Winter Fun to Promote Language and Home Practice

I have found some books and fun projects that you can work on with your children to practice at home. This month's theme as the children returned to school was "Snowmen" and I wanted to share some of the resources I have found.


Fun Winter Books
A wordless book, The Snowman is excellent for working on interpretation and language development. Have the child look at the pics and tell what they think is happening. Prompt them to notice details in the pictures and assist them in processing the clues to arrive at a logical narrative. This is a great activity for developing narratives, working on verbal expression skills, and improving grammar and written language. This task is also excellent for the child with weak processing or pragmatic language skills. Social skills can be addressed by discussing how the characters may be feeling, why they feel this way, and how we come to those conclusions based on what we see or know.

The Mitten is a classic story about a lost glove and the forest animals who find shelter there. This story lends itself to sequencing tasks and story retelling. There is also lots of advanced vocabulary to be learned in this version of the story. Jan Brett's website
http://www.janbrett.com/search_results.htm?cx=003689230839966827781%3A9myke-i4ega&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=UTF-8&q=the+mitten&sa=Search+janbrett.com
includes many free activities. You can add all types of activities depending on your goals: matching mittens (real one, wallpaper/scapbook paper cutouts, or pencil paper tasks with worksheets), learning about the different kinds of animals, or creating your own story based on another article of clothing. The Hat is an example of expanding an idea from one story to another.

Cooking Activities

"Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that
when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the
clarity, and the emotions to affect other people."
Jim Rohn

Enjoy your time off!

To make practice more fun over break I have posted a board game that you can use. Instructions for use are under the "comments" section. It is important that during this busy time the students continue to practice since we will not be meeting for the next two weeks.

If your child takes piano lessons, your job is to make sure she practices. Now that your child has started school, it’s your job to see that she does her homework, and help her with it at times. There are 168 hours in a week. If I see a child once a week for half an hour, that gives the child 167½ hours between sessions for the brain pathways we just spent 30 minutes building and reinforcing to atrophy from lack of practice. A daily speech therapy home practice program can go a long way toward maintaining the progress a child makes in therapy, and can make the difference between noticeable improvement and month after month of therapy with little or no change.

A home program does not need to be a major time commitment on your part, but it is important. Usually, I ask parents to try for 15 to 30 minutes a day, but even five or ten minutes every day will benefit your child more than an hour once a week!

While I appreciate the home support my students have received all year so far, it is YOUR child who is reaping the most benefits! THANK YOU and compliments to all the people at home who assist in our students' successes. Have a wonderful, safe, and healthy holiday season. Enjoy your time with your children at home!!


"Communication is a skill that you can learn. It's like riding a bicycle or typing. If you're willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of very part of your life."
Brian Tracy

Snowman Board Game for Speech and Language Practice

Snowman Board Game

Thank You

As we begin American Education Week and the Thanksgiving season, may we appreciate all in our community that assist our students in becoming our future!

The first trimester is nearing a close and I am very pleased with the amount of parental support and practice my students are doing at home! This type of support helps them to progress at a notable rate. Thanksgiving is an opportune time to work on language and articulation as there is so much to discuss and family to enjoy. Take advantage of the chance to work on /th/ in Thanksgiving and Thank You and Thankful, etc. There are some great and fun Thanksgiving books to read together - "10 Fat Turkeys," "Thanksgiving is Here," and "Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation," to name a few. This is also a great time to work on following directions and sequencing if you choose to let your children help in the kitchen, or setting the table, or completing those extra chores we have to get ready for our feast!

Enjoy the next couple of weeks and have a wonderful fall season.


"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."
Leo Buscaglia

Happy Halloween

I do hope that everyone has a safe and fun Halloween. This weekend is sure to be filled with surprises and parties and lots of treats for everyone! It is also a great time to practice speech sounds and language skills. With Halloween comes MANY opportunities to reinforce asking questions (Trick or Treat?), eye contact, and answering and continuing conversations (Thank you, You're welcome). Children can talk with their peers and adults about their costumes and their treats!

Halloween is a SPectacular time to practice s-blends: SPooky, ghoST, SPider, SLeeping beauty, SPacesuit, SKateboarder, SKeleton, and SCarecrow!

Don't forget r-blends: TRick or TReat!

and /TH/ in THank you!!

Thank you to all of the families who have chosen to participate in the RTI program for articulation. Your at-home support is an integral piece to the success of this program and your commitment is greatly appreciated!

Have a wonderful time this weekend!


"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never
failed to imitate them."
James Baldwin