Each month, school newsletters include a one-page insert called Home-School Connections. It describes ways in which families can enhance student learning at home in the areas of literacy; numeracy; healthy, caring schools and improving student learning.
This month's Home-School Connections (Pdf) features:
- Helping My Child With Speech at Home - Speech sounds can be targeted naturally at home. Select 5-10 words or phrases that contain the target sound and use only these special words in your practice. Research tells us that children often respond best to working on speech during brief periods of times. Below are some ways you can implement speech practice into your daily routines:
- Practice saying these sounds correctly during natural family times like travelling in the car, when out for a walk, cooking together, folding laundry, putting away groceries or being supervised in the bath.
- Practice these words during fun times like jumping from one object to another, bouncing a ball or throwing and catching each time a word is said. When the adult takes a turn it provides a good model for which the child to observe and hear.
- When you are reading together, have your child pick out words that have the target sound in them to help promote awareness. Practice these words together as well as think of other words that rhyme or look like the word. This helps practice literacy and phonological awareness too!
- As your child becomes successful with these 5-10 words, add a few more to see if they are able to generalize their new skill to other words.
- Develop a personal cue to remind your child to use their "good sound" when they are talking in sentences or during conversations (raise your eyebrows, point to your nose, point to your mouth...) to help them remember to monitor their own speak and correct 'on the fly'.
For more information, please contact:
Kerry Donnell, Communications Officer, 613-966-1170 or 1 800 267-4350, extension 62354, [email protected]