Children can communicate with their communication partner by using a combination of sounds, gestures (e.g. pointing, waving “hello” and “bye”) and eye gaze (e.g. looking at you and then what he is ‘talking’ about). Your child may be sending a clear message – just not without words. Build your child’s language skills with some of these handy tips:

Put your child’s message into words
Place your child’s message into words of what you think he/she is trying to tell you. For example, if your child is pointing to their favourite blue cup wanting you to give it to him, say “You want the blue cup”. Keep it short to capture their message!!

Tell your child it’s their turn by pausing during a familiar routine

Encourage your child to “tell” you to continue a routine – allowing them to experience power of communication. Pause during an activity that you and your child are repeating over and over – such as tickles or jumping on a trampoline. For example, after you have jumped on the trampoline a few times, stop jumping and wait – without saying anything – to encourage your child to let you know that they want more jumping.

Use ‘fun’ words

Children enjoy sounds that are fun to ‘hear’ and ‘make’. These words are easy to remember and understand because they are said with lots of intonation. Examples of words include:

Boom! – when something falls

Yummy! Or Mmmm! – during meal times

Pop or uh-oh – during play with bubbles

Bye-bye – when you wave

Cheep-cheep, woof, oink-oink – sounds that animals make

Whee or crash   – when playing with cars or trucks

Offer choices

Hold up two objects and ask “Do you want banana or some apple” showing each object in your hand as you say its name. Your child will use their own way to send you a message and let you know what she wants, including looking at the item they want, reaching, pointing or making a sound while looking at it. As soon as they let you know what they want, give it to her.
Be face to face

When playing with your child, get down at their physical level – so that the two of you are eye to eye. For example, sit facing your child when they are in a high chair, lie down on the floor when she is playing on the floor. When you are face to face, you and your child:

• connect more easily and share the moment
• see and hear each other’s messages better

Ask fewer questions

It can be difficult for your child to answer most questions when they are not yet using words. Try to reduce questions, balancing them with comments (or statements). Use your child’s interest to comment about things in everyday life. For example, comment on what your child’s doing “oh, you are squeezing the play dough” as your child squeezes some play dough. While your child is looking at animal pictures in a book, you could comment “That’s a small mouse”.

Written by Didem Karademir, Speech Pathologist.

Stuttering is characterised by a repetition of sounds, syllables, or words, lengthening of sounds; and tensions in the muscles of the face known as blocks.

Example of types of stutters:

• Repetition of the first sounds in words: C/c/c/come
• Repetition of words: take/ take/ take
• Lengthening of a sound: Sssssssssame

The exact causes of stuttering are unknown. “There are four factors most likely to contribute to the development of stuttering: genetics (approximately 60% of those who stutter have a family member who does also); child development (children with other speech and language problems or developmental delays are most likely to stutter); neurophysiology (recent neurological research has shown that people who stutter process speech and language slightly differently than those who do not stutter); and family dynamics (high expectations and fast-paced lifestyles can contribute to stuttering).” (http://www.stutteringhelp.org/faq)

Stuttering often starts in children between 2-4 years of age. Most children will recover from their stutter over time (normal disfluency). About one- quarter of them will develop a stutter. Early intervention is important for diagnosing and implementing strategies to manage the stutter.

It is important to remember that stuttering does not affect the child’s development. If your child has recently started repeating words, try not to draw his/ her attention to it. This could just be a normal dysfluency possibly due to his/her language rapidly developing. However, if his/ her stuttering prolongs for more than a few weeks or if it is getting worse, contact a speech pathologist to discuss your concerns.

Written by Tasneem Abdul Samad, Speech Pathologist.

Children with specific interests will find it difficult to engage in purposeful play either alone or with peers. When you and your child play together, the goal is to create repetitive, structured routines in which your child knows that what turns he can take and when to take them. Use R.O.C.K:

Repeat – what you say and do at the beginning, middle and end of the game

Say the name of the game the SAME way every time you play. Even if your child initiates the play, try to label the play by saying something like “Lego” or “Puzzle” or “cars”

Offer Opportunity –for your child to TAKE their turn

Offer your child a turn to keep the game going. Some parents may ask to what kind of turn my child should take? This could be a sound, movement of his body (putting his arms up), a word, eye contact or smile.

Cue – your child to take their turn

Use cues to let your child know that they should take their turn. Natural cues are the best ones – including pause, wait and look expectantly. If your child does not take their turn, you will need to SHOW them what to do (by doing it yourself or physically helping them)

Keep it fun and keep it going

The goal is to get your child to play with you in a back-and-forth interaction that lasts a long time.

