Help Your Child With Articulation Errors

Does your child have a speech sound error or two that he doesn’t seem to be outgrowing? By age 7 or 8, children should have mastered all of their speech sounds. Some sounds, of course, should be produced correctly well before that age. To see a chart of when each sound should be mastered, click here.

If you suspect or know that your child has an articulation problem, seeing a speech-language-pathologist for an evaluation is a wise first step. He or she will be able to tell you exactly which sounds are in error—there may be some that you haven’t noticed! Even if you opt to work with your child at home, the speech pathologist should be able to give you some tips and get you started. However, this isn’t the preferred option for many parents. Perhaps you can’t afford speech therapy or fit it into your schedule. Perhaps you don’t want involvement with the public schools.

If you would like to work with your child’s speech at home, here are some guidelines and ideas. First, pick a sound or group of sounds to work on. You may want to pick an easier sound to start with, or one that is important to the child, such as a sound in his name. Make the sound yourself and consider exactly how it is made. Where in your mouth does your tongue touch? Does the air leak through slowly, such as in an “s”? Or does the air pop out quickly, as in a “t”? If your child cannot produce the sound at all, you will have to describe this to him.

Teach your child to say the target sound in isolation (not in words). Model it for him. Use your finger, spoon handle, or popsicle stick to touch his mouth or tongue in the target spots. When your child can produce it, practice. Practice, practice, and practice some more until he really knows it well by itself.  Then practice words that begin with the target sound, moving on to words with the sound in the middle or at the end.

When your child can produce the sound in words with 95% accuracy, begin practicing in sentences. By the time sentences are mastered, you will probably hear the sound being used most of the time in conversation. This may take a few weeks or longer. Don’t expect your child to use the sound in conversation right away—it will take time before he can produce the sound correctly without thinking about it.

Make your speech practice time fun. Keep the sessions short, but practice every day. Play board games, making your child say his word 3 times before every turn. Hop across the room, repeating the sound with every bounce. With dedicated practice, you should soon see improvement in your child’s articulation skills!
For more materials and tips for working with your child’s speech at home, please visit my Super Star Speech website and Super Star Speech blog.

FREE! The Old Schoolhouse Holiday Supplement

Get ready to wrap your family in a ribbon of thankfulness and joy and season your holiday with laughter, love, and togetherness. Illuminate your Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays with the help of the TOS Holiday Digital Supplement!

This special TOS magazine is packed with Holiday ideas—recipes, crafts, decorating tips, gift ideas, and more. Just thing thing to put you in the mood for the upcoming holiday season!

The Old Schoolhouse is giving away this FREE 180 page e-magazine here.

Things Worth Remembering by Jackina Stark

Things Worth Remembering, by Jackina Stark is the story of Kendy Laswell and her daughter Maisey.  This once inseparable mother and daughter have had a strained relationship since Maisey’s  thirteenth birthday.  It is the week of Maisey’s wedding and Kendy desperately longs to find a way to bridge the gap between them. As the story unfolds, the reader learns more about the past and the events that caused the chasm between mother and daughter.

The book was written in a somewhat unusual style—jumping back and forth between the viewpoint of the two main characters and flashbacks to the past. I though it worked well, though.  This is a good read that makes the reader remember the importance of openness, honesty, and above all, the power of forgiveness.

 I received this book free from Bethany House for review.

Language Development

Do you ever wonder if your child’s language abilities are at age level? Do you compare your child’s speech with that of other children?

Here are a few things to ask yourself:

Is my baby vocalizing and babbling? Babies should be playing with their voices and sounds. Babies from 3-6 months should be “cooing,” which is vocalizing mostly vowel sounds. Babies begin “babbling” at around 6 months. Typical babbling sounds are, “mamama,” “baba,” “dada,” “gagaga,” etc. It is said that babies under a year old play with all the possible sounds of every language and that after a year of age, the ability to produce and even to hear sounds that are not used in the native language is gradually lost. (Isn’t that cool?) If a baby doesn’t babble and vocalize, or if he stops vocalizing, this could be a sign of hearing loss.

Does my baby make eye contact? Does he try to imitate sounds or facial expressions? Is he learning turn taking? (He babbles, mom babbles back or says something, he babbles again.) Even passing a toy back and forth is a precursor of conversational skills. Children actually begin to learn these early conversational skills well before they are using actual language.

Does my baby or toddler communicate his needs? Even before babies are using actual language, they should communicate by vocalizing and pointing.

Is my toddler putting words together into sentences? Toddlers typically begin using 2-word phrases at about 18 months. If a child is not doing this by age 2, he may be considered delayed in language skills.

If you have any concerns about your child’s language development, please consult a speech pathologist. Children develop at different rates, and your child may be completely normal, but it is very important to catch potential problems early, since language disorders can impact socialization and future educational performance. Often, public schools will even provide free services for preschoolers.

