Last fall a new research article came out.  This article reviewed all of the data its authors could find on when kids learn certain speech sounds.  The authors then were able to make some connections about what ages most kids can say sounds.  By its nature, this study applies to all kids generally and not really to any one child specifically.  When you look at the graphic I posted above it seems pretty clear, when my child is 3 I should be listening for him to start saying p, b, m, d, n, h, k....  BUT learning to speak clearly involves a lot more than just making a checklist of sounds!!!  

What are good ways to check and see if my child's speech and language is ok?

Intelligibility - can you understand what your child is saying?

• 18 months - Parents should understand 25% of what their child says
• 24 months - Parents should understand 50-75% of what their child says
• 36 months - Parents should understand 75-100% of what their child says
• After age 4 - most adults should understand what your child says

Bowen, C. (2011). Table1: Intelligibility. Retrieved from http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/ on [1/24/2019].

Language - can your child tell you what he is thinking about?

• around 1 year old - your child should start using some words
• around 2 years old - your child should start combining 2 words into a phrase that makes sense, "Daddy home"
• around 3 years old - your child should be talking in nice long phrases, and you should understand most of them
• around 4 years old - your child should be talking in complete sentences that combine ideas, he can tell you stories about his day!

Grammar - do your child's sentences make sense?

• at age 2 your child should be able to combine different word types, like an adjective + a noun (blue cup)
• at age 3 your child should be using pronouns like he, she, or they.  He may not always use them correctly and that is ok
• at age 4 your child should be using correct grammar in most of his sentences, he should be able to put a "ed" on past tense words (like played) and a plural "s" on words (like cats)

Social Interaction - does your child seem to notice others?

• infant - does your child watch your facial expressions?
• 12 months - does your child imitate your actions?
• 24 months - does your child notice others and play along side them?
• 3 years - does your child enjoy playing pretend?
  
• 4 years - does your child play games and pretend with other kids?

​
These are all just examples of ways your child grows and develops the skills needed to talk clearly to others.  If you want more information about what development might look like for a specific age please check out my Development Charts: 
Birth to 3 Development
​Preschool Development
Elementary Development

I was reading "Oh Say Can You Say" by Dr. Seuss to my 6 year old tonight and came across the poem above.  I thought, "Hey, that is a perfect example of how using visual cues can help with sound placement!".  So here I am blogging about Dr. Seuss's great idea.

One of the very best ways to get kids saying new sound or new sound combinations is to have them watch you as you say those sounds.  Pulling out a mirror so they can see their own oral motor movements is also an excellent idea, especially for these kinds of sounds:  b, m, p, th, f, v, l, and s.  This kind of activity works best when your child already knows how to make their new sound and needs a reminder to use it in their target words.  

Here is an example:  child can say the "s" sound but he often replaces it with a "th" if he is not paying attention.

Get in the bathroom in front of a mirror big enough to see you both.

Mom:  Sssam, see how my tongue stayed behind my teeth!  Now watch it will slip out this time:  "tham", oops, how do I fix it?

Child:  Pull it back behind your teeth!

Mom:  Okay, Sam.  How was that?  Awesome!  Your turn:

Child:  Sam

Mom:  I noticed that your tongue was behind your teeth!

If your child is having a hard time getting the right sound out at all, this activity might not be as successful.  That is when a knowledgeable expert (aka Speech-Language Pathologist) is super useful!

My son had his phase 1 orthodontia work done a little over 2 weeks ago.  This included getting an expander to widen his palate and braces to help close the gap between his front two teeth.  I thought I was pretty prepared to deal with all of the metal he now has in his mouth because:

-I am a speech language pathologist!  Mouths are like totally my domain, right?
-I have had clients get expanders and braces.
-I had braces growing up...been there, done that!

Oh boy, I was SO WRONG!  The first two days were incredibly difficult for my son, and by extension, me.  So together we (my son and I) decided to make a list of things we wish we had known going into this whole new world.

