speech therapy activity

March 24, 2020

Hi everyone, I hope that you are all safe and healthy at home. I’ll be writing little posts to help you support your children’s language development through this challenging period. If you have any topics you would like me to address, feel free to email me at elissab@yaldei.org.

Today’s topic is early literacy. I read a great article on The Hanen Centre Website about how to choose books for your kids, and this is one of the take home messages (more tomorrow):

The types of pictures in the book do matter depending on the age. Colourful and realistic photos are better for younger children (photos, not drawings), around 18 months and under. Coloured drawings and photos are great for 24 months and up. Black and white drawings are best saved for children 2 ½ to 3 years old. 

What does this mean for you? Think about your child’s developmental level, not their chronological age. Choose a book with drawings or photos that will interest them. Make your reading focused on the pictures, while YOU add words, or sounds, or gestures, when you can.

Here is a little activity you can try with your children using, Eric Carl’s “Very Hungry Caterpillar” ,a book that many of us have*. In addition, I am attaching a grid of vocabulary pictures**. 

Version for younger developmental age (18 months and under): Give your child the matching picture to hold each time you turn a page. Or, they can tape it to a page as a motivator to keep going. 

Version for older developmental age (24 months and up): Give your child 2 to 4 pictures from the page to choose from, and have them match the picture to the page as you are reading the book with them. When they are done, they can use the pictures for an art craft to talk about the individual pictures or tell the story. It’s always nice to connect the vocabulary to their everyday experiences.

Let me know if you have any feedback, and I’m happy to answer questions anytime. 

All the best,

Elissa

* Interesting article on how this book became a classic

**credit to Lori Binko, LessonPix, downloaded March 23, 2020