One of the questions speech therapists always ask during initial assessment is: Does your child have a history of ear infections? Why? Because ear infections, depending on how bad they are, how long they last and how often they occur, can impact speech and language development in children. What is glue ear? Glue ear (otitis…
Note – if you are choosing a sound to practise without input from a speech therapist, be careful that you are choosing a sound that is ‘developmental’, not one that is too hard for him to say for his age. For Toddlers – ages 2-3 years Sounds we might focus on: M B P N…
Speech clarity is what we use to refer to a child’s pronunciation of words. Can you understand what he is telling you? What about if you don’t know what he’s talking about – can you understand him? Can you understand him, but less familiar people – aunty, teacher, shopkeeper – struggle? A child doesn’t…
We all have sensory preferences and dislikes, some people love the feeling of walking barefoot on grass, for other people walking barefoot on grass is akin to walking on hot coals! Some people love snuggling up in a woolen jumper, while for others this feels like being wrapped in barbed wire. Sensory processing is the…
For lots of kids, (and some adults too) eating is tricky business! And for lots of parents, mealtimes can be a struggle. This can cause parents no end of stress when you are facing 3 meals and 2-3 snack times every day… and your child only wants to eat chicken nuggets! Picky eating is when…
We all know that reading and writing are important skills – not just for school, but in life. Reading and writing opens the door for education, yes, and learning; but also for stimulating the imagination, for communicating with people near and far, for expressing personal thoughts and ideas – a platform for venting, or thinking,…
My child has a speech difficulty and is struggling to read – are these two things related? The short answer is yes – studies have shown that children who have speech sound disorders usually struggle with learning to read. When breaking this down further, Children with speech sound disorders tend to have lower phonological awareness…
I’m sure every parent knows that reading to your child is beneficial for developing language and vocabulary, building engagement and building imagination. So when should you start reading to your child and how often? Did you know that reading to babies at 8 months old has a significant impact on language development? Reading to…
So, your child has a language delay, what next? What can you do at home to help develop your child’s language? There are lots of ways to give your child’s language a boost at home. I will outline some simple changes you can make to the way you talk to your child, and changes you…
Does my child have a speech and language delay? Concerns about their development? With all of the information and misinformation that is floating around, it can be hard to know what’s normal when it comes to your child’s development. If you notice that your child isn’t communicating as well as their brother/sister at the same…