Examples of the Use of Gestures and Problem Solving in Early Intervention

Picture if you will, a small child sitting in a highchair.  A brightly colored toy sits just out of reach. As you observe, the child makes eye contact with you, reaches for the toy, then looks back at you.  What do you do?

Chances are you give the toy to the child! This child did not use words to let you know what they wanted, and yet you figured it out!  Maybe you're a mind reader...more likely you have picked up on the nuances of nonverbal communication.

What is nonverbal communication?  In simple terms, it's the ability to convey a thought or idea to another person without talking. We use nonverbal communication every day - we raise our fingers to our lips to signal quiet, we smile and wave to a friend to say hello, and we put our hands on our hips and frown to signify displeasure. Nonverbal communication takes many forms, including (but not limited to) eye contact, facial expression, touch (haptics), and gestures. 

Nonverbal communication is so much a part of our "language" that babies pick up on it very early on! Take the child in the example above, she used nonverbal communication (in the forms of eye contact and conventional gestures) to gain your attention, regulate your behavior, and get her wants met.  That's pretty sophisticated problem solving!

This article from Science Daily gives us a preview of recent research conducted by Patricia Miller and Gina O’Neill.  To summarize, Miller and O’Neill gave children (aged 2-5) cards that were printed with different colored shapes.  The children were asked to sort the cards first by color, then by shape.  The findings suggest that gesturing proved to be a better indicator of success than other factors, including the age of the child. 

This article was initially written for and published on Pediastaff.  You can view the rest of it here.

Scented Play Dough Recipes with Visuals

Hi Everyone!  I have to apologize for being a bit absent lately.  I have been absurdly busy since the middle of February.  I'm hitting a little break in the craziness, but things are going to pick up again come April.  Until then, I'm going to try to get in a few posts for you.

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you may remember that my current school district does not allow teachers/therapists to use food products (other than those that come from the cafeteria).  Well, I was going through some of my files recently and found some recipes for scented play dough that I used a few years back (in another school district) and I thought I'd share them with you!

Because I used this activity as a whole-class language lesson in a preschool classroom, I used visuals in the recipe:

The recipe above is the large quantity version.  There is also a smaller quantity version to be used with one or just a few students.  I used the smaller quantity recipe with my son after work today:

I only had one packet of red Kool-Aid (watermelon), so our play dough turned pink rather than red.  He didn't mind though!  I think we played with the dough for about an hour and a half!  We made snowmen, pancakes, birthday cakes, hot dogs, snakes, Easter eggs, and an Easter basket!


I really do miss being able to use recipes (play dough and food) in my therapy sessions.  They really are a great way to target so many different language objectives.  With this recipe, you can target:

• Vocabulary (ingredients, recipe, flour, measuring cup, squishy, scented, etc.)
• Sequencing (First, next, then)
• Verb tense (I am pouring the water, I poured the salt)
• Following directions ("find the salt and pour it in this cup," "make a play dough snowman")
• Executive functioning/pragmatic language (use with a group of students. Have them make a plan, give each other instructions)
• Expressive language (have students describe the procedure after you are finished; students describe what they make)
• And so many more!

If you'd like a copy of the recipes, you can find them HERE.  Do you use recipes in your therapy session? If so, what's your favorite thing to make?

Interactive PCS Books

Remember the other day I told you about Busy Bee Speech's Preschool Week?  Lauren asked a few SLP bloggers (myself included) to share their favorite materials for working with preschoolers.  I wanted to share this series of interactive books created by Beth E. Breakstone, a licensed SLP, and made with Picture Communication Symbols from Mayer Johnson.  I have seven of these books:

Want to find out more about them and see what the other bloggers had to say?  Head on over to Busy Bee Speech!

Noisy Stories and Some AAC

Have you heard about Preschool Week over at Busy Bee Speech?

Well, Lauren recently contacted me and asked me to write a short blurb about one of my favorite materials for preschoolers. You're going to have to wait until Thursday to see what I wrote about for her ;)  But, I figured I'd share another of my can't-believe-I-ever-performed-therapy-without-this materials:  Noisy Stories!

Noisy Stories is by Joan Rivard, MA, CCC-SLP and Jessica Rivard and is published by Mayer Johnson.  The cover of the book states that the book provides "language activities for children of all communicative abilities."  I purchased this book with a select few of my students in mind - a classroom of preschool students with a variety of significant special needs.  Many (but not all) of these students did not talk.  Some used sign, some used vocalizations, some used voice output devices.  What I found, however, was that this program is PERFECT for all of my preschool kids!

Noisy Stories is a collection of short stories.  Many of the stories follow common themes (Back to School, Halloween, Winter, etc.).  There are very little words in each story with one picture per page (all Boardmaker PCS).  The stories are predictable as well.  Because of this, the kids learn pretty quickly when it's "their turn" to talk.  You could program a switch for your non-verbal kids to participate in this activity as well.  Here is an example from "The Mitten" story:

The book gives you the ASL sign for each word as well!

Did I mention that each story comes with a 2-page send-home version?

When I first started using this program, I simply made black and white photocopies from the book.  After a while, I started using my Boardmaker Software to create full-color versions, which I printed on cardstock and bound with a comb binder.  Here's what the Halloween story looks like completed:

Notice the "s-s-s" on the bottom of the page above?  Each page of each story has a simple word or sound to encourage imitation.  The objectives of each story are printed on the first page in the Noisy Stories book.  Some include:  CV sequences, bilabial sounds, etc.

So, when I use the stories, I try to gather physical manipulatives for each vocabulary item.  We read the story - many of the kids will verbally participate in some way at this stage, but some do not yet.  Next, we review the materials and each child gets to hold some (if not all) of the materials.  Then read the story again.  This time, most of the kids will attempt to participate (vocalization, sign, word, or switch device).

