Tools for Speech Therapy: 5 Fabulous Apps for Kids

by Courtenay M. Apps Articulation Disorders At Home Ideas Language Development Parents' Corner Speech delay Speech Disorders Speech Therapist Speech Therapy Techniques

Speech Therapy Apps

Get your iPads ready! Games, puzzles, stories on the go?  Speech Therapy is no longer one size fits all. Recent innovations in technology provide many valuable tools for speech therapy. Apps, iPad games and gadgets offer opportunities for learning at every level of speech therapy and often help make the therapy fun. Of course, apps should not be viewed as a replacement for a comprehensive speech therapy plan, and you should always seek to contact your SLP if you are planning to use applications, games and gadgets in conjunction with your therapy sessions.

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Top 10 Online Sites for Building Language Skills

by Courtenay M. At Home Ideas Language Building Games Language Development Parents' Corner Speech Therapy Techniques
Websites Designed for Building Language Skills

Many websites are designed to help your child with building language skills and improving communication.

Online games and resources are excellent tools to help children build language and vocabulary skills and prepare them for reading and speaking success for the future. Using the computer to access online resources, children of all speaking abilities can develop vocabulary skills, learn to distinguish certain sounds, begin to recognize letter shapes and their sounds, learn to follow directions and learn basic building blocks in sentence formation. Yes, the games and activities are so fun and you may not think they’re actually learning – but with our recommendations, rest assured these sites are teaching children skills for building language skills and future effective communication.

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Little Ways To Make Learning Fun!

by Courtenay M. At Home Ideas Games and Activities Language Development Parents' Corner School Speech Therapy Techniques

 

Card Games, Field Trips and Playing with Your Kids are Excellent Ways to Make Learning Fun! Image Courtesy of Shutterstock.

Card Games, Field Trips and Playing with Your Kids are Excellent Ways to Make Learning Fun! Image Courtesy of Shutterstock.

School is just about back in session after the long holiday break and your kids are chomping at the bit to get back to the books!  Is this the case at your house? Perhaps NOT!  For many kids, the thought of school, homework and learning are dreary tasks and not something typically viewed as fun. For many, learning and study correlate with serious and tedious. Believe or not, there are ways to make learning fun and effective and something your children will look forward to. Of course, there is always the moaning and groaning about getting back to a busy homework schedule, tests and turning in assignments but with a few tips and tricks, you can turn the negative into a positive and make the learning experience more fun for the kids.

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Help for Hyperlexia: Great Reading Tips for Children with Autism

by Holly F. Speech Therapy Techniques

 

Education info for learners with Autism

source: img.scoop.it

As a speech and language pathologist, it might seem that speech therapy is important for only spoken language (saying the words, making the sounds, putting words together) however, written language is an essential component of language development as well. I’m often asked how children with Autism can read so well, but understand so poorly. Often, children with Autism exhibit reading skills called “Hyperlexia” – fluent decoding and reading but trouble understanding what they’ve just read. It’s not hard to see why this can create a host of challenges for successful participation in school-particularly language arts.

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Apps for Phonics

by Jacky G. Language Development
Economy in Trouble Cartoon

Image source: Cascadesoft.net

Times are tough these days, economically speaking, and many families are even tapping into their retirement savings to pay for debts and day-to-day living expenses. Families of children with special needs are hit even harder; speech therapy isn’t cheap. Fortunately, speech therapy activities at home don’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. There are plenty of low-cost methods of teaching your child phonics, for example. (Speech Buddies are also cost-effective – after the initial investment, you’ll have countless speech therapy lessons in one simple tool.) If you’re not certain about what phonics actually is, or about its importance in speech and language development, check out our post from last week. And then mosey back over to our recommended apps for teaching phonics, listed below. You can also check out a whole bunch of useful speech therapy apps at SpecialNeeds.com.

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