There are two Speech-Language Pathologists at Woodside. We are:

• Maureen Fecteau
• Karen Totman

We provide services to children who have speech (including articulation and stuttering) and/or language needs from Kindergarten to fifth grade.

 If you have concerns about your child's speech or language development, please feel free to contact one of us at 725-1243.

SUGGESTIONS FOR STIMULATING YOUNG CHILDREN'S LANGUAGE SKILLS

• Talk with your child and listen to his/her responses. The more practice your child has with speaking the better he/she will become.

• When your child begins to speak, require him/her to verbalize his/her wants and needs. Instead of pointing to a cookie, make your child say "want cookie" or "I want cookie."

• During conversation, ask WH questions (who, what, where, when,why, how) to obtain specific information. Also ask open ended questions which require more than a one word response (e.g., "Tell me what is happening" or "Tell me about what the cat is doing.").

• Point out names and labels for objects in your child's environment and explain their meanings. This will help to increase your child's vocabulary

• Imitate your child's speech showing praise for correct speech sounds. If sounds are incorrect, stress those sounds as you repeat them but don't force your child to say the words correctly (e.g., child: "Wa-er...baba." parent: "water, baby.").

• Model language for your child. When you are involved in an activity together, describe what you are doing (this is called self-talk) and describe what your child is doing, feeling, hearing (parallel talk). For example, during bath-time, describe your own actions and those of you child: "I am filling up the tub with water..We wash your hair with the shampoo...You are playing with your duckie..."

• Expand your child's sentences. Expansions are a more mature, correct form of sentences which help you child to develop longer sentences (it is like revising and completing the child's speech). For example, if your child says, "dog eat," enlarge the phrase by saying "Yes, the dog is eating." Do not ask your child to repeat what you said; simply model the expanded sentence.

• Extend your child's sentences, adding new information. If your child says "Doggy bark," you might say "Yes, the dog is barking. He wants a biscuit."

• When your child is being introduced to a new situation, talk about it before you go, when you're there, and again when you have returned.

• Read stories with rhymes and poems (e.g., Dr. Seuss books) to increase your child's awareness of sounds and syllables.

• Listen to music and sing: this increases your child's sense of rhythm, sequence of words and awareness of sound which are important for learning language.

USE STORIES TO DEVELOP COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Reading aloud with children is extremely important for language development. It will help them to develop vocabulary, grammar, rhyming and phoneme awareness skills, narrative skills, and literacy skills. The child should be an active participant in reading and discussing the story.

Make sure that your child is enjoying the story. Read dramatically, with inflection; change your voice to suit the characters. Read slowly and pause frequently; allow you child to comment on the story or illustrations. Allow enough time to complete the book in one sitting.

Read and reread your child's favorite stories. While reading the story:

• discuss the words that are not familiar to your child and review the meanings each time you read the story
• occasionally ask them to predict what they think will happen next
• ask your child WH questions about what happened in the story (WHO did...; WHAT happened when...; WHEN did the main character...)
• play a game of having your child imitate you by repeating sentences from the story
• have your child help you retell the story by taking turns with you; eventually, have your child retell the entire story while looking at the pictures.

For a list of stories to read with your children as well as suggestions for working on specific language areas, please contact one of the Speech Therapists at Woodside. We will provide you with a list from our source book.

 EARLY SIGNS OF COMMUNICATION DISORDERS

If your child shows one of the following behaviors, it does not necessarily mean that he/she has a speech or language problem. However, if one or several of these statements is true of your child, you should contact a Speech Pathologist to describe your concerns. A Speech-Language Evaluation can identify areas of need. The earlier your child receives extra help, the better!

• The child is not talking at all by age two
• Speech is difficult to understand after age three
• The child omits many beginning sounds after age three
• The child uses mostly vowel sounds when speaking after age three
• There are many substitutions of easy sounds for difficult ones at age five (e.g., "do" for "go" "tandy" for "candy")
• Word endings are dropped after age five ("He walked ho" for "He walked home.")
• Words are left out, mixed up; sentences are grammatically incorrect after age five ("Him eating ice cream" for "He is eating ice cream.")
• The child has trouble with speech sounds after age 7
• The child shows frequent repetitions of sounds or words (d-d-d-oggie); prolongations of sounds; blockages of air on words, or other stuttering behavior. (Remember that a certain amount of dysfluency is normal around ages 3 to 4). Be especially concerned if these behaviors are accompanied by avoidance of words, anxiety, tension, or facial grimaces.