Like I said, I used this program primarily with students in a substantially separate classroom.  All of the students in this classroom received speech.  I was so fortunate that the teacher truly believed in the importance of communication and was beyond helpful in carry-over of my activities.  So, she created amazing take-home versions of some of the stories - having the kids create crafts for selected pages.  I don't have pictures of those, but they were adorable!

Additionally, I created Switch-Access Power-Point versions of the stories as well!  (I've actually done this for a few other stories as well, "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" is one of them).  If you'd like more information on how to do this, THIS is a good start).  I imported all of the pictures and text, added a delay on the advance button, and recorded my own voice reading the stories.  As long as you position the mouse over the advance button, the child simply needs to tap the switch to advance.  The classroom teacher added the Switch-Access story as one of the student centers each day during the week we used the book, so each child got a chance to hear the story numerous times!

Notice the cursor over the advance button?

You could also create a PDF and open on iBooks on your iPad!  You wouldn't have the voice recording, but it would be highly portable.  Also, some kids may have difficulty with switch access, but do fine with the swiping motion.

Noisy Story opened in iBooks

Do you use the Noisy Stories Program?  What do you think of it?

Yummy Apple Trees!

Fall is coming and I thought I would share one of my favorite oral motor activities.  I know that the link between oral motor movements for speech vs. non-speech tasks is controversial.  However, when I was in grad school, oral motor exercises were thought to benefit speech development.  In my practice, I have seen children show improvements in articulation, expressive language, and feeding abilities after participating in an oral motor program.  With that said, many years ago, I started using this activity in preschool classrooms as a Christmas activity.  I figured I'd give it a fall twist!

If you're not a strong proponent of oral motor tasks, you can use this activity to target sequencing, following directions, color concepts, etc.  For this activity, you will need:  large bowl, stirring spoon, paper plates, marker, popsicle sticks or plastic knives, frosting, green food coloring, and circle shaped cereal (e.g., Froot Loops).




To start, you draw an apple tree on a paper plate (or you could draw a Christmas tree).









 



Next, you need to make some green frosting!  When I did this as a class activity, I mixed the frosting ahead of time. Since I was doing this activity with just my son, I had him mix the frosting (1 tub vanilla frosting + several drops of green food coloring = enough for about 10 trees).













Now you can "paint" your tree.  We used plastic knives.  Popsicle sticks work great too!

Once painted, you can add your apples (or ornaments if you are doing a Christmas tree).  Since we are doing an apple tree, we picked out just the red Froot Loops. (WH questions! What grows on an apple tree? What color are apples? Where do the apples grow?)













Voila!  We have a very cute apple tree:















Now comes the fun part...You get to eat your apples!  I have my students hold the plate out in front of them and use their tongues to lick the apples off the tree.

Matthew loved this activity (even though he's not a huge fan of frosting) and he literally licked his plate clean!



On a Side Note...



We ended up with a ton of extra frosting, so we decided to make apple tree cupcakes as well.  We used M&Ms for the apples on our cupcakes.  While the cupcakes were in the oven, we did a color sort activity with the M&Ms:











Once cool, we frosted our cupcakes and put on some "apples."

 In the end, they looked (and tasted) great!

Since there are different colors of apples, we made a variety of apple tree cupcakes (though they probably look more like apple bushes!):

Do you use oral motor activities within your therapy sessions?  

Do you feel they are beneficial to students?

Moving Beyond Single Words

Whether on time or delayed, hearing baby’s first word is always a tremendous source of pride and enjoyment for parents.  Babies and toddlers learn quickly that their words can be powerful tools to influence others.  When that happens, the words tend to come quickly ~ more, ball, bottle, NO!, up, eat, etc.  It’s easy for some children to become content at this level.  They are able to communicate basic wants and needs with their parents and are happy with that. 

Most experts will tell you that children typically begin to combine words into two word phrases around 18-months of age.  Many will take until closer to 24-months to achieve this milestone, and some beyond that.  As parents and SLPs, there are some VERY SIMPLE tricks you can use to encourage the journey toward 2-word phrases:

Source: WikiMedia Commons

Mind Your Manners!

Adding “please” to a simple request is one of the easiest ways 

to build length of utterance.  “Cookie” becomes “Cookie please.” 

Color His World

Teach your child basic colors.  By doing this alone, you will build his vocabulary by up to 10 words.  Once your child knows colors, encourage him to use them to request and describe:

When getting dressed:   

           Do you want your blue shirt or your red shirt?   

While coloring:   

            I have a yellow crayon.  What do you have?

  

Little Helpers

Encourage your child to help with household tasks like sorting or “folding” laundry.  Yes, it may end up being a tiny bit more work for you in the long run, but it’s a great language building experience with lots of opportunities for expanding words into phrases:

            Shorts --> Daddy’s
                             Shorts

            Shirt --> Pink shirt

            Socks --> Two socks

(And you’ve just targeted possessive and plural markers as a bonus!)

More You Say?

Snack time can be a great time for language expansion (between bites, of course).  If your child likes to snack on small items (goldfish crackers, fruit chews, dry cereal, grapes, blueberries), start by giving her only one or two items.  This is a great way to encourage requesting.  Once she is good at asking for “fish” or “cereal,” encourage her to add the word “more” (“more fish” or “more cereal”). 

 

These are just a few of the simplest tricks to help children become more effective communicators and build length of utterance.  I’ve created a parent handout for SLPs to provide parents that contains the information from this post.  Feel free to download and distribute.  If you download, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

What are your tried-and-true ways to increase utterance length?