1)  Best foods for the first two days:  hard meltables (grahm crackers, animal crackers, Ritz crackers, etc.)  These types of foods are hard enough that you have to chew them, which is good for practice and according to my orthodontist decreases mouth pain.  BUT they also melt if they get stuck in your mouth, like under the horrible expander bar.  A banana is soft but once its squishiness is stuck in all the new metal grooves in your mouth it doesn't go away...it just gags you.  Other good choices:  smooth things you don't have to chew (apple sauce) and cold things (frozen yogurt).

2) Small bites are a big deal:  cut things up really small for your child, especially in the beginning.  This was super important for my son.

3) Meals take a long time:  eating is going to be slow going for at least the first week.  My biggest suggestion, call your school and ask them to let your kid be first in the lunch line for his class for the first few days.  This super helped my boy.

4) Use sips of water to rinse:  eating at first is super messy!  I found that having water available for my son to use to rinse his mouth after every couple bites was a must.  Another good strategy we tried to help get food out of his braces/expander was to send a little travel toothbrush with him to school for after luch.

5) Swallow that spit:  for the first two weeks my son had a lot of extra saliva to deal with.  His mouth was working overtime which led to some crazy drooling.  I found that if I cued my son to swallow his spit his speech cleared up and he didn't drool on his homework.  All good things.  The spit is out of this world!  Good news, it does slow down with time.

6) Practice oral reading:  the first week or so really push oral reading at home.  This gives your kid the chance to refine his speech sounds.  His tongue has to change the way it moves now when he goes to make /s/, /z/, "sh", /r/, /l/.  His lips move differently to say /p/, /m/, /b/.  Things will be pretty sketchy for a while.  The more your child can hear his own voice in a safe environment the better he will get at producing his sounds clearly once more.  If you want to know more check out: The Auditory Feedback Loop.

7) Really push oral hygiene: my son had been brushing and flossing his own teeth religiously before getting his braces and expander.  After getting his gear I let him continue to brush his teeth and I took over flossing, because it is super tricky.  BUT two weeks in he had major plaque issues because his brushing technique was not cutting it.  I suggest for the first few days you really watch his brushing AND help with flossing.  Also I wish I had actually tried flossing his teeth in the orthodontist's office the day he got his braces instead of just watching.  It is way harder than it looks, especially the back teeth.  Get all the tips you can before trying it on your own at home!

Hopefully reading through some of our tips will help make the first few weeks of your child's (or your own) orthodontia experience a little more manageable!

Mom!  I'm hungry!!  Can I have a snack?

Who has heard that before?  Like 10 times, or 20 times... and it's 10:30 am.  Am I right?

Lucky for us, making meals and snacks can be a super excellent way to work on speech and language AND feed your starving child.  It's a win-win!

When I first started working in early child development, a mom told me the most valuable thing she had learned so far was how to talk and be with her kid while he was eating.  She told me that before her therapy services, meal and snack times were all about getting other stuff done while her son was busy eating.  BUT once she started using some of the following tips her son's language really started exploding.


Building Vocabulary 

• Use lots of describing words when you cook and while you are eating:
  • adjectives: hot oatmeal, sticky honey, wet, cold pudding, crunchy carrots
  • verbs: cutting, mixing, pouring, squishing, rolling
  • adverbs: carefully, quickly, before, after
  • prepositions: in the cup, on top of the muffins

 
Using My 5 Senses 

• Talk about how things taste, look, feel, sound, and smell.  These kinds of sentences help your child make connections.  I use my nose to smell.  Apples smell sweet AND peas smell sweet!  I wonder how they taste?

Beginning Literacy

• Use words like first, next, then, after, and last to help your child learn to sequence.  These words automatically take language to a more complex level.

 
Imagination and Guesses

• Ask your child to imagine what his meal or snack might look like, taste like, feel like one you are finished.  Being able to make an educated guess based on what you know is critical for good reading comprehension and social communication skills.

