DLD and Us

DLD and Us Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from DLD and Us, Education, Wicklow.

21/03/2022

BIG FISH 🐟

You do NOT need a Speech Therapy-specific Picture Scene to provide you and your child with LOADS of language opportunities.

Take this video for example
.(saw this guy on hols
 WOW, I would NOT like to bump into him)


- describe the fish (size, colour, parts of the fish)
- where do fish live? (working on those wh-questions)
- what is a fish? (categories)
- have you ever swam in the sea before?
- what would you do if you met this fish in the sea?
- what types of fish do you know?
- what do fish eat?

Remember to be cognisant of how many questions you’re asking; you could rephrase the above so that you’re “wondering aloud”, e.g. I wonder what that fish eats for his breakfast 🍳

So, get out your phone and pick some photos or videos you think your child would love to have a chat about - this is a fab idea for you too, teachers and SLTs!

I strongly recommend the Topsy and Tim Books – they relay real-life experiences, use simple, clear language, and they al...
18/02/2022

I strongly recommend the Topsy and Tim Books – they relay real-life experiences, use simple, clear language, and they also have a TV series which can be watched as a treat after story-time.

I’m going to use the example of the book pictured to show you what language opportunities you can create:

- If you’ve got a few of the Topsy and Tim books, produce 2 – 3 in front of your children, and allow them to pick which one they want you to read – you can’t imagine the enjoyment kids get out of being the ones making the decision!

- Read through the book yourself before reading it, and note any vocabulary you think needs pre-teaching. With this book, I would be pre-teaching the following words:
- windscreen
- sobbed
- narrow
- carrier bag
- ditch

- Read the title and show the cover of the book – “Topsy and Tim Go on Holiday – hmmmmm, I wonder what this is going to be about?” – this is preferable to asking “what is this going to be about?” as it is less direct and less pressurizing

- My usual rule: do NOT ask too many questions (as tempting as it is) – this is NOT a test
.do not suck out the enjoyment of story-time!

- Page 1: (after reading the page) have you ever gone to the seaside before?

- Page 4: Point to Topsy before you point to the ball. What did you just do? You’re right, you pointed to Topsy before you pointed to the ball.

- Page 6: What is a tractor? Have you ever seen a tractor before? Where do you think the tractor is going? What did Tim shout?

- Page 8: Why did Tim begin to cry? What do you think they should do? Have you ever lost something before? How did it make you feel?

- Page 10: have you ever had a picnic before? What are they eating? What is your favourite food (it’s always a great idea to relate what’s happening in a book to the child’s own experiences). What does narrow mean?

- Page 14: why was dad worried? How do you know he’s worried?

- Page 16: why did Topsy and Tim say “thank you” to the friendly man?

- Page 18: what is a sheep? Have you ever seen a lighthouse before?

- Page 20: where did dad find the buckets? How do you think Topsy felt?

16/02/2022

Visualisation Activity

- I recorded A and I doing this Visualisation (and comprehension) activity last week

- he is very used to me asking “what do you think this is going to be about”, but I wasn’t expecting such an in-depth answer! It was lovely to see him so comfortable with this question.

- note my pace of reading - I always call it my Peppa Pig Pace đŸ·

- I sound VERY enthusiastic about it all. I’m not actually đŸ€Ł but if A thinks I am, it really heightens his interest

I’ll post the rest of the videos during the week.

As I’ve mentioned before, while A is excellent at literacy, his comprehension needs a lot of work, due, of course, to hi...
11/02/2022

As I’ve mentioned before, while A is excellent at literacy, his comprehension needs a lot of work, due, of course, to his SLCN. This has led me to learn about Visualization, i.e. the ability to create pictures in our head based on the words we hear or read.

I am now fully engaged in the process of teaching A to become actively engaged in what he’s reading. This ability of using the words he reads to create images in his brain will improve his comprehension.



