Hints, Tips, and Other Stuff - From Parents & Therapists

Hints, Tips, and Other Stuff - From Parents & Therapists

Carol writes:

I have purchased Listening Lotto sets however, the sets we bought were somewhat limited...they just don't have enough sounds! When we blew through the first two sets, I started making my own. I took digital photos of things that made the sounds I wanted, pasted them into a Bingo-type grid just like the game and made my own cassette recordings. (You could also do the photos with a scanner or cut them out of catalogs or magazines. You also don't have to do it as a Bingo game.)

The added bonus here was using sounds that James is more likely to hear in his environment. Although we live in a rural area, we still don't hear too many of those Listening Lotto roosters in the mornings. LOL! But we did even more obscure but common things like the refrigerator door opening and the sound of Lego's being dumped out. James had to work harder...which was the point for us. :-)

Ellen writes:

My six year old daughter has really enjoyed playing Bop It. It seems to be pretty good at encouraging her to listen and discriminate. She plays it two different ways: one way is the voice saying, "bop it," "twist it," "pull it." The other way she plays, there is no voice - it's just a sound that means you are supposed to bop it, etc. Then it says "pass it," and she never misses. We enjoy playing it together. Also available is Bop It Extreme.

Laurie writes:

Hi everyone! Thought I'd pass on a lesson I did yesterday that went really well and a "list" of vocabulary words, too. Everyone has access to those annoying "sale" flyers that accompany newspapers. Now that the Holidays are approaching rapidly the "toy" flyers are plentiful. Those flyers are great vocabulary builders because most of the items are things the kids want, things the kids have seen, things they see advertised on TV, things their friends have, etc. It provides a great opportunity to practice the names of those items. The kids love looking at those flyers, especially the nice colored ones. Also, with school age kids it's a good time to practice vocabulary: sale, price, cost, pay, change (as in how much change $$$), exchange, expensive, cheap, regular, price, sale price, clearance, bargain, reduced price, inventory, was $, NOW $, mark down, mark up, retail, department store, discount, and discount store.

We also added some math problems figuring out how much you can save by buying items on sale. It's a great lesson for moms and dads, too, because they are the ones to carry this over to the every day situation. I guess it's a good time to teach delayed gratification, too. That it's not necessary to buy something every time you take your child into a store. Happy shopping!

Charlotte writes:

"Narrating" the day is not just for auditory input. It helps develop language. You can do the same thing with signs, cues, or total communication.

When my son was little, every time he looked at me I signed and said something to him. If he was holding a block, I said 'You have a block.' If he was throwing a tantrum, I said 'You are angry.' This taught him several things: 1) Looking at people gets me information and attention (developing eye contact) 2) There is a name for this (object, feeling, etc.) 3) That is the way the name looks on the lips and the hands.

Just plain old interaction between mom and child can help more than you realize. It will allow your child to develop language skills, a reason to use language, and information about their world. That language base will allow you to pass on your culture and values to your child. It will allow her to learn facts and academic subjects. It will be the foundation for a deep relationship between the two of you, and between your child and others who communicate with her.

Maintaining a list of learned words wonderful. Try some other games with the written word. Label your home with words. Let your child help you. My son had a great time doing that, and the labels stayed up for years after we did it. Don't be afraid to use label the items with long words: computer, printer, refrigerator, bookcase, etc. Also, you could wrap a word like a gift and give it to your child. My son loved this game. I remember clearly the first word I gave him in that way. I carefully wrote the word "Bear" in beautiful colors on a card. Then I wrapped it and tied it with a ribbon. I presented it to him as if it were a gift to the king. When he opened it, he read it and I picked up his stuffed bear (conveniently nearby) and placed it next to the card. We looked at bears in books and pretended to be bears. It was a lovely word and such an enjoyable game. You could do this every day, or once in a while, but it conveys the importance of words to your child. Try hiding the words in Easter eggs, or putting them into balloons and popping them.

