Protect Your Hearing on the Fourth!

Protect Your Hearing on the Fourth!

by Courtenay M. At Home Ideas Parents' Corner
Fourth of July Fireworks

Protect Your Hearing on Fourth of July. Image courtesy of photocupcake.wordpress.com

BOOM, POP, SIZZLE!  The sounds of July! Even before the celebration on the Fourth, popping firework sounds are up and down the street. And, we all love a great fireworks show on the Fourth of July! Did you know that fireworks and other loud noises can cause permanent hearing damage? According to the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders,

approximately 26 million Americans between the ages of 20 and 69 have high frequency hearing loss from overexposure to loud noises at work or during leisure activities. Children may be particularly vulnerable to this risk.

Of course you want to watch the fireworks and enjoy the day, but here are a few precautions you can take to make sure you protect your hearing or your child’s hearing.

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4 Easy Articulation Activities at Home

4 Easy Articulation Activities at Home

by Courtenay M. At Home Ideas Parents' Corner Pronunciation & Lisps Speech Therapy Techniques
Articulation Therapy Cartoon

Articulation Activities at Home Image source: Pinterest.com

Articulation. What exactly does that mean? Articulation is the movement of the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs (the articulators) in order to make speech sounds. It is considered an articulation disorder when there are problems making the sounds. Sounds can be substituted, left off, added, or even changed. Often, it is young children who make speech sound errors. They may say “wabbit” instead of “rabbit”, or leave out certain parts of a word such as “nana” for banana. If these errors continue past a certain age without improvement, your child may have an articulation disorder. Are articulation disorders treatable? Absolutely. And you can work on improving articulation skills at home. Here are four easy articulation activities that you can do at home.
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Keep the Kids Busy with Online Games for Speech Therapy

Keep the Kids Busy with Online Games for Speech Therapy

by Courtenay M. Games and Activities Language Building Games Online Games
School's Out for Summer

Online Speech Therapy Games. Image source: mustgoonastashdiet.blogspot.com

School’s Out! Summer is here … ready or not! For many families with school-aged children, summer’s easy schedule is a welcome break from those early school mornings: alarm clocks, lunch-making, carpools, homework. But, for families who still crave a bit of a schedule and structure, summer can be somewhat anxiety-producing. Fear not. During the next few months, we’ll be keeping our blog chock-full of ideas for activities you can do with your children to keep them entertained (and continue that positive speech and language therapy momentum your child has made this year).

Here are some suggestions for online games for speech therapy!

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What to Expect: Your Four-Year-Old’s Speech Milestones

What to Expect: Your Four-Year-Old’s Speech Milestones

by Courtenay M. Language Development Parents' Corner Pronunciation & Lisps Speech Disorders
Your Four-Year-Old's Speech Milestones

Your Four-Year-Old’s Speech Milestones. Image source: teachtofeed.com

When it comes to speech and language skills, every child develops at a different rate. That being said, there are some generally predictable milestones that each child achieves as they grow and learn. It usually takes about 8 years for a child to master all the speech sounds in the English language.

Although there are only 26 letters in the alphabet, there are 44 distinct sounds!

According to Heidi Hanks, M.S.CCC-SLP, founder of Little Bee Speech, and the terrific website Mommy Speech Therapy, one way to determine if your child’s speech is progressing at a normal rate is using what is called “speech sound norms.” According to Heidi, speech sound norms are tools that speech language pathologists (SLP’s) use to help guide them in determining which errors are developmentally appropriate and which errors are not. There are multiple speech sound norms that are currently being used by SLP’s all around the world.

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Speech Therapy Camping Activities for this Summer

Speech Therapy Camping Activities for this Summer

by Courtenay M. Games and Activities Speech Therapy Ideas

Speech Therapy Camping Activities

Got the Tent? Check!

Got the Sleeping Bags? Check!

Got the Bug Spray? Check!

Got the Speech Therapy Activities? Check!

Wait a minute, speech therapy camping activities? This summer, while planning your camping trip, why not use this quality family time as an opportunity to work on speech therapy skills. Board games are an excellent way to reinforce good speech and language habits and are easy to pack along, but you may also want to take advantage of the outdoor game board! The sights, sounds and smells of good ol’ fashioned camping! A recent article in Parents Magazine touted the many benefits of camping, including helping children become more environmentally conscious, and reducing symptoms of boredom and ADHD.

“Kids today are spending more time indoors and plugged into a screen, so camping is a great activity because it gets them outdoors, whether they’re hiking or telling ghost stories by the fire,”

says Meri-Margaret Deoudes, spokesperson for the National Wildlife Federations’s Be Out There initiative, which encourages kids to get outside.

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