Before an infant/toddler (1 to 2 years +) can talk they will often use gestures to help them get what they want, or let you know that they want you to do something again. Quite often these gestures are only really understood by you, this makes it difficult for others to understand your child, causing them to become frustrated at the lack of response.
Although your child’s receptive language (understanding what is being said and asked of them) is developing well, their expressive language (telling others what they want and think) is far more limited, with them only being able to say around 20 words. The frustration of understanding but not being able to communicate leads to what is commonly known as ‘The Terrible Twos’. Sign language can be a very powerful tool to help you and your child to manage and lessen these communication frustrations.
Phonological awareness skills relate to our sensitivity and understanding of the sound structures of our spoken (oral) language. It enables us to progress from our awareness of large sound units (words in sentences) to smaller sound units (phonemes in words). It also incorporates the ways in which we communicate through speech, body language and written forms.
Research suggests that our phonological awareness (Stage 1: https://www.teachphonics.co.uk/phonological-awareness-stage-1.html) begins in the womb at about 24 weeks. New born babies have a preference for their mother’s voice, as they have had an extended period of time hearing the voice before they are born, and so find it comforting. They do not understand the words, just the sound, rhythm and intonation of her speech pattern; more like music.
So, talk to your baby even before they are born, they will not understand what you are saying but their brain is busy; starting to store sound information that will later help them to understand language and learning to speak.
Babies initially have no language preference; they respond only to the sounds and facial gestures and mouth shapes that accompany them.
How you talk to your baby also has an impact; research has shown that babies prefer you to talk to them using regular words (normal adult vocabulary) in a slightly higher pitched and more sing-song way. Although many adults do this naturally when talking to babies it has become known as ‘Parentese’ and is very different from ‘Baby Talk’. For more information about ‘Parentese’: https://www.teachphonics.co.uk/how-to-speak-parentese.html
At about the age of 4 years old children start to develop an understanding that words can be split into sound parts (syllables) and that these parts give the word its rhythm. A syllable is the largest phonological unit (one or a group of sounds) of a word and is like the rhythmic beat of the word.
A fun activity to help develop syllable understanding:
How Many Syllables?
Children love to clap out the number of syllables in a word. It is important to say the word at a normal speed rather than really slowly as this can distort the word and make it difficult to hear the syllables. To start with a child just needs to be able to recognize them by clapping, stamping or jumping for each syllable of a word; they don’t need to be able to count them. It is thought that only about 50% of children can count out the syllables by the age of 4, so you can do the counting for them.
Spoken syllables are organised around the vowel sounds, making counting them easy; as the jaw drops when the vowel sound is spoken in the syllable. Try placing your hand under your jaw with your mouth closed before you say a word. Start with ‘cat’ you will notice the jaw drops once; this is because it is a one syllable (monosyllabic) word.
Most children will find it easier to identify syllables in compound words to start with. A compound word is formed by two words (root words) put together such as: sunset, hotdog, snowman and postman. They find it easier because the jaw tends to drop quite distinctly as we say the vowel sound in each of the root words and because we tend to say these words slowly.
Young children develop their vocabulary and understanding of sound patterns within words through word play.
Rhyme awareness and the enjoyment of alliteration begins early, usually between the ages of 2 and 3 years old (Stage 3 of phonological awareness: https://www.teachphonics.co.uk/phonological-awareness-stage-3.html ). This develops in to an important tool, supporting a child in developing an understanding of how words are formed and the sound patterns within them. These are important pre-phonics skills a child needs to develop to support their future ability to succeed with phonics, reading and writing.
This Rhyme awareness is supported and developed through the singing of songs and nursery rhymes and finger chants. Alliteration (words that begin with the same sounds) such as ‘Sammy snake slithers silently’, which children love to hear in rhymes and stories, also supports their word knowledge and understanding of sounds in words.
Being able to repeat, and join in with, short phrases they have anticipated in a story or rhyme, is another important step in a child beginning to understand the use of words in stories and story structure; such as, “I’ll huff and puff and blow your house down!” in the story of The Three Little Pigs.
For more information on this, and other pre-phonics skills (Phonological Awareness) your child develops through from birth to 7 +years old, check out the Pre-phonics section of our website: https://www.teachphonics.co.uk/phonological-development.html
Developing #Listening & #Speaking Skills – Games to Encourage Talking and Language Knowledge
A few weeks ago, we explained the importance of developing your child’s word awareness skills here are some further games ideas to encourage them to use this new language.
Playing tapes or CDs of nursery rhymes and children’s song are good for helping your child to make the distinction between the music and words (language used) in them. It is a good idea to practise this skill when there are no other noise distractions.