It's also important to read with your child. I know how overwhelming it is to try to share books, but you can find a way. Our son would sit on my lap facing me (or sideways) with the book facing him. We started out with very simple books rich with beautiful illustrations. Photograph books are also very good for young children. We even made books for our son. One was simply photographs of family members, and underneath I had written their names. I had been worried he wouldn't remember the family between visits. We read the book over and over, creating sign names for each family member. In another book were pictures of our son doing different activities. Under each I wrote simple phrases: 'Eating an apple,' 'Going for a walk,' 'Sleeping' etc. Kids LOVE to look at pictures of themselves.

Cooking is another way to increase language and literacy. My son loves to make brownies. He is now 9 and can make brownies from scratch. He is so proud of them! Recipes have words that are very meaningful to him...he loves to eat!

I think just finding ways to be a regular mom with your deaf child are so important. Moms do a lot for their children. Not just taking care of them, but teaching them along the way. We don't have to be teachers. We just incorporate the teaching into our care giving and playing.

Pam writes:

Shoebox game: Each player gets a shoebox with objects. Each object shares the same attribute as an object in someone elses box. Players take turns asking "who has something....(round, black, to write with, that flies etc)" Everyone must look through their box to see if they have something. After the items are compared/discussed the next player gets to ask until all the objects are gone. Sometimes all players have an object that fits the description but they may not be identical, other times only one other player has an object to match the description. With very young kids I use objects with associated sounds (animals, vehicles) to work on basic auditory identification tasks. With the preschool/kinder kids it's a great way to show them there is often more than one right answer. I've had several wonderful debates about the answers such as why a pencil and a penny were both round or a rabbit and a motorcycle were both fast. This can also be used for categorization, initial consonants, associated objects and many other skill areas.

Dave writes:

I have a game called "race to the middle". I put two pieces of masking tape about three feet away from each other and place a candy in the middle. I then put out tons of different objects just past that. The object of the game is to select objects to line up from your piece of tape. The objects must touch. The first to reach the middle with their line of objects/toys eats the candy. To touch two objects though, you have to say why those objects are alike. Say I've started with a pencil. I can then on my next turn say "A pencil is for writing and I see something else for writing" When the other person finds the object (you may have to give more clues) you can lay it next to the pencil leading towards the candy. I put a yo-yo out and suprise the other player by stretching out the string but let them win if they argue well. You get into a lot of descriptive language and creative thinking with this game. You can play this at any level without the "similar feature" rule. Just describe or name the object you want - any will do.

Naomi writes:

Our son's AV-Therapist has been spending some of his school visit time actually extending him in the area of role play, what if?, what happened next. This has been fantastic for him as he previously took everything literally. If you showed him a picture and said what happened next, he would immediately take it into the realms of something that happened at home to him, mum, dad etc. So they began taking our son together with three or four hearing peers and using a series of pictures to tell a story. They would all follow the story and then take turns with and what do you think happened next? Initially the hearing kids went first and our son began to get the idea of what he was supposed to do. So then he would start going first. Then it was made more difficult by using just one picture with a situation and the kids had to take it to what happened next? Then they could take turns and actually role play the whole thing. He has improved dramatically in his ability to look beyond him and everything really literal and extend the thought processes involved. These sort of skills are so necessary for successfully mainstreaming and in social situations.

Carrie writes:

Our daughter's teacher this year wears a lot of long dresses with no pockets, so she has one of those "tommy hilfiger" type neck deals (I think they are really key chains) that she made out of pretty ribbon, and wears the FM transmitter like a necklace.

Dana writes:

I noticed that my son uses the expression form "I can, too" or "I do, too" etc. correctly, and periodically, he tries "So are I" (wrong!) or "So I, too" (wrong!) so I starting playing a silly game of flattery or fun things with him:

Me (Mom): I AM SO SMART!
and my son has to say: SO AM I!
Me: I LOVE PIZZA!
My son: SO DO I!
Me: I HAVE BROWN HAIR!
My son: SO DO I!
(In the beginning while we were practicing he often said SO AM I or SO CAN I inappropriately, but then caught on).
Me: I CAN READ!
My son: SO CAN I!

