I work with several children with articulation goals–aged 3-7. Lately, several of them are at the same stage of trying to carry over the correct production of their sounds. They are able to produce the sounds correctly in sentences but when we move to conversation or during an activity, they are not as accurate. I start with increasing their auditory discrimination of correct and incorrect sounds in my speech and move to recognition in their speech. I ask them to give me a thumbs up if I said it a good or bad way. They have fun with that. Then we focus attention of listening to them.
The other day, a five-year-old girl taught me a great strategy. She said a word incorrectly while she was talking, then looked up at me and said, “I will fix that,” and proceeded to correct herself! I saw two more children that day in a similar stage in therapy and tried that same line. “Can you fix that?” Somehow the kids loved the idea of them fixing their speech, not me!
Another little boy corrected himself, seemed surprised, looked at me and said, “I fixed that!” It is a wonderful way to teach kids to be responsible for their speech carryover as well as build auditory awareness and discrimination skills.
Try this out and let me know what ideas you use to effect carryover of sounds you are working on.
Here are some more Valentines Day books to use in speech therapy to liven up your sessions:
Love, Splat by Scotton
Splat has made a special valentine for his secret crush, Kitten. A little bashful about giving it to her, he also discovers that his rival, Spike, has eyes for Kitten too. In fact, Spike has a bigger valentine for her than Splat. Losing his nerve, Splat drops his valentine for Kitten in the trash. Turns out that Kitten finds it, and prefers Spat over Spike inspite of his rumbling stomach and bendy tail.
- A cute story to use to re-tell, talk about the beginning, middle and end, as well as the problem and solution.
- Extend the story to talk about how kids treat you at school. What makes a friend? What do they appreciate in you?
- Make some valentines for friends. Talk about what you appreciate in each one and dictate or write a message telling them that.
- Talk about the difference between being good at something like soccer or drawing versus a character trait like generous, kind or helper
- Talk about the comparatives, “I love you higher than the highest bird ever flew,” or taller than the tallest tree.” Encourage the student to make their own comparatives: bigger than…., wider than……happier than….. and illustrate your words.
- Point out the descriptive words, “swirly skies,” “sneaky shadows” or “wavy waters.” Collect pictures or objects around the room and add a descriptive word to the noun. See how many you can brainstorm.
- Talk about places your student has gone, and add a descriptive word to it.
In today’s New York Times, the article, “Dealing with the Financial Burden of Autism,” offers a look into the financial side of providing the best program for a child on the autism spectrum. Konrad’s article gives several practical suggestions for navigating the insurance obstacles while pushing for the best program for your child.
According to the article, direct medical and non-medical costs for a child with autism can cost between $67,000 and $72,000 a year. Parents already deal with the challenge of finding the right set of therapies to benefit their child since the treatments aren’t one size fits all. Since many therapies are given several hours a week, the cost adds up.
The article gives some practical advice for seeking financial reimbursement and assistance. The father highlighted in the story obtained financial assistance through a special part of the Medicaid program. He talked about planning therapy deliveries according to caps you might have in your insurance program, coordinating with services covered by the schools, and utilizing resources such as community chapters of the Autism Society of America or Autism Speaks for help with practical advice.
Let me know what has been helpful in your journey with trying to get services covered for your child with autism. Use the comments below.
I am excited about the upcoming International Toy Fair in New York City, February 14-17. Just walking through the Javits Center, one feels surrounded by innovative, creative people. Inventors of children’s toys and games have to be incredibly intelligent but also have a child’s whimsy to relate to their market.
Yesterday I was in a wonderful toy and hobby shop in Fairfield, Connecticut, Hobbytown. I explained to Celeste, the knowledgeable employee, that I reviewed children’s media for its language value and asked her about some of the products that I liked–if they sold well and just what was popular among parents who selected toys and games for their kids.I had specifically pointed out International Playthings’ Playdate puppet show. She said that it was a popular item because it met the criteria she sees parents using in selecting toys for their kids:
- Kids play independently with the toy.
- They can finish the game or pretend play and have a sense of pride in completing something.
- The toy or game is interesting to play with over and over as they play with it in a new way.
It’s time to talk about love, hugs and kisses and use some fun stories to work on children’s speech and language goals. More books are included in last year’s blogs.
Here are some fun books for preschoolers and early elementary aged students to encourage language:
Max’s Valentine by Rosemary Wells
Max of course wants to sabotage Ruby’s activity making valentines by eating the candy, yum yum glitter and all. Finally Max gets his own valentine delivered from Grandma, full of chocolate ants!
- Use the story to talk about sequence–making valentines, mail them, receive them.
- Create your own valentines with lots of options for fun candies to glue on the hearts
- Practice sounds and language structures as the child re-tells the story.
- Re-tell the story using drawings, or objects representing the different steps a letter or package goes through to get to its recipient–letter sorter, truck driver, airplane captain, mail truck driver and mailman.
- Change the story with each child offering what gesture or words they would like to “send” through the mail.
