The Magic of Books

The Magic of Books: How Reading with Children Builds Happy, Hungry Minds

By Specialist Speech and Language Therapist Frankie Paterson

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

— Dr. Seuss, “I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!”

Books take children to new places by helping them do well in school and in life. The stories they read take them on journeys in their imaginations where they can discover new worlds and meet new people whilst encountering language and ideas that enrich their lives. Reading helps children develop critical thinking skills and empathy for others and enhances their wellbeing and mental health.
We know all this. There is a wealth of research to prove it. And yet in 2019 it was found by the NLT (National Literacy Trust) that 383,755 children and young people in the UK didn’t have a single book of their own. Disadvantaged children were found to be even more likely than their peers not to own a book (9.3% vs 6%). *

So how does reading and being read to help children? In order to learn to read and write children first need a strong foundation of good spoken language skills. Children’s spoken language develops through the ‘back and forth’ of turn-taking in conversation, exposure to a wide range of words to build vocabulary and to songs, rhymes, books and stories, including establishing regular reading habits and something called dialogic reading.

Dialogic reading is an interaction, a shared experience between adult and child over a book. The adult follows the child’s interest and they chat together about what’s on the page or about experiences the child may have had that relate to the story. Doing this makes story reading a bonding experience that yields a great deal in the way of language learning. Dialogic reading might even go beyond the power of spoken conversation for developing children’s language skills.** Through dialogic reading children hear words in a variety of contexts. Pictures in books support the child’s understanding of the story and of the new words being encountered. Valuable discussion can be had about the meanings of words or the reason characters might have acted or thought in a certain way; this helps children develop analytical and inferential thinking. Dialogic reading helps young children develop joint attention with an adult which is vital for all their future learning. Children who read with their parents are more likely to go on to read books independently for pleasure. Reading for pleasure has been found to be more important to a child’s academic success than their parents’ socio-economic status. ***

We also know that children who read for pleasure have significantly better mental wellbeing than their peers who don’t. **** During the first national lockdown in 2020 an NLT survey found that 3 in 5 (59.3%) of the children and young people asked said that reading makes them feel better. *****

Regular reading routines benefit everyone in the family, not just children. The ‘bath book bed’ ritual offers parents and children protected time together amidst busy family life. The act of a parent reading to a child shows them they are important enough to get Mum or Dad’s attention in that moment and so can be hugely instrumental in building healthy attachment. Daily reading with children benefits adults too. Five to ten minutes a day of reading a book with your child is a quick way to increase your confidence in your parenting skills while having the fun and bonding experience of escaping into a story together.******

You don’t need to have great reading skills for this. Storytime should be an interaction between you and your child more than an exercise in reading ability. What can you see on the page? What might happen next? Why did a character do what they did? How might they feel? How did the story make you feel? You can get so much interaction and language out of just looking at a picture book together without reading any of the words. I do this all the time in my therapy with children. For parents who really struggle with reading there are silent picture books, containing no words at all, where captivating stories are told through illustrations alone.

Our Magic of Words in Books project is as much about getting families reading together as it is about donating books to children. For every therapy session we deliver in 2021 we will donate books to children who need them. Alongside this we are launching a campaign to show parents and educators how to share books with children in the way we do it in our therapy sessions.

I’ll leave you with some thoughts about how to get children passionate about reading. Most importantly make sure that they’re accessing books they’re excited and captivated by. Scour the library, local bookshop or online bookseller for books about things your child is into or that will capture their unique imagination. There are millions of books out there and you will be able to find some your child likes. Continue reading with your children way beyond the age they can read for themselves, carry on as long as they’ll let you! Ten minutes a day is enough. Even fitting in two or three minutes at different times in the day will do them, and you, the world of good.

* National Literacy Trust’s ninth Annual Literacy Survey, 2019.
** E. T. Rodriguez, C. S. Tamis-LeMonda, M. E. Spellmann et al., “The formative role of home literacy experiences across the first three years of life in children from low-income families,” Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, vol. 30, no. 6, pp. 677–694, 2009.
*** OECD (2010), PISA 2009 Results: Learning to Learn: Student Engagement, Strategies and Practices (Volume III)
**** The National Literacy Trust’s eighth Annual Literacy Survey of 49,047 children and young people aged 8 to 18 in the UK. https://literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/mental-wellbeing-reading-and-writing/
***** https://literacytrust.org.uk/news/jacqueline-wilson-our-first-author-week-our-relaunched-virtual-school-library-oak-national-academy/
****** Egmont’s Reading for Pleasure Survey February 2019. https://www.egmontbooks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/37/2020/05/Reading-for-Pleasure-2019-paper.pdf