Then, my son had to start complementing himself and I had to respond, and we had a lot of giggles telling each other how wonderful we are!

Birgit writes:

To improve discussion skills: This tool is easy, versatile and effective.

Draw a circle on a piece of paper. Write the names of the people participating in the discussion in the circle. Each person gets a set amount of coins (10). Whoever says a sentence can get rid of one coin by putting it on his name in the circle.

We used pictures from a View Master as discussion topic (Child cannot see lips when viewing). Lea talked about what she saw (Aladdin and Jasmine), we made comments like "how does Jasmine look", "I want to see", "let me have a turn", "What else do you see?". We took turns viewing pictures with the view master. It got her attention, her excitement, her interest to talk, the need for communication. The whole communication is fast-paced, free, and non-modeled. Nobody gave Lea "a turn to talk", she had to integrate herself.

Another day, we used picture cards of famous places (Statue of Liberty, Rushmore mountain, Eiffel tower- all from Frank Schaffer Publications) and talked about vacation, experiences and stories connected to those places using again the trick with the coins to speed up the pace of the discussion.

Naomi writes:

My son has been doing multi element instructions lately and is really enjoying this therapy idea. We have 2 clowns (cardboard) with 3 complete outfits of clothing each. Each set of clothing has the same colour jumper, pants and shoes. We put up a barrier between us and one of us dresses our clown and then gives the other the instructions to dress theirs the same, e.g. the orange jumper, the blue pants and the purple shoes. When we have finished we pull back the barrier, (with the appropriate fan fare) and cheer when they look the same. Each outfit has a piece of clothing of each of the 3 colours e.g. orange jumper, orange pants and orange shoes. Similarly for blue and purple. In this way, my son must remember the colour and the item of clothing for each of the instructions.

Wendy writes:

We invented an auditory training exercise this week that was really motivating. In our apartment, and covering my mouth, I challenged her: "Who can get to the refrigerator first". Then we raced there. Then: "Who can get to the bathroom sink first." Boy, when she was invested in winning that race, she really listened. I used phrases too, like the lamp next to the TV, and taught her new vocabulary, like air conditioner. This could also be played outside.

A therapist writes:

I thought of an idea to help remind kids to use specific speech sounds outside of the therapy room. The child should be old enough to understand letter/sound relationships. Have the child make 6-10 of the letter (to correspond to the sound you are trying to develop). I made "s" pogs with some kids, others just drew really fancy ones. Then post them around the house (next to the TV, on the refrigerator, in the bathroom etc.) In a few days reposition them so they get noticed again. When the child can easily produce the sound but just forgets this is a useful way to gently remind them throughout the day. One child found the pog in her coat pocket one day and in her lunch box the next. Who knows where they can pop up?

A teacher writes:

Here is one idea my student really liked. I use Therapy Rings. I purchased a ring to put 3x5 cards on. My student writes several new words, phrases and sounds to practice, each week. He then practices speech by flipping through the cards with someone else. He even enjoys practicing his speech with peers. My student is fully included in a regular class. By fourth grade some of the vocabulary was very challenging for him to say. The teacher sent a list, each week, for us to practice. After doing some drill practice we played games and he choose the words he wanted to practice or thought he needed to practice. The ring is easy to store. My student even pins it up in a certain locations in the classroom and at down times he will often grab the ring and practice.

Pam writes:

Continuity of speech sounds: Singing is the greatest way to promote continuity of speech sounds and build awareness of melody and intonation patterns. Sometimes it's hard for kids to focus on melody as they are trying to remember the words to songs and say them correctly at the same time. I try to include humming as a way to simplify the task. It's still quite a challenge!

The flow and intonation of connected language is very important for speech to be intelligible. Sometimes we get so caught up in the production of specific speech sounds we don't notice that is not the most interfering problem. Choppy speech (breaking between each word) can be quite distracting for someone listening.