Repetition is key! 

• One of the best parts about cooking is that it is naturally repetitive.  You follow the same basic steps each time you pour a bowl of cereal or make your child’s favorite sandwich. Because of the repetition your child has lots of opportunities to learn and practice! 

*these tips are mainly geared toward the toddler/preschool age kids, if you have older children some good ideas would be having them navigate the recipe card, measure ingredients, and then create their own notebook with their favorite tried and true recipes.

I found this fantastic handout for FREE from A Perfect Blend on teacherspayteachers.com  you can pick it up HERE.  What a fantastic resource for getting more out of car time.  I had a couple of additional ideas that came to mind as I read through Amanda Newsome's handout.  I thought I would share my ideas as well.  These are strategies that I have learned from my clients and suggested to my clients.  Pick one and give it a try!

Articulation Practice - 

• STOP LIGHT:  whenever you come to a stop light practice your target sound, I love to think of rhyming words that all end in your target sound.  Practice sounds and preliteracy skills all at once! (syllable/word level practice)
• TARGET SOUND "I Spy": this is a huge favorite of my clients, I think all kids love a good round of "I Spy", look for your target letter on signs, license plates, etc. or look for items that start with your target letter. (word/phrase/conversation level practice)
• 3 FUN THINGS:  as a kid I always had to report on three fun things I had done at school that day.  Now I use that activity as a great opportunity for focused sound practice at the conversation level.  You cue your child - I want to hear 3 fun things you did at school today, and I want you to think about using a really clear /r/ sound when you tell me each thing! (conversation level practice)

Language Practice - 

• 3 FUN THINGS:  (see activity above) instead of focusing on sounds, focus on past-tense verbs.  Listen for words like "painted", "played", "kicked".  If your child is missing that -ed ending you can restate to show active listening and provide a nice model.  ie. "we play on the slide", "oh, you played on the slide! that sounds fun!"
• I HEAR/SEE A...: great activity for young kids beginning to put sentences together, just watch for awesome things out the window and them model sentences with "I see" or "I hear", for example, "I see a police car!"  "I hear a big loud truck!".  You can also add 5 senses work by turning the sentence into "My ears hear a big loud truck!"
• SIMILE "I SPY": this is a fun twist on traditional I Spy, you take turns giving color or texture cues using similies (ie. I spy something as blue as the sky, I spy something as shiny as a diamond).

Social Skills Work - 

• DAILY REPORT:  I throw this onto the end of 3 fun things everyday when I pick my kids up from school.  After we talk about the fun things that happened I ask, "Is there anything about today that you would change?".  Your child can let you know what they might change about the day and how they would change it.  For example:  "At recess we played tag but I had to be "it" the whole time and I didn't like that"...then you respond, "You didn't like being "it" all recess?  So what would you change? Is there anything you can try next time to make that change?" This is a good chance to review problem-solving skills with daily interactions in a low-key loving atmosphere.  Of course, some things you can't change but then you can talk about the feelings your child experienced, help them name the feeling, and recognize it.

Many of my clients are working on generalizing speech sounds.  That means they have now figured out how to say the sounds they were struggling with, AND they can use them in their words, AND they can use the sound in phrases and sentences...BUT they are not using the sounds in conversations yet.

When we talk we have so much to think about (what we are going to say, waiting for our turn, checking to see if our partner is listening, being louder than the other noises around, using the right inflections and pacing...) it is hard to remember to correctly use sounds that we habitually have been skipping or saying the wrong way.  Getting new sounds into conversations will take time and is very difficult.  Give your child time!  

Lots of my favorite strategies to helping generalize sounds come from this activity book:
www.soundsforliteracy.com.au/documents/FBGeneralizeSounds.pdf

One technique in particular is called Talking Time.  Basically you set aside 3-5 minutes at least twice a day where you focus on speech sounds in conversations.  Your child speaks and you track his specific sound.  Only focus on one sound at a time, and remind your child before you begin which sound you will be listening for.



