Jj is for Jottings 78. Sound Blending – “Look, Mummy, I Can Do It By Myself”.
Another Sound Blending Game.
Following on from the previous article on sound blending (see here), here’s another simple way to help your child blend sounds spoken by other people: Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 77. Blending Sounds: A Simple Game For Everyday Life.
What is Blending?
Blending is “pushing” individual sounds or syllables together to make a word. In early stages of reading the child will be blending sounds, but as they progress and begin to recognise chunks of words, they will also be blending syllables. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 76. Voice Disorders and Vocal Nodules.
Manuel is trying to open his mouth as widely as he can so we can see if he has vocal nodules.
In my last post I said I’d talk more about voice disorders and how they develop in children. Vocal nodules, also referred to as screamer’s or singer’s nodules, are a likely result of misuse and abuse of the voice. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 75. Voice Quality and Speech Intelligibility.
I was reminded the other day about the effects that voice quality can have on the clarity of a person’s speech. In addition to reduced speech intelligibility caused by speech sound problems (see here), poor voice quality can also interfere with the listener’s ability to understand the message. I was reminded by this: Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 74. Understanding Unclear Speech.
When a child’s speech is unclear, it could range from a single sound substitution such as a lisp (which is, in effect, saying /th/ instead of /s/ and which, although not perfectly clear, is perfectly intelligible) right through the continuum to multiple substitutions, omission of sounds and syllables, addition of sounds, and distortion of sounds – the result of which is likely to be largely or completely unintelligible. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 72. Single Words Versus Connected Speech.
Following on from the discussion about the end of a word not always really being the end (here), we find that, as a result of running our words together to get a smooth flow which is easier for the listener to follow, we can end up with strings of consonants together, as in, “He mends trucks.” Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 70. The End of a Word is Not Always the End.
In traditional tests of articulation (speech sounds) and when we are sounding out words in reading, we think very much in terms of sounds at the beginning, in the middle and on the end of a word. In the case of early stage reading and spelling using 3-sound words, we are asking, “What sound can you hear at the beginning of the word?” “What sound can you hear at the end of the word? “What sound can you hear in the middle of the word?” Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 69. /l/ Sound is Different on the End.
You probably haven’t thought about this before, but /l/ (the slashes indicate the sound rather than the letter name) is pronounced differently when it is the last sound in an utterance or followed by a consonant, compared with when it is followed by a vowel. And if that sounds like gobbledygook, Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 68. Communication Milestones.
Here is a chart put together by a group from Queensland and the National Office of Speech Pathology Australia which you may find useful.
Here is the link if you want to print copies.
www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/milestones
Jj is for Jottings 67. Reading Comprehension – Is Your Child Barking at Print?
When your child is reading to you, are you sure they (I’m using “they” to cover both boys and girls) are actually understanding what they are reading, or are they just barking at print? i.e. Reading the words correctly but not actually decoding them, so they really have no idea what they are reading. Continue reading
