Please help AFASIC... and have some fun too! 'Zip It' for Afasic

As we enter a New Year, AFASIC are encouraging us to get involved in their latest challenge that should be a bit of fun, and also raise some money towards their work. They are often the only place a parent can turn when they have a child with SLCN and no-one else seems to understand that it affects the entire family.
 
They really need  help to ensure that Afasic has the funds it needs to provide this ongoing help and support for children, young people and their families who are affected by speech, language and communication disabilities now and into the future.
 
How to get involved
Please take part in the Afasic ‘Zip It!’ challenge this spring  - you can take part yourself, encourage your local school to take part, get people in the office to take up the challenge, or get the family to have a quiet and challenging evening at home!
 
The challenge is to stay silent and use only non-verbal methods of communication for a period that you can decide (it could be 5 minutes, an hour, a morning, a day etc.). For more information and to register for a full information pack go to  http://www.afasic.org.uk/support-us/fundraise-for-us/zip-it-challenge/

Are you looking for a career change for 2015? Our Smart Talkers franchises, may be for you

 

All children can benefit from our award winning  communication groups. They are designed to help develop confident, successful communicators. Spoken language skills are the basis for most educational tasks so the better the speech, language and communication skills the easier they will find it when they start school.

We use puppets, games, stories and songs to make it as fun as possible. We get great feedback from parents, carers and the children themselves! It's not really like working, as it's tremendous fun working with pre-school children.

We have lots of different groups: Small Talkers. Teeny Talkers. Baby Talkers, Chatter Tots and Stories and Songs. There are also lots of other packages for nurseries and projects for schools that we do.

We are looking for franchisees in many areas of the UK or further afield. No experience or qualification required as full training is given. Business support and back-up is an important part of the package. We also have licenses for speech and language therapists so they can run groups in their areas.

We have designated areas for franchisees, find out if your area is available by emailing info@smalltalk-ltd.co.uk

www.smarttalkers.org.uk

Our friends at Jitta Bugs are launching brand new classes: Phonic Bugs

Jittabugs are proud to announce they use the Jolly phonics system in our Phonics sessions read more about Jolly Phonics It uses the synthetic phonics method of teaching the letter sounds in a way that is fun and multi-sensory, enabling children to become fluent readers. The sounds are taught in a specific order (not alphabetically). This enables children to begin building words as early as possible.

There are five skills taught in phonics, they are –

• Learning the letter sounds
• Learning letter formation
• Blending
• Identifying the sounds in words (segmenting)
• Tricky words

At Jittabugs we only concentrate on Learning the letter sounds and using those sounds in song and dance & sensory.

This program is aimed at age 2-5 years old. Some of our tutors offer this class in a 30 minute session, others 45 mins to an hour. We don't sit at desks, this is an informal, fun, educational class. We sit in a circle on the floor and sing songs, use movement and multi- sensory to enhance our learning of Phonics and numbers . In some sessions art and craft may be included at the end of the session using the Phonic & Number handouts.

They are also doing Number Bugs to teach early maths skills.

Tutors offering these classes Dawn -Tyne & Wear, Caroline- Taunton, Lynsdsey-South Shields, Margot-Durham, Jen-Blackpool

Caroline Ashworth

www.jittabugs.com

Better Communication - Last call for pilot schools for January from the Communication Trust!

The Balanced System® Scheme for Schools is a whole system approach to improving outcomes for children and young people across the whole range of speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).

The Scheme provides tools for school development as well as the option to gain an award in SLCN and is supported by NAPLIC and Afasic. The Scheme for Schools has been developed in response to demand from schools for a whole system’s approach to understanding the school’s role in commissioning and providing support for children and young people with SLCN, alongside specialist services such as speech and language therapists and specialist teachers.

To find out more about how to register your school for the January  2015 pilot please click here. 

Product Spotlight: Preschool Make A Book

As you know we are always looking for quality materials we can use in speech therapy. We love this idea from Mojo Publications:

Preschool Make A Book is an activity program geared to clients in the developing phase of language who present with delay or disorder. The book is composed of ten units, each containing  a 4-episode picture sequence. You can use the pictures to make beautiful and versatile mini books by cutting/gluing or folding the pictures. At the bottom of each picture, write your target (based on your goals). 

There are three steps: 1. Choose your pictures 2. Choose your targets 3. Make a book. Here is a finished one that I made by cutting and gluing.

You can write just about anything under these pictures. They can be simple (single vocabulary) or more complex (complete sentences with pronouns, verb tense, etc). You can even use these pictures with your clients who have autism and need more of a social story.

I developed this product when I saw a need for speech therapy products to look a little more modern and fun. I wanted to create something that look distinctive but approachable, to be open and versatile yet simple to execute in therapy and at home. Preschool Make A Book is based on an activity I often chose when working with preschoolers, and I am very proud of how it turned out.

Please check out my website www.mojopublications.ca You can download an ebook or purchase a hard copy (which comes with the free ebook). For a limited time, there is a 15% discount. Just type 15%PMAB at checkout. 

Elissa Benjamin

Please let me know which one I should use

  I have a voice over by a professional or one by me to add to the video on the front page of the new website. I can't decide which one to use. I'd be very grateful for your views please

1.  https://audioboom.com/boos/2638227-pr

2   https://audioboom.com/boos/2637518-my-version-ofintro

Talking to toddlers: it's not an option, it's a necessity!

I was unfortunate enough to be stuck in an A and E department for 2-3 hours the other afternoon. The only thing to do was people-watch. There were several elderly  ladies who had had falls, a teenage girl who was constantly being sick, two workman who were limping and many more walking wounded. Among them was a mother and her baby with a rash, who was probably about 18 months. He was strapped in his pushchair with nothing whatsoever to occupy him. His mum was talking on her phone, texting, listening to music on her head phones and looking out of the window which was too high up for him to see.

He had nothing to occupy him whatsoever! The best thing he could have had was otherwise occupied with her own things.

The only words she said to him were 'no' and 'stop that'.

He tried making her laugh to get her attention, he tried wriggling to get out, he cried, he made eye contact and jargoned, he pointed....indeed he tried every bit of his communicative repertoire but all to no avail. In the end he just screamed and then sobbed!

This made me feel really sad. The mother obviously cared for him. He was clean, fed and his physical needs were met but he was being neglected! The mother would not have sat there for all that time with nothing to do yet that's what she expected of her son.

I maintain that all parents want the best for their children but they need to know what that is. Let's have a public information drive so parents realise they should be talking to their babies and young children! It took a while before 'clunk, click every trip' took off but now everyone wears their seat belt. What catch phrase can you think of to headline the campaign?