When your child points at something tell them the name of the object, for example if they point at an apple, say “Apple”.
Try to use the new word in context regularly as repetition of the word will help your child to remember it and reinforce the meaning of the word.
Try playing some action songs and rhymes to help your child learn the actions for the rhyme, then let them have a go on their own. Watch them to see if they can do some of the actions at the right time in the song, to see if they are listening for the right cue words. If they are struggling, explain they have to wait for certain words and show them what to do and when to do it.
If they are trying to say a word, let them finish and then say it back to them clearly and correctly. Do not make them repeat it back to you, they may choose to do so but make it their choice.
Repeat and expand on what your child says, so if they say “Dog!” you may say “A big dog!” This also helps them to develop an understanding of sentence structure.
Finger rhymes, such as ‘Round and Round the Garden’, ‘Pat-a-cake’ and ‘Incy Wincey Spider’ and action songs encourage your child to interact with words, the sounds within them and the rhythms they create. ‘Row, Row Your Boat’ is a lovely whole body movement song that encourages a rhythmic whole-body motion, which babies and toddler enjoy (as well as the adults).
Sharing and talking about the books you are reading helps to build word knowledge, as you point to the pictures, picking out different objects. Reading out aloud helps to introduce your child to words that they may not experience in their everyday talk. This helps to expose them to new vocabulary and the sounds to be found in those words.
Introducing and playing sorting games helps your child to build a mental filing cabinet system of categories, this helps them to remember and learn the meaning of words. Start by introducing simple categories of everyday items like food or clothes as their vocabulary increases categories such as colour, size and texture become more appropriate.
The Easter Holidays are here, so here are some fun activities to keep children of all ages entertained whether we have rain or sunshine.
A treasure hunt is a great way to teach children directional language. Being able to understand directional and placement (prepositions) vocabulary is important for understanding everyday instructions such as ‘put your cup on the table’; ‘go along the hall and stop at the door in front of you’.
We also use this directional language to explain how to draw patterns and write letters, which is another reason why it is important for young children to be introduced to, and have a good understanding of, this kind of vocabulary.
Through treasure hunts you can introduce new directional and placement language in a fun and exciting way. There are a number of different ways to approach this:
You can give verbal instructions to the hidden treasure.
You could create a map for them to follow and ask them to talk you through the map, supporting them with new language as necessary.
You could use a mixture of verbal and map clues.
For older children get them to hide the treasure and give you instructions, or draw a map.
If you have more than one treasure and they are of different sizes make the larger ones more difficult to find.
The important thing is the language shared. Words and phrases to use are: left, right, straight on, forward, backwards, about turn, turn around, up, down, higher, lower, stop, next to, in front, beside, underneath, on top of, behind, on the left of, on the right of, outside, and inside.
Treasure hunts are a great whole family activity and you are never too young or too old to join in!
Developing #Listening & Speaking Skills – Games to Develop Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness is our ability to split words into their smallest sound units (individual phonemes) and to manipulate these sounds through segmentation, blending, substitution and deletion. This is based on what we hear and say, not the written word.
These games are great for playing in the car or when waiting in queues and hopefully soon when out and about with other friends and family.
We usually introduce this concept to children using one syllable CVC words, a word that has a Consonant followed by a Vowel and then another Consonant, such as cat, dog, sit, peg and sun.
Play, ‘I hear with my little ear…’
This is based on the game I spy with my little eye. In this version you say;
“I hear with my little ear the words (for example) cat, cake, key and kite. What sound do these words begin with?” The answer is they begin with the sound ‘k’ remember it is about what they hear not the spelling or letter names.
To begin with focus on helping your child to identify the first sound in words, remember it is about what you hear not the spelling, so shop, ship, and chef all start with the same first sound ‘sh’; fish, photo, fog would also have the same initial ‘f’ sound. Try not to correct your child based on spelling conventions, as it is sounds you are working on – spelling comes later.
Next help your child to listen and identify the last sound in a word such as ‘t’ in cat, sit and hat.
Then focus on the medial, or middle, sound in the word such as ‘a’ in mat, lap and tap.
Once your child can identify the initial, medial and final sounds in a word the next step is to playing with the words through oral phoneme segmentation and oral phoneme blending. You are probably doing this already with your child without really realising it.
Segmentation – being able to split words into their individual sounds, for example ‘cat’ into c-a-t.
Play, ‘How many sounds (phonemes) can you hear?’
This is a simple oral segmentation game just ask; “How many sounds (phonemes) can you hear in the word ‘hat’? The answer is 3. If your child can not count, they can show you using their fingers. The important thing is for them to hear and pick out the individual sounds in the word not the number of letters used to spell the word.