5 reasons why SLTs should find out about dummy / pacifier use in pre-schoolers

By Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist, Rabab Sehr

Pacifiers or dummies are amazing tools for soothing children! They can provide real comfort to babies and young children. While they have that soothing ability it is wise to know when the use of a dummy or pacifier becomes damaging and no longer a useful tool to comfort young children. As Speech and Language Therapists we very often encounter children with unexplained speech sound disorders associated with structural impairments such as high arch palate or drooling without any noticeable muscle weakness. In these instances it is vital to find out if the child is still being given a dummy. Below are 5 reasons why we should be discouraging parents from giving dummies to children once they reach their first birthday:

1. Structural changes

So, what happens in the mouth when a child is sucking a dummy? Well the tongue cups the nipple of the dummy and depending on how often and hard the child is sucking; it pushes the dummy’s nipple against the child’s palate. This can cause permanent changes in the muscles and bones that can result in high arch palate.

2. Feeding delays

Remember all typical children go through the phase of ‘mouthing’, so when a child is sucking a dummy for a prolonged period, they are less likely to try new foods which can cause a delay in feeding development.

3. Reverse swallow pattern

Dummy sucking can encourage a reverse swallow pattern to develop. In simple terms it reinforces the front and back movement of the tongue as opposed to mature rotatory movement of tongue. This may result in poor chewing and digestive problems.

4. Drooling

During dummy use, the tongue is restricted from following a front - back movement pattern and the lips stay in a sealed posture around the dummy’s nipple. Very often when these dummy using children are not using a dummy they end up drooling because they are are un-practiced at the physical action of putting their lips into a sealed posture without their dummy. This means that they often have an ‘open mouthed posture’, causing them to drool.

5.  Speech and language delays

Prolonged dummy use can impact speech and language development due to the child experiencing a lack of opportunities to speak to those around them, because they have a dummy in their mouth.

If you are a parent who would like advice on whether using a dummy with your child is a good idea or not please contact us.

Helping teens with high-functioning Autism navigate social media

By Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist, Sonali Dutta

The ways in which we communicate have seen a drastic change in the last 10 years with social media making its way into our lives. Teenagers are at the very core of this expansive online community with your average teenager often being active in multiple platforms and apps. Through social media teenagers are greatly expanding their social reach and capacity and are connecting with the world at a rate like we have never known.

Social media plays an important role in making and maintaining friendships for this age group. A survey (Anderson & Jiang 2018) shows that about 81% of teenagers attribute their increased connectedness with their friends to social media and about seven in ten teens say it helps them express their creative side. Nevertheless, social media has also put tremendous pressure on the teens to stay on top of their activity, to fit in with their peers and stay in the loop. The same survey shows that 45% of teens report feeling of overwhelm and nearly the same percentage of teens feel the pressure to be liked by others. This indicates that the impact of social media on the emotional wellbeing of its teenage users is highly significant and should not be underestimated. As speech and language therapists, it is therefore vital that we look at the intricacies of this new platform of communication and its impact on the children we see so that we can support them to use it in a way that is in line with their aims of socialising and making friends but also reducing any potential harm they could suffer online.

Children on the Autism Spectrum may have particular difficulty using inferencing skills to understand sarcasm when chatting with their peers on social media. ASC (Autistic Spectrum Condition) is a cluster of conditions characterised by differences in communication, social interactions, expressing emotions and cognitive processing. Children with ASC may have learning abilities ranging from above to below average. Those with average to above average intellectual abilities, informally referred to as ‘High-Functioning Autism’ may face many challenges in mainstream school when interacting with their ‘neurotypical’ peers. Communication skills in the areas of pragmatics, social interactions and higher language skills (e.g. understanding inference, sarcasm, jokes, metaphors, or other non-literal language such as idioms) can prove challenging to some children with ASC and these children may feel confused and left out as a result. They are often at a high risk of being mocked at or bullied by peers who have limited awareness or understanding of Autism.

