The power of snack time.

During some of our Smart Talker pre-school groups we like to include a snack time. During which, children are encouraged to sit around a table together to enjoy a drink and healthy snack. This isn’t just so we can have a rest and parents can have a good chat with their friends. It is actually a fantastic and powerful opportunity to encourage communication.

This situation provides children with the following opportunities:

·        having a good reason to communicate i.e. the motivation of food or drink

·        making a choice of snack and drink which is really important

·         Increasing their confidence

So what should we be doing?

·        Working on language and communication skills is most effective when done in real, everyday situations. We need to make sure we are giving a child a reason to communicate, an opportunity and a means. (The means can be pointing first, then answering a forced alternative e.g. ‘do you want water or juice?’, ‘... banana or raisins’ etc. Put the one you think he/she wants last to begin with so he can copy easily at first.  

·        When you are offering them a choice of snack or drink, get down on their level; make sure you have their attention by saying their name first, or tapping them on the arm.

·        Try and only give them a little bit at a time so they have to ask for more. The word ‘more’ is a good word to build from 1 to 2 words; e.g. ‘more juice’, ‘more banana’ etc. Be careful to look out for non-verbal cues as some children may not feel confident to ask for more, or have the language skills or vocabulary to do it. For example, a child may look in your direction holding out their cup, I would respond positively to this communicative attempt and model the language to the child i.e.       ‘ you would like more juice, X would like more juice’; repeating key words i.e. juice will really help your child  learn new vocabulary.

·        A further point, although it is lovely for us to hear children expressing their P’s and Q’s, this can be very confusing and hard for some children. If a child is saying single words it means that they are at an early stage of language acquisition. If, therefore, you ask them to say 'Please' or 'Ta' before you hand over the required toy, piece of food, drink or whatever, they will be very confused. If you want to encourage a child to put 2 words together, ‘more + biscuit' is more functional, they won't be able to say 'more+biscuit+please' until much later because this is actually 3 words together. (please read Libby Hill’s blog for more information on please and thank you, http://www.smarttalkersblog.com/2011/12/please-dont-teach-your-child-to-say.html)

·        Snack time provides an opportunity for children to request something in the best way they can, and push them to do a little more in a safe and motivating way. Therefore, working on their expressive language skills.

·        Children will also benefit from the social aspects of eating together, such as turn taking. If you take time to watch and listen, you will often see children sharing their snacks, or talking together.

One of the biggest causes of language delay today is that we don't expect enough of our children and we give them what they want without making them work for it. We take away the opportunities and reasons to communicate so their means of communicating doesn't need to progress.

 Take a step back and see every day activities as opportunities for communication...

So don't just provide food and drink, use snack or mealtime to help your child's language skills!

We can show you how if you come to one of our sessions www.smarttalkers.org.uk

Georgina White

You think we're just singing but we're doing so much more

It was lovely to see so many families at the Songs and stories session last week at Stafford Children's Centre when I covered for Nikki. One family had even travelled from Cannock because they know the benefits of the class. Someone else commented they weren't coming because 'it was just singing and reading'.

Well, it's not 'JUST' singing  at all .........

We mostly use nursery rhymes  which are important for many reasons:

1. Most importantly (to me as a speech and language therapist) is that they help develop spoken language skills. They are a  powerful tool in the repertoire of language developers. They show the child the rhythm and flow of language, help connect words to actions and help a child to understand and remember words. They also help attention and listening. A room full of noisy babies will still and quieten when I start singing (No, that's not my awful voice!!) and to add action keeps their attention for longer.

2. Bonding: Singing together helps language development but also interaction between parent and child or carer and child.

3. A Swedish study published in the journal Integrative Physiological and Behavioural Science suggested that singing, not only increases oxygen levels in the blood but triggers the release of “happy” hormones such as oxytocin, which is thought to help lower stress levels and blood pressure. As other studies show the increased levels of  both parental and child stress levels in the 21st century, this must surely help.

4. They can be used in conjunction with other communication enhancers e.g. choice making. The ability to be able to make choices is fundamental to human communication. Choosing which song to sing from a variety of props or choosing the next behaviour for action rhymes such as  'if you are happy and you know it'. These are non-verbal behaviours so do not require a verbal response. 

5. Increases confidence. Even if they haven't got the necessary expressive skills to join in verbally, they can take part with the actions.

