Egg-citing Easter Themed AAC Activities and Ideas for Children

Easter Themed Speech and Language Therapy Activities

By Larisa Vaz

Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist 

As Easter approaches, families are gearing up for festive celebrations. For parents of children who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) methods to communicate, incorporating Easter-themed activities can be both fun and beneficial for language development. AAC encompasses various modes of communication such as communication boards, speech-generating devices, sign language etc. to facilitate communication for individuals with speech differences.

Before heading to the activities, you will need to have the appropriate visuals/ support/ icons in your child’s AAC. Here is how you can do this:

·      Choose vocabulary in advance of the activities that you will be doing. Think about words that are appropriate for your child’s level of understanding. For example, some of the words you can include are "Easter bunny," "egg hunt," "chocolate," and "spring". Make a list of these words. Your child’s speech and language therapist can support you with this.

·      Next, with support from your speech and language therapist, add these words to your child’s AAC. They will be able to guide you on how you can do this depending on the type of AAC your child uses. 

·      Once ready, use the AAC to model language during the following creative and inclusive Easter themed activities:

1. Easter Storytime: Gather Easter-themed books for children. Make sure that you choose books based on your child’s interest and level of understanding. Read the Easter themed stories to them and model words on their AAC devices or communication boards to engage children in storytelling. Model single words, phrases or sentences based on whether your child’s needs. You may need to repeat the story several times on multiple occasions as Easter related vocabulary and concepts can be quite new for many children especially if they’re quite new to using an AAC device. Encourage them to use AAC symbols or buttons to comment on the pictures or story, comment on the emotions, or even request for books of their choice.

2. Easter Egg Hunt: Organize an egg hunt by hiding Easter eggs around the house or garden. Choose Easter eggs of different shapes, sizes, patterns etc. Encourage your child to go around the house or garden with their AAC and use it to comment on the type of egg that they find. You can also use this activity to target prepositions such as ‘under’, ‘in’, ‘next to’ for example, “Red egg was under the table” etc. Model the word ‘help’ if your child is not able to find any of the eggs and need your help.

3. Decorate Easter Eggs: Get creative with Easter egg decorating while incorporating your child’s AAC. Make sure your child’s AAC device is set up and updated with the activity related vocabulary or the words that you intend to target while modelling. Use your child’s AAC to model language while choosing colours that they would like to colour with, patterns or stickers that they would like to use. Encourage them to imitate or comment about the colours, size, or request specific decorating materials.

4. AAC Cooking Activities: Engage children in Easter-themed cooking or baking activities, such as making Easter cookies, Easter eggs or decorating cupcakes. This activity is particularly useful to target various actions such as mixing, cutting, baking etc. Use AAC to model language as you go through the through the steps of the recipe, describe and measure ingredients, and make requests for utensils or ingredients.

5. AAC Egg Painting: Set up a painting station for children to decorate paper or foam egg shapes using paint and brushes. Model language and encourage your child to use their AAC systems to request colours, describe their painting process, and talk about their artwork to other family members.

Incorporating AAC into Easter activities not only promotes language development and communication skills but also fosters inclusivity and engagement for children with speech and language differences. By adapting these Easter activities to accommodate various modes of communication, families can create meaningful experiences that support their children's communication targets while celebrating the joy of the season. Whether it's through storytelling or easter egg hunts, Easter becomes an egg-cellent opportunity for children using AAC to express themselves and participate fully in the festivities.

Diwali Themed Speech and Language Therapy Activities

Diwali Themed Speech and Language Therapy Activities

By Larisa Vaz

Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist 

As the festival of lights, Diwali, fills the air with joy and vibrancy, it presents a wonderful opportunity to infuse speech and language therapy with a touch of cultural celebration. By embracing the spirit of Diwali, speech and language therapists can create engaging and purposeful activities that not only captivate the attention of their clients but also contribute to their speech and language development. Let's explore some Diwali-themed speech and language therapy activities.

1.     Storytelling Diyas

Foster narrative skills by engaging in a storytelling activity centred around Diwali. You can choose any topic for example, the story of Rama and Sita. This activity is fun when done with a group of children. Provide the children with a set of diya-shaped cards, each containing a different story element. Encourage them to take turns selecting cards and weave a cohesive story incorporating the elements they've chosen. This activity not only enhances narrative skills but also encourages creativity and expressive language.

2.     Articulation Rangoli

Transform the traditional art of rangoli into a fun articulation activity. Create a large rangoli outline with various speech sounds written in each section. Choose speech sounds that your child might be working on in speech therapy sessions (your child’s speech and language therapist can help you with this) As children practice their target sounds, they can fill in the corresponding areas with colourful materials like sand, rice, coloured paper or even playdough. This is a fun activity, and your child can also practice speech sounds in a fun way.

3.     Diya Descriptions

Improve your child’s conceptual language skills by helping them describe and compare different types of diyas. Encourage children to use descriptive words such as ‘beautiful’, ‘bright’, ‘shiny’, and ‘colourful’. You can also introduce size-related concepts like ‘big’, ‘small’ and ‘medium’ as well as location-based concepts like ‘near’, ‘far’, etc.

4.     Sweet Sensory Sensations

Dive into the world of sensory exploration with a Diwali sweet tasting activity. Introduce your children to traditional Indian sweets like laddoos, barfis, chum chums, jalebis etc. As they savour the yummy flavours, guide them in expressing what they feel. For example, if your child is savouring a jalebi, you can ask them questions like “Is it crispy or soft?” If they were eating a chum chum, you can ask, “Is it juicy or dry”? This activity not only enhances descriptive language skills but also encourages children to try new tastes and textures.

5.     A Pataakaa (Firecracker) Guessing game

This game requires quite the creativity skills. Adults would need to craft a guessing game related to the different Diwali firecrackers. For example, "I'm bright and loud, in the night sky, I make a sound. What am I?" Encourage children to guess the answer. You can even help them create their own guessing game.

6.     Language Lanterns

Combine creativity and language skills by making Diwali-themed language lanterns. Help children decorate paper lanterns with words related to Diwali such as colours, glitter, decorations etc. As they create their lanterns, encourage them to discuss their choices. For example, “Why did you choose the red colour?” or “Where do you want to put the glitter?” etc. This activity is particularly useful when targeting various ‘Wh’ questions and narrative speech generation.

