Parents often wonder what they can do at home to improve their child’s communication skills.

Here are 10 activities to promote your child’s speech and hearing skills:

Treasure hunt with words or pictures. You can do this around the house or garden. Keep it simple. Give your child some hints. When he finds a card, have him say the item written or drawn on the card while looking at you. Continue until all the cards have been found. This helps develop eye contact, communication, pronunciation and symbol or word recognition.
Involve your child in activities of everyday life. Any interaction between parent and child is an opportunity to improve communication. Housekeeping, cooking, grocery shopping are all activities that a child can actively participate in. Talk through your process, and ask your child questions about what he sees or does.
Public places I-Spy game. Parks, malls and beaches are all great venues for people-watching. Point out people, objects and actions you notice. Have your child take turns with you, and turn it into an “I-Spy” game. This activity will promote social observations, descriptive vocabulary and turn-taking.
Tell Me What to Do. This game is fun for kids. Pick an activity your child knows how to do. Tell your child that you need to do the activity but you don’t remember how. He has to tell you exactly what to do. The activity can be a game you play, or an object you have to seek and fetch. Get him to give you detailed instructions.
What’s that sound.  This is a great listening game. Take turn making an animal sound and the other person has to guess what animal the sound belongs to. You can also cut out images from magazines of things and animals that make sounds and glue them onto little cards. These can be used as prompts for the game.
Finish the story. Come up with a simple story, and take turns adding to it with your child. For example, you might open with “Once upon a time there was a prince.” The child would then add something about the prince. You might follow with something about the setting. Your child could then say something about the plot, and so on…
Talk, Talk, Talk. When it comes to babies, experts agree that parents should spend time face to face with their child, talking and sharing the world in a descriptive and engaging manner. Babies love to have their sounds echoed back at them. It’s also important to speak about emotions. Children need to see their emotions reflected back to them, and they need to hear the words that explain how they feel. This simple technique can help them develop an emotional vocabulary and regulation.
Swing and talk. If your child tolerates swinging, consider working on speech skills while he swings. You can sing the alphabet song. Face him so that there’s eye contact, every time he comes towards you say one letter, or take turns with him saying one letter at a time. You can do the same thing with songs like “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” counting from 0-10, or touching a part of your body that your child then has to name.
Flashlight game. This is another favorite! Tape pictures or words (if your child reads) on a wall. Make the room dark. Take turn with your child holding a flashlight and lighting up a picture or word. Have your child say the word he sees. 
Bubbles. Children of all ages love bubbles! Therapists love them because it’s a fun way to work on many essential skills. Bubbles promote eye-contact through anticipation. It can be used to promote speech by making the child request more or telling you where he wants the bubbles. Teaching how to blow bubbles also works on your child’s oral-motor skills.

Understanding Academic vocabulary?

Academic vocabulary includes words used in academic dialogue and

texts. It does not include words students use in general conversation,

but academic vocabulary relates to other familiar words that students

do use.

 For example, rather than using the simple verb watch, an

academic term would be observe. Academic vocabulary words help

students understand oral directions and classroom instructions as well

as comprehend text across different subject areas.

Why is it Important?
Speech Language therapist can help students understand complex sentences and vocabulary, comprehend written and oral information, and compile thoughts for speaking and writing. These skills are essential for students to feel confident in their work, perform their best in school, and be on a career pathway that they want, not one that is decided for them because of a disability.

Parent Need to KNOW: Testing vocabulary includes active verbs and concrete nouns. The active verbs direct students to think more deeply about their subject matter (identify, explain, organize, retell, illustrate, etc.). The nouns tell students what they are to use to present their comprehension of the subject material for an assessment or assignment (i.e., outline, graph, chart, essay, theme, analogy, Venn diagram, etc.)… 

How to Encourage Special Needs Students

Here are seven ways that you can activate the strengths of your students with special needs, whether you run a full-inclusion classroom, a self-contained special Ed classroom, or anything in between:

• Discover your students' strengths.  Find out about your students' strengths and abilities by talking with previous teachers and looking at cumulative files (focusing on the highest grades and test scores and any positive comments from teachers). Then, fill out a strength-based inventory for each student—and have parents fill one out as well. 

 • Provide positive role models with disabilities. Students with special needs need to learn about individuals with disabilities who have become successful in life. This way, they can hopefully come to the conclusion that "If they can do it, so can I!"

• Develop strength-based learning strategies. Once you know your students' special strengths, design strategies that utilize those abilities.

• Use assistive technologies and Universal Design for Learning tools. Learn about apps that capitalize on the gifts of your students with special needs. For a student with autism who loves to use an iPad but has difficulty communicating is a great alternative communication device.  

• Maximize the Power of your students' social networks. 

Create a graphic representation of a student's peer network, identifying both strong and weak relationships. Then, pair the student with classmates that he has the most positive relationships.

