Reading books with your child can provide experiences and vocabulary that he or she may not be exposed to on a daily basis. Experience allows children to gain understanding. When a child understands vocabulary and situations, he or she has the foundation to use these words in … [Read more...]
Wordless Picture Books and Language Development
Wordless picture books are an essential part of a speech therapists bag of tricks. Please read my previous blog entry about encouraging details in conversation for background information. I recently began using the "Jack" books by Pat Schories with 3 and 4 year-old children. … [Read more...]
Singing to Enhance Language
Encourage your child's first words through simple songs! Fingerplay or hand movements incorporated during a song allows for visual movement and sometimes enhances meaning of a song. Presenting hand movements near your face, but not in front of your mouth brings attention … [Read more...]
Pre-reading and Sequencing
Your rhyming post was helpful. How else can I assist my preschooler with language related pre-reading skills? In preschool, your child may learn to make patterns by stringing colored beads. He or she may also sort the beads by color, shape and size. This is preliminary … [Read more...]
Bilingualism and Language Development
In the August 18, 2010 New York Times article Looking for Baby Sitters: Foreign Language a Must, by Jenny Anderson, we learn Dr. Ellen Bialystok, a professor of psychology at York University in Toronto, has found bilingualism may help with cognitive development, but "It doesn't … [Read more...]