7.      Multilingual Greetings

Diwali is a festival celebrated across the entire Indian subcontinent and among people from various linguistical backgrounds. Help children embrace the linguistic diversity of Diwali by practicing greetings in various languages spoken during the festival. Create flashcards or a poster with greetings like "Happy Diwali (English)," "Shubh Deepavali (Sanskrit)," or “Deepavali Shubhashayagalu (Kannada)." This activity promotes multicultural language exposure.

8.     Diya Dot Art

Engage young learners in a Diya dot art activity. Provide them with a diya made from clay or any other material. You can also use a black and white picture of a diya. You will also need colourful dot markers. These can be colouring paints in tubes or even sketch pens. As children they dot along the diya, encourage them to name the colours they're using, fostering colour concepts. You can also mix some colours and use the mixed colours to colour the diya.

9.     Singing Diwali Rhymes

Introduce Diwali-themed nursery rhymes or songs to young children. If you are looking for some, there are various ones available on the internet. For example, you can find rhymes like "Diwali Twinkle Twinkle" or "I am a little diya."Sing together and incorporate gestures or simple dance moves. This activity promotes language development and imitation skills.

These tailored Diwali-themed activities for young children aim to make speech and language therapy both educational and enjoyable. By integrating play, creativity, and cultural elements, therapists and adults working with children can create a positive and engaging learning environment for their little learners.

Halloween Themed Speech Therapy Activities

Halloween Themed Speech Therapy Activities

By Larisa Vaz

Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist 

As the leaves change colour and the air becomes crisper, it can mean only one thing: Halloween is just around the corner. This spooktacular holiday offers an excellent opportunity for speech therapists to engage their young clients in fun and educational activities. Halloween-themed speech therapy activities are not only a blast for kids but can also be incredibly effective in improving speech and language skills. Let's delve into some ghoulishly good ideas to enhance communication while embracing the Halloween spirit.

1. Pumpkin Patch Pronunciation

Create a "pumpkin patch" with paper pumpkins, each displaying a different word with a specific speech sound. For example, if your child is not able to say the ‘s’ sound, you can use words beginning with ‘s’ such as sun, soap, etc. Children can choose a pumpkin, say the word correctly, and place it in their "basket." This hands-on approach helps practice their articulation skills while having a pumpkin-tastic time.

2. Monster Mouth Movement

Encourage children to create their very own "monster mouths" using construction paper and markers. Then, have them describe their monsters in detail. This activity is fantastic for improving expressive language skills, as kids describe their monster's features and characteristics.

3. Spooky Storytelling

Gather around a "campfire" (a flickering LED candle will do) and encourage kids to tell spooky stories. You can set up various topics like a spooky house story or a ghost story. This activity helps children develop their narrative and descriptive language skills while fostering creativity and imagination.

4. Zombie Pronoun Play

Use zombie-themed visuals to work on pronouns. Place zombies in different locations and have children describe where they are using pronouns like "he," "she," or "they." This activity helps reinforce pronoun usage while adding a fun, creepy twist.

5. Vocabulary Costume Party

Host a vocabulary costume party where each child dresses up as a word they've learned. They can explain their chosen word's meaning and use it in a sentence, helping to reinforce vocabulary and expressive language skills.

6. Ghastly Guess the Sound

Fill containers with various Halloween-themed items, such as candy, small toys, or even spooky sound recordings. Kids can listen to the sounds, guess what's inside, and practice their expressive language skills by describing the item or sound.

7. Witch's Brew Word Blending

Create a pretend witch's brew by blending Halloween-themed words. Children can combine words like "spider" and "web" to make "spiderweb" and describe what the concoction does. This activity enhances phonological awareness and word blending skills.

8. Monster Emotion Matching

Use pictures of friendly monsters displaying different emotions. Children can match the monster to the corresponding emotion card, describe why they think the monster feels that way, and talk about times they've felt the same emotions.

9. Trick-or-Treat Articulation

Incorporate speech sounds into a trick-or-treat game. Place candy or small toys in a bag with pictures or words containing the target sound. Children take turns drawing an item from the bag and practice saying it correctly before receiving their "treat."

10. Witchy Word Puzzles

Create word puzzles, like crossword puzzles or word searches, using Halloween-themed vocabulary. Kids can have a blast solving the puzzles while expanding their vocabulary and word recognition skills.

11. Spider Web Speech Sounds

Draw a spider web on a whiteboard or paper, with different speech sounds at various points. Children can take turns throwing a sticky toy spider onto the web and practicing the speech sound it lands on. It's a fun way to work on your child’s articulation skills.

12. Jack-o'-Lantern Categories

Carve a pumpkin with various category labels, such as "animals," "fruits," or "colours." Children can name items that belong to each category, expanding their sorting and categorization skills.

13. Mummy Memory Game

Create a memory game using Halloween-themed cards. Players take turns flipping over two cards, describing what they see, and trying to find matching pairs. This game helps memory, concentration, and descriptive language skills.

Halloween-themed speech therapy activities not only make learning more engaging but also instil a sense of excitement and enthusiasm in children. By incorporating these spine-tingling exercises into your speech therapy sessions, you can help kids develop essential communication skills while enjoying the magic of Halloween. So, embrace the spirit of the season and watch your young learners become spellbound by the world of speech and language.

The key to successful collaborative working: communication, compassion and compromise.

By Chloe Keech

Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist

As a Speech & Language Therapist, I spend a large part of my day working with other professionals and adults who provide support and input for the children I see. Whether that's teachers, TAs, family members or carers. I spend my days collaborating with others to support the children I see in more than just a 1:1 capacity. Recently I've been reflecting on our work as Speech and Language Therapists collaborating with teachers in schools. In particular, when it works, and when it breaks down. As with any working relationship, things are continually shifting changing and adapting. What I want to make sure in my work with teachers is that they're changing and adapting for the better.

