This website has been made for parents of children who are currently in speech therapy, teachers of students in speech therapy, as well as those parents who are looking for information on milestones of children.
September 2018
September 2018
Welcome to speech/language class for the 2018-2019 school year!!! I am very excited to be back and have all the student's back as well. I am also excited to hear what student's did over the summer and how much they remember from last spring in speech. To start off the year we will be focusing on what their goal is in speech for this year. Whether it be to improve their speech sounds or to improve their language skills. We will be reviewing our speech helpers and reviewing what they remember about how to make their sounds correctly. Speech services will start pretty quickly after school has started. I do like to give student's a chance to get into the routine of their regular classroom first and then start providing their speech service. Welcome back and I hope we have a great year!
IDEAS for Parents
IDEAS for Parents
Articulation
If your student is working on sounds (k, th, s, z, etc) you can do the following exercises to help them work on these sounds at home.
-Find items that have the sound your student is working on in the beginning, middle and end of the word. Have your student name the objects (remind them to make the sounds how they have been working on them in speech). *Remember that if your student is working on the sounds in words that means you should only have them using single words when naming objects. If they are working on the sound in sentences this means that you could have them use the word in a sentence. It may be hard for your student to carryover the sounds that they are working on in speech into the home environment but it will help them greatly if they practice.
-While watching tv: ask your student to name things that have the sound that they are working on in it. If they mis-articulate the sound you can remind them to remember the sound from speech, and show them while speaking slowly how you make the sound.
-If you are going on a trip over spring break take turns naming items that you see while you are driving that contain the sounds they are working on. If your student mis-articulates their sounds remind them to use what they learned in speech.
- This is a website that has a list of books that work on specific sounds.
http://talkingchild.com/toysbooksartic.aspx
Language
If your student is working on their language abilities (categorization, naming objects, expressing,understanding) here are a few exercises for you to help them at home.
If your student is working on expressive language, have them tell you names of different items (when you're in the grocery store, when you're driving down the road). Have them tell you directions to doing an act (making popcorn, how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich). If your student is working on receptive language (understanding), give them short directions (2-3) and have them do the directions working on building up their abilities to follow more and more directions told. Tell them a short story and have them retell to you the beginning, middle and end of the story.
-After you have read your nightly story ask your student to retell the beginning, middle and then end of the story. If they cannot retell the story give them clues to what happened and help them remember. You can also ask them questions about the story, again if they cannot answer the questions give them clues to help them reach the answer.
-Here are some tips for helping your child answer questions:
-If your family is going on a trip over spring break take turns naming items that you see (i.e. what you see out the window when you're driving, what you see on any stops you make, etc). If your child has trouble naming items tell them what you see (this helps give them a name of what they are seeing)
-This is a website that has a great list of books for language learning
http://www.talkingchild.com/toysbookslang.aspx
Fluency
If your student is working on his speech fluency here are a few things you can practice at home.
Stuttering Practice At Home
Here are some suggestions of ways to improve your speech and language skills!
1. When you are getting “take out” or “delivery” make sure you order. This gives you a chance to practice using your correct sound(s).
2. Take 5 minutes everyday to practice your smooth speech. Pick a time such as breakfast, lunch or dinner. This will help you to remember to do it everyday! The more you practice, the better
3. If you are going on a vacation, try practicing your speech targets during a game of tic-tac-toe or in the car while discussing activities you will do on your trip.
4. Use Mad-libs with your targets! Don’t forget what a noun, verb, adverb, and adjective are. If you don’t have a book, go to the website: www.madlibs.org
5. Read the comics in the newspaper, especially on Sundays! Use your fluency targets correctly when reading them!
If your student is working on sounds (k, th, s, z, etc) you can do the following exercises to help them work on these sounds at home.
-Find items that have the sound your student is working on in the beginning, middle and end of the word. Have your student name the objects (remind them to make the sounds how they have been working on them in speech). *Remember that if your student is working on the sounds in words that means you should only have them using single words when naming objects. If they are working on the sound in sentences this means that you could have them use the word in a sentence. It may be hard for your student to carryover the sounds that they are working on in speech into the home environment but it will help them greatly if they practice.
-While watching tv: ask your student to name things that have the sound that they are working on in it. If they mis-articulate the sound you can remind them to remember the sound from speech, and show them while speaking slowly how you make the sound.
-If you are going on a trip over spring break take turns naming items that you see while you are driving that contain the sounds they are working on. If your student mis-articulates their sounds remind them to use what they learned in speech.
- This is a website that has a list of books that work on specific sounds.
http://talkingchild.com/toysbooksartic.aspx
Language
If your student is working on their language abilities (categorization, naming objects, expressing,understanding) here are a few exercises for you to help them at home.
If your student is working on expressive language, have them tell you names of different items (when you're in the grocery store, when you're driving down the road). Have them tell you directions to doing an act (making popcorn, how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich). If your student is working on receptive language (understanding), give them short directions (2-3) and have them do the directions working on building up their abilities to follow more and more directions told. Tell them a short story and have them retell to you the beginning, middle and end of the story.
-After you have read your nightly story ask your student to retell the beginning, middle and then end of the story. If they cannot retell the story give them clues to what happened and help them remember. You can also ask them questions about the story, again if they cannot answer the questions give them clues to help them reach the answer.
-Here are some tips for helping your child answer questions:
- Make sure you have your child's attention before asking a question
- Include your child in as many conversations as possible
- Use as many comments as questions during your conversation
- Allow time for your child to think and respond to your question
- Make your child feel successful by asking the types of questions you know he can answer
- Model the answer if you think your child doesn't understand
- Ask simple questions while reading to your child ("What is that?", "Who is crying?", "What is she doing?", "Why did he do that?"…)
- Relate questions from a story back to your child's day ("She went to the store." "Where did you go today?")
- Ask questions by recapping events from your child's day
- Use visual cues if necessary to help your child understand
-If your family is going on a trip over spring break take turns naming items that you see (i.e. what you see out the window when you're driving, what you see on any stops you make, etc). If your child has trouble naming items tell them what you see (this helps give them a name of what they are seeing)
-This is a website that has a great list of books for language learning
http://www.talkingchild.com/toysbookslang.aspx
Fluency
If your student is working on his speech fluency here are a few things you can practice at home.
Stuttering Practice At Home
Here are some suggestions of ways to improve your speech and language skills!
1. When you are getting “take out” or “delivery” make sure you order. This gives you a chance to practice using your correct sound(s).
2. Take 5 minutes everyday to practice your smooth speech. Pick a time such as breakfast, lunch or dinner. This will help you to remember to do it everyday! The more you practice, the better
3. If you are going on a vacation, try practicing your speech targets during a game of tic-tac-toe or in the car while discussing activities you will do on your trip.
4. Use Mad-libs with your targets! Don’t forget what a noun, verb, adverb, and adjective are. If you don’t have a book, go to the website: www.madlibs.org
5. Read the comics in the newspaper, especially on Sundays! Use your fluency targets correctly when reading them!