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Play Schemes Play combines prerequisites of joint attention and imitation and encourages problem solving, creativity, risk-taking, and flexibility in thinking. Play is said to greatly facilitate the sensory, motor, social, and emotional development of children. In addition, strong play skills are said to correlate with the language skills. Play develops early in the first months of life and is said to emerge in complexity as children develop. The foundations for play are established early in development as children learn from others in their environment through back and forth interaction (e.g. peek a boo, patty cake, singing.) Early play develops in infancy when babies learn to use their bodies and objects purposefully for movement, activation of sound, and cause-effect. Before 1
Metamorphabet is a visually striking app that introduces and plays with letters and words. While it’s approach to letter-sound correspondence will also make it appropriate for older preschoolers, it’s easy interface and fun manipulation of letters and shapes into different words makes it accessible for 2-3 year olds as well. It can be used to introduce and reinforce new vocabulary. Younger children will be able to tap, push and pull the letters into different shapes that become new words. The vocabulary presented is diverse and includes nouns, verbs and descriptives, and both abstract and concrete words. It has more common early vocabulary, such as car and eat, but also includes later-learned words, such as beard, jiggle and upset. This app
Amy Jandrisevits, a former Wisconsin social worker in pediatric oncology realized that play dolls marketed for children were lacking in inclusivity and diversity. She decided to passionately pursue doll creation starting with GoFundMe to raise funds for providing dolls to children in need. Through access to her website “A Doll Like Me”, dolls are available for purchase for children of all colors, genders, and body types. She also stressed the importance of having dolls available to children who may have limb differences, cleft pallet, birthmarks, etc. to ensure all children with differences and disabilities are represented in the world around them. Her initiative is growing in popularity, with thousands of followers on Facebook and Instagram supporting her in this cause.
May is Better Hearing & Speech Month (BHSM). It is a great time to spotlight the importance of early detection and treatment of communication disorders. Speech-language pathologists assess and treat difficulties in: speech (pronunciation) language (understanding and using words and sentences) stuttering literacy (reading and writing) social skills listening and auditory processing voice feeding and swallowing How do you know if your child should see a speech-language pathologist? Some potential warning signs of speech and language problems include: you or other people are having difficulty understanding your child (by age 3, a familiar listener should understand at least 75% of what your child says; by age 5, children should be able to say most speech sounds.) people think your child
Language impairment is described as “one of the most common childhood disorders that you’ve never heard of.” According to a researcher from the University of Delaware, language impairment affects 7 out of 100 U.S children and is believed to affect more, as language disorders are frequently overlooked or misidentified as other disorders of behavior or attention. Researchers through the National Science Foundation have been investigating three types of intervention for language disorders-vocabulary, grammar, and phonological awareness, to see what intervention has the largest impact on academic performance. It is said that in a school-based setting, time constraints limit the extent to which therapists are able to address all three areas of intervention, forcing service providers to focus on one area
A great app for car and truck-crazy kids! This app includes fun cause and effect scenes which also introduce some sorting and matching activities. There are 5 scenes to choose from; car wash, tow truck, garbage truck, city streets, and dump truck. Each of these scenes allows the player to perform different actions with the vehicles.. In the car wash scene, the child moves the car into a pile of mud. They can move it back and forth until the car is completely covered in mud. Then they move it on to the car wash. They touch the different parts of the car wash to spray it with soap, rinse it with water and dry it off. In this scene,
April is Autism Awareness Month! What better time to learn more about Autism Spectrum Disorder? Here is a selection of fiction and non-fiction books which touch on the perspectives of people with autism or their family members. Consider picking one of these up for your next book club read: Fiction books: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon: This New York Times Best seller tells the story of a man with autism who investigates the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog. House Rules by Jodi Picoult: This is a story about Jacob Hunt, a teen with Asperger’s syndrome. Although he’s hopeless when it comes to reading social cues or expressing his thoughts and ideas, he
Guess How Many?? We have a guess jar in the waitng room! Children and siblings are encouraged to fill out a slip each month with their guess. Don’t forget your first name and last initial! The drawing is at the end of the month and a special prize awaits the lucky winner! MayBirthdays! Ibrahim A.Leo B.Rinat D.Eli H.Josey H.Emery H.Jean J.Maddy S.Peter S.Sloane S.What’s Happening this Month in the Clinic? Comings and Goings This month we say goodbye to Janelle Snyder as she leaves to prepare for the birth of her first child. Janelle hopes to return to Wee Speech next year. We are thrilled to welcome Mary Olandese to our team. Mary comes to us with a wide
Has your child had a hearing screening or hearing test recently? The World Health Organization (WHO) has created a free app called “hearWHO” to help detect hearing loss! Consider using this app between hearing tests to monitor your child’s hearing between visits. This app also provides tips about listening habits with headphones and provides hearing level comparisons for its users. This app is also a wonderful tool for family’s who have limited access to hearing health. Hearing loss can significantly affect a child’s speech and language development. It is extremely important to monitor your child’s hearing abilities. Take advantage of this free opportunity to celebrate Better Hearing & Speech Month!