 In society as a whole, interactions can so often become 'what I need vs what you need' or equally 'what I need vs what you will give'. How many times have you left an interaction feeling frustrated that the other person didn't seem to get it, was in the way of what you needed to do, or simply didn't help you get there? Sometimes this can be due to personality clashes, but other times it's due to people having differing agendas. What I want from the exchange differs from what you want. When working in schools, the thing that sometimes slips my mind but that helps to bring me back in is reminding myself that our goals are the same. Whenever I am working alongside a teacher, I know that my goal of supporting the child to progress is their goal too. Yes, it sits on a backdrop of a range of other responsibilities, roles to fill and of course never-ending paperwork, but in amongst all those other factors that sometimes muscle into the interaction, I can always come back to that...we want the same thing.

So, with that in mind, and with a range of experiences of these situations, I have vowed to bear these three things in mind to continue to progress in what we can achieve when working with teachers.

The first one is communication. Yep, that thing we do day in and day out, the thing we support other to do, the thing that feels second nature. The thing that sometimes we can overlook. When I approach a discussion with another professional, if I don't share my reason for choosing an approach, you won't know what the importance of it is. Equally, if there's a reason that you can't do it or don't understand what I'm asking, we'll end up going around in circles. But if we take time to share what we want doing, why, any obstacles there might be, we end up having so much more success. So often it can seem like what needs time, but so often I need more because I need you to believe and invest in what I'm

working towards.

The second point is compassion. As teachers and Speech & Language Therapists, we end up with so many things that we have to check off our to do lists. Outside of the time with the young people, we also have notes, planning, liaising, marking...the list is endless. We often aren't compassionate towards ourselves (though that's a separate topic) and so often though we're thoughtful and compassionate and kind, we don't always have the time to stop and think. We power on through because we want to check things off our lists, but sometimes when we stop and put ourselves in the other person's shoes, the time we do put in goes so much further, because we can check our expectations, and share them in a more considerate way.

The final point is compromise. A little compromise can get us a long way. If we've taken the time to be compassionate and think about the other person's point of view,

things really fall into place. I know what I want to happen, but when people are stretched and busy, sometimes we get so much more when we give a little (on both sides).

I genuinely feel with these three things in mind, the only way for collaborative working to go is up. How do you feel about working with others? When does it work and when doesn't it? We're always open to feedback and reflections, so please share with us if any of this strikes a chord with you!

The Magic of Books

The Magic of Books: How Reading with Children Builds Happy, Hungry Minds

By Specialist Speech and Language Therapist Frankie Paterson

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

— Dr. Seuss, “I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!”

Books take children to new places by helping them do well in school and in life. The stories they read take them on journeys in their imaginations where they can discover new worlds and meet new people whilst encountering language and ideas that enrich their lives. Reading helps children develop critical thinking skills and empathy for others and enhances their wellbeing and mental health.
We know all this. There is a wealth of research to prove it. And yet in 2019 it was found by the NLT (National Literacy Trust) that 383,755 children and young people in the UK didn’t have a single book of their own. Disadvantaged children were found to be even more likely than their peers not to own a book (9.3% vs 6%). *

So how does reading and being read to help children? In order to learn to read and write children first need a strong foundation of good spoken language skills. Children’s spoken language develops through the ‘back and forth’ of turn-taking in conversation, exposure to a wide range of words to build vocabulary and to songs, rhymes, books and stories, including establishing regular reading habits and something called dialogic reading.

Dialogic reading is an interaction, a shared experience between adult and child over a book. The adult follows the child’s interest and they chat together about what’s on the page or about experiences the child may have had that relate to the story. Doing this makes story reading a bonding experience that yields a great deal in the way of language learning. Dialogic reading might even go beyond the power of spoken conversation for developing children’s language skills.** Through dialogic reading children hear words in a variety of contexts. Pictures in books support the child’s understanding of the story and of the new words being encountered. Valuable discussion can be had about the meanings of words or the reason characters might have acted or thought in a certain way; this helps children develop analytical and inferential thinking. Dialogic reading helps young children develop joint attention with an adult which is vital for all their future learning. Children who read with their parents are more likely to go on to read books independently for pleasure. Reading for pleasure has been found to be more important to a child’s academic success than their parents’ socio-economic status. ***

We also know that children who read for pleasure have significantly better mental wellbeing than their peers who don’t. **** During the first national lockdown in 2020 an NLT survey found that 3 in 5 (59.3%) of the children and young people asked said that reading makes them feel better. *****

Regular reading routines benefit everyone in the family, not just children. The ‘bath book bed’ ritual offers parents and children protected time together amidst busy family life. The act of a parent reading to a child shows them they are important enough to get Mum or Dad’s attention in that moment and so can be hugely instrumental in building healthy attachment. Daily reading with children benefits adults too. Five to ten minutes a day of reading a book with your child is a quick way to increase your confidence in your parenting skills while having the fun and bonding experience of escaping into a story together.******

You don’t need to have great reading skills for this. Storytime should be an interaction between you and your child more than an exercise in reading ability. What can you see on the page? What might happen next? Why did a character do what they did? How might they feel? How did the story make you feel? You can get so much interaction and language out of just looking at a picture book together without reading any of the words. I do this all the time in my therapy with children. For parents who really struggle with reading there are silent picture books, containing no words at all, where captivating stories are told through illustrations alone.

Our Magic of Words in Books project is as much about getting families reading together as it is about donating books to children. For every therapy session we deliver in 2021 we will donate books to children who need them. Alongside this we are launching a campaign to show parents and educators how to share books with children in the way we do it in our therapy sessions.

I’ll leave you with some thoughts about how to get children passionate about reading. Most importantly make sure that they’re accessing books they’re excited and captivated by. Scour the library, local bookshop or online bookseller for books about things your child is into or that will capture their unique imagination. There are millions of books out there and you will be able to find some your child likes. Continue reading with your children way beyond the age they can read for themselves, carry on as long as they’ll let you! Ten minutes a day is enough. Even fitting in two or three minutes at different times in the day will do them, and you, the world of good.

