Tag Archive for: language therapy

Age Appropriate Toys for Speech and Language Development

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With the holidays fast approaching, here are some tips for choosing gifts that also support your child’s development.  The best toys to support your child’s speech and language development are blog-speech-and-language-main-landscapetraditional toys that do not make noises or talk for your child.  Taking batteries out of toys is an option as well. Choosing toys that relate to everyday activities (e.g., kitchen set, baby doll) are great for facilitating language that can be applied to real life situations.

Additionally, toys that are open-ended and can be used in a variety of ways are best.  For example, a basic farm set has more language opportunities than a toy with buttons that makes animal noises.  With a basic farm set, the child can imitate animal noises, label the animal names, practice location concepts (e.g., on, in, under, next to, etc.), answer wh-questions (e.g., “Where is the pig?”), and much more!

Here is a list of basic, traditional toys that are great for expanding your child’s speech and language skills:

  • Wooden blocks
  • Cars/trains
  • Baby doll
  • Potato Head
  • Doll House
  • Bubbles
  • Kitchen set and play food
  • Tea set
  • Farm set
  • Dress-up clothes
  • Stacking toys
  • Puzzles
  • Doctor set
  • Play-doh
  • Wind-up toys

Traditional toys are excellent for supporting speech and language development, but it is also fun to discover new toys/games as well!

Here is a list of new toys/games I have been using in speech and language therapy:

  • Seek-a-Boo Game
    • Great for working on vocabulary, turn-taking, and memory skills!
  • Melissa & Doug Reusable Sticker Pads
    • All of these reusable sticker pads are AWESOME for working on speech and language skills! I particularly like the “play house” one. These are great for answering wh-questions (i.e., who, what, where, when, why, how), labeling actions (e.g., swimming, playing), formulating complete sentences (e.g., “She is playing), and more!
  • Frankie’s Food Truck Fiasco Game
    • Excellent for working on shape identification and turn-taking! Find foods that are in the shape of a triangle, square, circle, heart, and rectangle.
  • Zingo
    • This one is always a favorite with the kids. Great for vocabulary, turn-taking, and asking questions. Play with the family and have your child ask if you need a piece, such as, “Do you need a hat or a bird?”
  • Melissa & Doug “Stamp Sort” Mailbox
    • Great for little ones to practice phrases, such as, “go in,” “put in mail,” “close the door,” “open door,” “put in key,” etc. Put stamps on the letters and ask your child, “Who are we mailing it to?”
  • Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game
    • Work on color identification, matching skills, and turn-taking with this fun game. Ask your child, “Whose turn is it?” to practice pronouns in “my turn” and “your turn.”

There are many great toys/games out there, but these are favorites among speech-language pathologists.  Ditch the batteries and get talking!

Happy Holidays!

NSPT offers services in Bucktown, Evanston, Highland Park, Lincolnwood, Glenview, Lake Bluff, Des Plaines, Hinsdale and Milwaukee! If you have questions or concerns about your child, we would love to help! Give us a call at (877) 486-4140 and speak to one of our Family Child Advocates!

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What Exactly is ASHA?

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As a parent, do you ever wonder what all those letters mean after your therapist’s name? To a speech-language pathologist, these letters represent years and years of hard work and ultimately they confirm certification to the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA). blog-asha-main-landscape

So, what exactly is ASHA?

ASHA is the national organization and governing body for speech-language pathologists, audiologists and speech/language/hearing scientists. In 1926, ASHA became the first organization to initiate the development of national standards for these two professions. Today, ASHA represents more than 181,000+ professionals; 148,105 of which are certified speech-language pathologists (SLP’s), 31,964 of which are certified audiologists and 931 of which hold dual certification as both audiologists and SLPs. These two rewarding professions have shown immense growth over the years and continue to require a governing body to further detail professional standards.

ASHA has been certifying both speech-language pathologists and audiologists since 1952. These standards are established by audiologists and speech-language pathologists, respectively, who are members of ASHA’s Council for Clinical Certification in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CFCC). ASHA’s certification standards are based on assessment of academic knowledge, professional and clinical skills by professors, employers and leaders in the discipline of communication sciences and disorders. This certification requires graduate level coursework and clinical practicum within a variety of settings and populations.

These populations span the lifetime and can include:

  • Early Childhood
  • School-Aged Children
  • Adolescents
  • Adults
  • Geriatrics/Elderly

Clinical Practicum explores various settings for an SLP to work including:

  • Schools
  • Private clinics
  • Outpatient Facilities
  • Skilled Nursing Facilities
  • Hospitals

In addition, ASHA collaborates with the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in developing national examinations for both professions. Both speech-language pathologists and audiologists must obtain a passing score on the Praxis examination.