References for Parents Available at Woodside

The following is a partial list of Speech-Language references that may be borrowed from our office or the library. If you would like information about topics that are not included on this list, please contact us.

References available through the Speech-Language Office:

• Books are for Talking Too: A Source book for Using Children's Literature in Speech and Language Remediation
• Your Child's Speech and Language: Guidelines for Parents

References available from Woodside Library:

• "Help Me Talk Right" How to Teach a Child to Say the R Sound
• "Help Me Talk Right" How to Correct a Child's Lisp
• If Your Child Stutters: A Guide for Parents
• If You Think Your Child is Stuttering
• Stuttering and Your Child: Q and A
• Treating the School Age Stutterer

SUGGESTIONS FOR PARENTS OF CHILDREN WHO STUTTER

The exact cause of stuttering is unknown. Research has shown that parents are NOT to blame for their children's stuttering. Although we do not know the cause, we do know of specific things that can worsen or aggravate stuttering.

This list describes things you and your family can do to help your child's speech.

Reduce Communication Pressures:

• Listen to what your child is saying (the message) instead of how it is said (the speech).
• Allow your child to finish his thoughts. Do not interrupt while he is talking or try to finish his sentences. Do not rush him to finish speaking, even if it is taking a long time. Wait patiently, look relaxed, and maintain eye contact.
• Don't offer advice such as "slow down," "take a breath first," or "try a different word." This will make your child feel he is not speaking the right way. These suggestions may actually make speaking more difficult.
• Help your child associate speaking with pleasant, relaxed experiences. Set aside a special time of the day (e.g., dinner, story time) for relaxed conversation without listening to the TV or radio.
• Have the whole family use a slower speech rate and more pauses between sentences. Practice unhurried, relaxed speech. Don't just use the slow rate when talking to the child who stutters.
• Reduce the amount of interruptions within the family. Make it a rule that anyone who begins to talk gets to finish.
• Avoid open ended questions like "Tell me about your day." Instead, give some structure to questions, e.g., "How was recess today?"
• Do not be critical of grammar, vocabulary, or articulation. Make your child feel his speech is acceptable as it is.
• Do not ask him to recite or read aloud in front of a group.
• If the stuttering is severe and your child is struggling to get most of the words out, try singing together or reading a book for a positive experience.
• Encourage friends and relatives not to react to your child's stuttering. Siblings should be told that he needs to feel good about his speech to outgrow the stuttering.

Reduce Pressures in the Home:

• Help your child structure his day by discussing the planned activities. This will help reduce anxiety.
• Establish a special one-on-one time with your child each day when he feels he can communicate without interruptions from siblings, telephones, housework, etc. It will work best if it is the same time each day so he can look forward to it.
• Avoid new environments for your child right now. Even exciting activities can cause tension.
• Keep discipline consistent and calmly administered.
• Encourage your child to play with friends who are non threatening. Younger friends may be preferred to older friends, etc. Avoid association with children who tease him about his speech.
• Make sure the expectations you have of your child are consistent with his age.

For more information, contact The Speech Foundation of America. They have an excellent, inexpensive list of booklets for parents of children who stutter.

Glossary of Common Speech and Language Terms

Antonym: opposite of a word

Articulation: the process of producing speech sounds by movement of speech organs (lips, jaws, tongue, palate)

Auditory discrimination: the ability to discriminate between auditory information

Auditory memory: the ability to remember auditory information

Babbling: long strings of sounds that children begin to produce at 4 months of age

Chunking: a strategy for grouping related bits of information for easier retrieval from short or long-term memory

Clause: group of words containing a subject and predicate

Communication: process of encoding, sending and decoding signals in order to exchange information and ideas between the participants

Complex sentence: sentence consisting of a main clause and at least one subordinate clause

Compound sentence: sentence consisting of two or more main clauses

Comprehension: understanding or interpretation of a message

Concrete: observable information; having qualities that are directly observable through the senses

Decibel: a measurement unit of sound intensity or pressure

Dialect: a variation of a language that may include sound, grammar, word order, and semantic differences

Diphthong: vowel like speech sound produced by blending 2 vowels within a syllable

Dysarthria: a partial disturbance of speech because of dysfunction of the motor control centers of the brain or of the oral muscles. Speech may be weak or slow, unsteady, or uncoordinated. Dysarthria may begin in childhood (e.g., from cerebral palsy) or in adulthood (e.g., from stroke).