* National Literacy Trust’s ninth Annual Literacy Survey, 2019.
** E. T. Rodriguez, C. S. Tamis-LeMonda, M. E. Spellmann et al., “The formative role of home literacy experiences across the first three years of life in children from low-income families,” Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, vol. 30, no. 6, pp. 677–694, 2009.
*** OECD (2010), PISA 2009 Results: Learning to Learn: Student Engagement, Strategies and Practices (Volume III)
**** The National Literacy Trust’s eighth Annual Literacy Survey of 49,047 children and young people aged 8 to 18 in the UK. https://literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/mental-wellbeing-reading-and-writing/
***** https://literacytrust.org.uk/news/jacqueline-wilson-our-first-author-week-our-relaunched-virtual-school-library-oak-national-academy/
****** Egmont’s Reading for Pleasure Survey February 2019. https://www.egmontbooks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/37/2020/05/Reading-for-Pleasure-2019-paper.pdf

How to Know if Your Child Has Sensory Feeding Difficulties & How To Help

By Magic Words Specialist Speech and Language Therapist in Complex Needs, Raveena Ravinga

Here at Magic Words Therapy we have therapists, like me, who are specialists in supporting people who have feeding difficulties, that means difficulty with eating and drinking. This includes feeding difficulties that are sensory in nature.

A sensory feeding difficulty is when a child eats very few foods because they struggle with how foods taste, smell, feel, look, and even sound when eaten. We use all our senses when we have food in front of us, children with sensory feeding difficulties can experience a sensory overload when presented with food, causing them to have an aversion to foods and often resulting in a very restricted diet. This can be very worrying for parents who are struggling to make sure their child is not undernourished.

Here are my top 3 tips for parents of children with sensory feeding issues:

Concentrate on the food not your child’s behaviour

For all foods that your child does and does not accept, think about how the food presents:

Is it wet or dry? Is it smooth or crunchy? What other foods are the same colour? How does it sound? Does it have a strong smell?

This will help you understand your child’s sensory difficulties more and help you think of other foods your child may accept.

Remove all pressure

Food and mealtimes can already be a time your child does not look forward to, we want to try and create as much of a positive experience as possible. Part of this is removing all pressure for them to touch, smell and taste new foods. Be supportive if they refuse new foods.

Make food fun

Give your child the opportunity to experience food outside of mealtimes. Use different foods to do arts and crafts, e.g. make a Mr. Potato Head using different veggies for the arms, legs, eyes, mouth, hat. Or make a rainbow using different coloured foods. Let your child play with food. Get them involved in the kitchen when you’re baking, ask them to pass you different ingredients and get them to mix ingredients together. Give them choices of fun ingredients to put in! Give them as much hands-on exploration as possible. Take baby steps if needed, remember no pressure.

Our Top 3 Innovative Uses of Online Speech Therapy

By Magic Words Specialist Speech and Language Therapist in Complex Needs, Raveena Reniga

We at Magic Words Therapy are currently getting to grips with using online therapy, some of us for the first time, as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown. We have been relishing the challenge to adapt to this new way of working and as a team we’re developing innovative new ways to provide speech therapy online. Here are our top 3 innovative uses of online speech therapy:

1. Arts and crafts – online therapy can and should be much more than just sitting at the computer. Therapists and clients can participate in practical activities together, e.g. creating art projects through turn taking, listening and following and giving directions. Craft projects can be completely tailored to each child’s interests, whether those interests be Lego, Peppa Pig or Spiderman. Something motivating can be created for every child.

2. Motivating games – an advantage of online therapy is that as the child is at home as opposed to school, the child’s most motivating toys are within arm’s reach, so us therapists at Magic Words have been using this to our advantage! Children can be really excited to share their favourite toys with us and become motivated when these are incorporated into the therapy sessions. This can work perfectly for listening and receptive language games. This is also a great way for parents to watch the games so that they can then repeat them, using toys they have to hand, between therapy sessions.

3. The World Wide Web – having a two-way screenshare option on our specialist platform has meant we are able to access the vast range of interactive activities and resources that are available to us online. We can adapt these to suit our therapy goals, working on targets whilst the children are having fun!

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Online therapy is becoming more and more popular as a way for families to connect with expert speech and language therapists, and for all the right reasons. Our team at Magic Words is loving being part of this exciting journey of discovery into the vast potentials of online speech therapy.

Providing Feedback to children with SEMH

By Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist, Gianina Giangrande

Children with Social, Emotional, and Mental Health (SEMH) needs will face more failures in their life than the average child. As a result, their baseline level of motivation may be gravely low and easily undone. It is therefore important that feedback they receive in response to performance is constructive as opposed to negative.

According to McLachlan and Elks (2015), an effective way to deliver feedback is to apply their model of constructive criticism.

Great work!

Open with a positive remark (+)

You used relative pronouns effectively in your story.

Provide a specific positive critique (+)

Remember that a new sentence starts with a capital letter.

Provide a specific negative critique (-)

I liked your use of descriptors. It helped me visualize the story well. Well done!

Close with a positive remark (+)

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Feedback can be provided orally but is most helpful if provided in a written format for the child to reference. Review the feedback with the child to make sure he or she understands the comments. If the child is expected to update the work, you can write the critique on a post-it note to be placed on the new submission. This will encourage him or her to apply your advice.

The more positive and concrete interactions students with Social, Emotional, and Mental Health needs have with you, the greater the trust that will develop. Trust is a core component of a positive interaction and, while it can take time, it is well worth the uphill climb.

Elks, L., & McLachlan, H. (2008). Secondary language builders: Speech and language support for 11–16s. St. Mabyn, United Kingdom: Elklan.

Online Therapy for School Children During Lockdown

By Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist, Catherine Clancy

How we at Magic Words Therapy are continuing to support the schools and school children who rely on us during the COVID-19 lockdown

During this period of lockdown Magic Words Online has already helped hundreds of children across the 50 schools we work in to continue uninterrupted with their regular speech therapy sessions. Despite the suddenness with which we had to shift from face-to-face sessions to online speech therapy, the results have been extremely positive with great feedback from parents, SENCos and the children themselves.

We are also helping the staff teams of the schools we work with to update their skills by providing online training courses to help with their CPD and forums for teachers and teaching assistants to ask us questions and get support on how they can best support children with speech, language and communication needs.

I personally see online speech therapy as an innovative way of working with children to ensure they continue to make the progress they need to reach their potential. Therapists like myself work hard within schools, supporting children with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) and it would be heart-breaking to see that progress plateau, or even more upsetting, regress, during this unprecedented time of COVID-19.

This is why speech therapists like me are working closely with schools to ensure that children can access our therapy in a new way. Online speech therapy allows us to connect with children and support their progress using a live platform that is creative and resourceful. I have personally found online therapy to be fun and engaging for the children through the various in-built apps, games and the interactive and gameified nature of the activities.