- Talk about the words that describe each kiss. Add more thoughts or adjectives to each one–a breakfast kiss could be slurpy, buttery or tasty.
- Draw and cut out pictures of different lips to represent each kiss, add your own and write out the words that describe the kiss.
When you keep kids engaged and entertained, they don’t even know that they are practicing their speech! I had two new kids this week who were playing a game with me and after about 30 minutes they looked up and said, “Let’s do it without the words.” (Meaning, let’s just play and not practice words!!) Of course there has to be a little work in a session but if done right, kids aren’t very aware of it.
Last week I took the game, Horton Hears a Who! by I Can Do That Games. It was a real hoot. I played it with from one to three kids from age 3-7. They loved it. The best part is hiding the clovers around the room and when you land on a clover piece on the game board, you put on the elephant face and have to pick up a velcroed clover with the tip of your trunk! Kids quickly catch on and want to get a chance to be Horton. It’s a great reinforcing game after several practice turns for articulation or language goals. Or, use it for carryover and get the whole family to join in if you deliver your services in the home.
“Horton Hears a Who” was provided by I Can Do That Games.The opinions expressed in this review are solely those of the author.
I was talking to a mom the other day who has a child with a language disorder. She described a breatkthrough with her child that illustrates the importance of language and communication for a child.
This is a soft-spoken, loving mom who saw that her child was getting up from the dinner table before he even started. She asked him to return, he got upset, she asked him more firmly and he returned, crying. Finally he said, “Can you wipe off my meatball?” Wow, she realized that he didn’t like the sauce but couldn’t initially communicate that.
She reinforced his communication by saying, “Thanks for telling me what you needed, so I can help you.” Saying a simple phrase like that not only reinforces his using his words, but also tells why it is important, the cause-effect of the situation. “When you tell what is wrong, then I can help you.” Obviously this mom had no idea what was troubling her son when he didn’t want to sit at the dinner table. Sometimes we can infer what the problem is and model the words for our child to repeat and praise them, “I don’t want to eat the peas.”
It feels so good to communicate!
It has always been my objective to have parents involved in their child’s therapy process. Sometimes I feel like I get almost twice the progress when parents watch, learn and implement my strategies for their child’s speech and language goals. It is important to work with the child and explain to the parents as you go along, what words, pauses, and methods you are using to encourage their child’s language. Explain how you are getting their child to practice certain sounds or language concepts.
At times, I pull back and have the parent work with the child in the same manner that I have modeled so when I am gone and they are playing, the parent is confident in the methods to elicit speech and language.
Occasionally, it doesn’t work to have a parent sit in on the sessions. For whatever reason, the child is less cooperative, wants to sit in mommy’s lap instead of play with me or is distracted. In that case, I ask the parent to leave the room (usually they sit around the corner so they can hear what we are doing) and they see the benefit as their child is settling in and responding. I use the last few minutes of the session to invite the parent back and show what we were doing.
I know including parents is difficult in a school setting with groups of children when you have to be concerned about confidentiality.
Let me know how you therapists deal with that in a school setting. Leave a comment below.
One of the things that I consult with parents about is organizing their playroom. Often I see multiple deep baskets or bins that the toys are scooped up into at the end of the day.
Today I was at a house where things are getting organized for play. I commented on this great see through, three-sectioned toy bin and Mom went over to her 3 year-old and asked him what went in each section. He said, “Cars, animals and instruments.” I love how you can see into the bins so you know what options there are for play. When toys are organized by category, kids can more easily select objects for play and it helps them build these language categories.
If play is a child’s job, aren’t we all better at our job when we are organized?
Mom got this bin at Target.
I am always looking for good stories that have a simple, fun story and clear illustrations to begin working on describing pictures, re-telling a story and answering questions about the content.
Some professionals who work with children with ASD asked me for book ideas so they can fill out their library of books to use with kids. I will be continuing to add to this list but here are some I have used recently (since September) that fit my critieria:
Popcorn by Asch
Queen of Halloween by Engelbreit
Autumn Leaf by Emerson
Halloween Mice by Roberts
Aaaarrgghh Spider by Monks
Red, Red, Red by Gorbachev
Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
Bobo and the New Neighbor by Page
Max Cleans Up by Rosemary Wells
Timothy Goes to School by Wells
Lucille Camps In by Dathryn Lasky
First Snow by Emily ARnold McCully
Snip, Snip…Snow by Nancy Poydar
Mrs. Armitage on Wheels by Quentin Blake
Bright Stanley by Matt Buckingham
Before I can ask a child who is language delayed to do a picture walk, I introduce stories, modelling telling the story in different ways each time, so I am not encouraging repetitive language. After several readings and talking about the story, then I ask the child to “read” the story to me. I find that kids enjoy bringing a book to “read” to me and enjoy describing the pictures. When their language is limited I simply add on a word like “so” or “and” or “then” to prompt them to continue the sentence. I also use a gesture with my hand which is like the sign language for “want” meaning, give me more language. They learn that I love more language!
