Jj is for Jottings 112. What is Neuroplasticity?
Just what is neuroplasticity? It is the term which describes a sequence of processes that take place in your brain in response to incoming stimuli. In other words, your emotions, behaviours, experiences and thoughts physically change the way your brain functions.
“What is neuroplasticity? I think it is – if I keep practising balancing, I’ll get better at it.”
Jj is for Jottings 106. Strategies to Encourage Listening to Sounds in Words.
In the previous article I said that I would discuss general strategies to encourage listening to sounds in words, rather than visualising them. As I said, I have found no hard and fast rules, but these types of activities are helpful.
Shanti is coming to tell us all about strategies to encourage listening to sounds in words.
Jj is for Jottings 105. Phonics: Visualising Versus Listening.
We have another major problem with phonics: visualising versus listening, in addition to the problems created when children don’t know their sound letter links, This is a problem I encounter frequently when working with children, but I have never heard anybody else mention it in those terms. I am referring to the fact that children often use their visual modality when they need to be using their auditory modality. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 104. Sound-Letter Links and Less Regular Words.
Once children know their sound-letter links thoroughly, they are then able to sound out any 100% regular word. These could be real words or nonsense words of any length, as long as one letter equals one sound (with the basic exceptions here). But what of sound-letter links and words which are less regular?
Learning the basics before moving on to sound-letter links and less regular words. Baby alpacas like to learn their sound-letter links, too, it seems. (From the Border Mail, 2014. Photo by Tara Goonan.)
Jj is for Jottings 98. Reading Difficult Words.
Reading difficult words is not an issue with this book!
When your child starts to read aloud to you, they will often have problems with reading difficult words. These words may be just long, or tricky in other ways, such as having several consonants together. (See consonant clusters). Or they could have vowel patterns which are unfamiliar, the rules for which they don’t yet know. It is important to give children time to try to work out the word for themselves. This helps develop reading skills. However, when they get really stuck you will need to help them out. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 97. Reading-Aloud Games.
Following on from interactive reading with children, here are some ideas for “reading-aloud games” which you can play with children while reading stories with them. The idea is to be spontaneous, just playfully engaging in banter whilst actually providing wonderful learning opportunities as a bonus. It may sound strange, saying to be spontaneous and then making suggestions as to what to do. But it is helpful to see the types of games you can play and, once you have the idea, you can invent your own activities in the moment. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 94. Phonological Awareness, Phonemic Awareness and Phonics.
Learning phonics with this book helps with phonemic awareness and phonological awareness skills, too.
You may have heard the terms “phonological awareness”, “phonemic awareness” and “phonics” and wondered what they mean and whether they are different terms for the same thing. Let’s sort this out right now.
This is sound-letter links – i.e. learning which sound is made by each letter of the alphabet, and other sounds which are made by combining 2 or more letters. Children develop the concept that there are consistent relationships between letter symbols and sounds. This book is a great way to learn sound-letter links. But you need to make sure you are saying sounds rather than letter names. You can find this on the video. Continue reading
Jj is for Jottings 88. Hearing Loss Effects on Speech, Language and Literacy.
Hearing loss effects on Violet’s speech, language and literacy? None, because at this stage there is no evidence to suppose that Violet has a hearing loss. And Simon is certainly getting her off to a flying start with speech, language and literacy by reading “Aa is for Alpacas” to her.
Moving on from discussing fluctuating hearing loss in the previous article, we now turn our attention to the effects of hearing loss on speech, language and literacy. Continue reading
The alpacas and all of us here
Wish you and those you hold dear:
Christmas cheer, joy and love,
P’raps a peaceful white dove,
And we hope that you’ll join us next year.
You can see that Shanti isn’t feeling very angelic wearing a halo. Shikha batted it off with his paw every time.
And here is something that has just appeared in The Australian newspaper in the book review section on December 15-16, 2018.
Pretty good to get a recommendation nearly 5 years after publication!
Remember to keep reading to your young children throughout the holidays, and encourage the older ones to read for pleasure.
Jj is for Jottings 86. R-Controlled Vowels and Diphthongs.
There are other vowel sounds, apart from the short and long vowels. These include r-controlled vowels, schwa and diphthongs.
“Some of these r-controlled vowels and diphthongs are quite tricky to get your tongue around – if you’re an alpaca.”
When a vowel is followed by r, the sound changes, and the result is considered neither long nor short. These are /ur/ as in fern, bird, and hurt; /ar/ as in park; and /or/ as in fork.
Note that Americans actually pronounce the /r/ in r-controlled vowels, including on the ends of words; we Australians do not. When I was first working as a speech pathologist Continue reading
