I love this time of year, except the getting dark really early bit! There are so many different things happening that prove to be great opportunities for discussion with children. We have just had Hallowe’en and Bonfire Night is only a few days away and then before you know it, Christmas will arrive! Then you […]
“Vocabulary levels are strong predictors of later literacy skills. They predict not only how well children will develop reading comprehension, but also their phonological awareness and phonic knowledge. Vocabulary level at age five has been found to be the single best predictor of whether a child brought up in poverty will escape poverty in adult […]
I thought this week I would write about some of the great apps available to support older children with their language development. There are so many apps out there it can be hard to know where to start! Apps designed for pre-schoolers and younger children are advertised and seem much easier to find. Whereas apps […]
One of the things I most commonly get asked about is toddlers who are slow to start talking. I have written about this before, but I felt like there was quite a bit more to say on the topic, so I thought I’d tackle it again. How many words should my child be using? Just […]
It was Helen who told me about Carrie Clark’s podcasts and website – Speech and Language Kids. I have just downloaded all the podcasts and have been listening to them whilst driving between appointments! The podcasts are FANTASTIC!! Go and listen to them. Even as an experienced therapist, Carrie has ideas that I hadn’t tried […]
As speech therapists, we spend much of our time talking about, thinking about and using words. Vocabulary is so important when encouraging a child’s language skills; whether you are waiting for those words, or trying to improve sentences for SATS test, a good vocabulary is key. Verbs are one of the main building blocks in […]
Memory is a complex thing and has been the subject of lots of research. We all find some types of information easier to remember than others. Some people are great at remembering faces, others seem to have an almost inexhaustible capacity to remember dates. I’m sure most people reading this can identify things they find […]
I spent a few years working in a school with children with specific speech and language difficulties. When the summer holidays came round, parents often asked for homework to do over the summer. I think kids do enough formal work during the school year, and the last thing I want to do is give families […]
I have just come across this fantastic game called Dobble, and I wanted to let everyone know! I was in a lovely little games shop in Aldershot – “The Games Shop” – and the very nice man who runs it showed us this game. Now you can get Dobble from Amazon and other online shops, but […]
We are delighted to have Rachel Sambrooks from Chatterblocks writing for us this week. Rachel talks about her experiences of trying to get help for her daughter who has a Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Unfortunately, Rachel is not alone in her experiences and I have heard many similar ones over the years. We all need […]