The very easiest way to start with visualisation is as follows:

- Pick a word, e.g. cat / hippo / apple / swimming pool

- Ask your child to close his/her eyes and to see a picture of that word in their brains

- Tell them that when they’re ready, they should open their eyes and draw what they saw in their brains (A loves doing this on his little whiteboard, sitting on the floor – an informal, relaxed setting, which we also sometimes do with his sister, and then compare the images! So. Many. Language. Opportunities)

- You and your child then have a quick chat, praising him/her for their efforts, e.g. “oh I love how you used the colour green for your apple” – loads of language opportunities here by the way – as usual, model the correct vocab / syntax back (do NOT correct). You can ask 1 / 2 questions, e.g. “what size is this apple?”.

It needs to be our mantra for life.
06/12/2021

It needs to be our mantra for life.

02/12/2021

The most GORGEOUS Christmas book!

I’m not working on my weight (eh no way, it’s nearly Christmas) – PHEW! A is working on the concept of weight, along wit...
30/11/2021

I’m not working on my weight (eh no way, it’s nearly Christmas) – PHEW! A is working on the concept of weight, along with the rest of his class.

I’ve looked into how best to teach him about this language-dense topic, so here goes – as always, a multi-faceted approach is best
don’t produce worksheets unless you’re willing to play the role of student and have your child boss you around! That’s the way to make them fun!

1. Grab a basket / bowl and fill it with whatever you can find – fruit, toys, shoes, stones, leaves, cutlery etc.

2. Get a piece of A4 paper, cut in half, marking one “Light” and the other “Heavy” – you’re going to use this for sorting out your items!

3. Have your child/student name every object they can see (if you want to work on Categorisation, ask what group each item belongs in)

4. Ask, “which objects are heavy?...you’re right, the stone is heavy! Let’s put it into our ‘heavy pile’ – where should we put it?” – you’re constantly working on the recall here.

5. When all the objects have been sorted, ask your child to list off the items that are heavy, and those that are light. To work on memory, you could even ask them to do it with their eyes closed – “can you remember which items were heavy?”

6. Next, let’s work on the words “heaviest” and lightest” – ask, “which item is the heaviest/lightest?” – work it out together

7. Now the big one – heavier/lighter THAN. “Is the stone heavier than the leaf? (Start off easy, so that you’re modelling the appropriate use of the language) – you’re right! It is heavier than the leaf!”

8. When you do it again, allow your child to pick the items. To make it even more fun, you could blindfold the person guessing the weight!

Throughout this activity, ensure to emphasize and repeat the key words – heavy, light, heaviest, lightest, heavier than, lighter than.

29/11/2021

Tackling a maths problem together.

So this is the maths book used by a lot of schools in Senior Infants (5-6 year olds). It was the first time it was sent ...
29/11/2021

So this is the maths book used by a lot of schools in Senior Infants (5-6 year olds). It was the first time it was sent home and A had to do the exercise pictured
.well was I surprised by how difficult he found this.

Look at those instructions – there’s a lot of language there! And THIS is how our children and students with DLD, SLCN, ADHD etc. get lost in the classroom

I had assumed A understood it – I read the instructions clearly and slowly, and the vocab didn’t stand out to me as needing pre-teaching
.but when he drew little chairs in the boxes, I knew something had gone awry.

So, how did we fix it? We broke things down, simplified and drew up a plan – as inspired by Emma and Tera

After completing each step, we went over what steps we had done (getting past tense work in there) and what was left to do (future tense) (this also works on recall as well)

At different points I would ask him, “what’s the last step? what did you just do?”

In short, I scaffolded the assignment until by the 4th exercise he was able to do it on his own by referring to the plan

I hope with this approach he will learn how to independently break things down and formulate a plan – a skill necessary for EVERY type of learner.

I’m going to send this on to A’s teacher – if I was alarmed at how he missed this, she definitely will be.

This applies to any activity you are doing with your child or student. Encourage progress, but be very careful of their ...
27/11/2021

This applies to any activity you are doing with your child or student. Encourage progress, but be very careful of their self-esteem, and in turn, their mental health.

25/11/2021

A Giant Cat - a discussion cat đŸ±

25/11/2021

The Flying Bath 🛁

All these tips are applicable for reading to any child.

Address

Wicklow

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when DLD and Us posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category