Summer Language Worksheets

Ahhh....summer.  It's almost here!  Road trips, swimming pools, running through the sprinklers, ice cream and popsicles, it's all great!  I'm assuming you're as excited as I am.  And whether you're a fellow speechie or a fellow mommy, I've got a treat for you.  Summer Language Worksheets!  These are wonderful, short, and fun ways to keep your child's language skills sharp over the long summer break.  They're best for children K-4th grade or so.  Some may be easy, some may be a little more difficult.  You can make them more fun by putting them in a page protector and having your child draw a star or smiley face in  each square as they complete it.  Or you can cut them out and put them in a jar for them to draw from.  Or if you're on a road trip, make it a sort of a game while you're driving!  Be creative! And enjoy!

*I realize my blog needs more pictures.  And finding pictures online is a pain.  So I just used a family picture.  Hope you don't mind. :)

Hearing Journey Website

If you haven't heard of The Listening Room, you need to check it out right now!  Actually, wait until you finish reading this post.  Or go right now.  Either way.  The website is targeted for children with hearing loss, and is provided by Advanced Bionics.  But the activities provided are great for parents and professionals, and for any children with language goals!
There are a few artists, but the main one is Dave Sindrey, who is also a certified auditory verbal therapist and therefore specializes in teaching children with hearing loss how to listen and speak.  And therefore I love him!!!  You have to sign up to enter, but it is free and I never get emails from them.  It's divided into an infant section, kids section (the one I use the most), and an adults/teens section.  In the Kids section, each week there is a new language activity that comes with instructions and a PDF file for you to download.  Most things are not archived so I try to check it frequently and save everything to my computer.  There are also some great informational articles that are great to printout and distribute to parents.  And several activities and articles even come in Spanish which is fabuloso!

You Caught Me Chart

One of the greatest concepts I learned in grad school came from my fluency professor.  She was explaining how difficult it can be to raise a child's awareness of their own speech.  Sometimes they just don't listen to themselves, and they have to listen to themselves before they can fix their errors.  But before they learn to listen to themselves, they have to learn how to listen to other people's speech.  Thus the concept of a "You Caught Me" chart.  It works best with younger kids, like ages 3-8ish.

First, introduce the child to the chart:
"Hey, Josh/Kyle/Emily/whatever the kid's name is, sometimes I make mistakes while I'm talking too.  If you catch me making a mistake, say, "I caught you!"  Then we can draw a smiley face in the chart.  If you catch me FOUR times, then you get a prize!"

It's usually very motivating and exciting for these kids.  They kind of feel like they're the speech teacher, and what's not fun about that?!?  At first they may not notice any of your errors.  You might have to correct yourself for a while:  "Oops.  I forgot to say my /s/ sound.  Let me try that again.  Ssssstop."  Eventually they will start to notice something is wrong, but not be able to explain it.  That's ok!  It's a good start.  Pretty soon, they should be able to catch your errors 100% of the time and be able to explain what you did wrong 100% of the time.  Now you're one step closer to having that child identify their own errors.

 It's simple.  It's genius, and here's one for you if you want it.
It's basic and to-the-point.  Just laminate it or put it in a page protector so you can re-use it.

Book Review

BOOKS!  I can't emphasize the importance of reading books to your kids.  It teaches them so much, and they pick up on more things than we even realize.  Here are some essential skills that are strengthened when you read to your kids:

- Text/Print Awareness
- Vocabulary
- Narrative Skills  (sequencing and telling stories)
- Story Grammar (the essentials of story-telling: character, setting, problem, feeling, ending)
- Rhyming
- Letter Knowledge
- Inference
- Prediction
- Listening Skills
- Attention Skills (Yes! It can be taught!)
- Plus it's bonding and it helps your child relax and feel safe.

And it's never too early to start reading to your child.  In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends starting by 6 months!  

Anyway.

Here's a great book.  It's called "Roadwork" by Sally Sutton.  It's great for kids ages 1-3.  And boys would especially like all the trucks and machinery in it.  I like it because it's slightly repetitive, which kids enjoy and it helps aid learning.  It teaches rhyming.  It experiments with sounds and rhyming which adds an element of fun.  The words are nice and big.  And overall it teaches that building a road involves lots of steps and they happen in a certain order.  Kids need to start learning how to sequence things and how to describe steps in different processes; such as building a road, making a peanut butter sandwich, or how to build a snowman.

All that in one little book?  You bet.  So go to your local library today and find a new gem.

