Speech & Language

When houses are built, they need a solid foundation.  If you think of language and communication as a house, phonemic and phonological awareness make-up its foundation.  They need to be strong, or the best efforts to build the house will fail.

Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and use individual speech sounds.  Phonological awareness goes one step further to also include hearing and playing with larger units of sound like syllables, repeating beginning sounds, and rhyming to form meaningful language and communication.

Many traditional games and activities for young children focus on developing phonemic and phonological awareness in your child.  Think about your child's favorite games, songs, and activities, and you will likely find a tool to teach skills like rhyming, alliteration, and breaking words into syllables.  

Ever just couldn’t resist that delicious looking cookie?  That is temptation in action, and you gave in!  Communication Temptations are specially constructed situations that encourage, or tempt, your child to communicate – not grab a cookie. 

Simple things throughout your daily routine can become too tempting for your child to ignore.  For example, leave a step out of a familiar routine; fix a favorite snack, but leave it out of reach on the counter; or put a favorite toy inside a clear, difficult to open container.  Your child will be tempted to communicate about the situation with a preferred means – verbalization, vocalization, gestures, facial expression, eye gaze, picture exchange, or talker.  They’re all good!