​​Today I hit the JACKPOT! Every speech therapist loves ready made games; and I just found  on GetAwayToday.com a bunch of activities that are PERFECT to use for Talking Time.   These games feature subjects kids are happy to talk about.  





You can find all of these activities here:

Would You Rather Games
Disney Would You Rather
Harry Potter Would You Rather
Star Wars Would You Rather
These games are awesome for getting some creative thinking and language practice in with your speech therapy time.  Your child needs to pick his answer and then explain his choice...why would you rather have a fairy godmother than a magic genie?

Mad Libs
Disney Princess Mad Libs
Star Wars Mad Libs
Also fantastic for literacy and grammar (parts of speech).  I like to encourage kids to try to think of nouns or adjectives or _________ that have their speech sound in the word.   Then when they read through their finished story you know there will be lots of opportunities for speech practice!  You can access nice lists to reference on homespeechhome.com.

Conversation Starters
Disney Conversation Starters
Fun for car rides and speech therapy!  Basically you ask a question and encourage your child to talk for 3-5 minutes about their answer.  Listen for their use of their target sound.

I like to track speech sound productions using a simple spreadsheet, + for if they got the sound right, - for if they missed it. 

I love using boardgames to add a little variety to my therapy sessions.  Games are motivating, promote good social language skills (turn taking, following directions, being a good sport), and can be tweaked to fit speech and language goals if needed.   This year I bought a few more additions for my boardgame closet and I thought I would share my new favorites with you.  A list of some basic boardgames that I like for speech and langauge can be found HERE.  I linked each of these games to Amazon but you can get them at other places. 

I Can Do That
Ages:  4-8 ish
Why I love it:
-Great for following multi-step directions
-Teaches prepositions
-Teaches verbs (can be modified for present progressive and past tense)
-Gets the kids moving while they are talking!
-Great extender for the book "The Cat in the Hat"
-Kids love it!

*tips to make it better:  take out the STOP cards, they are pointless if you are working multi-step drections, also this game is not great for kids with gross motor delays unless you modify it, plus it does have a lot of manipulatives that can be tricky for kids under 3.

Suspend
Ages:  6+
Why I love it:
-Great way to help target easy onsets (fluency)
-Good for generic drill (say __ 10x and take a turn)
-Slows kids down, makes them think
-Problems solving and critical thinking
-Interactive play, work together, talk cause and effect
-Targets fine motor skills
​

Busy, Busy Airport
Ages: 3-7 ish
Why I love it:
-Fantastic for pretend play
-Great for categories (weather, clothes, ect.)
-Makeing basic inferences
-Gets kids moving
-Uses reasoning and problem solving
-Good for basic math
-Fun pieces and game board

*tips to make it better:  I took out the little slots at the bottom of the gameboard that are supposed to hold the passengers...it takes FOREVER to put each passenger in a slot at the airport, now we just dump them all in and pick 1 or 2.  Also be gentle with the planes, they are just thick cardboard, not plastic...I wish they were a little more sturdy.

Busytown, Eye Found It
Ages: 3-7 ish
Why I love it:
-The gameboard is super big!
-Builds cooperative play skills
-Great to extend into language goals
-Find categories, functions, ect.
-Good for basic vocabulary and counting
-Describing and adding detail

*tips to make it better:  you can use the timer or not depending on your child's needs

Snap Circuits Jr.
Ages: 7+
Why I love it:
-Cause and Effect
-Integrages science with language
-Problem Solving
-Good for /r/ and /s/ target practice
-Following directions
-Predicting

*this comes in bigger sets but for the sake of a therapy session the Jr. version is perfect.
Con: the motor for the fan eats up batteries faster than I like

This post is all about helping kids generalize their language skills using something that all kids love...holidays!  Talking about upcoming holidays is a great way to help kids solidify their newfound language skills because:
1. Holidays are super motivating for kids, they are fun!
2. Holidays are very high frequency topics in the weeks proceeding each major holiday.
3. Holiday conversations often are repetitive and predictive...talking about Halloween, well then expect to be asked what you will dress up as, talking about Christmas, expect to be asked what you have asked Santa for, etc.