Blending – being able to blend individual sounds together to say a word, for example d-o-g into dog. This is achieved by saying the sounds over and over again getting quicker until it sounds and can be identified as the word (a tricky skills to learn).
Play, ‘How many sounds (phonemes) can you hear?’
This oral blending game seems easy but can be very trick skill for some children to master, so do not be surprised if they find it hard to begin with. Use CVC words to begin with, but do keep trying as it is a very important skill to learn; be patient and over time they will get there.
These games are designed to help a child learn about the different levels of sound, pitch, tone and volume.
Music Fun
Skittle Band – Use, or make, a drum stick (wooden spoons are good for this) and explore with your child the different sounds the drum stick makes against objects made of different materials, such as steel saucepan, another wooden spoon, plastic bottles etc. Choose items that are safe and you are happy for them to play with. You could photograph the objects, record the sounds they make, or video (on your phone), to play back and talk about later on. Try moving the activity outside for a different sound quality experience.
Orchestral Conductor – Once your child is happy and enjoys playing and making sounds, with different objects and instruments, try the conductor game. You can use your hands or a baton to point and encourage them to play certain sounds just like an orchestral conductor does, but make sure you have a clear stop gesture which your child will understand (you may need to say stop at the same time as the gesture to begin with, but they will soon get the idea). Then swap places and you become the musician and they the conductor; it may not be a classic you create but it is great fun. As your child develops their skills you can add new elements and hand gestures to make the sound louder or softer.
Musical Bottles – Use plastic bottles with different amounts of water/sand in them and different things as a beater. Talk about how:
Low/deep or high pitched a sound is compared with another.
Using different beaters can change the quality of the sound when used on the same bottle.
Using different amounts of pressure to hit the bottle makes the sound louder (harsher) or quieter (softer).
Try organizing the bottles in order of pitch to create a musical instrument and using this as part of the Orchestral Conductor game. You could number each bottle or use a different picture on the bottle as a way of encouraging your child to play the bottles in different orders (making music).
Developing #Listening Skills – Sound Scanning Games
These games are designed to help a child learn how to block out ambient noises so that they focus and concentrate on one particular sound.
Games
The idea is to identify and talk about different sounds in different locations; in the park or at home in different rooms. Ask the child to listen for a moment (timed activity 30 seconds to start with then increase) and to pick out different sounds they can hear. Some will be close and easier to identify; other sounds may be further away and require more focused concentration to work out what they may be.
Sound Scanning Questions to help:
What can you hear that is far away?
What can you hear that is close by?
What can you hear that is loud?
What can you hear that is quiet?
What can you hear that makes a high-pitched sound?
What can you hear that makes a low-pitched sound?
What can you hear that sounds big?
What can you hear that sounds small?
Listening Walk Activities- You could record some of the sounds heard and talked about on the walk. Try changing the ‘What can you …?’ questions to ‘What did you…?’ Depending on your child’s age they may be able to draw a sound scape picture showing all the things they heard on the walk.
Where is the Sound? – The aim of the game is finding out where the sound is coming from. Start by using something that makes a good clear sound. Ask your child to cover their eyes (can use a blindfold) and have them sit or stand in the middle of the room. Move around the room, starting not too far away from them and make the sound. Pause between each sound to give your child time to settle and focus on it before you make the next sound. Try to keep an even, slow pace. The aim is for your child to point in the direction they believe the sound is coming from. Gradually move further away, maintaining the same sound level. Swap places with your child, so you have to guess where the sound is coming from.
To make it more challenging:
Change the volume of the noise.
Change the object that is making the noise.
Change the speed (rhythm), as well as the location, at which the sounds are made.
The key to good phonics skills is having good listening, speaking and vocabulary skills.
These are not just the elements for phonics and other literacy success but an essential for social communication skills as well.
Sadly, schools are reporting ever increasing concerns over the decline in young children’s speaking and listening skills. So, over the next 13 weeks, we are looking again at the different developmental elements of listening and speaking which in turn will support vocabulary development. Providing practical information, games and activities to help build a child’s skills.
Week 1. What is Listening?
Week 2. Games to Develop Listening Skills – Sound Screen Games
Week 3. Games to Develop Listening Skills – Sound Scanning Games
Week 4. Games to develop Listening Skills – Music Fun
Week 5. Games to develop Listening Skills – Phonemic Awareness
Week 6. Conversational Turn Taking Skills
Week 7. Different Types of Talk
Week 8. The Importance of Small Talk
Week 9. How to Encourage Your Child to Keep Talking
Week 10. Word Awareness
Week 11. Activities to Develop Talking & Language Skills
Week 12. Activities to Develop Rhyme & Alliteration
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