Vacation

Going on Vacation?

On a long care ride or relaxing in your living room, you can practice your child's language skills by playing a fun game! They won't even know that they're practicing.

Guessing game: Say three clues about an object and have your child guess what it is. It's round, it's usually orange and you throw it in a hoop.

Categories: Name a category and have your child name 3 items in the category. Animals, Fruits, Vegetables, Transportation, Holidays, etc.

Vocabulary: See how many items you can name around the space your in. See who can name or write down more after two minutes. Items around the kitchen, things you see outside, around the car, etc.

Commercial Break: Ok, they may want to watch a TV show. This is a good time to ask some questions. Who are the characters on this show? How are they feeling: happy, sad, excited? What do you think will happen next? Tell me what happened already. Let's make up a different ending.

Relax and have a Fun Vacation!

Executive Functions

Executive Functions

I was fortunate today to attend Advanced Training on Executive Functions presented by Sarah Ward MS CCC-SLP and Kristen Jacobsen MS, CCC-SLP. I learned a lot of new strategies and techniques and am excited to try them out in the classroom. Here are some highlights, but first:

What is Executive Functioning? 

According to the Center of the Developing Child at Harvard University, "executive function and self-regulation skills are the mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions and juggle multiple tasks successfully." Our brains are not simply born with these abilities, we "are born with the potential to develop them." 

Normal Development

I learned today that our ability to make a mental image in our mind to anticipate the future is developmental. Here is a timeline of how far ahead one should be expected to anticpate time. 

2 years old: NOW

3-5 years old: 5-20 minutes

1st grade: Several hours

3rd grade: 8-12 hours

12-16 years old: 2-3 days

17-23 years old: 2-3 weeks

23-35 years old: 3-5 weeks

(Jacobsen and Ward, Cognitive Connections)

Strategies

As a speech therapist I can teach students to develop imagery, progressing from concrete to abstract images. Today I learned about a way to structure this thinking: Get Ready, Do, Done. There are also many scheduling and time management techniques to help a student monitor this process. 

More Information

You can learn more about Executive Functions as Sarah Ward will be presenting the SEPAC workshop on April 28, 2016 at the Horace Mann Auditorium. I would highly recommend this workshop!  

Franklin SEPAC

http://efpractice.com/

I can't wait to start trying out some of these new techniques and strategies to improve executive function skills in our students. 

-Mrs. Rocco MS CCC-SLP

Technology and Speech Therapy

Technology and Speech Therapy

There are many different apps available for speech and language therapy. Students love when I incorporate the iPad into their speech session. Here are some apps that you can try out at home for some extra practice. Many of them are FREE or have lite versions.  (Note: These are only suggestions. Please ask your SLP for more specific recommendations.)

             

Kindergarten.com: variety of apps for preschool to early elementary

Teach Speech Apps: work on pronouns, prepositions, WH-questions, etc.

My Playhome: interactive game moving characters into different settings, builds vocabulary and language

Grammaropolis: works on variety of grammar structures such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, etc.

iSequences: place picture cards into correct sequences, take a guess what will happen next

I Can Do Apps: language development including learning emotions, rhyming, categories, etc.

Quizlet: create flashcards, great way to build vocabulary or study for a test

Brain Pop Jr.: watch videos with Moby

Talking Pictures: add voice to your pictures and practice your sounds

Fun with Directions: follow verbal directions

Mad Libs for Kids: practice parts of speech and make a funny story

Heads Up (just for kids deck): great for expanding language and describing objects

Time Timer: visual timer can be used for homework, chores, etc.

Question Sleuth: find the hidden star by asking questions

Let us know how it goes, we welcome your feedback!

ARTICULATION
Some students have been working hard on their articulation skills. After a student establishes how to say a sound in isolation they must practice saying that sound in words, phrases and eventually sentences and conversation. It is an important part of carryover to practice these words at home and with different listeners as well. If you know your child's sounds, follow the links below for words to practice at home.
Speech sound developmental chart

S
S blends
L
L blends
SH
CH
R
TH

Some of our students have difficulty recalling the names of common items or names.  We sometimes describe this as having the word on the "tip of our tongue."  Below are some strategies your children can use when they are having a hard time remembering the name of something.

Word Finding

 1.               Point to it, draw it, write it…

 2.               Put things into categories

 3.               Give the definition

4.                Synonyms

 5.               Antonyms

 6.               Describe it