In order to make therapy functionally relevant to this client group, I have compiled a list of common chatting/texting phrases for my clients with their literal and possible non-literal meanings (see the table below for some examples). In sessions, I help these young people understand that messages may have indirect meanings and may not always directly mean what they say. We explore together the possible ‘hidden’ meanings behind the literal phrases. My intervention also addresses the difficulties these young people often have in expressing and understanding their own and others’ emotions in the context of the complexities of social media communication. Alongside the short-term targets, the overall goal of an intervention is to tie in with the bigger picture i.e. the overall wellbeing of that individual young person.

References

Teens and social media: An overview

Madden, M., Lenhart, A., Cortesi, S., Gasser, U., Duggan, M., Smith, A., & Beaton, M. (2013). Teens, social media, and privacy. Pew Research Center, 21(1055), 2-86.

Teens' social media habits and experiences

Anderson, M., & Jiang, J. (2018). Teens’ social media habits and experiences. Pew Research Center, 28.

Teens, social media & technology 2018. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/05/31/teens-social-media-technology-2018/. Anderson, M., & Jiang, J. (2018). Teens, social media & technology 2018. Pew Research Center, 31, 2018. Accessed November, 2020

“Friending” teens: systematic review of social media in adolescent and young adult health care

Yonker, L. M., Zan, S., Scirica, C. V., Jethwani, K., & Kinane, T. B. (2015). “Friending” teens: systematic review of social media in adolescent and young adult health care. Journal of medical Internet research, 17(1), e4.

Conversations about Stammering

By Specialist Speech and Language Therapist, Frankie Paterson

This International Stuttering Awareness Day on 22nd October was particularly eventful for me as I was invited to appear on the radio alongside Liam Nattrass to talk about stammering. Liam is a Mental Health Practitioner and a person who stammers.

We were interviewed by seven different radio stations throughout the day on the 22nd October, starting with BBC Three Counties Breakfast Show with Andy Collins:

We really enjoyed talking to Andy, he made us almost forget about how nervous we were with his open and warm way of chatting. We even got to talk a bit about Gareth Gates singer songwriter, person who stammers and stammering ambassador, always a joy!

We then went on to be interviewed by Sky News Radio, Radio Essex and UCB Radio amongst other stations. On all the shows Liam and I were asked to give listeners information about stammering, namely what causes stammering, what it’s like to have a stammer, how common an issue it is and why one million people in the UK are thought to have stammers that they try to hide. We were asked what advice we would give to anyone who has a stammer, especially those who have stammers but suffer in silence.

“Don’t let having a stammer define you and most importantly don’t let it hold you back from anything you want to do in life”

— Liam Nattrass

As a person who stammers going on national radio to talk about stammering was the ultimate act of openness for Liam Nattrass, who has had a stammer since he started to talk. Liam now works as a Mental Health Practitioner for the NHS. It was a nerve wracking but positive experience for him going on the radio. There was a time when he would not have felt brave enough to be this open and in front of this many people; he has come a long way since then. Nowadays Liam feels strongly that one of the best things he can do for his stammer is to be open about it and embrace his role as a person who stammers as opposed to avoiding it or trying to hide that part of his identity. What better way to be open than to speak on national radio about his experience with his speech? All the radio hosts commended Liam for his bravery and confidence in speaking out openly about stammering. The advice Liam gave for people who stammer on all the shows followed similar lines, namely, don’t let having a stammer define you and most importantly don’t let it hold you back from anything you want to do in life. Sound advice indeed.

Interestingly one of the hosts we spoke to Gareth Cottrell from UCB radio is also a person who stammers. We were interested to hear on air about Gareth’s experiences. He told us he has a stammer in his day-to-day life and that he considers to be “often quite bad”. He finds that when he is on the radio he does not stammer. We talked about the hereditary nature of stammering as Gareth has concerns that his children may go on to stammer. I gave him some advice on how to communicate with his children if they do stammer to support them with their speech and to try to ensure that they do not develop anxiety or negative self-image in relation to their talking. I also explained that with stammering, as with most speech, language and communication challenges, early intervention from a speech and language therapist is proven to result in better outcomes for children.

Liam and I were both exhausted by the end of our day on the radio but both felt proud that we had done something that had seemed quite scary beforehand. We hope that we managed to reach people with our advice and generally increase awareness about stammering.

If your child has a stammer have a look here for information and strategies you can use to help.

If you yourself have a stammer take a look here for help and advice.

