Phonemic Awareness: part 1 / MUST-KNOW information about phonemic awareness and speech sound disorders
Do you consider phonemic awareness abilities before beginning to work with students with speech sound disorders? If not, you really should! Read on to learn why & how you should think about and assess these skills. What is phonemic awareness? Phonemic awareness is the final step of a larger process called phonological awareness. It is the ability to notice, think about, and manipulate sounds within words. Specific skills include: Phoneme isolation (initial, medial, and final positions) Blending sounds to form a syllable Segmenting sounds in a syllable Manipulating sounds (adding, deleting, substituting) Why is it important? According to ASHA (The
What to expect from a speech and language evaluation
What can you expect from a speech and language evaluation with a toddler or preschooler? Whether you finally got the referral you’ve been asking for or received a referral you didn’t expect, let’s take a look at what you can expect for your late talker on evaluation day. Before you go You may receive paperwork ahead of time including a release of information form. This allows the speech-language pathologist to share findings with other family members, schools or professionals. It is always your choice as to who has access on your child’s development. If you aren’t sure you’re ready to
Teaching Attributes in Speech Therapy
Consider all the language goals targeted in speech therapy sessions. A huge number fall into the category of teaching categories. Whether it’s increasing vocabulary, categorization skills, teaching descriptive words, or labeling functions, it all falls under the larger umbrella of attributes. What are attributes? Working on attributes in speech refers to improving a student’s understanding of the characteristics of an object. Even the best SLPs cannot teach every single word on a comprehensive vocabulary list. What one CAN do is give a student the ability to recognize salient features. Focus on underlying skills to teach skills to organize one’s thoughts.
How to Increase Your Child’s Attention Through Toy Rotation
Do your kids seem easily bored despite a million toy choices? Does your little one drift from activity to activity, but doesn’t settle down with any of them? Are you constantly overwhelmed by stuff? Try toy rotation! Oftentimes, littles ones are overwhelmed by the number of toys at their disposable, rather than bored. By limiting the number of toys available to a child at one time, you will promote deeper, more creative play and help expand attention skills! How does toy rotation work? Rotating toys involves presenting a limited number of toys to a child. The set of available toys
Jump Scare Games for Speech
Looking for a way to get your students really engaged? Try jump scares game in speech! If you’re a fan of horror films, you know that the potential for a jump scare is going to keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the film and give you a little boost of adrenaline every time one arrives. We can set up a similar, but less scary, situation in our therapy rooms. Using Jump Scare Games in Speech There is a large assortment of jump scare games for kids available and many tie in easily with popular school themes, but
Teaching body parts
Teaching children body parts develops vocabulary, but it also helps with confidence and positive self-image. Children start identifying basic body parts like “nose” around a year. More specific words like “wrist” and “knee” are mastered around age five. Let’s look at some activities we can use to work on this classic language goal. Activities may contain Amazon affiliate links. Bathing baby dolls A shallow bin of water, a baby doll and a washcloth are all you need for some splashing fun! (Oh, maybe add a towel beneath the bin.) Label all the parts of baby that you are cleaning, but
Boosting engagement with…preschoolers!
Preschoolers come to us with limited attention spans. The best way to maintain your sanity is to boost engagement throughout your speech therapy session with easy-to-use materials you already have. Limiting the amount of stuff available to your preschool students means less competition for your attention. Getting really animated and engrossed in your own activity is another way to draw little ones in. What you don’t want to do is chase them around to engage them. That’s a quick way to have the chase become the activity! Tips for Boosting Engagement Check out these quick tips for boosting engagement with
Scissor Activities in Speech
Are you the type of SLP who is always up for a good craft, or does the idea of “art” make you sweat? Incorporating scissor activities in the speech room can be a way to bridge these two styles. Why work on scissor skills? Child development skills Scissor practice works on several childhood development skills, including bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination and develops hand strength. The two most important to me as an SLP are bilateral coordination and hand strength. Bilateral coordination Bilateral coordination is the ability for our brain to use both sides at once. This not only helps with
Miniature Objects vs. Picture Cards in Articulation Therapy
Where do you fall in the debate over using miniature objects vs. picture cards in speech sessions? Most SLPs have a definite preference for one. There are a few (like me!) who tend to drift back and forth depending on the child or the target. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of using each in articulation based speech therapy sessions. Using miniature objects in speech Speech miniatures are so cute! You see the IG posts, and they look fun and engaging. They really are! But there’s a lot more to it than that. Pros Participation Miniature objects
Expectations for Speech Clarity
Parents are often confused by speech clarity guidelines especially when it comes to late talkers. If you can’t understand what your child is trying to tell you, isn’t that a clarity issue? Not necessarily. Late talkers are limited with how much language they have which means they struggle to communicate their wants, needs, and feelings. But there are other children who have language skills within expected ranges that are hard to understand because of they way they form their speech sounds. How do speech sounds develop? Many children don’t develop all mature speech sounds in the English language until they’re