So I take full advantage of the holidays when they roll around.  Having a private practice helps because then I don't have to worry about crossing some blurry school vs. church topic line.  I ask parents beforehand and go with what they generally talk about.  I LOVE working directly with parents.
These are some of the big goals that I work on in our conversations:
 topic maintenance if we are talking about Halloween let's stay there for a few minutes and not jump around to Star Wars or Cars II.
 conversational turns are we both sharing the talking time, is my client giving answers and asking questions, etc.
 ability to answer wh-questions and ask wh-questions this is a big one, in therapy it is easy to work on  answering wh-questions but harder to find spontaneous opportunities to ask them.  The basically scripted holiday conversation routines everyone uses are great for that.
eye-contact is the student engaging in appropriate eye-contact, especially when requesting information?
and other conversation level grammar and speech sound goals (using correct pronouns, correct helper verbs or conjunctions, verb tenses, /k/ sounds, etc.)


and the best part...these are conversations that have a huge likelihood of being taken outside of the therapy session time so the students can practice and apply the skills we have been working on to help them interact with peers.

"Good social skills require good communication skills."
- Candy Lawson at the Center For Development and Learning.

Getting ready for school requires practicing more than just academic skills.  A huge factor in a child's success is how well he interacts with others.  When thinking about how your child will perform at school remember to think about more than the spelling tests and math grades...the "social skills tests" your child will face are important too.  Often kids are expected to know these skills without being taught them.  It is a good idea to take time and explicitly teach social skills, especially for the kids who need a little extra help.


Here are some social skills that are super important but that are often overlooked:
1. Greetings
2. Initiating a Conversation
3. Listening to Others
4. Taking Turns in a Conversation
5. Being Responsible for your Behavior
6. Problem-Solving Through Conflicts
7. Apologizing
8. Asking for Help
9. Ignoring Distractions
10. Staying on Topic in a Conversation

Parents and teachers can work together to determine if a child needs extra help learning to use social skills.  Many kids pick up social skills without needing to be taught outright, but it is important not to assume that all children will. Parents can model social skills during conversations at home, role-play scenarios that may be difficult at school, or look for opportunities for their children to practice needed social skills.  Teachers can reinforce skills during group activities, praise and reinforce children during the day, and be alert to refer children to a speech and language pathologist should additional support be required.

Resources:
Top 10 Social Skills Students Need to Succeed
​
Social Skills and School

Talk with your child's SLP 

Ok, so this post is more of a soap box stand than anything else.  It will be short.

A few weeks ago I was at my kid's parent teacher conferences and as we were leaving, at the end of the night, we walked by the school SLP's room.  She was sitting at her desk ALL ALONE.  I asked her how many parents she had seen that night...four.  Out of a caseload of nearly 70 kids, she had only seen 4 parents!  I remembered having the exact same experiences and feeling SO frustrated!

Now that I provide private therapy I get totally spoiled because I get to talk with my client's parents every session.  I get to show them exactly what I am doing, why I am doing it, and teach them how to practice the same principles at home.  And I see tons of progress.  In the schools I did everything I could to include parents, but I was BUSY!  I saw so many kids, I couldn't possibly e-mail each one's parents at the end of every session with an update.  During parent teacher conferences I set aside hours for two days just to talk with parents...who would forget to stop by.

I know we are all busy, and I know that it can be hard to just get to parent teacher conferences and see each kid's main teacher, it is easy to overlook the SLP.  But if your child qualified to receive speech therapy at school that means your child has a disability or delay that impacts their academic success.  Your SLP is working hard to help your child...next time GO SEE THEM when you have the chance!