AAC at Halloween

By Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist, Developing Specialist
in Complex Needs, Charlotte Twelvetree

For those of you new to the topic of AAC, AAC stands for Augmentative and Alternative Communication and refers to a vast range of ways that people who are not able to communicate verbally, e.g. people with severe disabilities or those who have had major strokes, use other means to communicate such as speech generating devices (as used by the late Stephen Hawking).

As Speech Therapists we model how to use High-tech AAC devices for our clients through fun, motivating and functional activities. The families we work with have explored a range of cooking, craft, and play activities, all of which we can support them with using online therapy would you believe? Yes, it can be done and we make it work every day!

This week we have been doing Halloween related craft activities. My favourite activity has been these mummies. They have provided lots of chances to model communication and also opportunities for children to make choices using their personal communication skills. The children have also been able to direct me using their devices so I can join in too! We have been choosing:

• Colours

• People

• How to make the mummies (e.g. painting, sticking, colouring etc.)

• How many mummies to make

• Big or small parts / mummies

• Asking for help when we are stuck

Mental health support for children with speech, language and communication needs: Survey

By reseacher Mya Kalsi from University of York

What is the role of children’s language problems in their mental health? How does having a language problem affect the sort of support children might receive for their mental wellbeing?

These are the questions being asked by researchers from the Universities of York and Greenwich. Mya Kalsi, Hannah Hobson, Umar Toseeb and Louise Cotton want to know what parents of children with speech, language and communication needs think about their access and experience of mental health support for their children.

Previous research has shown that children with language problems are overrepresented in mental health settings. In fact, half of children in mental health settings meet the criteria for language impairment (1), and a third of children referred for emotional problems have an unsuspected language problem (2). This paints a picture that many children who access and receive support for mental health problems have language difficulties. However, we do not know whether children’s language problems affect the support they receive. It might be that the presence of language and communication problems speeds up recognising other problems children might be experiencing – so language problems might actually help children’s emotional or behavioural problems get noticed faster. However, it might also be the case that some interventions for children’s mental well-being (such as talking therapies) aren’t accessible for children with language problems. Also, professionals might assume that attention should be focused on the child’s language issues, and that addressing their language problems will help resolve other problems children are experiencing. This might make it harder for families to get support for their children’s mental health.

We are hoping to hear from over 300 families of children with speech, language and communication needs in the UK and Ireland. We are especially interested in hearing from parents of children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), but would also like to hear from parents of children with a wide range of speech, language and communication needs, including children with Autism or hearing problems too. To part, you should:

· Be a parent of child who is aged between 4-16 years old, and your child has a speech, language or communication need

· Have at some time had some concern for your child’s mental health (you might not be worried any more – we would still like to hear from you!)

If families take part, they’ll be asked to complete some questions online. They’ll be asked a bit about themselves and their children’s language difficulties. They will also be asked whether they’ve sort help from school or their doctor for their child’s mental health problems. They’ll be asked if anything stopped them from asking or getting help, and if they did get support how they found it.

We want to hear about both the good and the bad – did therapists adapt the way they worked to support your child’s communication needs? What worked well, and what could have been better?

After we complete our survey, we hope to follow up with some more in-depth interviews to deeply investigate what would help support children with language difficulties and mental health problems best.

If you are a parent and would like to take part, you can read more about this study and complete the survey at:

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If you have any questions or comments, or would be willing to help us spread the word about our survey, please get in touch with Hannah Hobson

Further reading:

1. Camarata, S., Hughes, C. A. & Ruhl, K. L. Mild/Moderate Behaviourally Disordered Students. Lang. Speech Hear. Serv. Sch. 19, 191–200 (1998).

2. Cohen, N. J., Davine, M., Horodezky, N., Lipsett, L. & Isaacson, L. Unsuspected Language Impairment in Psychiatrically Disturbed Children: Prevalence and Langauge and Behavioral Characteristics. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 32, 595–603 (1993).

Lego Therapy: Brick by Brick

By Natasha

Those familiar little bricks are being put to extraordinary use. 

Originally developed by Daniel B. LeGoff (a neuropsychologist), who saw the mighty potential of this humble brick, Lego® Therapy has grown into a motivational practice used by speech and language therapists, teaching staff and parents alike. 

It is believed that the name Lego® was adapted from the Danish phrase for ‘play well’. Certainly for many children, the ability to play and interact within social settings seems perfectly natural: it is a skill we often take for granted.  Although, there are also children who find the strategies needed for peer interaction less accessible. Intimidating, even.

How can a child learn to socialize in a safe and supportive environment? 