Dyspraxia: difficulty with voluntarily controlling the movements of the articulators for speaking (the person cannot plan the motor movements necessary for speech); however, non speech motor acts (e.g., eating, smiling) are not affected.

Dyslexia: language based reading difficulty

Echolalia: immediate, whole or partial vocal imitation of another speaker

Expressive Language: communication of one's thoughts or ideas

Expansion: adult's more mature version of a child utterance that preserves the word order of the original child utterance. (e.g.,when a child says, "Doggie eat," an adult might reply, "The doggie is eating.")

Extension: adult's semantically related comment on a topic established by the child; a comment which adds relevant information (e.g., when a child says "Doggie eat," an adult might say, "Yes, the doggie is hungry.")

Fluency (of speech): speech that comes out smoothly and readily

Generalization: carryover of learning to untrained content and/or new situations

Homophones: words that sound alike but have different meanings

Hypernasality: excessive nasal resonance

Hyponasality: lack of nasal resonance

Idiom: a saying whose meaning is based on an abstract concept that goes beyond the literal interpretation of the words (e.g., "You're walking on thin ice!")

Intelligibility: clarity of speech

Language: an arbitrary but agreed upon code or system of symbols used to represent concepts or ideas Language

Learning Disability or Language Impairment: a difficulty with understanding and/or expressing oneself through language. Needs may include difficulties with some or all of the following areas: semantics (meaning of language), syntax (grammar, word order), pragmatics (use of language; social skills), morphology (word endings, verb tenses, etc.), or phonology (rules for combining speech sounds).

Larynx: structure that holds the vocal folds; primary function is to protect the lungs from the entrance of foreign material

Lexicon: individual dictionary of each person containing words and the underlying concepts of each

Mean Length of Utterance (MLU): the average number of morphemes per utterance

Metaphor: figure of speech in which a comparison or resemblance is implied between two entities

Morphology: the aspect of language that concerns derivations of word forms and use of grammatical markers or inflections

Oral cavity: mouth

media: a broad term referring to inflammation of the middle ear that may or may not be infected (in common usage, a middle ear infection)

Parallel talk: a language facilitation in which an adult talks about what the child is doing at the moment

Perception: recognition, interpretation, and organization of information received from the senses

Phoneme: a speech sound that can signal a difference in meaning

Phoneme Awareness: awareness of the sound structure of language and the ability to manipulate that structure (e.g., ability to understand that words are made of sound and syllables; to rhyme, to delete and substitute sounds within words). Phoneme awareness is necessary to develop reading skills.

Phonology: the aspect of language that concerns the speech sounds and the rules for sequencing and distributing them

Pragmatics: the aspect of language that concerns use and purposes for using language within a communication context; study of the way language is used within social contexts

Presupposition: process of assuming which information a listener already has or may need

Prosody: the melody or rhythmic aspects of language, such as stress and intonation

Proverb: figure of speech that often gives advice or states some folk wisdom, such as "Don't put all your eggs in one basket."

Receptive Language: understanding or interpretation of messages

Rehearsal: process of maintaining information within long-term memory; repetition, drill, or practice

Respiration: process of inhalation and exhalation

Self-talk: a language facilitation technique in which an adult talks about events that are occurring in the environment at the moment or about the activities in which the adult is engaging at the moment

Semantics: the aspect of language that concerns meanings of words or word sequences

Simile: figure of speech that states an explicit comparison using like or as, such as eats like a pig

Speech: the process of producing the sounds and sound sequences that comprise a linguistic code

Stuttering: an abnormally high frequency and/or duration in the stoppages of speech. These usually take the form of sound, syllable,or word repetitions, prolongations of sounds, or "blocks" of airflow and/or voicing.

Story Grammar: organizational pattern of narratives

Synonym: word that shares the same or similar meaning with another word

Syntax: the aspect of language that concerns the rules for combining and sequencing words in multi word utterances

Target sound: a specific sound the speech therapist is trying to correct

Temporal: pertaining to time

Verbalization: a person's production of a meaningful word or sequence of words

Vocalization: a sound that is not necessarily speech like produced by a person's vocal mechanism

Voiced phonemes: sounds which are produced with vibration of the vocal folds (e.g., vowels, m, g...)

Voiceless phonemes: sounds which are produced without vibration of the vocal folds (e.g., k, t, p)