Category: blog

Cooking activities are a fun and an interactive way to build language skills, such as following directions, describing skills, sequencing skills, and social skills.  Language skills can be indirectly targeted through the whole cooking process from start to finish.  I found a recipe to make fortune cookies.  Here are some ideas to target language skills, while eating fortune cookies.  Write a number, a letter, a category, or a kind word on a piece of paper.  After the fortune cookies are done baking, grab a fortune cookie to see the surprise.  If your child picks the number five, have your child count to five.  If you decide to put  a kind word in your fortune cookie (i.e. loving, kind, funny), have

Comparing and contrasting…sequencing…identifying story components…and writing paragraphs can appear overwhelming without a structured process. A graphic organizer is a tool to help a child organize information.  If your child is reading a book, a graphic organizer can be used to organize story components (i.e. characters, setting, problem, resolution).  This tool allows the child to extract important information from his or her reading and organize the information, which will help the child answer comprehension questions.  If your child is writing a paragraph, a graphic organizer can be used to help generate a topic sentence, sentences with details, and a conclusion sentence.  One of the more popular graphic organizers is called Inspiration.

  These are characters from an adventure series for young readers called the Kingdom Keepers.  The series consists of seven books.  The author, Ridley Pearson, is in the process of writing the seventh book, which will be released in April of 2014.  Fans have the opportunity to submit entries for sections of the final book.   By involving his fans in the writing process, Pearson indirectly is showing children written expression occurs by creating multiple drafts and constant editing.  The website has games in addition to a blog.  The blog provides writing tips or commentary on recent submissions.   Also, there is an app called Kingdom Keepers Insider. Check out the links below: http://www.thekingdomkeepers.com/ http://www.kingdomkeepersinsider.com/welcome

If so, Dipity just might be for you.  Dipity is a free digital timeline website.  A  Dipity timeline captures a variety of learning styles.  The website allows you to utilize images, text, video, and audio to create a timeline.  It may be used as a tool to help a child highlight important events and form the backbone for a classroom presentation. Checkout www.dipity.com for more information.

Children view the world differently than adults.  As your child grows and faces challenges, don’t forget to find the humor in the situation.  Don’t worry it may not happen overnight, but the humor will eventually come.  I once had a parent buzz cut his hair because cutting his child’s hair was a struggle.  I’m sure in the moment as the child is squirming around, the father was probably thinking can you please sit still and maybe even a little disappointed the haircut wasn’t successful.  On the bright side, as the father looked at his child’s zig zag on his head, he thought why not give myself a buzz cut, but without the zig zag!  I came across an article about

  Fresh flowers…vegetables…fruits… and live music can turn a weekly chore into a memorable summer experience.  Farmers’ markets provide a great alternative to grocery shopping in the summer and early fall.  Going to a farmers’ market can be an opportunity to involve the whole family.  Farmers’ markets typically are less crowded and smaller than a grocery store, plus most markets are outside.  Many vendors offer samples, so you can encourage your child to try a new food or be open to a new experience.  Outdoor markets naturally create opportunities to practice a variety of language skills.  Below are some suggestions for a day at the market and websites for local farmers’ markets. Before going to the farmers’ market, pick a

  Have you ever wanted to make your own ice cream?  Build your own terrarium?  Summer is a time to try new things.  The Museum of Science and Industry is offering an eight week program called Summer Brain Games.  By registering online, you will get weekly experiments exploring different summer themes related to science (i.e. light, gardens, rockets, etc.).  Below is the link to learn more about Summer Brain Games. http://www.msichicago.org/programs/summer-brain-games/?gclid=CJKLjpSF5LcCFUdk7Aod8HIA_Q

  Learning language is often a long and bumpy road for a child with language deficits because story narration, vocabulary, and grammar skills are all intertwined.  A weakness in one area, such as vocabulary, may impact a child’s ability to narrate a story.  As the school year ends, parents often wonder how they can help their child continue to practice learned skills or develop new skills.  The summer creates many opportunities to continue to expand your child’s language skills.  Using smartphones to capture memories can be a way to target many language skills.  Camps, movies, vacations, barbecues, or other activities with friends or family make excellent opportunities to capture your child’s adventures with technology, but also expand his or her

  Increase length of utterances by adding one word to your child’s word.  If your child uses one word phrases, use two word phrases, etc.  Keep adding words to your child’s words by adding descriptive words (i.e. big ball). Narrate your child’s actions during play. “She is climbing the stairs. or He is flying an airplane.” Act out familiar routines during play with characters (i.e. bath routines, pre-school routines, etc.) Provide choices in a field of two for books, clothes, toys, etc. Create situations to make your child ask for help.  Keep toys in containers with lids or keep toys up high. Use lots of intonation when playing with your child. Over exaggerate sounds when playing or reading with your

  Although, we may still be wearing boots and sweaters in the middle of May warm weather is near.  As the school year ends and summer approaches, words like swimming, lemonade, fire flies, ice cream, picnics, and camp come to mind.  For some of us these words may trigger fond memories of our favorite summer or for others it may trigger questions (i.e. What are our summer plans?).  While families are busy figuring out summer schedules, children are anticipating their last day of school.  In the mix of all the commotion, there are  many opportunities to continue to build your child’s speech and language skills.  Journals can be used to build language skills, such as keeping a summer word journal.