Our method: Lego® Therapy! 

At Magic Words, we use this play-based approach to facilitate children toward ''communicative competence'' (Ralph and Rochester, 2016), depending on their individualised targets. Whilst some might need to work on maintaining eye contact and attention, others might attend the group to aid understanding of prepositions, problem-solving or sequencing.   

The aim of the game is, of course, to build a Lego model. This can be a simplistic or as complicated as you need it to be, according to ability and attention span of the group. The roles that we use are: 

• Builder: constructs the model, listens to the architect 

• Supplier: selects the bricks at each stage, listens to the architect 

• Architect: holds the instructions, describes the bricks to the supplier, instructs the builder where to put them 

• Facilitator: identifies problems and supports the group with solution 

If you have limited numbers you do not have to include every role. Pick them according to the child's targets. For example, if the child struggles with listening you may wish to encourage them by letting them be the builder; they have the motivational reward of receiving a brick and putting it in place. Alternatively, if you have a child who needs to practice describing and ordering key words, the architect role would be an option.

In addition to the jobs, we establish a set of lego-rules to encourage 'model' behaviour. Depending on the age of the group, this could be a clear-cut as good sitting, good looking, good listening, and good talking. Lego® points can be rewarded to acknowledge their participation.   

Once the adult has explained each rule and role, they must aim to 'gradually step back and allow the participants to work out social solutions more independently as the intervention progresses' (Ralph and Rochester, 2016). It is hoped that at some point each child will become their own facilitator and navigate social interactions with the same skill they require to build a collaborative model. 

One parent, whose child attended Lego® Therapy sessions at Magic Words, explained how her child began to generalise his new awareness: 

“He has understood what good listening is for the first time. He now understands why we need to listen and what we need to do to listen well. This has really helped him access small group activities and to concentrate. His eye contact which was a major problem area for him has also improved as a result of understanding that looking is important as it helps people know you are talking to them. He has thoroughly enjoyed the activities and it has also increased his interest in Lego which he is playing with much more outside the group. I think it has also improved his social skills generally...”  

With the motivation of Lego® and the naturalistic setting of a play-based task, this child was able to access a level of social interaction, that he had previously not understood the benefits of. 

It has certainly become apparent that this therapy is versatile and accessible approach for those with social, communication and language difficulties. Carolyn Green and Elen Bekker, two of our very own therapists, remarked in their article 'Building Lego, building language': 'Several parents expressed that Lego Therapy offered intervention where the alternative would have been to not access sessions at all' (Bulletin, November 2016).  

Consequently, what does Lego® mean to the therapists at Magic Words?  

Lego® Therapy is a impressively straightforward and structured approach that allows for a great variety of skills to be modelled, practiced and repeated. It allows a therapist, teacher, teaching assistant or parent to incorporate a diverse range of targets under the guise of play. It allows the children who participate to have fun, to collaborate, to build their skill set brick by brick. 

To learn more about Lego® Therapy, please contact us.

*Re-edited blog post

How to Know if Your Child Has Sensory Feeding Difficulties & How To Help

By Magic Words Specialist Speech and Language Therapist in Complex Needs, Raveena Ravinga

Here at Magic Words Therapy we have therapists, like me, who are specialists in supporting people who have feeding difficulties, that means difficulty with eating and drinking. This includes feeding difficulties that are sensory in nature.

A sensory feeding difficulty is when a child eats very few foods because they struggle with how foods taste, smell, feel, look, and even sound when eaten. We use all our senses when we have food in front of us, children with sensory feeding difficulties can experience a sensory overload when presented with food, causing them to have an aversion to foods and often resulting in a very restricted diet. This can be very worrying for parents who are struggling to make sure their child is not undernourished.

Here are my top 3 tips for parents of children with sensory feeding issues:

Concentrate on the food not your child’s behaviour

For all foods that your child does and does not accept, think about how the food presents:

Is it wet or dry? Is it smooth or crunchy? What other foods are the same colour? How does it sound? Does it have a strong smell?

This will help you understand your child’s sensory difficulties more and help you think of other foods your child may accept.

Remove all pressure

Food and mealtimes can already be a time your child does not look forward to, we want to try and create as much of a positive experience as possible. Part of this is removing all pressure for them to touch, smell and taste new foods. Be supportive if they refuse new foods.

