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 sequencing. At home, try stringing or gluing different shapes of dried pasta into patterns. Make a game of organizing your picture books into size order. These tactile experiences will help your preschooler understand order.
Understanding order helps children learn the alphabet, days of the week, months of the year, numbers (counting) and how to read. Letters/sounds, for example, come in an order to make a word. When children start to grasp that order brings meaning, they are taking their first steps in learning to read.
Anticipating what might happen next in a story also helps children understand order. Make a game of guessing what might happen next in stories you read together. Predicting sounds while reading words and predicting words in sentences are also part of learning to read. Practice singing songs and rhyming with your child to encourage sound and word prediction.
Anticipating what might happen next in a story also helps children understand order. Make a game of guessing what might happen next in stories you read together. Predicting sounds while reading words and predicting words in sentences are also part of learning to read. Practice singing songs and rhyming with your child to encourage sound and word prediction.
Many events throughout your child’s day require sequencing: brushing teeth, getting dressed, taking a bath. The specific steps involved can be difficult for young children to organize, and later to verbally describe.
In speech therapy, when I notice preschoolers have difficulty with sequencing, we break down language-based activities into basic steps:
While reading a book together, we draw and color simple pictures of the beginning, middle and end of the story. This provides visual reinforcement of key elements. Fairytales automatically provide a basic sequencing formula. We draw a picture demonstrating what occurred “Once upon a time,” then a picture of the challenge a main character faced and finally a picture of the “Happily ever after” scene.
While reviewing pictures together, we use sequencing terminology: first, last, before, after, next. It is pointed out to the child that we always work from left to right, because this is how we read.
When the child seems to understand the basic sequence for the pictures, the pictures are mixed up and the child is asked to put them back in the correct sequence. If the child is successful, he or she will then verbally describe the picture scenes. If the child is incorrect, I will ask questions to lead him or her to placing the pictures in the correct order. My questions often involve ensuring the child understands WHY a picture comes first and not next or last.
There are many sequencing games on the market that you can use for additional practice.
When sequencing is difficult for a child, it is important to keep your language simple. If and then statements, for example, are sequencing-related and may be complicated to understand (e.g., If you go outside without shoes, then your feet will get cold.). Try using simpler language: It’s so cold outside! Put on your shoes so your feet stay warm.
Stephanie Sigal M.A. CCC-SLP is a private speech language therapist in Manhattan. She works with children in their Upper East Side homes. Stephanie specializes in language delay with children through age 4 and articulation delay with children of all ages.