Education, tips, and advice on Speech Therapy techniques
Source: www.parenting.com
You’ve heard all the buzz, you’ve seen your child’s peers with one, you’ve waited for hours at the Apple store and finally got your child an iPad, so now what? This holy grail has become a bit confusing for parents and educators to navigate. It promises so much. It might help your child communicate, could improve their reading skills, helps with math and more! All lofty promises, but first things first, here’s what you should do once you’ve got an iPad, step by step.
For people without disabilities, technology makes things easier. For people with disabilities, technology makes things possible–International Business Machines (IBM) 1991 training manual
Source: k12educationtechnology.com
Most of us use technology on a daily basis. Perhaps you use a cell phone calendar to remember your schedule. You might use Google maps to direct you to where you’re going, or you might adapt your e-reader with an increased font to make the text easier. If you use one of these, you use technology to make your life easier. For students with learning disabilities, whether cognitive or physical, assistive technology aims to enhance and improve educational opportunities with the use of the latest technology. They do this by bypassing, working around, or compensating for a child’s specific learning disabilities. In speech-therapy, assisstive technology is used to provide access to communication tools that help a child read, write, express or comprehend language.
Source: mommykatandkids.com
Though it might seem as though your child communicates “no” all the time (maybe he protests, maybe she runs away, he might sign “all done”), teaching children with language impairments to express the words, “yes” and “no” can sometimes be a challenge in speech therapy. These two simple words can carry a conversation. By being able to answer these questions a child can describe preferences, answer questions, and clearly express their wants and needs. It is an important part of development and often challenging in the toddler years when everything seems like a “nooo!” Being able to accurately answer “yes” and “no” questions can reduce communications frustration for children with language disorders, specifically autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy or developmental delays.
Source: sikids.com
Maybe by now you’ve seen these brothers, Caden and Connor Long, named Sports Illustrated Kids of the year in 2012. What makes them so special is that sibling bond, even though Caden can’t talk. Caden has cerebral palsy and despite speech-therapy, struggles to communicate verbally. But what’s a few words between siblings? To Connor and Caden, they have formed a bond in much more than spoken language. They don’t just bike, run marathons or play soccer. As a team, they complete triathlons together – with Connor pulling or pushing Caden through each event. While a communication impairment can be a struggle for families, it can also bring them together.
Source:ebookfriendly.com
While the debate about the quality and pros and cons of E-books remains a lively discussion among educators, no one can deny they can be quite a motivating medium. In speech therapy, motivation is an important factor in the success of a lesson. Thankfully, for even the most reluctant or struggling readers, the engaging and interactive iDevice platform can be the push they need to practice site words, spelling, reading comprehension and fluency. Here are 5 great iPad apps for kids that educators, speech therapists and parents should know about:
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Did yesterday’s post make you want to grab the remote and run? If the new facts about television’s effect on preschool children scared you, it should. But we shouldn’t discredit television all together. For older children, social pragmatic skills can be a great medium for harnessing the elements of television for good. Inference, conversation, humor and analyzing social situations are all goals that can be addressed in speech therapy using TV programs. Similarly, families who gather and watch television together have great opportunities to engage, rather than passively watch, and discuss the situations they are seeing.
Source: bydavvi.com
With the winter weather upon us, it only makes sense to incorporate Jack Frost into our speech therapy. At home, parents can try a variety of techniques in the snow while speech therapists in the classroom can carryover concepts at the tabletop or in great books to infuse winter words into therapy.
Source: bestcollegesonline.com
In speech therapy, working with bilingual children can be a unique experience and challenge. For those speech therapists providing bilingual therapy, finding materials and resources in other languages can be difficult. With the iPad, however, all of that has changed. Using the iTunes store, therapists have quick and easy access to a variety of speech therapy materials including bilingual games, books and videos in just about any language (thanks to YouTube) to support their kids. The benefits of being bilingual are many, so here are a few of the best apps for supporting bilingual children to develop their languages:
Source: visual.ly
Times have changed since the Monopoly iron was still cool with the kids. Today’s toys have evolved to include new and innovative ideas in building and pretend play. Here are some great toys for at-home speech therapy, as well as for therapists looking to stimulate play, language, build social skills and keep sane during those winter months. They are all non-electronic toys available through orders online (some in stores) and the language suggestions below are aimed at fostering connections between children, their parents and their peers. They might not all be toys made specifically for children with special needs, but they might just capture their attention and provide the right motivation for play and participation in language therapy.
Source: Signingsavvy.com
Holidays are a great opportunity for building language-based activities at home and incorporating the entire family. They are fun, motivating and usually involve sweets (yum!). Celebrate Valentines Day with a variety of speech and language therapy techniques that are easy to incorporate into your traditions, or build new ones!
