New Location!
Hey everybody! We moved. We’re now one building to the east of our previous location. We are now at 3101 Bee Caves Suite 210. Look for the sign that says Centre II. The building is tucked behind the trees.
Work on Language Skills while Hunting for Easter Eggs
Hunting for eggs is a great time to work on language skills! Here are a few ideas on how to practice those language skills while having fun looking for eggs.
Asking a child where they found the egg is a great way to work on positional/directional concepts such as on, in, under, below, beside, between, next to, and above. Taking pictures of the child finding the egg in different places gives you an opportunity to practice later as well. You can even use those pictures to make a book called “Where is the Egg?”
Describing the color, design, and size of the egg is also a good way to practice language skills. You can work all the way up to an impressive sentence such as, I found the pink polka dot egg beside the tree. You can even work on singular/plural and is/are, i.e. The eggs are on the slide. Once you start using language during your egg hunt, you will think of lots of ways to incorporate language into your fun. Happy Hunting!
Are Your Child’s Toys Too Noisy?
If you think your child’s new toys are too noisy, there is a good chance they may be loud enough to cause permanent hearing loss. Many toys on the market emit sounds over 90dB. When held directly near the ear, it exposes the child to up to 120dB of sound which is equivalent to a loud rock concert or a jet taking off. The National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety recommends ear protection for noise over 85dB. Each November the Sight and Hearing Association releases it’s annual noisy toy list. This year, the noisiest toy is the WWE 3-Count Crushers, Roman Reigns™ action figure by Mattel®. Roman goes off the top ropes with 10 heavyweight sounds that creates an environment you’d find at a wrestling match. Groans and growls from this interactive toy topped out at 104.4 dB, which can damage hearing in less than 15 minutes when placed at a child’s ear. The Sight and Hearing associations states that this toy should include a noise-exposure warning. Additional toys topping out at over 100dB include Road Rippers Rush and Rescue and My First Tonka Wobble Wheels.
As a parent there are a few things you can do to help keep your child from excessive noise exposure. First off, if the toy sounds too loud, don’t buy it. You can also download a free sound meter app to your smartphone. Use the app to measure how loud your child’s toys are. I was surprised out how many baby toys I found that emitted potentially damaging levels of sound. Another idea is to place duct tape over the speaker on the toy to help mute the sound to safe levels. One last thing you can do is contact the toy company and ask for them to be more responsible when it comes to the safety of your children.
Gift Ideas to Encourage Speech & Language Development
We are fortunate in our line of work to have lots of playtime. We love toys that don’t make all the noises and sounds. The less the toy is talking, the more opportunities you and your child will have to use speech and language. Here are some of our favorites for foster speech and language development.
Mr. Potato Head is one of our favorites! Look for a Mr. Potato Head set with different colors and choices for shoes, hats, eyes, etc. Many Potato Head sets are interchangeable so you can always add more pieces and more opportunities for using describing words.
A play farm is a regular therapy item at our office. It works great for everything from identifying/ labeling animals to forming sentences with action words, and even pretend play.
Playing kitchen is another great way to practice everything from vocabulary to more complex language skills. You don’t need the whole kitchen either. Some basic play food and dishes is all you need!
Books are the ultimate gift for speech and language. In addition to reading the book, don’t forget to describe the pictures and ask questions about the story.
Although we don’t get to use this one around the office, a wagon is a great way to encourage speech and language skills. Real life experience are the best way to encourage speech and language skills, so get outdoors and start talking!