Lets Talk About Language
LYNDA WILSON
EARLY LITERACY SPECIALIST
519-821-6638 EXT 203
Schedule
 The Communication Tree
 Language
 Speech
 Other Communication Skills
Who am I?
 I am not a Registered Speech Pathologist in Ontario
 BSc Clinical Speech and Language Studies, Trinity
College Dublin (2001-2005)
 Worked for Health Service Executive for 7 years as a
Speech and Language Pathologist (2005-2012) in Dublin.
 Worked with children aged 0-18 with a wide range of
communication difficulties – speech, language delays,
cleft palate, ASD, selective mutism, Specific language
impairment, Dyspraxia etc.
 Worked in different location– inner city, affluent areas,
multilingual populations, traveller populations. Worked
in clinics and schools and preschools.
Communication Activity
 Everyone stand up
 Split into 2 groups
 Without talking or writing, organise yourselves in
order of you birthdays (day and month)
 E.g. Jan 3, Jan 27, Feb 8 etc
Communication
Communicating is not only about what we say but it is also
about the way we say it.
The three components of communication are:
Verbal (what we say - 7% of any message is
communicated through words
 Vocal (how we say it)- 38% of a message is communicated
by our voice
 Visual (what our body says)- 55% is conveyed by nonverbal body language
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Adapted from "Communication Role of Language" - University of Michigan
The Communication Tree
Communication
Partners
Opportunities to Learn
Speech & Grammar
Receptive Language
Expressive Language
Underlying Abilities
Roots
Roots: factors contributing to communication
development.
Cognitive skills – underlying IQ
Memory Skills – Short term and long term
Listening
Attention
Hearing
Vision
Motivation
Interest
Trunk
Receptive language skills
Understanding Language
Non verbal: interpreting non verbal
communication such as gestures, facial
expressions, signs etc
Verbal: comprehension of what is being
said – words and sentences
Understanding ideas
Remembering information
Consolidating information
Branches
Expressive Language Skills
Using Language
Ability to convey messages through
spoken language.
Skills in this area include:
Using appropriate words/vocabulary
(semantics)
Using appropriate combinations of
words and
grammatical structures
(syntax and morphology)
Leaves & Apples
Speech & Grammar
The ‘fine tuning’
Features that don’t take away from the meaning of
the message.
Speaking clearly – using all correct speech sounds,
following the speech sound patterns (articulation &
phonological skills)
Using good grammar i.e. tenses, plurals, pronouns
Being fluent in speech
Sun & Rain
The Environment of Growth
Things a child needs in order for
their language skills to grow
Communication partners to learn
from – Children and Adults
Good role models
Repetition
Bite size learning
Someone to listen and shape
language
The Communication Tree
Communication
Partners
Opportunities to Learn
Speech & Grammar
Receptive Language
Expressive Language
Underlying Abilities
Attention and Listening
Attention and Listening
 Turn-Taking:
 ‘Roll the Ball’
 Building clocks together
 Listening:
 Introduce ‘Stop/Go’: Using a musical instrument.
 Pass the parcel
 Matching two pairs of sounds: Sound containers
 Can child identify which has a sound inside?
 Sorting noises into quiet and loud noises
 Changing the words/outcome in a common storybook/nursery
rhyme
Attention and Listening
 Eye contact:
 Use funny face shapes – naming parts of face together.
Emphasis on eyes and positive reinforcement when eye contact
made by children.
 What colour of eyes do people have
 Memory:
 Shopping list game
 Name game
 Reciting songs and rhymes
Language
Ages and Stages
Terminology
 Delayed Language – language is slow to develop but it
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follows the normal sequence of development
Disordered Language – language is developing
atypically, there is an uneven scatter in language abilities.
Development does not follow the normal sequence of
development
Specific Language Impairment – Disordered
language skills specifically in 1 area of language
Semantics – knowledge of the meanings of words
Syntax & Morphology – knowledge of the
structure/grammar of language
Pragmatics – being socially appropriate and flexible
I hate it when…..
I really hate it when I’m talking
with someone and
they…………….
General Language Tips
‘Its not what you do its the way that you do it’
 Be face to face

Create eye (face) contact, observe what they are looking at
 Change the way you talk
 Maintain interest, use gestures and props, make your language
easier to understand, slow down.
 Take turns
 Questions and Comments, wait on a response.
General Language Tips
 Follow the child’s lead
 Comment on their interests, encourage the child to initiate and
develop the communication
 Watch, wait and respond
 Communicate about what the child is interested in
 Expand what the child says
 Repeat what they say and add a little more. Use a variety of
words not just names (nouns)
General Language Tips
Language Therapy is very ‘emergent’
 Not testing
 Not teaching
Follow child’s lead, learn from the child and shape
their communication
Vocabulary Development
Reproduced with permission — Torstar Syndication Services.
Copyright King Features Syndicate.
