Hear Say - Speech and language therapy

10/09/2021

A linguistic response to Covid 😆.

Stay Sane & Carry On

22/04/2020

I have been spending the time in lockdown to make my practise ready for Tele-therapy. I have tried it with a few kids and find that they are as engaged and are progressing as well as they would with face to face therapy. They enjoy the interactive technology and have access to it when we have completed the session so that they can “play” again in the week and practise the skills we are working on. Parents enjoy not having to rush around for appointments, instead they click on a link and work from the safety of their bubble.

04/12/2019

This is so true.

23/04/2018

What are Phonological Processes?

If your child is aged between 1 and 3 years, you may be surprised to hear them naming things in a strange way, like saying “tow” for cow and saying “wa-wa” for water. This is because children use simplifications of adult speech, while their speech and language skills are developing. These simplifications are known as phonological processes. Up to the age of 3 this is appropriate. As your child grows and matures, their speech will develop too, and they will begin to sound more like the adults around them.
Interestingly, these phonological processes can follow certain “rules”, which your child may not be aware of because they do not always hear the differences in words. For example, they may leave off the first or last sounds in words, to reduce the number of sounds or syllables in a word. They may replace a sound that is said at the back of the mouth (K) with one that is said in the front (T), so you may hear them say “tat” for cat.

Correcting your child may lead to everyone feeling frustrated, so the best way to deal with phonological processes is to model good clear speech. For example, if your little one says “look a tow!” you could say “yes I see the cow.” By 4 to 5 years most children stop using phonological processes and their speech becomes understandable even to people outside of the home. If this is not the case, you may want to consider consulting a Speech Therapist to analyse which simplification patterns your child is using. The therapist will also be able to give you advice on correcting the phonological processes that are considered inappropriate for the child’s age.

I am happy to chat with you about any concerns you may have about your child’s speech.

22/10/2017

Yes to all ten!

26/05/2017

So true. I see this every day.

ne. She complains that her six-year-old son is unable to sit still in the classroom. The school wants to test him for ADHD (attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder).

12/05/2017

What is an Auditory Processing Disorder?


Children that struggle with an Auditory Processing Disorder can't process the information they hear in the same way as others. It is as if their ears and brain don't fully co-ordinate. Something adversely affects the way the brain recognizes and interprets sounds, especially speech sounds. These children do not recognize subtle differences between sounds in words, even when the sounds are loud and clear enough to be heard. They find this especially challenging in the presence of background noise, which is a natural listening environment. This is different to a hearing loss; in that these children can hear well in optimum conditions (a sound proof booth) as would occur during a hearing test.
So children with APD have the basic difficulty of understanding speech signals presented under less than optimal conditions
A speech therapist can help children with the problems listed below, but the diagnosis is made by Audiologists after the age of 7-8 years.
1. Auditory Figure-Ground Problems: when a child can't pay attention if there's noise in the background. This makes noisy, low-structured classrooms very frustrating for the child to be in.
2. Auditory Memory Problems: when a child has difficulty remembering information such as directions, lists, or study materials. It can be immediate ("I can't remember it now") and/or delayed ("I can't remember it when I need it for later").
3. Auditory Discrimination Problems: when a child has difficulty hearing the difference between words or sounds that are similar (COAT/BOAT or CH/SH). This can affect following directions, reading, spelling, and writing skills, among others.
4. Auditory Attention Problems: when a child can't stay focused on listening long enough to complete a task.
5. Auditory Cohesion Problems: when higher-level listening tasks are difficult. Auditory cohesion skills — drawing inferences from conversations, understanding riddles, or comprehending verbal math problems — require heightened auditory processing and language levels. They develop best when all the other skills (levels 1 through 4 above) are intact.

Hear say is the name of my Speech and Language therapy practice based in Silverdale on the beautiful Hibiscus Coast, north of Auckland.

23/01/2017

I am learning about a whole new way of thinking that is blowing my mind!
See:
www.nzfeuerstein.org

Home

27/11/2016

Apps that stimulate language
In our ever changing world the way young children are learning is changing too. While some tablet applications merely entertain, there are some that are very engaging and educational. When choosing an app it is important to watch your child interact with it and be sure that actual learning is taking place rather than the child just eliminating options, thereby only really learning Cause – Effect. It will almost always be more beneficial to read books and play with your children, but if you want to make the most of “screen time”, here are a few of my favourite apps that are available at the App store (Apple). These games are appropriate for children aged between 3 and 6 years.
• Splingo’s language universe: Children follow instructions at varying levels of difficulty and earn rewards that help “Splingo” get back to his planet. Parents are able to set the accent as well as the level of difficulty according to the number of main words in an instruction, or according to nouns, verbs, prepositions and adjectives. In this way you can zone in on teaching more specific concepts or vocabulary.
• Tribal Nova has a range of games but look for the one named “Vocabulary and Grammar! Language development….”. One can choose from 3 levels in each of the sub games. The games target Sentence Formation, Vocabulary and Listening Comprehension.
• Sounds At Home: This app targets auditory awareness, phonemic awareness and following instructions, using familiar vocabulary related to the home.
• Preschool Adventure Island: allows children to explore various parts of the island that have different games that teach number concepts and easy addition, phonics, letters and patterns. Boys especially like the pirate theme of the App.
Until next time happy playing with your children!