Repeat

• Sit face to face with your child
• Blow bubbles and use fun phrase like “blow, blow, blow”
• Repeat the same action with same word

Offer Opportunity

Give your child a turn to keep the game going

• May pull your hand to ask for bubbles
• Say ‘bubbles’
• Say ‘buh’
• Look at you
• Pucker lips and make blowing action
• Smile
• Move towards you

Cue

After blowing bubbles a number of times

• Stop
• Wait
• Look expectant with an animated facial expression

Keep the game going

As soon as your child sends a message that they want to keep playing blow bubbles and repeat the same words. Once they can play the game, change it up.

• Blow big bubbles (say “let’s blow big bubbles”)
• Blow small bubbles (say “lets blow small bubbles”)
• Ask your child to choose (“big or small bubbles”)

Written by Didem Karademir, Speech Pathologist.

Apraxia is a neurological speech difficulty that affects the child’s ability to produce speech intelligibly. Messages from the brain to the muscles are disrupted and children with apraxia usually have difficulty coordinating their tongue, lips and jaw to say words.

Apraxia is not due to weakness or paralysis of muscles needed to produce speech. In most cases, the cause of apraxia is unknown. However, some possible causes include genetic disorders, infection, illness, injury or trauma.

Apraxia is also often called apraxia of speech, verbal dyspraxia, or childhood apraxia of speech (CAS).

Some common characteristics of apraxia:

Speech unintelligibility- A child with apraxia usually has difficulty articulating words, phrases and sentences. Their errors are often inconsistent and unpredictable. Hence, unfamiliar listeners often find it hard to understand them.

Multisyllabic words are harder to pronounce- The child will usually present with more sound errors as the complexity of the word increases

Articulatory groping: The child may often appear to be struggling to coordinate their tongue, lips and lower jaw in order to find the right sound when they are trying to say a word.

Many children with apraxia can become intelligible with intensive speech therapy. If you have concerns that your child may be presenting with signs of apraxia, it is important that you see a speech pathologist.

Written by Tasneem Abdul Samad, Speech Pathologist.

Screen time is when your child spends time watching television, cinema screen, playing video or hand-held computer games or using smart phone and tablets.

Children learn and develop language skills through interactions with people. The American Academy of Paediatrics recommends no screen time before two years of age and encourages interactive play. Between 2-5 years of age, it is best to limit screen time to 1 hour per day of high quality programs.

Most parents might ask, “How can I reduce screen time”? … You can start by setting up screen time rules. Your child is less likely to understand if you say “John, only 10 minutes”. How long is 10 minutes? It is better to explain exactly what you mean and show them how long they have with visual cues. Some strategies that you may want to try include:

Limit maximum number of minutes your child is in front of a screen per day

Limit the times your child is allowed to use a screen: For example, only between 1:00 and 3:00

You can replace the times that your child normally would have been using a screen with an alternative activity that is enjoyable. It’s important to put away your screens when you interact with your child to help encourage play and social skills.

• Sing songs – nursery rhymes are great to get your child engaged
• Colour a picture that interests your child
• Cook something in the kitchen together, for example, gingerbread man

Some parents might ask “Screen time is my child’s down time. How am I supposed to take it away?” Children can learn more from screen time when their learning is supported.

How can you create an appropriate context for screen time?

• Try to engage with your child during screen time – talk about what your child is seeing and is interested in. If your child is interested in dinosaurs, ask your child to say 3 interesting facts about his favourite dinosaur.
• Related information in tablet/phone/television to your child’s past experiences/knowledge – if your child is looking at an airplane flying on screen, talk about a plane you saw at the airport or one he/she flew in

Bring information from screen into the real world – if your child saw someone riding a bike on screen, point out a bike on the street and remind your child about the person riding a bike on the TV/iPad.

Written by Didem Karademir, Speech Pathologist.

Why are attention and listening skills so important?

Listening skills are the foundation block for communication development and learning. Whether it’s school work or therapy work your child needs to be able to focus on the work in order to make progress.

Common signs that your child may have difficulties with attention and listening:

• Frequently becoming distracted by irrelevant sights and sounds
• Not replying to simple questions which you know they understand
• Lots of fidgeting and moving around
• Frequently losing or forgetting things like toys or pencils
• Kinder or school frequently reporting that your child ‘doesn’t listen’
• Switching between games and toys faster than other children of their age

How to support children who have difficulties with their attention and listening skills:

• Ensure that their working environment is quiet and as free from visual distractors as possible e.g. turn the TV off and move away from their toys
• Make sure that you are speaking at a volume which they can hear easily
• Ensure that they are sitting facing you so they can see your face
• Say their name and wait for them to look at you before asking them a question
• Carrying out work activities in short bursts. This could be as short as 3 minutes depending on the age of the child
• Providing regular movement breaks
• Use a ‘now and next’ board with a reward to motivate them to focus on the task at hand
• Try to work with them as early as possible in the day- everyone’s attention becomes worse when they’re tired
• Speak to OT about giving the child a fiddle toy so they have something to play with whilst working, if appropriate
• Instruct teachers to sit your child at the front of the classroom, not facing any windows

If you have trialled lots of the strategies over several weeks however you are not seeing any improvements get in touch with a Speech Pathologist and they can see if there is a different underlying difficulty that is causing the difficulty. We are available and happy to chat with you at any time! Give us a call on 8418 8544 and speak to a speech pathologist about what’s concerning you.