This big shift in delivery of therapy to 100% online has opened our eyes to the many benefits of conducting therapy online. Once we have fought this pandemic together, I hope that online therapy will continue to help children access speech and language therapy within schools across the world.

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If you have any concerns about your child’s speech, language or communication, now is the perfect time to refer your child for a free online assessment: https://www.magicwordstherapy.co.uk/onlinetherapy-children

A therapist like myself will assess your child’s needs online and discuss the support we could give moving forwards. You will be able to see for yourself the interactive nature of online therapy and how this can be an effective solution for supporting your child’s progress towards their communication goals.

3 Myths About Your Child's Speech and Language Development

By Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist, Eva Chan

Myth 1: Signing with my child will delay his talking

Fact: Signing provides extra clues to help your child better understand and bridge the communication barrier. Makaton is a unique language programme that incorporates signs, symbols and speech to facilitate effective communication.

An example of how helpful Makaton signing can be is if your child has difficulty understanding concepts of position such as on, in and under, supplementing these spoken words with Makaton signs will provide your child with a clear visual cue. It will also allow your child to express themselves effectively and eliminate any frustration they might feel when trying to communicate.

Myth 2: Asking my child to repeat her sentences when she stammers will help with her fluency

Fact: When a child is being put on the spot, their level of anxiety increases and that makes stammering worse. Instead of asking her to repeat her sentences, provide her with your undivided attention and let her know that she has all the time in the world to express her thoughts.

Myth 3: Children learning more than one language should be encouraged not to mix words from both languages in a sentence

Fact: Mixing different languages in one sentence, which is also known as ‘code switching’ is common for most children who are bilingual and if they are doing it, this is a good thing!

This is normal for children immersed in a bilingual environment. Code switching does not mean your child is confused by being exposed to more than one language. Rather, code switching is a sophisticated way of interacting unique to bilinguals as they are able to access words from multiple languages to best get their point across. Children who code switch are actually showing impressive skill with how they are developing language, so be proud of them rather than worried! As a child progresses in their language journey, most children will be able to effectively tell languages apart and switch between them appropriately.

Switching to Online Speech Therapy

By Magic Words Specialist Speech and Language Therapist in Complex Needs, Raveena Reniga

Just like many other Speech Therapists all over the world during the last few weeks of the COVID-19 lockdown I have been exploring the very interesting world of online speech therapy. Going from seeing all my clients face to face, I thought it would be a whole new world. To my surprise, online speech therapy has many similarities to face to face therapy.

Something that has by far exceeded my expectations is the large variety of activities we have available to us on our Magic Words Online platform that are designed focus on all aspects of speech and language therapy. Not only that, we are also able put our own resources that we create onto our specialist platform.

I have been able to continue working on the same targets with the children I had been seeing face to face and I have seen the children continue to progress and excel without losing any of the fun of face to face! Activities can be tailored in the same way as face to face and for some children who are really into technology, this use of it in our speech therapy has made them even more motivated. It has been a fantastic way to maintain their social interaction.

For the few children who have not been able to access online therapy directly, I have been able to work directly with their parents/carers to support their child’s speech and language development at home. This support has ranged from creating personalised home programmes with daily activities, to supporting parents to adapt their environment and communication styles to integrate therapy into their daily routine, reviewing progress regularly.

For those who have not yet experienced it, online therapy can be daunting. I would definitely recommend any parent to speak with a therapist who can talk through how it could work for them and their child. It may just surprise you too!

How Does Hearing Affect Speech, Language and Communication Development?

By Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist, by Catherine Clancy

If you have concerns about your child’s speech, language and communication skills, one of the first questions to ask is: what is my child’s hearing like?

It has been well documented over many years that hearing is fundamental for speech and language development. If a child cannot clearly hear the sounds in the word being said, how can we expect a child to identify these sounds, discriminate these from other sounds and produce them? How can we then expect a child to develop his or her vocabulary?

A new-born hearing screening is offered to all babies in England which helps to identify babies with permanent hearing loss as soon as possible. Your child’s hearing may then be tested as part of a review for his or her health and development from 9 months – 2.5 years. Most children will then have a hearing test when they start school, at around 4 or 5 years old.

We are very fortunate in the UK with our NHS to have free screenings like these in place that support early identification of hearing difficulties. However, if you have concerns about your child’s speech, language and communication skills you should ask the question: what is my child’s hearing like? If you also have concerns about your child’s ability to hear, then their hearing can be checked at any other time by speaking to your GP or health visitor who will support a referral to audiology. It is important that your child’s hearing has been assessed in the last year if they are presenting with delayed speech and language skills.

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A therapist like myself will assess your child’s needs online and discuss the support moving forwards. https://www.magicwordstherapy.co.uk/our-team

Facilitating Positive Interactions with your child with SEMH Needs

By Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist, Gianina Giangrande

The more we focus on creating the right kind of environment for our children with SEMH (Social, Emotional, and Mental Health) needs, with an emphasis on warm relationships and suitable stimulation, the more we will see the secure and happy side of them. With schools closed and routines drastically altered, the PRIDE model (Gershenson, Lyon and Budd, 2010) gives parents ways to think about positive interaction in the home environment.

P: praise appropriate behavior.

Encourage positive behavior being displayed by making specific and anchored statements (e.g. “I love how you helped your brother prepare lunch”).

R: reflect appropriate speech.

Reply to your children’s remarks to show that you are listening and respond using slightly more complex sentences and wording to model it to them. (e.g. Child: I made a dragon. Parent:Wow, you made a really unique and devilish dragon. I like how the eyes show his deviousness).

I: imitate appropriate behavior/ engagement.

Imitate your child’s actions when they demonstrate appropriate engagement to reinforce your togetherness (e.g. If your child starts making up dance moves, join in and do the same).

D: describe appropriate behavior.

Be vocal about what the child is doing well so that they know they are engaging appropriately, and they feel praised (e.g. I like how you’re waiting nicely for your brother to finish).

E: be enthusiastic in tone and body language.

Keep your interactions positive and playful to help your child maintain interest and want to build on the experience (e.g. parent uses a lively tone and frequent smiles while together).

