Category: blog

Researchers from the University of Washington recently conducted a 5-year longitudinal study of 241 families to study home literacy and its impacts. The participants included a group of first- to fifth graders and a group of third- to seventh graders. The study found that children with higher reading and writing achievement at school engaged in more reading and writing activities at home. Parental rating scales also indicated that children’s ability to self-regulate attention spans remained consistent throughout the study, however, executive functioning skills including goal-setting, often improved.

Wilson Reading System is a research-based, systematic, multi-sensory reading program designed to improve the five areas of reading including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.  It is a 12-step program, with the first 6-steps teaching consistent foundational patterns, and the later 6-steps teaching more complex concepts. Letter-sound knowledge is taught systematically and paired with a multisensory approach as it is the building blocks for reading and writing. The multi-sensory approach is shown to activate more neurons during language learning and improve the chances that it becomes stored in long-term memory. The program is for students in grades 2-12 who have word-level deficits and poor sound/symbol systems for both reading and spelling.  This program is appropriate for students with language-based

The American Speech Language Hearing Association and Read Aloud 15 Minutes have collaborated on a series of handouts for parents that discuss speech and language development.  The handouts are grouped by age and offer a bounty of useful information on communication and literacy skills.  Check them out here.

Did you know that “The single most important activity for building knowledge for their eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.” (from Becoming a Nation of Readers, a 1985 report by the Commission on Reading)? Many people are aware of the importance of reading out loud to young children, but don’t know how important it is to read out loud to all ages. Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, the 1998 report by the Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children, recommended three important practices to support language and literacy development for children of all ages. Check out the article below to learn about these practices and find suggestions to support your child’s literacy growth! https://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200303/ReadingAloud.pdf

With the start of each new school year comes discussions about Individual Education Plan (IEP) meetings. Some families may feel nervous about these meetings, especially those that are new to the process. However, IEP meetings are very important to your child’s education as the team prepares for a successful school year full of growing and learning! If you’re unsure about what to expect, you’re not alone! This website (link below) provides a collection of helpful tips, tools, and checklists to prepare for your child’s IEP meeting. Check out these great resources including how to get organized, questions you should ask, what to bring to the meeting, legal FAQs, and so much more! https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/special-services/ieps/iep-boot-camp-getting-ready-for-your-childs-iep-meeting

Wee Speech is proud to partner with SpeechBytes to develop a brand new speech homework app! At-home practice is a critical element in an overall speech therapy plan, helping your child make progress more quickly and consistently. But it can be hard to get your child excited to practice at home and even more difficult to find time in your busy day to make it happen.  Here’s how it will work: Log in to the app on your mobile device or tablet – the app is free to families.   Enter your Wee Speech therapist’s private access code As your child plays the game, each repetition is recorded and saved to a private and secure platform. This allows your therapist

According to recent research done at The University of California, Los Angeles, school-aged girls with high-functioning autism may be better at interacting and blending in with peers than boys with high-functioning autism. Research suggests this may be due to ‘social camouflaging’ or the ability to blend in with peers despite the fact that they may not necessarily be connecting or creating friendships.  Differences between the genders play a large role in this study, with boys tending to be more isolated and having more repetitive behaviors and fixations which drive them away from socializing, while girls tended to more quiet and stayed closer to groups. The girls fixations are also perceived as more socially acceptable than those of their male counterparts.