development

Motor Skills and Screen Time in Preschoolers.

Jj is for Jottings 165.  Motor Skills and Screen Time in Preschoolers.

We will now look at the topic of motor skills and screen time in preschoolers in some detail.  In Creativity in Children, Part 1 I noted a deterioration in young children’s fine motor skills over the last few years.  I suggested that creative activities involving fine motor skills may have been partly or completely replaced by screen time. It is not just fine motor skills which suffer from replacement by screen time, but gross motor skills as well. Continue reading →

The Connection Between Literacy and Music.

Jj is for Jottings 162.  The Connection Between Literacy and Music.

There is a strong connection between literacy and music. Here, music includes learning a musical instrument and/or singing.  It actually goes further: children who learn and practise music also have improved performance in executive function, arts and mathematics. (The core areas of executive function are working memory, inhibitory control, and selective attention.)  Let’s go into why this is the case. Continue reading →

Creativity in Children, Part 2.

Jj is for Jottings 160.  Creativity in Children, Part 2.

Following on from Part 1, we will now go into more activities in greater detail in Creativity in Children, Part 2.  In order for creativity to flourish, it is important for us to slow down and create the time and headspace to allow room for creativity.  Don’t fall into the trap of having your child’s time completely filled with planned activities.  There needs to be unplanned time when you can seize the moment, rather than bustling along to the next activity.  Simply getting out and about can lead to all sorts of observations and spark creative thoughts and ideas.  And leave those screens at home. Continue reading →

Speech Sound Problems: /k,g/.

Jj is for Jottings 153.  Speech Sound Problems: /k,g/

We have previously learned about /s/ as a speech sound problem.  Let us now focus on speech sound problems: /k,g/.  As always, if your child makes speech errors, you need to know whether the error is actually appropriate for age.  (In which case, is it actually an error?  Perhaps an “age-appropriate substitution”!)  You can find out the rough developmental ages for speech sounds here. Continue reading →

Speech Sound Problems: /s/

 

Jj is for Jottings 139.  Speech Sound Problems:/s/.

Probably one of the first sounds that springs to mind when one thinks of speech sound problems would be /s/ and, more specifically, a lisp.  (Remember that the slashes / / mean that we pronounce the sound; ‘s‘ or s means to say the letter name.  I think I may have done both at some point.  Certainly it is underlined in Aa is for Alpacas.)

The word “lisp” generally refers to the tongue tip protruding between the teeth for /s,z/.  (Note that /s,z/ are minimal pairs, and therefore have the same error. For the sake of ease I shall refer to just /s/ from now on, but remember that what refers to /s/ also refers to /z/.)   Some definitions of a lisp are much broader, and refer to any speech sound problem involving any or all sibilant sounds.  Since this is cause for confusion, I am not going to use the term “lisp” at all.  This particular /s/ problem is called an interdental /s/.  “Inter” means “between”, and of course “dental” means “teeth”, so there can be no confusion about what it is. Continue reading →

Brain Gym.

Jj is for Jottings 138.  Brain Gym.

WHAT IS BRAIN GYM?

Brain gym is a series of movements which claim to enhance whole-brain learning.  An alternative term is “educational kinesiology”.  The word “education” comes from the Latin educare, which means “to draw out”.  “Kinesiology” is from the Greek root kinesis, which means “motion” and is the study of the movement of the human body. Continue reading →

Auditory Processing Disorders.

Jj is for Jottings 137.  Auditory Processing Disorders.

Following on from auditory skills and developing auditory processing skills, we now turn our attention to auditory processing disorders.  There are so many conflicting ideas in the literature as to exactly what constitutes auditory skills. One could really become bogged down by this and therefore any resulting disorders.  There is even disagreement as to whether it should be “auditory processing disorders” or “central auditory processing disorders.”  I’ve decided to go with the thinking that “central” implies problems only at the brain level and consequently limits the definition.

Picture of woman reading "Aa is for Alpacas" book to a group of children, with baby alpacas in the background, and the caption: "Auditory processing disorders - attempting to prevent them is a good policy."

Auditory processing disorders – attempting to prevent them is a good policy.

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Developing Auditory Processing Skills.

Jj is for Jottings 136.  Developing Auditory Processing Skills.

Following on from the article on auditory skills, we turn to the topic of developing auditory processing skills.  An article on communication milestones from 12 months to 5 years can be found here.   But now we will explore the development of auditory processing skills in a little more detail.

Photo of man reading to 2 children, with the caption: One general way of developing auditory processing skills is to read to your children.

One general way of developing auditory processing skills is to read to your children.

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Learning Vocabulary.

Jj is for Jottings 131. Learning Vocabulary.

Learning vocabulary – the words a person knows and uses – is a lifelong process. Talking to and reading with your child right from the start is a good recipe for a child to develop a rich vocabulary.  I have talked about vocabulary in previous articles, mainly in the context of reading with children and children reading for themselves.  But, given that vocabulary is so important, I thought it was worth going into a little further.

Photo of a father reading to a young child with the caption: Learning Vocabulary. The User Guide in "Aa is for Alpacas" explains how to use the book to enhance vocabulary skills.

Learning Vocabulary. The User Guide in “Aa is for Alpacas” explains how to use the book to enhance vocabulary skills.

Continue reading →