CONNECT

Growing smiles, mending spirits, engaging children in their lives

Adventure: It is time to use our Note from the Editor

magical telescope to see what is Thank you all so much for your
happening in our world today! Tell feedback on our first edition of
me all about who and what you see! Connect. We have made some
adjustments to reflect your
How to Play: Choose a mini-movie. comments. We have also
Use the buttons to watch clips of the included access to a backpack
sequence or the entire length. that will allow you to try out
Name the characters. Model what our feature games.
you would like your students to say. Username: Backpack
Let them have a turn at Password: Backpack1
commentating! Please let us know your
thoughts!
Target Skills: Answering “What is Joanne@tinyeye.com
he/she doing?” describing “what is
happening?”, using pronouns (he,
"Remember there's
she, they), & growing sentences and
Try PTR as described on page two! no such thing as a
reasoning skills.
small act of kindness.
Every act
creates a ripple with
Today’s Topic:
Topic: Language – Marnee Brick,
Brick, SLP no logical end."
English is a funny language; that explains why we park our car on the driveway
and drive our car on the parkway. ~Author Unknown ~Scott Adams

Our newsletters will focus, in part, on how to help develop language skills. Today, we Telepractice Tidbit
want to offer you a quick overview of what language is. When you stand before your
class, you are surrounded by language. Your students need receptive language skills Assessment via Telerepractice
to understand what they are hearing and reading. Therefore, when you give
Anne Jane Hill; Deborah
directions, share information, or ask questions, you are requiring the children to use Theodoros; Trevor Russell; and
their receptive language skills. Alternatively, your students need expressive language Elizabeth Ward published a study
skills to talk and write about their experiences and ideas. For example, when they published in the International
use words to name objects or actions, combine words into sentences to offer an idea, Journal of Language &
and combine sentences into stories to describe experiences, your students are using Communication Disorders.
expressive language. Language is different from speech, because speech relates to Their aim was to determine if the
how we use our mouth, nose, and air stream to make specific speech sounds, such as assessment of apraxia of speech
“buh!” for “B”. Language is more about the meaning of the words; rather than how using a standardized assessment
clearly words are produced. To use our expressive and receptive language well, we tool was feasible via
need to develop skills in the three key areas of language. telerehabilitation.
The results indicated that there
Form – Sentence formulation (i.e. The-ball-is-bouncing); word creation (i.e. prefixes: were no significant differences
incomplete and unhappy; suffixes: cats and jumping) between the scores of the test
obtained in telerehabilitation and
Content – Word meanings (i.e. What does ‘cat’ or ‘fluffy’ mean?); relationships in face-to-face test environments.
between words (i.e. a CAT is a kind of animal, and a tiger is a kind of CAT). http://www.informaworld.com/s
mpp/content~content=a9030655
Use – Social language: greetings, turn taking and maintaining topics, interacting or 37~db=all~jumptype=rss
playing with friends, engaging in activities in a respectful manner, appropriate (non
verbal ) use eye contact and body language.
 Fluff and Stuff Classroom Tips – Marnee Brick, SLP
PTR: Enriching Multiple Language Skills with One Trick

When trying to support children who have language delays, how can
you possibly address grammar, sentence structure, verb tenses,
pronouns, concepts and other skills all at once – while teaching an
entire class? A good place to start is to integrate PRE-TELLING;
TELLING, and RE-TELLING (PTR) into your activities. Use PTR for any
classroom or academic activity. Just for fun, I will explain the concept
using the experience for making snow (sand) angels. I will also
incorporate the sequencing words: First, then/next, last. A tip is to set
up an adventure about what is going to be interesting about this
“When my snow angel melts, it will activity. Demonstrate or use gestures, props, or pictures to give the
become a dandelion.” children more visual information. Enrich language by making
~Taylor, age 7 statements like, “I wonder what …? Involve multiple senses. For
instance, talk about what the snow might look/feel/taste/sound like.
Watch what happens to the verb “wave” as each step occurs below:

Pre telling – do this inside before you start (demonstrate): FIRST, we

Question and Answer will lie down on the snow. NEXT, we will wave our arms and legs across
Q: My child has a small vocabulary and has the ground. LAST, we will stand up.
difficulty labelling objects (i.e. crayons), actions Crunch crunch crunch across the snow we go!
(i.e. colouring) and concepts (i.e. sizes, colours, Tell – do this during the task: FIRST, we are lying down on the snow.
shapes, position, describing words). It is also
NEXT, we are waving our arms and legs across the ground. LAST, we
are standing up!
hard for him to organize and share his ideas. He
Retell – do this after you are done: FIRST, we lied down on the snow.
speaks in short sentences and uses vague terms
NEXT we waved our arms and legs across the snow. LAST, we stood up!
such as “this” or “there”. What can I do at
home?
Bonus: Have the children draw their angel making “story” and retell it
A: to you! Now you are addressing literacy, too!
o Be a gentle, clear model. Say what the child
would say if he or she could. For example - Around the Water Cooler
child: “Him goed home”; adult: “She went
home? Ok!”. “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your
o Give choices, too. Child: “juice please”; strength. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that
adult: “Do you want a ORANGE or GRAPE is strength.”
~ Arnold Schwarzenegger
juice
o Use gestures, or demonstrations to give
meaning to the words.
o Sum up your child’s ‘story’ in a concise way
so the child can start to learn the structure
of sharing an idea.
o Talk out loud about how you feel or what
you are doing.
TinyEYE won an award of excellence for health innovation. Being recognized for
o Be routine and repetitive with your innovation is heartening since it implies that something of value was created
comments and directions. because of an idea, blended in with all the factors that transcend a dream.

November 2009 ● Volume 1, Issue 2 ● TinyEYE Therapy Services ● (306) 955-1911