Phonemic Awareness: part 1 / MUST-KNOW information about phonemic awareness and speech sound disorders
Do you consider phonemic awareness abilities before beginning to work with students with speech sound disorders? If not, you really should! Read on to learn why & how you should think about and assess these skills. What is phonemic awareness? Phonemic awareness is the final step of a larger process called phonological awareness. It is the ability to notice, think about, and manipulate sounds within words. Specific skills include: Phoneme isolation (initial, medial, and final positions) Blending sounds to form a syllable Segmenting sounds in a syllable Manipulating sounds (adding, deleting, substituting) Why is it important? According to ASHA (The
What to expect from a speech and language evaluation
What can you expect from a speech and language evaluation with a toddler or preschooler? Whether you finally got the referral you’ve been asking for or received a referral you didn’t expect, let’s take a look at what you can expect for your late talker on evaluation day. Before you go You may receive paperwork ahead of time including a release of information form. This allows the speech-language pathologist to share findings with other family members, schools or professionals. It is always your choice as to who has access on your child’s development. If you aren’t sure you’re ready to
Teaching Attributes in Speech Therapy
Consider all the language goals targeted in speech therapy sessions. A huge number fall into the category of teaching categories. Whether it’s increasing vocabulary, categorization skills, teaching descriptive words, or labeling functions, it all falls under the larger umbrella of attributes. What are attributes? Working on attributes in speech refers to improving a student’s understanding of the characteristics of an object. Even the best SLPs cannot teach every single word on a comprehensive vocabulary list. What one CAN do is give a student the ability to recognize salient features. Focus on underlying skills to teach skills to organize one’s thoughts.
How to Increase Your Child’s Attention Through Toy Rotation
Do your kids seem easily bored despite a million toy choices? Does your little one drift from activity to activity, but doesn’t settle down with any of them? Are you constantly overwhelmed by stuff? Try toy rotation! Oftentimes, littles ones are overwhelmed by the number of toys at their disposable, rather than bored. By limiting the number of toys available to a child at one time, you will promote deeper, more creative play and help expand attention skills! How does toy rotation work? Rotating toys involves presenting a limited number of toys to a child. The set of available toys
Jump Scare Games for Speech
Looking for a way to get your students really engaged? Try jump scares game in speech! If you’re a fan of horror films, you know that the potential for a jump scare is going to keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the film and give you a little boost of adrenaline every time one arrives. We can set up a similar, but less scary, situation in our therapy rooms. Using Jump Scare Games in Speech There is a large assortment of jump scare games for kids available and many tie in easily with popular school themes, but
Teaching body parts
Teaching children body parts develops vocabulary, but it also helps with confidence and positive self-image. Children start identifying basic body parts like “nose” around a year. More specific words like “wrist” and “knee” are mastered around age five. Let’s look at some activities we can use to work on this classic language goal. Activities may contain Amazon affiliate links. Bathing baby dolls A shallow bin of water, a baby doll and a washcloth are all you need for some splashing fun! (Oh, maybe add a towel beneath the bin.) Label all the parts of baby that you are cleaning, but
Boosting engagement with…preschoolers!
Preschoolers come to us with limited attention spans. The best way to maintain your sanity is to boost engagement throughout your speech therapy session with easy-to-use materials you already have. Limiting the amount of stuff available to your preschool students means less competition for your attention. Getting really animated and engrossed in your own activity is another way to draw little ones in. What you don’t want to do is chase them around to engage them. That’s a quick way to have the chase become the activity! Tips for Boosting Engagement Check out these quick tips for boosting engagement with
Scissor Activities in Speech
Are you the type of SLP who is always up for a good craft, or does the idea of “art” make you sweat? Incorporating scissor activities in the speech room can be a way to bridge these two styles. Why work on scissor skills? Child development skills Scissor practice works on several childhood development skills, including bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination and develops hand strength. The two most important to me as an SLP are bilateral coordination and hand strength. Bilateral coordination Bilateral coordination is the ability for our brain to use both sides at once. This not only helps with
Miniature Objects vs. Picture Cards in Articulation Therapy
Where do you fall in the debate over using miniature objects vs. picture cards in speech sessions? Most SLPs have a definite preference for one. There are a few (like me!) who tend to drift back and forth depending on the child or the target. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of using each in articulation based speech therapy sessions. Using miniature objects in speech Speech miniatures are so cute! You see the IG posts, and they look fun and engaging. They really are! But there’s a lot more to it than that. Pros Participation Miniature objects
Expectations for Speech Clarity
Parents are often confused by speech clarity guidelines especially when it comes to late talkers. If you can’t understand what your child is trying to tell you, isn’t that a clarity issue? Not necessarily. Late talkers are limited with how much language they have which means they struggle to communicate their wants, needs, and feelings. But there are other children who have language skills within expected ranges that are hard to understand because of they way they form their speech sounds. How do speech sounds develop? Many children don’t develop all mature speech sounds in the English language until they’re