thoughts on early speech & language development
Posted by Heidi | Filed under Improving Articulation
For those of you that have read some of my previous posts on how to teach specific sounds you may have noticed a pattern. That’s because when teaching kids how to say sounds there IS a general pattern I follow even though each specific sound changes. I wanted to outline this for you because if [...]
I’d like to take a moment to commensurate with those parents struggling to teach their children how to speak clearly, and pronounce sounds correctly. This is Sam, my seven year old Star Wars fighter pilot in his Halloween costume last year. He has been struggling with his /r/ sounds for sometime now. [...]
The /p/ sound is the perfect sound to begin with for children who are highly unintelligible. It may be one of my very favorite sounds to teach because it is so visual and therefore can be taught quickly. As the child masters this sound it will build their confidence and make doing articulation [...]
How do I account for only writing two posts in the last two years? The main reason is little Sawyer (our red-headed tornado) in combination with our 4-year old Princess, Sophie and 7-year old Jedi Warrior, Sam and well, it became the perfect storm and I was a bit overwhelmed.
Now that Sawyer is two, [...]
“Mmmmmmmm,” the /m/ sound. A fun sound to teach, because even if your child isn’t using it correctly in all positions of words he/she most likely uses or has played around with this sound. ”Ma-ma-ma-ma,” is usually one of the first sounds we hear our little kiddos babble because the /m/ sound is made by [...]
I recently had a client that was struggling with the /t/ and /d/ sounds and realized I have not yet covered these on Mommy Speech Therapy, so I thought I’d share some thoughts on how to teach these sounds. I have grouped these sounds together because they are produced in the same manner and [...]
One of the most common questions I hear from parents is “How much language should my child be using for their age?” As our children grow up, there are certain “communication milestones” that we can watch for which will help us know how they are developing. I thought it would be helpful to go over [...]
Many of you have been interested in how to stimulate more speech from your toddlers so I thought I would share a few tricks I use as a speech therapist. Most often children just need a little more incentive to get them talking so I like to use what is known to speech therapists [...]
As a Speech-Language Pathologist having worked with children with different severities of autism, it caught my attention just how much the news/media has talked about it in recent weeks. From Dateline MSNBC to celebrities like Jenny McCarthy and Oprah. I’m sure it came back into the media limelight when recent recommendations by the American [...]
I have had several requests on how to teach the /l/ sound so I put some thoughts together and wanted to share them with you!
Three Steps for Teaching the /l/ Sound
1. To teach the /l/ sound place the tongue tip on the alveolar ridge (the ridge behind the front teeth). To [...]
I have had a few requests for how to teach the Y sound. Here is a brief explanation of how I teach the Y sound in speech therapy. I hope this helps.
Learining the Y sound all by itself
To teach the /y/ sound start by asking your child if they can say the /y/ [...]
Learning the TH Sound All By Itself
I love teaching the TH sound because it is one of the most visual sounds to teach. Model putting your tongue between your teeth while blowing air at the same time. Most children will have no difficulty imitating this action. Then practice this action with and [...]
When my daughter Sophie was about 6-14 months old she drooled excessively. She went through bib after bib after bib. I knew that it was more than teething as so many people had suggested. As a Speech Pathologist I had learned that constant drooling may be an indicator of low muscle tone [...]
I recently saw that Signing Time! is coming out with their second series of DVDs, so of course I had to write and let all of you know who may have not yet heard! They look like they’re going to be very cute. (Is it obvious I’m excited about these?) We love these videos [...]
I have had a few readers recently write inquiring how to teach the R sound. Ugh! This sound is among the toughest sounds to teach. It is unlike other sounds, meaning it is produced differently leading or following different vowels and consonants. The truth is when you talk about teaching the [...]
I am a licensed Speech Language Pathologist and have been working in this field for 10 years. I am also a mother to three fabulous kids who keep me busier than ever! I put together this blog to share some of the tips and tricks that have worked for me over the years in teaching kids to improve their speech and more effectively communicate. Thanks for reading and remember it takes time and patience with this stuff but it is so worth it!