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The impact of applying these strategies will be nurturing a child to have greater self-esteem and be more willing to engage in positive interactions. Thus, the child will have greater access to social opportunities in his or her world. A win-win for all!

Online Speech Therapy: Top Tips for Parents

By Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist, Eva Chan

Here are some top tips for parents to help you prepare for your child's online speech therapy session so that they can get the most out of this highly effective way of accessing speech and language therapy.

SET THEIR EXPECTATIONS

Before the session, discuss with your child the differences between an online session compared to a face-to-face session. Explain they’ll be seeing and talking to their therapist on a screen!

ENVIRONMENT

Choose an appropriate environment. Reduce the background noise by setting up your laptop or tablet in a calm, distraction-free place in your home. A home office, or a sitting room would be ideal. To further reduce distractions, try giving them headphones.

EQUIPMENT

While most children will probably know how to work a mouse or touch pad, some training in this may be required for younger children who are not familiar with these. If you can help them to learn to use a mouse or touch pad your child can then join in onscreen drawing on the virtual whiteboard during the online therapy session. This is a really fun and useful part of online speech therapy.

PREPARATION

You can always set up a trial session with your therapist beforehand. Get your child to roleplay and get comfortable before a session starts. Allow ample time to prepare for a session so you are ready to go at the scheduled time!

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Making the change from face-to-face sessions to online speech therapy sessions can be a little daunting to think about but in practice it’s not too different once you get going! In fact,most of my clients have engaged and responded extremely well to online therapy. Which child do you know that wouldn’t want a virtual sticker or to play an online game as a reward after some good work?! Children seem to love seeing us through a screen and get very excited to see us in their living room!

Apps for Online Speech Therapy

By Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist, Susan Woodley

At Magic Words Online our online speech therapy platform has a fantastic range of built in communication apps. Here’s a selection of the apps we use in our online speech therapy and a bit about how they can help with a variety of different communication difficulties.

Auditory Workout

This app looks at following instructions and is recommended for use with children aged 4-10. It helps develop children’s key word understanding of language and understanding of concepts such as prepositions (positional language), size and colour. There are over 1000 different instructions on the app, meaning it can be tailored specifically to a child’s needs.  It uses engaging colourful pictures and with every correct answer the child earns a basketball. Once the child has earned 5 basketballs, they can play a game!

Articulation Carnival

This is a great app for children with speech sound difficulties. It can support children at every stage of their speech sound therapy. From working at producing the sound in words, phrases and sentences. The therapist can go through flashcards relating to the target sound or can play a memory game with the client.

Social Skills with Billy

This app can be used to help develop social skills, so is useful for working with our clients that have ASC (autistic spectrum condition) or social communication difficulties. You can work through social situations with the main character Billy, working out what are the appropriate things to say and do. There are over 100 real life situations to work through: birthday parties, going to the doctors, family dinners and so many more. Using this on our online therapy platform give the therapist and the client the opportunity to discuss the situations and the responses too.

Comprehension Aphasia

We also have apps to use with our adult clients. Comprehension Aphasia is an app designed for use with clients with Aphasia, central auditory processing disorder and Autism. It looks at understanding of yes/no questions and following directions with increasing levels of difficulty. It also has the option to have background noise, helping create an environment that simulates the difficulties our clients face in real life.

Wh- Question Island

This app can be used to work on children’s Blank Level understanding. Blank Levels relate to understanding different types of questions. The app starts with ‘what’ questions and progresses all the way to ‘why’ questions. It can be adjusted to the child’s level of need; with either multiple choice questions or the child giving the answer to the therapist. Using the app online gives the child the opportunity to discuss their answer and improve their understanding of the questions even more.

Magical Concepts

This is a fantastic app which works on understanding of language concepts such as same/different, positional language and size. It also works on understanding of describing words and emotions. This app uses photos to help develop children’s understanding in a real life context.

Syntax Workout

This app works on children’s use of spoken language. It focusses on grammatical elements that children with language disorders or autism may commonly find difficult, such as pronouns (he/she, his/hers) and function words (is/are). This uses a mix of photos and pictures with sentences for the child to complete

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If you’d like to know more about online speech therapy and how it could work for you just get in contact and one of our expert speech therapists will give you a call to discuss your needs and what we can do to help you achieve your own personal communication goals.

We Love Stories: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt

By Speech and Language Therapist, Charlotte Twelvetree

Book Details:

“We’re going on a bear hunt. We’re going to catch a big one. What a beautiful day. We’re not scared… UH OH …”

Anyone who has read this book will be singing this line in their head the same way that I did whilst writing it! In fact, this catchy, rhythmic, sing-song pattern is one of my favourite elements of this story and is what makes it so brilliant for helping develop language and communication in children.

I also love the variety of ways this book can be read and how it can be used in different environments.

It has an element of nostalgia for me on a personal level. As a child I can remember so clearly the excitement of going to the local library with my Mum to borrow this book. It was even better when they had the supersize version available!

Here are a few of my favourite ways to use this wonderful book:

Creating opportunities for communication:

The repetitive nature of this story can be used to create opportunities for children to communicate in any way possible. You can use pauses in repetitive phrases to allow your child to ‘fill the gap’.

Your child will then have the opportunity to complete the phrase. This can be done verbally, using vocalisations, communication boards, communication books, switches, a range of high-tech AAC, and signing.

It can also be used to request for continuation of the story because of the predictable adventure which is going to follow.

Sensory Stories:

Sensory stories can be used to bring life to books and immerse children in a story. Sensory stories are great for supporting children with sensory differences, learning disabilities, attention and language difficulties. Children can experience a wide range of textures, smells, lights, movements, tastes and sounds related to the story.

I regularly read this book outside where the children can see, smell, feel, and experience the grass, mud and water. Using our senses can be very beneficial in developing a child’s understanding of language. I also use a sensory bag to create the effect of the obstacles you come across in the story. For example; we will throw foam balls in the air, turn on fans, and feel ice cubes to create the experience of the snowstorm.

Language exposure:

“You can’t go over it. You can’t go under it. You’ve got to go through it!”

There are always lots of smiles and laughs when you get children to move. We love acting out this story as if we are trying to get through the different obstacles. Especially at the end when we tip-toe ‘through the cave’ trying not to wake the angry bear. It is a fun and engaging way to teach positional language and concepts such as ‘loud’ and ‘quiet’.