6. There is overwhelming evidence that early learning of nursery rhymes and rhythmic poems, songs, and chants significantly enhances early reading skills and phonemic awareness.  In fact research highlights phonemic awareness as a strong predictor of a child's reading success. It helps them:

• to hear rhymes or alliteration
• to blend sounds to make a word (e.g., /a/-/t/ = at)
• to count phonemes in words ( how many sounds do you hear in "is"?)
• to identify the beginning, middle, and final sounds in words
• to substitute one phoneme for another (e.g., change the /h/ in "hot" to /p/
• to delete phonemes from words (e.g., omit the /c/ from "cat")"

so its helping them with pre-reading skills!

Come along to any  of our Smart Talkers Pre-School Communication classes and join the fun

www.smarttalkers.org.uk

How do you cope with the terrible twos?

Tell me what you think of this video from 5min Parenting?

How do I talk to my 2 year old?

As you may know we run classes for two year olds called Teeny Talkers and I keep being asked what parents can do to help at home. Here is lots of communication advice for your two year old from our esteemed colleagues at Talking Matters:


Two year olds are active and sociable and “into everything”. From around two years children go through a period of rapid growth in their communication skills, developing from a toddler experimenting with combining words to a three year old who can use sentences and hold simple conversations. Children who communicate better, interact better with others and manage their emotions and behaviour more effectively, so there are pay offs in the long run for helping your child develop good skills now. Here are some ideas to develop your child’s communication skills.


Two year olds should be using at least 50 single words and putting short phrases of two or three words together. Their speech should include a range of different speech sounds though they may not use them correctly in all words. Not everything that they say may be clear and they may still use some babble when trying to express themselves but familiar people should understand much of what they say.


By two and a half years children can understand:
 what things are used for (what goes on your feet?)
 simple concepts such as big/little, hot/cold, in/out
 the difference between “he” and “she”
 follow simple instructions “find your shoes”
By two and a half years children can say:
 many single words and two word combinations
 some describing words “big”, “hot”
 ask some simple questions “what’s that?” ”where’s Dad?”
 use words for possession “mine, my teddy, daddy’s shoe”
 use plurals “two dogs”
answer yes/no, what and where questions.


To help your child develop word combinations:
1. Build a solid base of single words. Children usually need around 50 single words before they begin this stage. Even after they begin to use two words they will need to continue to learn more single words to continue to develop their language skills. It is usually easier to learn a new word as a single word at this stage e.g. “zebra” then later combine it “baby zebra” “zebra eating” etc.
2. Develop a variety of word types. Children begin by learning lots of names of people and things. To develop two word combinations they often need to combine these nouns with a different type of word such as an action word or a descriptive word. Action words are particularly important as they form the basis of sentences later on.


Help your child learn a range of different words including:
 action words: eat, sleep, jump, dance, run;
 describing words: big, funny, sad, hot, wet;
 position words; up, in, under,
 possessive words: mine, yours,

3. Expand the single words your child does say by adding another word. Try to repeat it a couple of times if you can.
Sometimes you might add another word you know they can say e.g. Child “bye” Adult “bye Dad, Dad’s go-ing shopping, bye Dad”. Sometimes you might add a new word. Child “more” Adult “toast, more toast, you like the toast, more toast.”
Your child does not need to copy you, just hearing what you say will help and they will use that phrase when they are ready. If they do try to copy you though, respond positively. If what they say is not clear still be positive and say it again clearly for them. E.g. child “more toat” Adult “yes more toast”.


Practice games and activities where you can repeat word combinations over and over a number of times.
Activities could include;
 Bath time: wash + body part “wash face, wash arms, wash tummy”
 Mealtime: eat + food name “eat peas, eat carrots, eat meat”
 Dressing: clothing name + on “shirt on, pants on, socks on, hat on”
 Ball play: action + ball “roll ball, push ball, kick ball, catch ball”
 Car play: car + action/position “ car go, car stop, car up, car in, car down”
 Block play "build up, more blocks, fall down"
 Outside play "Alex + run/jump/climb/slide" "Alex under/over/in/out/through"
 Hiding dolls or animals and finding them “hello teddy, goodbye puppy”
 Matching games “Two apples, more dog”
When your child does produce two words together all by themselves expand them to three words to keep them learning.


We'll look at some more ideas next time


Talking Matters offices are located at the Elizabeth East Shopping Centre, 53 Midway Road, Elizabeth East.  They also have an office in Kapunda for families in the Barossa/Mid North area. http://talkingmatters.com.au/