Word & Sound Learning Lab

Families with children ages 6-8, please check out this amazing research opportunity!

Did you know that the three smallest bones in the body are in the ear? These bones are called the ossicles: malleus, incus, and stapes. They are also known as the hammer, anvil, and stirrup. The smallest of these bones is the stapes (stirrup). These bones work together to help us hear!

This week’s Throwback Thursday book choice is: There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Lucille Colandro. This story is a book in the form of a rhyming poem. The title is only the beginning, after the old lady swallows a fly, she attempts to solve this problem by swallowing a spider, and so on and so on. Discuss the rhyming words with your child and think of your own as you follow the old woman’s journey of swallowing animals!

This week’s Word Wednesday is: Prop! A prop is something used in the theatre or on TV/movies to help tell the story. As you talk about this word with your child, you could point out specific props and talk about how they may be different from the real-life version. For example, breakaway chairs!

There are so many fun ways to work on story telling with your child! The options are limitless, but here are a few ideas. You could fill a bag with ‘props’ (any random objects around the house) that your child can use to create a story. Work on sequencing by drawing or printing pictures in the order of the story. You can cut them out and attach them with a string or practice putting them together in the right order! Remember to include key elements of the story: character(s), setting(s), problem(s), action(s), as well as an ending. Give it a try!

Barrier games are when two people sit on opposite sides of each other with some type or barrier such as a box or a book between them. Players take turns giving and following directions. Some examples of barrier games are: potato head, Legos/building blocks, coloring pages, drawing, train tracks. Teach your child prepositions by using them in your instructions. For example, ‘Color the triangle in the top left corner pink.’ Now is your chance to teach them!

Did you know? By first grade, most children can understand about 10,000 words! However, children may only use about half as many words in their own speech at that age. If a child doesn’t use a word, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t understand it!

This week’s Throwback Thursday book is ‘Are You My Mother’! This story is about a momma bird who flies off to find food, only for her baby to hatch while she’s gone. After the baby bird hatches, he goes on an adventure to find his mother.

You can access a free read aloud of this book here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CMBk1GPq5E

This week’s Word Wednesday pick is: Literate! Literate means you are able to read and write. As you talk about this word with your child, discuss why being literate is important!

You can play fun games at home while practicing some language skills. Playing flashlight picture hunt is a fun game to target a variety of skills. To play, gather some family pictures, word cards, or even picture from magazines and tape them in different places around the house without showing your children. Turn the lights off and have them use their flashlights to spot and gather the pictures around the house. At the end of the game, everyone gets to share what they found using complete sentences. For example, if your children finds a picture of grandma, you can prompt them to repeat "Grandma is wearing a red sweater" or have them try to make their own sentence. You can also, have them describe the picture, practice the word in a sentence, or even tell a story about the picture.
Have fun!

Last week, we shared Start with a Book, which is is a great resource to use with your child!

This week we want to highlight the music-focused DIY summer program: Tune In! A Book-Based Music Adventure. For five days, you will explore many forms of music from the world around you.
Check it out here:
https://www.startwithabook.org/tune-book-based-music-adventure

Learn more at www.asha.org/public

Source: ASHA BHSM 2022

Do you know there are speech and language services in public schools? Speech-language pathologists help students in many different areas, such as language (words and how we use them to share ideas, thoughts, and feelings and how we understand them) speech (how we say sounds and words). Once your child is eligible, these services are available at no cost to families. These services are part of special education, under U.S. federal law (through the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act).

Learn more at www.asha.org/public

Source: ASHA BHSM 2022