Top 10 posts of 2016

Happy New Year!  Whatever you thought of 2016, it is now over.  At this time of year, Helen and I like to look over our most popular posts.  Interestingly there are some posts that remain popular every year, but there are some new ones in our Top 10 as well.

1. What speech sounds should my child be able to say?  In this post we give some information about the order speech sounds develop in, the difference between a delay and a disorder and also some ideas about whether to be concerned or not.
2. Help my toddler isn’t talking!  This is part of a four part series.  We give ideas about how early language develops, when to be concerned and ideas about how to help.
3. How to use Lego in speech therapy. Does your child love Lego? I know my son does as do many of the children I work with.  In this post we give ideas about all the different ways you can use Lego to support speech and language targets.
4. Taking the mystery out of assessments: CELF-4.  This is another series of posts explaining about one of the most commonly used language assessments.  We talk through each subtest and the implication for the child.
5. Narrative Therapy.  In this post we give an over view of using Narrative therapy.  There is then a series of posts that covers each area within this programme.
6. Auditory memory strategies. and Games to improve auditory memory.  I have cheated a little and combined these two posts!  They were both very popular and do go together.  Auditory memory skills can have a significant impact on a child’s ability to process and understand language.  You often see it mentioned in speech and language therapy reports.  In these posts we discuss the different types of memory and strategies to support auditory memory and games to make the practise more fun!
7. Top 10 apps for 4-7 year olds.  As the name suggests, here we talk through our Top 10 favourite apps for younger children.  There is also a handout that goes with this post on the Freebies page.
8. Cued Articulation. This is a signing system used to teach speech sounds.  It was designed by Jane Passey, a Speech and Language Therapist.
9. Top 10 games for a travelling therapist.  As both Helen and I travel to see the children we work with, it really helps to have games that can be used for lots of different targets.  Here we talk through our favourite ones.
10. Understanding key words.  In this post we explain the idea of key words or information carrying words.  Speech and Language Therapists use this concept when we talk about a younger child’s understanding of language.

It is always interesting to look back over all the posts we have written and things we have achieved.  We also released our first e-book last year.  Although it was a huge and time consuming project we are both very pleased with the final result!  You can read more about it here.

This year we have various plans.  Helen and I are working hard on finishing our first online training course and hope this will be available to buy in February.  This will be aimed at parents, nursery staff and school staff who want more information about working with children with unclear speech.  We then have a number of ideas for our next project!