Time to Talk: 11 Apps to Support Children’s Language Skills
Jul
9
2015
The activities we do when on vacation can be used to support vocabulary and language skills. When used together with your kids, apps can also be useful tools to stimulate communication and fostering language carryover. This month in “Time to Talk,” speech-language pathologist Kathy Puckett shares 11 apps to use to support children’s language skills [continue reading]
Language Play: Strategies for Encouraging Independent Play in Summer Months
Jul
31
2013
This month in “Time to Talk,” Kathy shares strategies for encouraging independent play in summer months… [continue reading]
Language Play: Learning Communication with Silent Films
May
29
2013
Silence is Golden I have always loved silent movies. My dad was a Charlie Chaplin fan and we would often go into the city to see Chaplin’s full length movies on the big screen. When I was a student in graduate school, I worked with stroke groups, many of whom depended on understanding and using [continue reading]
Language Play: Supporting the Creativity of Writing
Apr
24
2013
Writing Skills: Putting Language Down on Paper I’m not an expert on writing skills, but I often find myself working with children who have difficulty getting ideas on paper. I start by reviewing the variety of skills and processes involved in writing. First, a writer must gather ideas, take notes from readings, and make choices [continue reading]
Language Play: 22 Apps that Increase Children’s Vocabulary
Mar
27
2013
Apps that Increase Children’s Vocabulary I once had a teen client who had the most amazing ideas and insights. He was one of those kids who really cared about people and thought about things deeply. I always considered it a gift to work with him. So why did he need speech and language services? Unfortunately, [continue reading]
Language Play: What Can a Parent Do to Encourage Good Narrative Skills?
Feb
27
2013
Narratives: What did you do today? Have you ever tried to find out about your children’s daily experiences? Well, of course, teenagers rarely want to share their day with an adult, but younger children do. For some kids this is one of the hardest things to do. Why is that? It seems like such a [continue reading]
Language Play: Stages of Language and Resources for Practice
Jan
30
2013
Grammarsizes When kids are little, we enjoy the quirky ways they express their ideas. We hear them say funny, ungrammatical things, and it delights us to hear them grapple with the English language. These errors show a developing repertoire of grammatical forms. When they say “mans” and “falled,” they show an understanding of the underlying [continue reading]
Language Play: Speech Articulation
Dec
26
2012
Speech Articulation It’s holiday vacation time and family time! Hooray! This is a good time to check out our children’s communication skills. But how is a parent to know what is typical? Children go through steps to learn to articulate speech sounds just like the steps children take to develop motor skills for learning to [continue reading]
Language Play: Scripts for Kids to Express Feelings & Desires
Nov
28
2012
The Language of Emotion I work with children who can’t communicate their feelings easily. Some children who can’t speak at all give up on using subtle behaviors because they’re ignored or misunderstood by others. They may use extreme behaviors to get others’ attention. If these children are taught effective ways to express their feelings, negative [continue reading]
Language Play: Get Social to Support Language Development
Oct
31
2012
Social Skills: Time to Share! There’s a buzz about social skills these days. There’s such a tendency for all of us to be so involved with technology that we have less time for face-to-face social experiences. A few years ago, I read all of my grandfather’s diaries, from the turn of the century until the [continue reading]