Vocabulary Development
Children need to learn lots of kinds of words
 Naming words – nouns
 Describing words
 Words about belonging to
 Location words
 Feeling words
 Action words
Vocabulary Development
Receptive and Expressive
Understanding and Use of new words
The key to vocabulary development is ……….
Repetition is Key
Semantic links
To learn a new word a child may be helped by thinking
about its semantic links or meaning links with other
words
What is it called?
What does it feel like?
What do you do with it?
What is it made of?
Where would you find it?
What parts does it have?
What group (category) does it
belong to?
What does it look like?
What is the first sound and last
sound in the word?
How many syllables?
SPEECH
Speech Development
 Speech develops following a pattern
 Vowels first – eeee, oooo, ahhhh
 Early Sounds include ‘d’, ‘m’ ‘t’, ‘b’, ‘p’
 Then ‘k’, ‘g’, ‘f’, ‘v’, ‘l’
 Finally ‘r’ ‘s’ ‘sh’ ‘ch’ ‘j’
 All sounds generally in place by age 6.
Ages and Stages
Ages and Stages
Please remember
Speech Development Norms are not exact.
They are meant to be used as a guide
Different organisational policy follow different norms
Different SLPs follow different norms
Different backgrounds affect ages and stages
International Phonetics Alphabet
Terminology
 Articulation – how we make sounds in isolation or in words
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e.g. Say ‘k’ – ‘t’
Phonology - a pattern of development of sounds e.g. Say ‘k’ –
‘k’, say car – tar. Appling rules to speech sounds
Delayed – Slow to develop but it follows the normal sequence
of development
Disordered – Developing atypically, there is an uneven scatter
in abilities. Not following the normal sequence of development.
Dyspraxia/Apraxia/DVD/DAS – difficulty in planning and
executing motor speech movement. No muscle problems. When
asked cannot say some words, but can say the word
spontaneously
Cleft Palate – a gap in the oral cavity, air doesn’t flow through
the mouth and nose as it should.
General Speech Help
 Reinforcing Concepts
 Same/different
 Up/down
 Front/back
 First/last
 Clapping out syllables in words
 Listening activities – what do you hear?
 Rhyming
 Nursery rhymes
 Rhyming books
How to help a Child with Speech Problem
 Use ages and stages to keep decide if a referral to a
Speech Pathologist is needed.
 Talk with the SLP about what kind of speech
problem the child has.
 Child who says ‘tat’ for ‘cat’ can have either an articulation or a
phonology problem which require different therapy techniques
 Working on speech is quite prescriptive.
 What is working well for 1 child may not help
another (it may even cause more problems)
Stuttering
Stammering is characterized by interruptions in the flow of
speech, such as:
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Repeating words & phrases eg. Is the is the is the door shut
Fillers eg. Um, er, uh, eh
Repeating sounds eg. B b b book
Blocks eg. ...............I want
Prolonging sounds eg. Sssssssssome
 Stammering usually begins between the ages of three and
six. It usually starts gradually but may be quite sudden.
 Stammering is highly variable – sometimes in a day a child
will stammer a lot and sometimes they won’t stammer at all in
a day.
•.
Stuttering
√ Listening to what your child is
saying not how they say it
√ Give the child plenty of time to
talk without interruption
√ Slow down your own rate of
speech
√ Leave frequent pauses in your
own speech
√ Maintain good eye contact with
your child
x Do not tell your child to stop and
start again, to slow down or take a
breath
x Do not look away from the child
when he/she stutters
x Avoid asking too many questions
as this puts your child under
pressure to speak
Multilingualism
 Contrary to our natural intuition, it is actually not more
difficult to learn two languages than it is to learn one.
 Never encourage parents who have a poor standard of
English to speak only English to their child as this will lead to
an impoverished language model.
 Never discourage the use of any non-English language.
Remember that learning to speak the (non-English) family
language connects the child to a rich social and cultural
heritage. It aids the building of family bonds as the child can
communicate with grandparents and extended family
members and makes a large contribution to the developing
child’s identity and self-esteem.
Working with Speech & Language Pathologists
 Know the SLP – Names and Numbers
 Check to see if information/handouts/activities they
provided is for one particular child or can be used
with everyone
 Can the SLP do a school visit to give you advice on
what to do? If not- arrange a phone consult, ask to
join an appointment with mum
 Document how the child is getting on – what they
said and did, any questions you have. Send your
notes along to the child’s next appointment – ask for
a response
Bibliography
 From Birth to Five years – Children’s Developmental
Progress. Third edition. Mary D Sheridan, revised
and updated by Ajay Sharma and Helen Cockerill.
2008.
Useful Websites
 www.superduperinc.com
 www.ican.org.uk
 www.literacytrust.org.uk/talktoyourbaby
 www.hanen.org
 www.talkingpoint.org.uk
 www.asha.org
 www.speech-language-therapy.com