Treasure Chest: decorate a box and begin collecting items from special or fun events. It becomes a 3D experience book. In a few months (on some rainy day) take turns selecting an object from the box to talk about. It's a great conversation starter. By talking about events from the past you will have lots of opportunities to stress past tense verb forms. Types of objects to collect: napkin from a birthday party, photographs, a ticket stub, a brochure, an invitation, a feather from the park etc.

Twister: Place pictures or objects on the floor. If you are really creative, make cards or a game spinner to help formulate the directions. This is great for two element recall: Put your foot on the pizza. or even longer directions: put your left hand on the truck and your right elbow on the bear.

Noncompetitive game: play a board game by sharing the same game piece. It makes games go quicker for the young kids. It also makes it easier on the sore losers because there is no loser, it's just fun to play for "just for fun"

Brand name game: (grade 2 or 3 and up) Cut out brand name labels and glue them on index cards. Take turns guessing what product the company makes. Only show the label if they don't know it when you present it "auditory only". It's great listening practice to tell the child the word and have them repeat it, because most of them will by unfamiliar without the visual cue. Once the kids begin to develop awareness of brand names play it in reverse: make a set of cards with a product on each one (cars, ketchup, soap, shampoo) and take turns naming a brand. I've had lengthy discussions regarding sales gimmicks, coupons, advertising, with the older kids I see.

Synonym game: (requires reading) Make a synonym card game together. Write two synonyms (one per card) such as "pal" and "friend", "laugh" and "giggle" etc. Then use the cards to play memory or go fish.

Humor: Many greeting cards are developed around linguistic puns. Save any you receive to build a collection. When children begin to "get it" they can try to make their own humorous greeting cards.

Patricia writes:

My daughter is now almost 6 years old and is (near) totally deaf. She received her Cochlear Implant when she turned 2 and has been in auditory-verbal therapy since before then. She is doing quite well.

Early on, I was having problems teaching Samantha anticipation. Her therapist suggested pasting cutouts of fast food wrappings onto a calendar and tell her "we'll go to McDonald's tomorrow", etc. I took it several steps further and devised a calendar that we still use today.

I took a piece of soft "Velcro" material (about 1 foot by 1 foot) and drew lines on it to separate "days". I velcroed on written days of the week. (Later I "accidentally" mixed up the days and without prompting, she fixed them herself without any help...so much for my attempt to teach her the order :) ...she taught herself). I then made representations of just about everybody and everything and velcroed them onto the calendar. (faces with names, a school house, fire station, food, etc.) I laminate all the items, but it's probably not necessary. Samantha always is able to tell her mainstream teacher what today is, what was yesterday, what is tomorrow...less than half of the regular students can do this. Best of all, she learned about past future and present.:) I obtained the Velcro material (and a lot of other great stuff) from CREATIVE EDUCATIONAL SURPLUS. They are a mail order company that sells many great therapy tools at ridiculously low prices. Jars for hiding things, colored masking tape, funnels for pouring...just loads of stuff.

CREATIVE EDUCATIONAL SURPLUS

9801 James Circle, Suite C

Bloomington, Minnesota 55431

(800) 886-6428

Birgit writes:

We sometimes use M&M's or other small candy for speech therapy (it has the reward build in).

Proper pronunciation of the "k" sound. Place M&M on your tongue and show how it moves back with the tongue when pronouncing the "k" sound.
Use candies for counting by twos, fives, tens. (of course do not allow to eat them all).
Follow directions: Please give me the red M&M first, then the yellow one and the blue one last.
Guessing: who has more candy, who has less, who has the most or least.
Making blend sounds. Say Bla-blablablabla with a candy on the tongue tip.

We often use stickers for speech. I screen drug stores and stationary scores for stickers. Look for stickers that show actions, something silly etc. Some sticker pages have a background printed on it.

