Speech and Language Pathologist
Joanne Laflamme & Valerie Downs- Speech and Language
Dear Families,
Welcome summer! We're excited to have longer days, warmer weather, and a relaxed pace; but that doesn't mean speech and language development are done when school ends. Every time you play with and talk to your children you are supporting their growth in speech and language, and now the learning can move outside!
Think about everyday activities and you'll find opportunities to increase your child's communication skills like labeling items while you're doing laundry, talking about the changes in the yard or garden as you do chores, or describing the differences in temperature from outside to inside. Special adventures like water play, beach visits, or walks outside bring new places to explore and questions to ask and answer.
If you're looking for ideas to share with your children, be sure to use the activity calendars and scavenger hunts that came home in the backpacks during the last week of school. In addition, the hunts and calendars, as well as great books, fun activities, and parent strategies that encourage communication, language, and speech development are on this web page. Scroll down or use the maroon buttons on the right to access resources.
As always, the most important tool for encouraging communication remains engaging your children in play and conversation. So, be sure to enjoy some time exploring their interests and sharing toys and books.
Happy summer,
Joanne Laflamme, M.S., CCC-SLP Valerie Downs, C-SLPA
Summer Books
Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner - read aloud
Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner - read aloud
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Froggy Learns to Swim by Jonathan London
Llama Llama Learns to Swim by Anna Dewdney
Summer by Alice Low
Maizy Makes Lemonade by Lucy Collins
Summer Days and Nights by Wong Herbert Yee
Pinkalicious and the Pink Drink by Victoria Karr
Summer Activity Calendars
Click on these links to access a month long calendar with fun activities for your and your child to do together. Each activity will support speech and language development for your child.
Scavenger Hunts for Speech and Language
Spring's warmer weather and vibrant colors open a whole new set of things to see and do, and you can even take language learning outside. Scavenger hunts are very popular with preschool students, and doing them together provides many communication opportunities; having a conversation, investigating nature, and labeling new spring items. You can include articulation, vocabulary development, comparing and contrasting, answering “wh” questions, and more skills in the activity. Click the buttons below for directions and printable scavenger hunt sheets to use in this fun and versatile activity.
Phonological and Phonemic Awareness - A Foundation for Communication
When houses are built, they need a solid foundation. If you think of language and communication as a house, phonemic and phonological awareness make-up its foundation. They need to be strong, or the best efforts to build the house will fail.
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and use individual speech sounds. Phonological awareness goes one step further to also include hearing and playing with larger units of sound like syllables, repeating beginning sounds, and rhyming to form meaningful language and communication.
Many traditional games and activities for young children focus on developing phonemic and phonological awareness in your child. Think about your child's favorite games, songs, and activities, and you will likely find a tool to teach skills like rhyming, alliteration, and breaking words into syllables.
Communication Temptations They Can't Resist!
Ever just couldn’t resist that delicious looking cookie? That is temptation in action, and you gave in! Communication Temptations are specially constructed situations that encourage, or tempt, your child to communicate – not grab a cookie.
Simple things throughout your daily routine can become too tempting for your child to ignore. For example, leave a step out of a familiar routine; fix a favorite snack, but leave it out of reach on the counter; or put a favorite toy inside a clear, difficult to open container. Your child will be tempted to communicate about the situation with a preferred means – verbalization, vocalization, gestures, facial expression, eye gaze, picture exchange, or talker. They’re all good!
Books That Encourage Communication
These five books have features including repetition, opposites, sequencing, following directions, and vocabulary words that support speech and language development and your child's IEP goals and objectives. Click a button for a read-aloud of a book.
Goodnight GorillaBrown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?What's Up Duck?Little Blue TruckGoing On A Bear Hunt
Mrs. Laflamme
Mrs. Downs
Speech and Language Pathology Assistant