Written by Philippa Brown, Speech Pathologist.

Setting aside special time together with your child enhances their development and wellbeing. That’s because it builds your relationship and boosts your child’s confidence. Special time with your child is a chance to:

• give your child your full attention and send the message that he or she is the most important thing to you

• see the world from your child’s point of view

• find out more about your child’s likes, dislikes, worries and frustrations

• give your child some guidance, talk and listen to them

Time spent with you can help your child feel happier, be more relaxed and build resilience for the teenage years.

And setting aside some regular special time for the two of you can help your child to handle the times when he doesn’t have your full attention or the times when you’re apart.

Let your child choose what to play or take the lead with play!

Written by Sara Khraim, Occupational Therapist at De Silva Kids Clinic.

The following strategies can help a child prepare for the transition into a new school:

1. Develop a social story about the new school – gather as many pictures of the new school and its environment as possible. Each page should have a sentence explaining the picture that is relevant to the child

2. Visual calendar – develop fun and colourful calendar that the child can refer to each day. Ensure the school start date is clearly marked on the calendar. Cross out each day as the new school day approaches so that the child is well prepared

3. Try to learn as many teachers’ names as possible and ask for photos of them. Use these visuals to teach the child their teachers’ names. Help the child respond to questions such as, “What is your teacher’s name?” or “What is your principal’s name?

4. Take lots of photos of the new school environment including the playground, classroom, library, bathrooms, etc. Show these photos to the child regularly and teach labels. This will help the child familiarise themselves with the school grounds and even decrease feelings of anxiety

5. Take the child to visit the school as much as possible to aid familiarisation. Play games around the schoolyard and/or talk positively about the school. This will help the child learn to make positive associations with the school environment

Does your child love when you sing? Do you ever find them humming or clapping along to music on TV?

I have often wondered why children enjoy music and why they pick up tunes so easily. It turns out no one really knows why, but a lot of evidence points toward the fact that music has evolved as a tool that promotes bonding and social interaction.

So how can we use music to help our children do just that?

Children learn by repetition, so choosing a song with a repeated verse or chorus is very helpful! Also, changing your tone of voice, facial expression, and actions keeps children interested. Remember to sit face to face, so your child can see exactly what you’re doing, and you can see how your child is reacting.

First, your child must learn the song, but once they have heard it about five times, you can give them an opportunity to take a turn in the song by stopping and giving them time to fill in the blanks. It’s a great idea to stop at a repetitive part of the song, or a part that they know, look at them expectantly, and wait about 3-5 seconds so they have an opportunity to do their part. If they don’t take a turn, that’s okay! Just keep singing, make it fun, and try again later.

Here’s an example of how we can use the song Old MacDonald to increase verbal and/or non-verbal communication and interaction.

For the non-verbal child:

If your child isn’t talking yet, they can participate in the song by using actions, or making sounds.

“Old MacDonald had a farm

E-I-E-I-O

and on his farm there was a chicken

E-I-E-I-O

with a bok bok here and a bok bok there, her a bok, there a bok, everywhere a bok bok

Old MacDonald had a farm

E-I-E-I-O“

Repeat with other farm animals

• you can do a chicken dance action with your arms during “bok bok”, at the final “bok bok” wait to see if your child imitates this action
• you can make a big circle with your arms for each “O” and at the last “O” wait to see if your child imitates this action
• you can even make a circle with your mouth during the “O” and wait to see if your child attempts this too!

For the verbal child:

If your child is already saying some words, they can participate in the song by singing along with words, sounds, and actions. They can even build their vocabulary!

“Old MacDonald had a farm

E-I-E-I-O

and on his farm there was a chicken

E-I-E-I-O

with a bok bok here and a bok bok there, her a bok, there a bok, everywhere a bok bok

Old MacDonald had a farm

E-I-E-I-O“

Repeat with other farm animals

• you can sing the song and at the final “bok bok” STOP. Wait to see if your child fills in the blank with “bok bok” or something similar. If they don’t fill in the blank within 3-5 seconds, keep singing! It’s important to ensure that singing is a fun and low pressure activity, not a chore.
• you can sing the song and at the final “O” stop and wait to see if your child fills in the blank with “O”
• If you’re working on vocabulary you can use a farm animal book or puzzle. When you get to the “chicken” stop, point to the chicken and wait to see if your child will say “chicken”

You can try this with any songs and any actions! Just remember these three important points:

1. Be face-to-face and be animated
2. Singing should be fun! Try not to pressure your child to participate in the way that you want. Wait and see what they like and what they do.
3. Repeat, repeat, repeat!

Written by Alicia Katz, De Silva Kids Clinic