Sport stickers: Show me the girl who is playing soccer What are the children doing? What is your favorite sport and why?
Skeleton stickers: Name the bones. After all stickers have been removed, ask: Which bone is missing?
Silly stickers: There are no horses with tutus. There aren't horses with tutus (Contractions) This sticker is silly because elephants can not fly. (Reasoning) I do not believe that a fish wears a bow. I think this is not true, because.....
Faces: This boy looks happy, maybe because... I think this girl looks embarrassed.
Cartoon Stickers: The dog is riding a bicycle (learn present progressive) The green fish with the red scale in swimming in the blue water (elaboration).
Professions stickers: If I were an astronaut, I would fly on a rocket ship (pretending, if sentences). I would like to be a ballerina because I like to wear pink tutus (I would like to...) I think a doctor is important because..
People around the world stickers: The Eskimo wears a furry hat because it is cold where he lives. The Chinese woman wears a straw hat to protect her from the sun when working.
Animal Stickers: Show me the animal that has 4 legs, a lot of fur and eats fish. (Auditory processing) Which animals lay eggs? (are marsupials, are mammals...) Show me either the snake or the fish (either or) Show me the snake, the elephant but not the fish. (but not)
There are stickers for Halloween language, Thanksgiving, Holidays, Fable animals, Barbie, lots of possible ways to get the child to speak.

We use flash cards (two different sets of 92 cards with pictures and words) for speech therapy.

Categories: What does a chair, a dresser and a table have in common? Show me the one that does not belong. Which of these is made out of wood? Can you find the items that start with a? Draw cards and match them by a category. The person who has 4 cards of a certain category wins. You can make up categories like: items a boy would like, items that feel hard etc.
Put in order: Put the bird, the cup, the house and the ice cream in alphabetical order.
Describing: My item is made out of wood, is rectangular, is a furniture and is used keeping my socks, what is it?
Requesting information: Is your item a thing or an animal? What color is it? Does it live in the house? 5) Math concepts: Who is tall, taller, the tallest? Who is the fastest, etc.

We pretend to be Pinocchio: Put the forefinger on the nose. Make a statement. If it is false pretend, the nose is growing by moving the finger and saying whoooosh. The nose gets shorter if somebody tells the truth. Easy concepts first like: it is sunny outside. More difficult subject like the birds feed their babies with milk. Or the Polar bear migrates to warmer regions in winter. This is a lot of fun and introduces the concept of lying/telling the truth, right or wrong, true or false.

We use a binocular (bi-knock-you-lar) to make speech therapy interesting: Look at daddy through the binocular and find out that daddy is: a man, a father, a husband, a spouse, a son, a brother, an uncle, a friend, a human, a person, a male, a citizen etc. , Look at the child and find out that it is: a child, a kid, a person, a human, a female, a daughter, a friend, a mother? ("of course mommy, look at all my baby dolls"), a grandchild, a niece, a student, a peer, etc.

We use stuffed animals for role playing: The little critter often gets the role as the mean character who has to be disciplined by my daughter.

We do role playing: I prepare a shoebox filled with stuff for one subject (at the doctor, in school, at the beach etc). My child has to take the role of the speaker (e.g. the doctor) who has to start and lead the conversation.

We work on verbal directions: I prepared a couple photos of different arrangements of a group of little toys (1-2 inch toys include a table, a sofa, a chair, a lamp, a vase, a rug some little figures and animals, all dollhouse size). My daughter can choose one photo and has to give me verbal directions on how to place the toys that they will match the arrangement on the photo. I am not supposed to see the photo and she has to be precise in her directions. E.g. "Put the chair next to the sofa" is a good direction but it does not tell left or right of the sofa. I try to choose the wrong one in order to create the need for her to tell me "No, not the right side, please put the chair left of the sofa, and close to it".

Consonant-vowel activity: Write a consonant (e.g. /k/) onto your child's palm with a washable marker. Write the 5 vowels on the 5 fingertips. Draw lines from the fingertip to the palm and back to one fingertip saying: AKU, EKI, UKO, IKE, etc.

Elaine Gibson writes:

Anne Sullivan, teacher of Hellen Keller told Hellen's mother that she can only teach a child she can control. How true. Many deaf/hoh oral children with a significant language delay have to deal with lots of frustration if they cannot express themselves age appropriately. How to deal with it as a parent? We most likely use words to explain, teach, discipline. Here is the catch. If the child does not understand the word or the concept it cannot be disciplined? Wrong.

