Movement activities are known to have extensive physical and mental benefits. Helping children stay calm, improve cognitive skills, reduce behavior problems, increase memory and attention abilities.
Did you know, communication and physical activity are interrelated? Movement encourages and foster speech and language development.
The Vestibular System And Articulation Development
The vestibular system is the sensory system that provides us with a sense of balance, stabilizes our body and head, coordinates movement and motor planning. Just to produce one word, it requires the coordination and movement of many tiny muscles. It can be difficult for a child to process the muscle movement related to speech.
“Speech is the physical production of sound. Speech skills depend on smoothly functioning muscles in the throat tongue, lips, and jaw. The vestibular system influences motor control and motor planning that are necessary to use those fine muscles to produce intelligible speech,” Developmental Delay Resources (DDR).
The Vestibular System And Language Development
A child needs to not only hear words, they need to know where the sound is coming from and focus on the words to process them. “The vestibular and auditory systems work together as they process sensations of movement and sound. These sensations are closely intertwined, because they both begin to be processed in the receptors of the ear,” DDR.
“Moving activates the ability to speak. A child with vestibular and language problems benefits greatly from therapy that simultaneously addresses both types of dysfunction.”
Fun Activities For Speech And Language Development
Kids love to play the Hokey Pokey, it’s great for teaching requests, practicing imitation and taking actions. The game is very repetitive and easy to imitate the lyrics.
ASHA Wire suggests, “Pair speech sounds with movements, exercises or yoga poses. If you’re working on /m/, have your students march in place. If you’re working on the /ch/ sound, the child’s pose is wonderful to complete after saying the target word a specified number of times. Tape articulation cards on the wall just above a child’s reach. Ask your student to jump and tap the target card.”
First Words Speech Therapy offers personalized care to meet your child’s speech and language needs. As a mobile service provider, we are able to render therapy at the child’s home, daycare, charter/private school, or in the community.
