We are off to a great start in the New Year!

If you haven't thought about a New Year's Resolution for your child, I have one for you!

Please pledge to work with your child on his or her speech homework every day!  Consistent practice at home is CRITICAL to your child's ability to master speech and language goals.  Working on a goal in a clinical setting once or twice a week is simply NOT ENOUGH to help your child master and carry over skills to the "real world".

So, add this to your list of resolutions for 2012! 

I want to wish all of my students and their families a very happy Thanksgiving! 

While you are spending time together over the next week, don't forget to use the opportunity together to practice important speech and language skills!  Cooking together is a WONDERFUL way to incorporate following directions, vocabulary, and sequencing...so try to involve your child in making a pie or even just stirring ingredients!

But, most of all, enjoy the time playing, talking, reading, and relaxing together.

Andrea Aubry, Speech Language Pathologist

November 7, 2011

As the weather gets cooler, and we are spending more time inside...reading books together is a wonderful way to improve and enhance language skills with your preschool student!

Some things that children learn and practice through reading books with their parents include:

1.  Isolating pointing skills with a finger as they touch pictures in the book.

2.  Social time with parents!!

3.  Increasing attention span to a single activity.

4.  Learning labels for pictures to increase receptive vocabulary.

5.  Learning about and gaining experience with things that they can not experience in "real life".

6.  Cognitive skill development as concepts are labeled (such as "big, long tail", or "she has the most")

7.  Increasing listening skills

8.  Imitation of words or actions in the story.

9.  Labeling pictures and actions and beginning to retell stories orally

10.  Anticipating parts of stories, making predictions.

All of these language and cognitive concepts are crucial to language development, and for later reading and writing! 

So cuddle up with a good book and READ, READ, READ!!

Andrea M. Aubry, Speech-Language Pathologist