The Fun and Function of Using Silly Sentences in Articulation and Language Therapy

by Holly F. Expert Corner Pronunciation & Lisps Speech Therapy Techniques

 

two witches tongue twister

Source: eltexperiences.com

You might remember the phrase, “Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore.” To some it’s a silly tongue twister, but to a speech therapist it’s a classic example of using silly sentences to stimulate language and articulation targets in speech therapy. These sentences are usually made up, use alliteration (using the same sound or letter to start every word), rhyming words or use made up characters in crazy situations. They usually involve a character (Mateo the matador), an action (makes millions on macaroni museums) and a location (in Madrid). Silly isn’t just for laughs, silly can be fun and functional in speech therapy.

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Teaching Plurals in Speech Therapy

by Holly F. Speech Therapy Techniques
plurals matching

Source: letsteachsomething.blogspot.com

Plurals are grammatical markers that communicate that there is more than one of something, like cats or cookies. Children who aren’t using these correctly haven’t yet acquired all the rules of English grammar. Plurals are frequently a target in speech therapy for a few reasons: they can be irregular (mice), they are often omitted all together (I have two dog) or they can be mispronounced (using a /s/ for a /z/ sound at the end of a word), giving therapists a lot to target. Here’s how:

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Using Imaginative Play in Speech Therapy

by Holly F. Speech Therapy Techniques
importance of play graphic

Source: supportingimagination.com

 

Imagination is a key part to childhood. That’s why advertisements, like McDonalds, with kid’s playing pretend in boxes might make us smile. Maybe you can remember a time when you dressed up like a pirate, made an elaborate fort from pillows or created an elaborate tale of a princess in a castle. All of these are important parts of childhood because the involved: peer play, creativity, story telling and most of all, elaborate language. Imaginative play in speech therapy can be an integral part of fostering language, here’s how:

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Can an iPad App Evaluate A Child’s Speech and Language?

Can an iPad App Evaluate A Child’s Speech and Language?

by Holly F. Speech Therapy Techniques

These days, you can do most anything with an app, check into your flight, get driving directions, transfer money between accounts or check the latest celebrity gossip, but can you evaluate your child’s speech? A few speech therapy applications boast “evaluation” or “screener” in the title, what are they and should we be using them?

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How Can Parents and Speech Language Therapists Work Together?

by Holly F. Speech Therapy Techniques
characteristics of a team graphic

Source: http://agilitrix.com/

Speech therapy is an exercise in successful collaboration. Not just between the SLP and the child, but between parents and SLPs, SLPs and teachers, SLPs and doctors or SLPs and other professionals. How many times have you ever done a job and wished you had some help? Be it cleaning up a room, filing your taxes or cooking a meal. Chances are, you wished you had some help for several reasons. Teamwork often gets the job done faster, makes the work easier, and helps you problem solve challenges. Effective and successful speech therapy requires the team approach with parents especially to  promote generalization, enhance learning and ultimately achieve goals sooner.

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Treating Cluster Reduction for S in Speech Therapy

by Holly F. Speech Therapy Techniques

 

s cluster family graphic

Source: http://firstgradefuntastic.blogspot.com

Speech therapists must target a variety of phonology and articulation issues in therapy.  Today we’ll talk about treating cluster reductions for the /s/ sound. The /s/ sound is found in a variety of combinations with other letters, called “blends.”  Some /s/ words with a blend can include “spider” (the consonants blended together are s and p), “skate” (s and k) or “spoon” (s and p). When someone reduces the number of sounds in a blend, it is called cluster reduction. A child might have difficulty if you hear them saying “poon” for “spoon,” “sate” for “skate” or “pider” for “spider.” They might not be as tricky as teaching the /r/ sound, but clusters have their own treatment techniques in speech therapy.

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Tips for Keeping Kids Motivated in Speech Therapy

by Holly F. Speech Therapy Techniques
Motivation graphic

Source: vickihoefle.com

Despite the bubbles and the iPads,  speech therapy isn’t always all fun and games, it can be hard work! Speech therapy can be challenging for a host of reasons. It often occurs in small spaces, at a tabletop, and a variety of demands are placed on the child. While the goal of therapy is to work towards achieving goals, it’s also to keep kids motivated. Like most things in life, motivation is key and can have a significant impact on progress. A good speech pathologist considers not only the therapy goals but the variables that might impact a child’s motivation and attention during therapy to achieve those goals.

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2 Simple Things That Might be Impacting Your Child’s Communication (and it’s not Articulation)

by Holly F. Language Building Skills Language Development Pronunciation & Lisps Speech Therapy Techniques

 

girl hand over mouth

Source: newsfeed.time.com

Communication is complicated. How often do you find yourself asking your friend to “say that again?” or misspeak with a wrong word or a nonsense word by mistake? It happens to everyone. Despite well-developed communication skills, even adults can’t speak clearly at times. Why? Because successful communication requires the synchrony one of many skills.  For some children, correcting an articulation error in speech therapy, that sound might only be one piece of the communication puzzle. In fact, that’s exactly why speech pathologists do an evaluation, to assess, using an arsenal of measures, many elements of communication. Fortunately for parents who might be concerned, there are two simple things that might be impacting a child’s communication that can be easily addressed.

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Language Expansion Techniques for Parents to Use At Home

by Holly F. Language Development Speech Therapy Techniques

 

Parent Playing With Child

Source: ywcaelgin.org

Parents are the best teachers of language. They have the most opportunities to impact a child’s language development. At-home speech therapy should include several important language expansion techniques that parents and other communication partners should use. While it might feel or sound silly, communication partners should talk aloud to young children, nearly narrating events and actions, even though the child might not respond.  Some tips and techniques include:

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3 Great Teaching Tools for Emotion Words and Feeling Concepts

by Holly F. Speech Therapy Techniques

 

boy with many emotions

Source: flickr.com/photos/wiseacre/380593827/

Emotional concepts can be tricky for typically developing children to comprehend and even more so for children with some language learning disorders. Emotions, feelings and recognizing those in others using their body language is often addressed in speech therapy for children on the autism spectrum or with Aspergers syndrome but is crucial for most children. Feeling words can incorporate new vocabulary, pragmatics and literacy into communication lessons in groups or with individuals. They are crucial concepts for social-emotional development and building relationships.  Try these great resources and tools:

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