Developing #Listening & #Speaking Skills – Games to Encourage Talking and Language Knowledge A few weeks ago, we explained the importance of developing your child’s word awareness skills here are some further games ideas to encourage them to use this new language. Playing tapes or CDs of nursery rhymes and children’s song are good for helping your child to make the distinction between the music and words (language used) in them. It is a good idea to practise this skill when there are no other noise distractions. When your child points at something tell them the name of the object, for ..read more

The Easter Holidays are here, so here are some fun activities to keep children of all ages entertained whether we have rain or sunshine. A treasure hunt is a great way to teach children directional language. Being able to understand directional and placement (prepositions) vocabulary is important for understanding everyday instructions such as ‘put your cup on the table’; ‘go along the hall and stop at the door in front of you’. We also use this directional language to explain how to draw patterns and write letters, which is another reason why it is important for young children to be introduc ..read more

Developing #Listening & #Speaking Skills – Developing Word Awareness A good word awareness (receptive and expressive language) is a key phonics skill. Helping a child build their vocabulary (word awareness – receptive & expressive language) is vital if they are to continue to develop good communication skills. Talking, explaining, sharing and playing are all important as well as making sure that you pronounce words clearly and correctly for a child to hear. A child may not have developed all the skills needed to copy you accurately but they will store the sound pattern information for ..read more

Developing #Listening & #Speaking Skills – How to encourage your child to keep talking! Learning to the conventions of conversation start from birth, as parents we do not really think about it in this way but it is what we tend to do naturally. Sometime though we all need a few pointers to help us, so here are some ideas to help you develop and encourage your child to talking skills: From Birth to 1 Years Old To encourage cooing and babbling. Get yourselves comfortable in a face-to-face interaction position, babies often like lying on their back or on your lap looking up at you. Start by ..read more

Developing #Listening & Speaking Skills – Different Types of Talk There are different types of talk: Business Talk – this is when we use more everyday instructional and informational kinds of vocabulary and sentence structures. Play Talk/Rich Talk – this is more conversational, informal and descriptive. Small Talk – this is everyday chatter or conversations, informal and often less descriptive and more factual. Parentese – this research has shown is how babies prefer you to talk to them using regular words (normal adult vocabulary) in a slightly higher pitched and more sing-song way. It ..read more

Developing #Listening & Speaking Skills – Turn Taking Skills – Conversation This week we will look at turn taking in conversation a skill children need to learn to take part in meaningful interaction with others. These interactions are a vital part of children’s physical, emotional, social and intellectual growth and wellbeing. Children need to learn that in conversation they need to take turns listening and speaking. This is more complex process than we often give it credit for as often we, especially in our busy lives, can be guilty of only listening to reply rather than listening to un ..read more

Developing #Listening & Speaking Skills – Games to Develop Phonemic Awareness Phonemic awareness is our ability to split words into their smallest sound units (individual phonemes) and to manipulate these sounds through segmentation, blending, substitution and deletion. This is based on what we hear and say, not the written word. These games are great for playing in the car or when waiting in queues and hopefully soon when out and about with other friends and family. We usually introduce this concept to children using one syllable CVC words, a word that has a Consonant followed by a Vowel ..read more

Developing #Listening Skills – Music Fun These games are designed to help a child learn about the different levels of sound, pitch, tone and volume. Music Fun Skittle Band – Use, or make, a drum stick (wooden spoons are good for this) and explore with your child the different sounds the drum stick makes against objects made of different materials, such as steel saucepan, another wooden spoon, plastic bottles etc. Choose items that are safe and you are happy for them to play with. You could photograph the objects, record the sounds they make, or video (on your phone), to play back and talk ab ..read more

Developing #Listening Skills – Sound Scanning Games These games are designed to help a child learn how to block out ambient noises so that they focus and concentrate on one particular sound. Games The idea is to identify and talk about different sounds in different locations; in the park or at home in different rooms. Ask the child to listen for a moment (timed activity 30 seconds to start with then increase) and to pick out different sounds they can hear. Some will be close and easier to identify; other sounds may be further away and require more focused concentration to work out what they m ..read more

Developing #Listening Skills – Sound Screen/Barrier Games Last week we explained the three things required for good listening skills: To pay attention – being able to focus on a particular voice or sound by filtering out other voices and ambient noises. To concentrate on the voice or sounds to take in the information, building the stamina needed to listen for extended periods of time. To interpret that information to gain meaning – comprehension. Here are some games to help build these skills. These games are designed to help a child learn how to block out ambient noises so that they focus ..read more