Tom Phelan's book: 1,2,3 magic introduces a way to discipline the child without the need of words. It is simple and best of all- it works.

Behavior modification: Make a list of the types of behavior, you like your child to get rid of. Remember: Note only behavior that you see or hear (hitting, screaming, etc.). Have a number of little rewards around that you can give to your child if it didn't show the behavior. Food rewards, stickers etc. work fine initially. Later, praise might be appropriate.

Trade off: Have a list of undesirable behavior and a list of child's wishes. Trade them: if you don't kick your brother today, I will get you a movie for tonight.

Talk about feelings. Get a chart (or make one) with different facial expressions. Write the feeling underneath. The child needs to know more than sad or happy to express the way he feels.

When in public, observe people. Talk about facial expressions and feelings. It has been shown that children who are delayed in social skills often misinterpret a "neutral" situation as "hostile".

Show your child that you are not perfect either and how you deal with situations. "Oh gosh, I forgot to say thank you for aunt Annie's present. I hope aunt Annie is not disappointed. I will call her right now". " At work, my colleague was very nasty to me. I am very sad. I don't know why he was so nasty. Maybe he just didn't feel well. I will ask him tomorrow."

Sarcasm and irony are hard to understand for HoH/deaf people. You can train your child early on with funny situations of teasing.

Give the child different options to react in a conflict situation. Saying; "You are not supposed to do that! This is not nice" might not help your child to behave differently. Write options like "Make a deal", "Say no", "Go away", "Go to a different game", "Time out", "Chill off", "Count to ten", "Apologize (Say sorry)", "trade", "talk it over", "punch a pillow or something soft", "get out and breathe deeply in fresh air", etc. down and have him making his choice of conflict resolution. Hitting, kicking and yelling of course are no options.

Confront your child with what he is saying and how, model kindness. "You said: Go awaaaaayyy!!!" "Go awaaaaayyyyy!!!!!!" is one way to say it, another way is to say "Excuse me please, I played with this first. Please give it back to me."

Request for clarification is crucial for every HoH/deaf oral child. You can make a game out of it. Write down a number of possible requests the child needs to learn like: "I did not hear you", "Sorry, I didn't understand that word", "please say it again", "I don't know", "what do you mean?", " I don't understand what you are talking about", "please talk slower", "excuse me?", "please talk louder". Let the child choose the appropriate request for clarification from a number of demands, questions and statements. Include vague demands like: "put this one over there", "hand me the one I told you about", etc.

Self esteem is important. Many HoH/deaf kids think they are not smart enough because they do not understand the teacher. Learn with them how to overcome shyness and have them ask. Many directions from teachers are unclear, vague, too long, out of context, dependent on some kind of previous knowledge, use sophisticated vocabulary, etc. If the child is able to identify that the teacher did not make himself clear then the child will more likely be able to ask.

Special games can help children to learn social skills. Games for special needs are sampled in the catalogue "Child's work, Child's play". This catalogue is really nice. It has kindness games, listening games, games that teach responsibility, teach completing a task in a certain time, etc. their phone number is 1-800-962-1141. The games cannot be found in a toy store, they are for psychologists but they are really great.

Note: Elaine Gibson is a psychologist

Cheryl writes:

Working on vocabulary? If your child is in grades four up, grab a child's thesaurus and let the child find new words for words in a sentence or paragraph he or she has written. My son did this with his book reports in grade four. Thus, characters were "well-mannered" rather than "nice"; brown spots were "immense" rather than "big"; the book was "sensational" rather than "good"; and, my personal favorite, a character was not "a big help" ... he was "a considerable support" (I wrote a note to the teacher to assure her that I had not written the report or selected the words)! Let the child choose the words and only interfere if the word is too strange (e.g. in the last example, "assist" would not have worked for "help" in the sense that my son used it. Vocabulary and variety in expression can both be expanded by using a child's thesaurus. Watch the thesaurus you get. We use a "first thesaurus"; they are full of great vocab and omit vocab even my students in high school struggle with (I'm a teacher).