06/11/2016

What is an Auditory Processing Disorder?


Children that struggle with an Auditory Processing Disorder can't process the information they hear in the same way as others. It is as if their ears and brain don't fully co-ordinate. Something adversely affects the way the brain recognizes and interprets sounds, especially speech sounds. These children do not recognize subtle differences between sounds in words, even when the sounds are loud and clear enough to be heard. They find this especially challenging in the presence of background noise, which is a natural listening environment. This is different to a hearing loss; in that these children can hear well in optimum conditions (a sound proof booth) as would occur during a hearing test.
So children with APD have the basic difficulty of understanding speech signals presented under less than optimal conditions
A speech therapist can help children with the problems listed below, but the diagnosis is made by Audiologists after the age of 7-8 years.
1. Auditory Figure-Ground Problems: when a child can't pay attention if there's noise in the background. This makes noisy, low-structured classrooms very frustrating for the child to be in.
2. Auditory Memory Problems: when a child has difficulty remembering information such as directions, lists, or study materials. It can be immediate ("I can't remember it now") and/or delayed ("I can't remember it when I need it for later").
3. Auditory Discrimination Problems: when a child has difficulty hearing the difference between words or sounds that are similar (COAT/BOAT or CH/SH). This can affect following directions, reading, spelling, and writing skills, among others.
4. Auditory Attention Problems: when a child can't stay focused on listening long enough to complete a task.
5. Auditory Cohesion Problems: when higher-level listening tasks are difficult. Auditory cohesion skills — drawing inferences from conversations, understanding riddles, or comprehending verbal math problems — require heightened auditory processing and language levels. They develop best when all the other skills (levels 1 through 4 above) are intact.
What is an Auditory Processing Disorder?


Children that struggle with an Auditory Processing Disorder can't process the information they hear in the same way as others. It is as if their ears and brain don't fully co-ordinate. Something adversely affects the way the brain recognizes and interprets sounds, especially speech sounds. These children do not recognize subtle differences between sounds in words, even when the sounds are loud and clear enough to be heard. They find this especially challenging in the presence of background noise, which is a natural listening environment. This is different to a hearing loss; in that these children can hear well in optimum conditions (a sound proof booth) as would occur during a hearing test.
So children with APD have the basic difficulty of understanding speech signals presented under less than optimal conditions
A speech therapist can help children with the problems listed below, but the diagnosis is made by Audiologists after the age of 7-8 years.
1. Auditory Figure-Ground Problems: when a child can't pay attention if there's noise in the background. This makes noisy, low-structured classrooms very frustrating for the child to be in.
2. Auditory Memory Problems: when a child has difficulty remembering information such as directions, lists, or study materials. It can be immediate ("I can't remember it now") and/or delayed ("I can't remember it when I need it for later").
3. Auditory Discrimination Problems: when a child has difficulty hearing the difference between words or sounds that are similar (COAT/BOAT or CH/SH). This can affect following directions, reading, spelling, and writing skills, among others.
4. Auditory Attention Problems: when a child can't stay focused on listening long enough to complete a task.
5. Auditory Cohesion Problems: when higher-level listening tasks are difficult. Auditory cohesion skills — drawing inferences from conversations, understanding riddles, or comprehending verbal math problems — require heightened auditory processing and language levels. They develop best when all the other skills (levels 1 through 4 above) are intact.

13/04/2016

What are Phonological Processes?

If your child is aged between 1 and 3 years, you may be surprised to hear them naming things in a strange way, like saying “tow” for cow and saying “wa-wa” for water. This is because children use simplifications of adult speech, while their speech and language skills are developing. These simplifications are known as phonological processes. Up to the age of 3 this is appropriate. As your child grows and matures, their speech will develop too and they will begin to sound more like the adults around them.
Interestingly, these phonological processes can follow certain “rules”, which your child may not be aware of because they do not always hear the differences in words. For example they may leave off the first or last sounds in words, in an attempt to reduce the number of sounds or syllables in a word. They may replace a sound that is said at the back of the mouth (K) with one that is said in the front (T), so you may hear them say “tat” for cat.

Correcting your child may lead to everyone feeling frustrated, so the best way to deal with phonological processes is to model good clear speech. For example if your little one says “look a tow!” you could say “yes I see the cow.” By 4 to 5 years most children stop using phonological processes and their speech becomes understandable even to people outside of the home. If this is not the case, you may want to consider consulting a Speech Therapist to analyse which simplification patterns your child is using. The therapist will also be able to give you advice on correcting the phonological processes that are considered inappropriate for the child’s age.

I am happy to chat with you about any concerns you may have about your child’s speech.