America’s Heritage: an adventure in liberty

  The American Heritage Foundation is  “a non-profit, non-partisan educational foundation dedicated to the understanding and teaching of America's factual and philosophical heritage to promote constructive citizenship and Freedom, Unity, Progress, and Responsibility among our students and citizens.” I received a cd-rom to review that contains K-12 lesson plans on U.S. heritage intended to supplement existing school resources. Since Emily is in the fourth grade, I focused on the lessons for elementary students, although lesson plans are also included for middle and high school levels. The plans are designed for public school classrooms, but are easily adaptable for home schools.

Each of the fourteen lesson plans focuses on an aspect of our American heritage. The two lessons I began with were “The US Flag” and “The Star Spangled Banner.” Some of the other topics are Colonial America, The Declaration of Independence, the Statue of Liberty, and George Washington. Each topic also focuses on a theme such as honesty, freedom, unity, or responsibility. Although the format of each lesson varies, each begins with a few pages of information about the topic to be read and discussed. An activity to reinforce the topic follows. The activities include games, crossword puzzles, charts, and finger puppets. The activity for “The Star Spangled Banner” was putting back together the song, which had been cut into pieces, each containing a short phrase.

We actually spent no more than half an hour each on the two activities that we tried, making it an easy way to add teach things about our American Heritage that might not be included in an existing curriculum. I feel that these lessons were a good use of our time and were well-written and enjoyable to implement.

And….the best part about America’s Heritage….the materials are free of charge at The American Heritage Foundation, either as a download or on a cd. The lessons may also be purchased in printed form for only $19.50.

 I received this item free for review purposes.

Leaving Yesterday by Kathryn Cushman

Leaving Yesterday, by Kathryn Cushman, is a story of hope and tragedy and of struggling family relationships. 

Alisa Stewart is recently separated from her husband. She has one son that died tragically and another who seems to be lost to his drug addiction. In a surprising turn of events, Alisa is elated that her son, Kurt, has checked into rehab. and is seeming to turn his life around. Then she discovers that he may have been involved in a recent murder. This riveting story tells of Alisa’s conflict between believing in and doubting her son, between helping him succeed in his new life or digging deeper to find a truth that may not be pleasant.

This book was hard to put down. The characters were very real and the story compelling. I appreciated the way the main character’s faith was both strengthened and challenged by her difficulties. Highly recommended.

 I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers  for review purposes.

Halloween

Here is a picture of Emily in her Halloween flower costume. She had a great evening trick-or-treating with her friend from down the street then sitting in his Halloween decorated clubhouse to entertain and scare other trick-or-treaters.  They spent all week planning for the 6 or 8 trick-or-treaters that actually showed up!

Levi’s Will by W. Dale Cramer

Levi’s Will tells the life story of a young Amish man who leaves his  community in disgrace and changes his identity to fit into the outside world. The saga follows Will from his stint as a migrant farm worker to his enlistment as a soldier in World War II through his marriage to the present day. The overriding theme of the book is Will’s struggle to make peace with his Amish past and more importantly, to find favor in his father’s eyes. Ultimately, the story points to God and forgiveness as the only true means to peace.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the way it explored Amish traditions, Levi’s struggle to be honest with his loved ones, and his difficulty relating to his own children because of the way he was himself raised.    The writing was compelling throughout, although the painful emotions that were exposed led to a somewhat depressing feel throughout much of the book.

Levi’s Will is actually based on a true story. It was first published in 2005 and is now being republished with an afterward describing the effects the publishing of the first edition had on his relations with his Amish relatives.

I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers for review purposes.

Pumpkin Carving!

The Tallest of smalls, by Max Lucado

The Tallest of Smalls, by Max Lucado is a delightful children’s picture book. The story tells about Ollie, a small ragged boy who lives in the city of Stiltsville, where the tall and important folks are awarded stilts to tower over those who are deemed small and unworthy. Ollie desperately wants to earn a pair of stilts so that he too can feel important and look down upon the “smalls.” Eventually, Ollie’s wish does come true, but he quickly discovers that there is only one person whose opinion really matters.

This is not my favorite of Max Lucado’s children’s books, but it is a sweet story with an important message. The illustrations are bright and fun and the text is in rhyme. I think any child would enjoy the book and that it might be especially helpful to a child who is feeling “small” and left-out.

You can watch a short video by Max Lucado telling about his new book here.

I received this book free in exchange for my honest review.

Junior Miss Competition

Katie recently surprised us by stating that she wanted to compete in our county’s Junior Miss competition. This was entirely new territory for us, but she launched into the process with enthusiasm and had a good time. Ultimately, she ended up winning the talent competition and being named Second Runner up (with a $1300 scholarship prize—Yay!) Her talent was quite creative—she played a musical piece she had composed herself on the violin and accompanied herself (recorded) on the piano!