Baby Sign

I received a question from a reader about Baby/Toddler Sign Language, and how that affects their language development.  Here are my thoughts on that topic:Baby Sign is the concept of teaching an infant a couple of simple signs (such as milk, food, sleep)  in the hopes of helping them communicate earlier.  The logic is that a child is able to make the gross motor movements of those signs earlier than they would learn how to coordinate the fine motor movements of speech.  Babies can learn to sign back as early as about 6 months, whereas they often don't use true words until about 9 months or later.Research shows that using sign with your child can give your child a language advantage, higher intelligence scores, and better communication with parents.  And in my opinion, there's nothing wrong with teaching your baby some signs, unless you start to use only signs and stop talking to your child.  In that case it makes sense that the child stops hearing language therefore they stop learning it.  I would recommend that if you're using baby signs, be sure to not reduce the language you speak with your child in any way, and when they are old enough to start talking, then I think it's probably a good idea to fade away so they learn to rely on vocalizing instead of signing.  If you let your child get what they want from signing only then they won't see a need to start talking because their needs would be met.  Once again, I think it's all about finding the right balance.This handout explains things clearly - take a look.I hope that information is useful and that it answers your questions!  Let me know if you have other thoughts about this subject.

Language Activity: Treasure Hunt

Something I'd like to do with this blog is post ideas for games and activities you can do with your child, and also include ideas on how to strengthen language or speech skills with that particular game.  So here's an example:

Activity:  Treasure Hunt
Ages:  2+
Language Skills Targeted: -Directional Vocabulary (left, right, straight, up, down, under, next to, on top, beneath, etc.)

So here's what you do.  You find a treasure box.  Or a shoebox.  Or a leftover container.  Really it doesn't matter.  That's the wonderful thing about kids and their imaginations.  You say, "This is our treasure chest!" with enthusiasm in your voice, and they'll run with it.  I happened to have a little treasure chest I bought at Michael's back in my college days.

Now go ahead and dump your change jar full of pennies into the treasure chest/shoebox/leftover container.  Or you could also find those cheapo bags of chocolate wrapped in gold foil.  Then muster up your inner-child's enthusiasm and say, "This is our GOLD!  Now let's pretend to be pirates! I'm going to hide my treasure where you'll never find it!"

Okay you don't have to use those exact words.  But you get the idea.

Then for the fun part. Take turns hiding the treasure chest.  To really take advantage of the language-learning opportunities, hide it really well.  That way they have to look at you or ask you for help in finding it.  Then you can start using the directional vocabulary.  "Look under the couch.  Look on top of the shelf.  It might be in between the couch and the table.  Look to your left."  


An understanding of these concepts is crucial for academic success in the classroom and in life in general.  It's never too soon to start introducing them.

After you or your child finds it, review by stating where it was hidden.  "It was inside the cupboard!"

It's up to you how much you want to embellish this little activity.  I prefer to lean towards simplicity.  But you could always add an eye patch or a treasure map.  When I played this with my son, we drew a simple map of our house and I'd draw an X in the room where I hid the treasure.  Then I taught him the phrase, "X marks the spot."  Throw in a few "Argh matey's" and "Avast me hearties" and you're GOLDEN.

And just because I think it's hilarious, here's an English to Pirate Translator.

Have fun!

Language-Enhancing Strategies

Well, it's a little late, but as promised, here is a post with suggestions on how to help your child expand his/her language.  You might read through these 4 strategies and think, "I already do those things."  Well you probably do!  And that means you're doing a good job!  Moms really are in tune with their kids and often do just what their kids need without even realizing it.  These 4 strategies are simple but work wonders.  The key, I think, is to find the right balance of language.  When implementing these, you want to speak with your child at their level, with just a little bit of added difficulty.  Say your child usually only puts two words together.  Try modeling 3-word sentences with them for a while, and see what happens.  Research shows when parents use these methods, children pick up on it and children's language skills improve.

Parallel Talk:  You narrate what your child is doing as they are doing it.
Example:  "You're blowing bubbles!  You popped it!  It went away!"

Self Talk:  You narrate what you are doing while you are doing it.
Example:  "I'm making dinner.  I'm stirring it."

Description:  You describe something the child is looking at or playing with.
Example:  "That's soft.  Soft bear.  Brown bear."

Expansion:  You expand on a phrase or word the child has said.
Example:  Child points to a car and says, "Car."  You say, "Fast car!" or "Red car."  or "Your car."

And there you have it.  Four simple but tried and true strategies on how to help improve your young child's language skills.

Here are some links to other sites on the same stuff:
http://www.talkingkids.org/2011/05/all-kinds-of-talk-using-your-language.html
http://www.playingwithwords365.com/2011/11/strategies-to-help-your-child-talk-parallel-and-self-talk/