Now, back to the letters after your child’s therapist’s name. Being “certified” from ASHA means holding a Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC). This is a nationally recognized professional credential that represents a level of excellence in the field of Audiology (CCC-A) or Speech-Language Pathology (CCC-SLP). Individuals who have achieved the CCC-ASHA certification have voluntarily met academic and professional standards, typically going beyond the minimum requirements for state licensure. In order to maintain their knowledge, skills and expertise to provide high quality clinical service, individuals who are certified with ASHA are required to engage in ongoing professional development courses.

North Shore Pediatric Therapy requires all speech-language pathologists to hold and maintain ASHA’s CCC Certification. This is a crucial aspect of ensuring that all our therapists continue to uphold high standards of clinical service to the clients we serve.

As an organization, ASHA provides an abundant amount of resources. Each year, ASHA holds a nationwide convention and invites professionals to come, attend lectures, network and earn CEU course hours. In addition, the ASHA website contains insightful resources, such as the Practice Portal. This online resource offers one-stop access to guide evidence-based decision-making on a variety of both clinical and professional issues. This resource contains direct research articles and resources on a variety of clinical topics and disorders, as well as professional practice issues.

NSPT offers services in Bucktown, Evanston, Highland Park, Lincolnwood, Glenview, Lake Bluff, Des Plaines, Hinsdale and Milwaukee! If you have questions or concerns about your child, we would love to help! Give us a call at (877) 486-4140 and speak to one of our Family Child Advocates!

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Beyond the ABCs: How to Promote Reading Success Through Phonological Awareness

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Parents are often eager to teach and practice the good old ABCs with their children. However, there are other ways that parents can support pre-literacy development, such as fostering blog-phonological-awareness-main-landscapephonological awareness skills, too! Phonological awareness is the understanding that sentences/words are made up of smaller units, as well as the ability to identify and manipulate these units. Research has found that strong phonological awareness skills are predictors of early reading success. One way to understand phonological awareness is to divide it into different levels: word, syllable, and sound. Check out NSPT’s blog ­Phonemic Awareness Skills to learn more about when these skills are acquired.

Each level of phonological awareness is described below, with activities you can do at home!

Word: The concept of a “word” is an important first step in understanding language. Children are constantly building their vocabulary and using these new words in a variety of ways. There are many ways to begin bringing attention to how words work.

  • Clap out the words of a favorite song (e.g. Old – McDonald – had – a – farm) to help children learn that sentences contain separate words. You can also use musical instruments, tapping on the floor or jumping. This is especially important for “function” words that are more abstract, such as “the,” “and,” “do,” etc.
  • Read books that rhyme as a fun and silly way to teach children to recognize that words have patterns. Check out NSPT’s blog Rhyme Time: 10 Books To Teach Your Child Phonological Awareness for children’s books that contain great stories with rhymes.
  • Enjoy tongue twisters to begin thinking about alliteration (e.g. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. What sound do all of these words start with?). Alliteration, or when every word of a sentence starts with the same sound, is another way to bring attention to patterns in words.

Syllable: Words can be broken down into smaller units, one of which is syllables. Children learn to separate these chunks in a similar manner as they do for words in sentences. Knowing how to do this will help when a child is reading and comes across a multi-syllabic word they are unfamiliar with.

  • Make a bean bag toss in which you provide a multi-syllabic word, and the child has to throw a bean bag into a bucket while saying one syllable at a time.
  • Write the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 on a piece of paper and place them in separate areas of a room. Then give the child a multi-syllabic word and have them run to the number that represents the number of syllables in that word.
  • Sort objects found around the house into groups by how many syllables they have.

Sound: Words can also be broken down to their individual sounds. There are several ways we can manipulate sounds, including identifying (e.g. what is the first sound in “bat?”), segmenting (e.g. what 3 sounds do you hear in “bat”?), blending (e.g. what do the sounds /b/ /a/ /t/ make?) deleting (e.g. what’s “bat” without the /b/?), and substituting (e.g. if you change the /b/ in “bat” to /m/, what word is it?). Here are a few ways to begin prating these in an interactive, multi-sensory way.

  • Play “Simon Says.” Give the last word of the direction by segmenting it into sounds. For example, Simon Says touch your /l/ /e/ /g/, or Simon says stand /u/ /p/.
  • Play “I spy” to bring attention to particular positions of sounds (beginning/middle/end of word). For example, you could say “I spy something that begins with a sssss sound.”
  • Modify “head shoulders knees and toes” by providing a multi-syllabic word. The child can touch their head, shoulder, knees and toes (one per sound) as they figure out what sounds are in the word. For example, /b/ (touch head), /a/ (touch shoulders), /t/ (touch knees).

NSPT offers services in Bucktown, Evanston, Highland Park, Lincolnwood, Glenview, Lake Bluff, Des Plaines, Hinsdale and Milwaukee! If you have questions or concerns about your child, we would love to help! Give us a call at (877) 486-4140 and speak to one of our Family Child Advocates!

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