Charlotte Speech Therapy

The month of May has been designated as Better Hearing and Speech Month. Communication happens all around us every day. When something goes wrong and there is a problem with understanding and using language or producing speech, it can have a significant impact on a person's life. Please take time this month to celebrate the gift of communication with your child. Below are suggestions of activities for all children; however, they are especially beneficial if your child has a speech and/or hearing problem.

Read a book together. Ask your child to point to or name pictures in the book. You can also have your child talk about what is going on by looking at the pictures. For older children, you can have them read a passage in a book and then discuss or ask questions based on the passage.
Have a sound day. Pick a day and you and your child can find as many things as you can that begin with a certain sound throughout the day.
Use purchased games. Games that your child may already have may be used to teach speech and language skills. For example, using a Go Fish game, you can work on labeling objects and asking questions.
Make a word/sound collage. Kids love to look through pictures in magazine. Go through and cut out pictures of different objects in categories or pick objects that begin with a certain sound.  You can paste these into a word/sound book which you could add to at any time.
Make a recipe together. Have your child pick out something to make. You can work on naming ingredients and objects you will need to make the recipe. Recipes are also a great way to work on sequencing and following directions. Plus at the end, you will have something yummy to share!

These are just a few suggestions. There are many websites that have tons of ideas for speech and language activities you can do with your toddler, preschooler or school aged child.  You can make any activity throughout the day a potential learning experience.  Just remember to have fun!

If you do have any concerns about your child's speech, language or hearing, contact Child and Family Development to set up a free phone consultation with a licensed speech therapist.