Joint Attention and Social Communication Development:

I have used different elements of this story during Attention Autism activities at all 4 stages. You can tell this story in such an entertaining way that you become the most exciting person in the room, encouraging joint attention skills. My personal favourite is getting children to take it in turns to make their way through the grass, mud, forest, snowstorm and the cave.

Narrative and Story-telling Skills:

There is a clear, repetitive, and well-illustrated sequence of events throughout this story. This creates a great opportunities for story-telling. Encourage your child to tell you what is happening. Think about ‘who?’, ‘what doing?’, ‘what?’, and ‘where?’

For example; “The girl is walking through the river”

This book gives endless opportunities for you to get creative!

For more information about Attention Autism, please click on the link

http://ginadavies.co.uk/

We’re going on a bear hunt by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

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We Love Stories: Penguin

By Speech and Language Therapist, Claire Blagden

Book Details

Ben gets a present. He opens it and inside is a penguin. Keen to have lots of fun with his new friend, Ben says, “Hello Penguin” but Penguin says nothing.

Author Polly Dunbar has entertainingly illustrated some of the very typical (and sometimes very strange) things we do as adults to try to help children talk. The story of Penguin highlights just how difficult speaking can be for some children and that we don’t always know the reasons why.

Ben tries everything he can think of to make his new friend speak, including;

Asking questions: “Can’t you talk?”

Being silly: blowing raspberries, tickling and even ignoring him.

Coaxing: “Will you talk to me if I stand on my head?”

Penguin does not say a word.

Ben’s frustration builds and builds…. Penguin can sense it. Until eventually, Penguin’s steadfast silence tips Ben over the edge. Ben loses all sense of rationality and has a full meltdown demanding that Penguin says something. There follows a twist in the tale, which sees Ben and Penguin have an extraordinary encounter with a big blue lion who eats Ben in the blink of an eye for being too noisy. Penguin (still silent) bravely rescues Ben from the lion’s belly and their very special friendship is cemented. This is the catalyst for a change in their relationship, from one of expectation and uncertainty to love and security and where (much to Ben’s relief) Penguin opens up and tells Ben EVERYTHING.

How does this relate to Speech and Language skills?

The entire process of talking; from first words to full sentences is very complex and most of the time we don’t think about it unless we encounter a problem. Picture this very familiar scenario; at home your child never stops talking. You go out to meet a friend, your child hides behind you and doesn’t say a word. You encourage them to look and prompt them kindly: “Say hello”. Your child turns away, grips your leg tighter and buries their face into your coat. At this point you might feel a little awkward, you don’t want people to think your child is being rude so you might say something like; “come on, don’t be silly, you can say hello can’t you?” Or maybe a grandparent or another family member has come to visit and you notice your child goes from being a chatterbox to being reluctant to answer all granny’s questions. Or maybe you are a teacher? You know Sally can talk because you’ve seen her talk to her friends at playtime but she won’t answer the register or speak to you in class. This kinds of scenario can result in a bit of a stalemate. It can feel very worrying to see such a change in a child’s behavior too.

When in a situation where we are not sure what to do, adults sometimes say or do things that they wouldn’t ordinarily if they’d had time to think about it a bit more. For example, Ben tries every trick in the book to get Penguin to speak which only makes Penguin more anxious about talking but Ben hasn’t considered this.

Some of the phrases below might sound familiar to you. Maybe you’ve said them or have heard someone else say a similar thing?

“Have you forgotten how to talk?”

“He’s just being a bit shy today”

“If you don’t say thank you, you won’t be able to come to play again”

“Grandma will think you are rude if you don’t say bye bye”

Can you spot what all these phrases have in common? Well, they all carry a weight of expectation for the child to speak on demand. Most of us can relate to feeling similar anxieties as young people. Remember that time in school when you were dreading being the one picked to answer a question in class?

So.. what can you say or do instead?

It’s a relatively simple formula. Try to ‘say what you would like your child to say’ (but please don’t ask them to say it).

Back to the earlier scenarios…

Instead of “Say hello” you could say “Oh look, there’s Lucy. Hi Lucy! Hi, we are glad to see you”. Instead of “Say thank you” you could say “I bet you had lots of fun, thank you for playing together”. Instead of “Say bye bye” you could say “Bye bye Grandma, see you soon, bye bye” (cue lots of enthusiastic waving).

You can also use comments instead of asking questions to create opportunities for children to speak if they want to. This removes some of the pressure or expectation for the child to respond straightaway.

Instead of “What did you do at school today?” you could say “I bet you had a busy day, I’d love to know what you did”.

In schools, instead of “Who can tell me..?” you could say “Who would like to show me..” and give children alternative ways of participating that don’t rely solely on speech.

Try not to ask questions, bribe, coax or even gently encourage ‘on demand speech’. It’s not useful as a strategy for encouraging children to use language, in fact it can have quite the opposite effect (and you avoid getting eaten by a lion so it’s a win-win).

Some children are naturally quieter than others, as are lots of adults. We live in a society that rewards extroverts but let’s remember that not all of us enjoy being center stage. The same goes for children too. As early as pre-school, children are rewarded for putting up their hands to speak, to be active participants in a busy language-rich environment, but not all children will want to get involved in these outward displays of confidence. It’s easy to forget this and focus on trying to develop children’s ‘confidence’ as something others can see rather than focusing on building confidence through acceptance and respect for a child’s very individual personality and character.

NB: If you notice a persistent pattern of differences in your child’s speaking habits in different places, or if you have a child in your setting who you feel is more than ‘just a bit quiet’ please contact a Speech and Language Therapist to discuss. We will be able to give you advice and recommend further help if needed.

Penguin, written and illustrated by Polly Dunbar

We Love Stories: Giraffes Can’t Dance

By Speech and Language Therapist, Bethany Potter

In this series ‘We Love Stories’ our Magic Words Speech Therapists are going to be letting you know their favourite story books to use with children to develop their speech, language and communication skills and give you tips on how to make the most out of these stories.

It’s Bethany’s turn first! She’s chosen ‘Giraffes Can’t Dance’.

