It's Summer Time!!

A lot of parents want to know "what can I do to support my child's language development over the summer?".    The answer is actually very simple.  Talk to your munchkin!  I work with kids who all have very different needs, some of my kiddos need help improving sound productions, some of my kids are talking, but not a lot, and some of my kiddos are just learning how to be communicators, but they all have something in common! They want and need you to talk to them.

My articulation kids need you to model words correctly, but to let them make mistakes.

My new talkers need you to expand on what they are saying.  If your child says "eat", you can say to her "eat cracker".  If your child sees a car and says "car", you can say "blue car", or "big blue truck".  You can offer choices, what shirt do they want to wear, what color apple do they want to buy?  And however they respond is CORRECT!!  Their answer doesn't have to be perfect, it just needs to be a try!

My beginning communicators may not seem to have much to say, but believe me, they do.  They are beginning to lead you to what they want and have their own way of communicating.  As much as we want them to talk the way we want them to, we have to meet them where they are and support them where they are.  So if your child is leading you to something, once you get there, try to get eye contact and label what they have taken you to.  Offer choices.  Show them the choices, and when they reach for something, they have told you what they want!  They have communicated and that is exciting!!

I have few kids that also have a lot to say, and are really trying very hard to communicate but for some reason, the sounds are not coming out.  This is ok.  It is frustrating for them and for you, but patience is so important.  All of the tips above are important for these little guys.  I will add that playing with sounds, facial expressions, big body movements and oral motor movements are especially important (actually, still a good tip for all the kids).

Where do you need to go to work on these skills?  Any where!!  Go to the beach, go to the playground, go to the zoo, play in your backyard, read a book on the couch, talk about what you see as you are driving your car.  Just talk, talk, talk and listen to your child.  Does your child not like to read books?  That's ok, just talk about the pictures, it's all quality time and there is no right or wrong way to share language with your child.

As an added note, try to limit screen time, ANY screen time.  If your child does have screen time, make sure it is good screen time.  ABC mouse, Daniel Tiger, Sesame Street are all good options.  And be sure to use this time to interact and talk about what they are watching or doing.  Any time you are talking to them is good language building time.

Let's have a great summer and enjoy meeting these amazing kiddos right where they are!!

-Miss Alissa

Heading into Summer

Welcome back to the SPOT Time Collaborative.

Happy Winter!

This month is all about winter and what we wear in the snow.  Many of our activities are inspired by Shirley Neizel's Book: The Jacket I Wear in the Snow.

There is a lot of opportunities for children to use their vocabulary of clothing, body awareness, and sequencing in this great story.  If you look online, there are many activities you can try at home as well.  

On Boardmaker Share, you can find supports like the ones we use at school: http://www.boardmakershare.com/Activity/699742/jacket-i-wear-in-the-snow

The author's website also has some great activities that might inspire you: http://www.shirleyneitzel.com/activities.htm

But you can also have fun with what is in your drawers and closets.  Let your child explore, make choices of what they might wear: Do you want the blue shirt or  the red one?  Do you want the jeans or the sweatpants?  They can help separate laundry, finding socks that are the same or different.  Or just play dress up.  Most of all, have fun and enjoy this winter season.  

What will November bring?

In honor of Thanksgiving, the theme for the month with be food.  We will expanding vocabulary and concepts with fun food activities.  We will be working on categorization, identification, matching and sequencing all month long.  We will build strength, coordination and attention with fine and gross motor activities.  The children will learn some singing silly songs and discover what kinds of foods SPOT likes to eat.

Remember, there are quite a few days off from school this month.
November 9, 10 for Parent/Teacher conferences
November 11 for Veteran's Day
November 24 and 25 for Thanksgiving Break.

Halloween Celebration

While we celebrate Halloween this week in SpOT, we will also be incorporating some fun activities, songs, and games that target are language and occupational therapy goals. We will be reinforcing fall and Halloween vocabulary while using tag bags (special bags that have various clasps for little hands to practice opening and closing) to discover pictures hidden inside. Sequencing and simple body parts will be practiced as the students make paper jack-o-lanterns. We look forward to another great week of SpOT and hope everyone is enjoying the nice fall weather!

Fall Fun

As all the changes of fall are happening, it is a great time to take some nature walks and talk with your child about everything they see. So bundle up, grab a paper bag, and collect some leaves! Collect all kinds of leaves and comment on and compare the different leaves. Use basic concept words like "big" and "small", comparative words "small, smaller, smallest", talk about the different colors, and comment on the different shapes of leaves. When you are done, find your favorites and do a leaf rubbing and hang it on the fridge...that way you don't need to keep all those leaves in your house.

Check your Backpack

Just like Dora's magical backpack, our own childrens' backpacks hold valuable tools that will foster a good school-to-home connections. School work, teacher/therapist notes, and school information is passed to you through your child's backpack. Make a habit of checking your student's back pack every day, and discussing teachers' notes and schoolwork. This is a valuable tool to finding out what your child is doing in school, if they have a worksheet or art project about bugs, odds are they are discussing bugs at school. And remember, this goes both ways, you can always send notes to school through the backpack to keep teachers updated on your child.