear container so the child has to communicate to get more
    • Aim the rocket so it lands out of reach of your kiddo (on a high counter, shelf, etc.), they will have to communicate for help

     

    Language Concepts

    • Action words: stomp, smash, hit tap, sit on the rocket launcher to make it go
    • Spatial Concepts: “Should we shoot up or down?”  ”Oh no…it landed in BACK of the table!”
    • Body parts–Draw a person on a large piece of paper or marker board, ask your child to choose which body part they are going to “shoot”
    • Quantity–”How many do you want?”

     

    Social Skills/Play

    • Turn taking with adults or peers
    • Ideate “mean” creatures we have to “shoot”
    • If your child tends to perseverate on preferred toys (e.g. only playing cars) you can use the rocket to join their play–”Uh oh…mommy’s going to get your car…watch out!”

     

     

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  3. Great Kids

    September 20, 2012 by Breanna

    I work as a speech therapist and have the amazing opportunity to assist in the development of young children.  Unfortunately, I am finding more and more children being asked to learn education skills earlier and earlier.  There are programs like “My Baby Can Read,” and iPad apps to learn colors and numbers.  Let’s not forgot the barrage of standardized tests both parents and teachers feel they have to prepare their children for.  With all of these expectations, we often forgot the true qualities that make Great Kids. With his book ”Great Kids: Helping Your Baby and Child Develop the Ten Essential Qualities for a Healthy, Happy Life,” Dr. Greenspan reminds us what is REALLY important in our children’s development, and how we can help children become GREAT KIDS!

    Amazon.com writes:

    Parents all over the world have certain universal aspirations. They want their children to contribute meaningfully to society and to pursue their own dreams. But we appear to be missing the essentials. In this inspiring book, based on 30 years of research and practice, Dr. Stanley Greenspan redefines the qualities of an emotionally and intellectually healthy child and identifies the ways that parents can help their children develop each quality. The qualities that make us call a child a “great kid,” such as empathy, curiosity, and logical thinking, are fundamental and underlie all the academic, athletic, and social talents that a child might develop. We are not born with these traits, Greenspan demonstrates, they come from experience, which suggests that each and every parent can encourage them and that each and every child can strive to acquire them.

    Category Kids, Speech Therapy | Tags: | No Comments

  4. Why is play so important?

    March 24, 2012 by Breanna

    Warren Boys

    I am going to get on my soapbox this morning and talk about PLAY!!! I am a speech pathologist working with parents struggling to teach their child as much as they possibly can, feeling bad if their two year old doesn’t yet know shapes or colors or numbers.  It is not the parent’s fault, in todays society we’re seeing informercials for “My Baby Can Read” and 6 year olds winning spelling bees.  It’s a competitive world out there and parents want what is best for their child.

    Well, what if I told you playing with your child could increase their cognitive development, social skills, creativity, imagination, language, and motor skills?! Sounds better than being able to label shapes right?!

    Let’s try an example and I’ll let YOU decide which scenario sounds better:

    1. Larry’s mom buys a “learn your colors” app on the iPad and Larry learns all of his primary colors in a matter of 3 days.
    2. Mary’s mom takes her on a play date to the park where Mary runs free with two other kids her age.  Mary learns that the “red” slide is her favorite because it is big.  Mary learns she must wait her turn for the “red” slide because it is Sally’s favorite too.  Mary learns the “red” slide is scary to Todd because he is too little for the “red” slide.  Mary learns the “red” slide can be an awesome race track for rocks.  Mary learns it makes her sad to leave the “red” slide and go home.

    So maybe Mary only learned one color that day while Larry learned 10….but Mary learned how to use the word “red” for a variety of pragmatic functions: “I like the red slide”…”The red slide is big”….”The red slide is fun”….”It makes me sad to leave the red slide”.  Not only could she expand on her knowledge of red, she was working on important developmental skills: engagement with others, reciprocity with peers, negotiating, creating novel play ideas, identifying and responding to other’s emotions.  In one hour, Mary was learning and applying far more skills than Larry had in 3 hours on an iPad!

    In conclusion, I am not saying that teaching your children colors, numbers, letters is bad.  I’m not implying that educational apps on the iPad are bad.  I am simply saying that PLAYING with your child is BETTER!

    “Play not so much reflects thought (as Piaget suggests) as it creates thought” –Vandenberg, B. (1986). Play theory. In G. Fein & M. Rivkin, (Eds.),The young child at play, (pp. 17-22). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

    “By doing what your child loves, your child will love being with you”–Richard Soloman, MD

     

     

    Category Kids, Speech Therapy | Tags: | No Comments

  5. Is your child a “late talker”?

    February 29, 2012 by Breanna

    Check out this article: Late Talker  Here is an excerpt from the article to give you a little preview of the article written by speech therapist Karyn Lewis Searcy, MA, CCC:

     

    There is substantial empirical evidence supporting the importance of early intervention for speech and language delays on the developing brain, as well on the healthy progression of the parent-child relationship (Daro, 2009). Nonetheless, well-meaning strangers and even some pediatricians dismiss parent concerns, saying, “Don’t worry! He’s just a late talker; he’ll catch up.” Parents of very young children, however, often worry about overall development, particularly with their firstborn children, whom they tend to study with a rare mixture of awe and anxiety. In planned families, most parents have eagerly anticipated the magical process of their infants developing into toddlers. When that development is even slightly delayed, parents become concerned and often question their own competence with wavering confidence.

    Although some children with communication delays suddenly do catch up and can develop communication skills without treatment, both parent and child have already shared a period of stress. Their limited means of relating early in life can lead to tantrum behaviors and parent overindulgence or impatience. So even if that “late talker” suddenly begins spouting out complete sentences at age 3, the parent-child dynamic may have already been distorted.

    Category Speech Therapy | Tags: | 1 Comment

  6. Making Articulation Fun!

    January 27, 2012 by Breanna

    Looking for some new ideas to increase carry-over and keep your kids interested in speech? Try some of these fun activities!

    Activity Description
    Flashlight Game Hide target words around the room and search for them with the flashlight
    Bowling Tape target words to bowling pins and say the words you knocked down.
    Mailbox Put target words into an envelope and have your child check the mail for their “sounds”
    Bean Bag Toss Try and toss bean bags on the target words.  Keep score to make it competitive!
    Matching Game Make two copies of each target word.  Glue on construction paper (so it is not see through) and see who can find the most matches
    Go Fish Make two copies of each target word and glue on 4×6 inch note cards.  Play a round of go fish with target words.
    I spy… Describe a target word (e.g. I spy an animal that slithers on the ground).  If your child guesses correctly, he/she gets a turn at describing.
    Fishing Put paper clips on target words.  Use a stick with a magnet attached by a string and “fish” for sounds.
    Tic-tac-toe Write target words (or pictures) in tic-tac-toe squares.  The child must say the sound before they place their “x” or “o”
    Puppets Let the child “eat” target words with puppets
    Jewelry Cut out small target words/pictures and hole punch.  Thread onto colored yard to make an “speech” necklace, bracelet, etc.
    Transportation Cars, trains, buses, etc. can “pick” up and “drop off” target words.

     

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