Book details: Gerald the giraffe is very good at standing still and eating leaves off trees but when it comes to dancing, he is pretty bad. His bandy knees and thin legs make dancing very difficult so instead of joining his jungle friends on the dance floor, he gets laughed at which makes him very upset. With some help and inspiration from a friendly cricket, Gerald discovers that anyone can dance… if you just have the right music. Gerald wows the jungle animals with his dazzling dancing.

Speech and Language targets: Books are a fantastic resource for addressing speech and language targets. Here are my tried and tested ideas on how Giraffes Can’t Dance can be used with children to develop their skills in lots of different ways. The overall moral of the story and the use of rhyme makes this a very enjoyable story to share during your next story time as a parent or therapy session as a Speech Therapist!

Teaching the moral of the story: Giraffes Can’t Dance is an important story for teaching children about accepting that everyone is different, embracing their own differences, and building confidence and self-esteem.

Rhyme & sound awareness:

Rhyme – Rhyme is used throughout this book in words such as ‘floor and roar’, ‘trees and knees’.

Syllable counting – how many syllables are in… ‘giraffe, elephant, dance’

Initial sounds – recognising what sound the word starts with to develop phonological awareness.

Speech sounds:

‘j’ in ‘giraffe, Gerald, jungle, imagine’.

‘n’ in ‘neck, knees, animal’.

‘r’ in ‘run, really, rhinos, roar, rock, rolled’.

‘d’ in ‘dance, different, dancer, Gerald, bad, sad’.

‘r’ blends in ‘crooked, trees, grass, froze, dream, crept’.

Vocabulary:

- Adjectives – tall, long, slim, bad, thin, splendid, clumsy, little, beautiful.

- Nouns – animal names: giraffe, warthogs, rhinos, lions, chimps, cricket, baboons.

Giraffes Can’t Dance, Written by Giles Andreae and Illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees.

Getting Creative with Therapy

By Speech and Language Therapist, Kate Eden

I have always been a creative person. Arts and crafts are a great hobby of mine, so finding a job that allows me to work with children and be creative at the same time was super! Working at Magic Words I see lots of different children for therapy throughout the week. It’s really important that all the children I work with are motivated and interested in the activities we are doing in therapy, that’s why I always check with children what their interests are at the start of the therapeutic process.

Whether it’s Super Mario, Minecraft, dinosaurs or drawing, tailoring therapy to the interests of my children means that they are much more engaged in the therapy sessions meaning that we get more out of our sessions. It’s really useful for me to stay in touch with what the children are currently watching and playing with too, as this allows me to have conversations with them on their level about the topics they are interested in. Plus, it means that I can use my creativity to plan and prepare how to incorporate these themes into the therapy activities for each session.

I use Twinkl and Teachers Pay Teachers as a first stop in checking for resources and activities within different themes. I always have a selection of colouring pictures with me, everything from transport to themed pictures for the time of year (winter wildlife and Christmas trees in winter!). I love finding games with lots of short turns that allow you to incorporate lots of repetitions of children’s targets throughout. Some of my favourite board games for this include Jenga and the classic Pop Up Pirate. I always carry lots of pairs games as these are great to work on speech sounds or practice target words. It’s always fun to switch it up as well, no one likes playing or doing the same thing for too long!

Teletherapy: The top 3 benefits of Online Therapy

By Speech and Language Therapist, Catherine Clancy

Magic Words Therapy has recently collaborated with specialist, bespoke online speech therapy software, designed by tech experts and speech therapists to start offering the option of online therapy sessions with the aim of making our therapy services more accessible to more people.

Our use of Online Therapy has provided convenience and flexibility for families we already see for therapy. For example, some families who live further away from our clinic have now chosen to receive some or all of their therapy sessions via teletherapy, from the comfort of their own living rooms. Teletherapy completely cuts out the time they used to spend travelling and sitting in traffic, giving them more time in their week to spend together.

During online sessions, we can provide therapy in real-time to support communication targets via this motivating and versatile platform, so that clients can access our high-quality therapy in a way that works around busy lifestyles.  

We have found that the idea of Online Therapy can initially seem quite daunting for some clients, particularly to those who are a bit technology-phobic! However, having recently started delivering online therapy myself I’m excited to have branched out into this new and innovative field. Using teletherapy is actually pretty straight forward for both the therapist and the client. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was compared to my expectations.

I have been impressed by how teletherapy has supported children’s progress and positively influenced my delivery of therapy. Below are my top 3 benefits of using online speech and language therapy:

1.  Greater Flexibility: Teletherapy has allowed me to work flexibly around the busy lifestyles of the families I support. A parent decided to make the switch to teletherapy as it gave her family the ability to integrate regular sessions within a busy weekly routine, where commuting to clinic for therapy sessions would not have been realistic. 

2.     A Motivating and Versatile Platform: I have found that children love working with me via teletherapy sessions as they are really motivated to use technology they love like laptops and tablets. Online Therapy contains fun and engaging online resources that make it very enticing for children to join in with the activities. As a therapist I love that we can upload our own personalised resources onto the platform as well as being able to use apps from Virtual Speech Centre. Virtual Speech Centre is a well-renowned speech and language therapy app developer. https://www.virtualspeechcenter.com/

3.     Better Use of Home Resources: Teletherapy is an online service where families and clients link in from home whilst the therapist is usually in an office environment. Because clients don’t have access to clinic resources, the therapist has to work innovatively to use online therapy resources and toys within the child’s everyday environment. This often means therapy is more functional as families are supported to use activities, resources and toys that are easily accessible. This supports the carryover of therapy and overall progress with targets. 

In addition to my top 3 benefits of teletherapy, I think it’s really important to mention that the use of Teletherapy has also helped Magic Words Therapy and the families we support to reduce our collective impact on climate change. Online therapy sessions have resulted in less air-polluting car use for both therapists and families and a greater emphasis on online resources that don’t require printing which uses lots of paper and ink. 

Despite its undeniable benefits there are of course some limitations to Teletherapy. This way of accessing therapy can work well for most clients, but not all. For some clients, face-to-face sessions are essential in order to support their engagement in therapy and overall outcomes. If you would like to discuss teletherapy as an option for your child I would highly recommend speaking to one of our therapists about this. They will be able to get to know your child and identify whether teletherapy would work for them and their unique needs.