• Help students envision positive future careers.  Encourage special needs students by helping them make links between their strengths and the requirements of specific jobs or careers.

• Create positive modifications in the learning environment.   Think about how you can create changes in your classroom that brings out a particular strength of your students with special needs. For example, provide a student with ADHD who learns best by moving, for example, with a stability ball that he can jiggle on while doing his class-work.  

Teaching Grammar

Teaching Grammar in Elementary

     In therapy, I have observed how difficult it is for elementary age kids to use correct verb tense when speaking and/or writing. Test your own children and see if they are able to make a sentence with each verb using correct sentence structure. 
For example: " I will buy a car today.", "Yesterday, I bought a car.", "I wished I had of bought the yellow car."

Teaching children to write sentences well, in turn, helps them become better readers and    communicators.

Students Who Stutter

CLASSROOM SITUATIONS

Classroom tasks are among the most challenging for children

who stutter. Here are some ideas from other teachers that can

help you help the children in your classroom.

• During classroom discussions, allow extra time for

children to respond, and encourage everyone to

contribute their ideas.

• Recall that reading out loud in class may increase a

child’s anxiety as she waits for her turn. After talking

with the child about what would work best for them,

consider selecting readers at random, or using another

strategy, rather than going “down the row.”

• In group work, monitor the children’s collaboration

to make sure the child who stutters has the chance

to participate in class activities.

• Remember that time pressure makes it harder for

children to speak. When asking questions, try not

to reward only the fastest responses.

• Help students learn to take turns and allow time for

thinking and responding.

• Oral reports may be particularly difficult for some

children. Work with the child to develop a plan that

meets their individual needs. Flexibility may be needed,

but it is important to provide opportunities for the

child to be a successful contributor in class.

ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS

1. Finishing sentences and filling in words is not

generally helpful. Even though you may be trying

to help, this can put even more pressure on the

child/student who stutters.

2. Be a good listener. Maintain normal eye contact and

do not seem impatient, embarrassed, or alarmed.

Wait patiently until the child is finished speaking.

3. Don’t give advice such as ‘slow down’ ‘take

a breath’ or ‘relax’. These are simplistic responses

to a complex problem.

4. Let the child know, by your manner and actions, 

that you are listening.

Semantic-Pragmatic Disorder

Pragmatics refers to the expression of language.

Children with autism, Asperger’s syndrome, or PDD (Pervasive Developmental Disorder), etc., have difficulty expressing themselves, especially in social situations. They may express their thoughts and feelings openly and explicitly with little or no consideration for others in their surroundings. Controlling the volume of voice may also be an issue.

Children diagnosed with “Semantic-Pragmatic Disorder” experience delays in language development and have difficulty with comprehension and expression. Check with your pediatrician or speech-language pathologist if you have questions regarding your child’s inability to express himself/herself or communicate effectively with you and others.

A child with SPD between the ages of 0-4 usually:

• Is quiet, content, and plays alone.

• Does not respond to someone calling and may appear deaf.

• Is a late talker and cannot express wants easily.

After age 4, parents may notice that the child:

• Does not initiate play but participates in rough and tumble play.

• Has a grasp of jigsaw puzzles, numbers, letters, shapes and colors.

• Enjoys activities like washing up or operating a computer.

• Parrots phrases or sentences.

• Obsesses over certain personal interests.

• Over-reacts to touch, pain, and everyday noises (vacuum cleaner, balloon pop, and blender).

• Has difficulty following rules, taking turns, or participating in team or group activities.

• Speaks literally in a grown-up tone and doesn’t like “baby talk.”

• Finds facial expressions, gestures, and body language confusing.

• Has difficulty comprehending idioms and figurative language.

• Has difficulty with abstract concepts like time or motivation (e.g., next week, when you get ready, don’t stay too long).

• Reads very early or late, but without comprehension.

• Finds social events challenging, is unsure how to take part, and dislikes crowds.

• Has minor problems with motor-skills.

• Has specific language impairments.

• Becomes distracted while on task by something very random.

• Appears indifferent or aloof regarding the feelings and opinions of others.

Play Intervention

Play intervention is a great way to enter the world of children and to be engaged in what interests them. Studies have proven that play intervention greatly enhances the communication in children with autism.  The following are simple play activities that we often forget about that could be used to interact with children:

*Chase: "I'm gonna get you!"

*Get bubbles, balloons, etc...

*Ball play (rolling back and forth)

*Pretend Play 

*Song play/games (wheels on the bus, old McDonald Had a Farm)

*Ready, Set, Go!

*Real Hide and Seek

*Duck Duck Goose

* Reading books (but not reading every word, explain what is happening)

*Drawing faces

*Hot Potatoe

*Treasure Hunt games  

*Board Games (Candy Land, Bingo, Memory, Go Fish)

*Complex Pretend Play (Making up stories about animals, dolls, etc.)