The holiday season can get busy and even stressful, but don’t lose sight of what’s important. Thanksgiving is a great time to take a step back, take a deep breath, and cherish family and friends.
Don’t Lose Sight Of What Matters
Expressing thankfulness during mealtime is a tradition for many people this time of year. Not only does it infuse positivity, for a child with a speech disorder, it can encourage them to practice their speech and cognitive skills. They will need to think about what they are thankful for, organize those thoughts, and then put their thoughts into words.
Practice Narration Skills
Dinnertime is the perfect time to encourage your child to practice their narration skills. Ask them what was the best part of their day. If they have trouble with open ended questions, provide them with a prompt. Such as, what type of craft they did at school, what colors did they use.
Practicing descriptive language is important. You can ask everyone to describe something on their plate, shape, color, scent, taste, and texture. A fun game for younger children is “I Spy. For example, “I spy something green”, for broccoli. An correct guess mean it is their turn to “spy” an item on the dinner table.
Practice Pragmatic Language Skills
Sitting around the dinner table is a great time to practice pragmatic skills. This could be taking turn during conversations, making eye contact, and staying on topic. Let each person around the table take turns in the conversation. Not only will this set a good example, it encourages your child to make eye contact when they talk to people.
Dinnertime is an opportunity to encourage your child to “use their words”, if they tend to point at what they want. Model polite speech by saying, “Please pass the broccoli, Jake”
Speech therapy is used to improve overall communication with techniques and activities that address disorders and delays in articulation, expressive/receptive language, apraxia of speech, oral motor dysfunction, cognitive skills, and social language.
At First Words Speech Therapy we work closely with children of all ages, assess their ability to speak and understand, then create an individualized plan based on their needs. Check back with us next week for more fun ways to practice speech therapy with your child.