Make food fun

Give your child the opportunity to experience food outside of mealtimes. Use different foods to do arts and crafts, e.g. make a Mr. Potato Head using different veggies for the arms, legs, eyes, mouth, hat. Or make a rainbow using different coloured foods. Let your child play with food. Get them involved in the kitchen when you’re baking, ask them to pass you different ingredients and get them to mix ingredients together. Give them choices of fun ingredients to put in! Give them as much hands-on exploration as possible. Take baby steps if needed, remember no pressure.

Our Top 3 Innovative Uses of Online Speech Therapy

By Magic Words Specialist Speech and Language Therapist in Complex Needs, Raveena Reniga

We at Magic Words Therapy are currently getting to grips with using online therapy, some of us for the first time, as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown. We have been relishing the challenge to adapt to this new way of working and as a team we’re developing innovative new ways to provide speech therapy online. Here are our top 3 innovative uses of online speech therapy:

1. Arts and crafts – online therapy can and should be much more than just sitting at the computer. Therapists and clients can participate in practical activities together, e.g. creating art projects through turn taking, listening and following and giving directions. Craft projects can be completely tailored to each child’s interests, whether those interests be Lego, Peppa Pig or Spiderman. Something motivating can be created for every child.

2. Motivating games – an advantage of online therapy is that as the child is at home as opposed to school, the child’s most motivating toys are within arm’s reach, so us therapists at Magic Words have been using this to our advantage! Children can be really excited to share their favourite toys with us and become motivated when these are incorporated into the therapy sessions. This can work perfectly for listening and receptive language games. This is also a great way for parents to watch the games so that they can then repeat them, using toys they have to hand, between therapy sessions.

3. The World Wide Web – having a two-way screenshare option on our specialist platform has meant we are able to access the vast range of interactive activities and resources that are available to us online. We can adapt these to suit our therapy goals, working on targets whilst the children are having fun!

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Online therapy is becoming more and more popular as a way for families to connect with expert speech and language therapists, and for all the right reasons. Our team at Magic Words is loving being part of this exciting journey of discovery into the vast potentials of online speech therapy.

Providing Feedback to children with SEMH

By Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist, Gianina Giangrande

Children with Social, Emotional, and Mental Health (SEMH) needs will face more failures in their life than the average child. As a result, their baseline level of motivation may be gravely low and easily undone. It is therefore important that feedback they receive in response to performance is constructive as opposed to negative.

According to McLachlan and Elks (2015), an effective way to deliver feedback is to apply their model of constructive criticism.

Great work!

Open with a positive remark (+)

You used relative pronouns effectively in your story.

Provide a specific positive critique (+)

Remember that a new sentence starts with a capital letter.

Provide a specific negative critique (-)

I liked your use of descriptors. It helped me visualize the story well. Well done!

Close with a positive remark (+)

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Feedback can be provided orally but is most helpful if provided in a written format for the child to reference. Review the feedback with the child to make sure he or she understands the comments. If the child is expected to update the work, you can write the critique on a post-it note to be placed on the new submission. This will encourage him or her to apply your advice.

The more positive and concrete interactions students with Social, Emotional, and Mental Health needs have with you, the greater the trust that will develop. Trust is a core component of a positive interaction and, while it can take time, it is well worth the uphill climb.

Elks, L., & McLachlan, H. (2008). Secondary language builders: Speech and language support for 11–16s. St. Mabyn, United Kingdom: Elklan.

Online Therapy for School Children During Lockdown

By Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist, Catherine Clancy

How we at Magic Words Therapy are continuing to support the schools and school children who rely on us during the COVID-19 lockdown

During this period of lockdown Magic Words Online has already helped hundreds of children across the 50 schools we work in to continue uninterrupted with their regular speech therapy sessions. Despite the suddenness with which we had to shift from face-to-face sessions to online speech therapy, the results have been extremely positive with great feedback from parents, SENCos and the children themselves.

We are also helping the staff teams of the schools we work with to update their skills by providing online training courses to help with their CPD and forums for teachers and teaching assistants to ask us questions and get support on how they can best support children with speech, language and communication needs.

I personally see online speech therapy as an innovative way of working with children to ensure they continue to make the progress they need to reach their potential. Therapists like myself work hard within schools, supporting children with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) and it would be heart-breaking to see that progress plateau, or even more upsetting, regress, during this unprecedented time of COVID-19.

This is why speech therapists like me are working closely with schools to ensure that children can access our therapy in a new way. Online speech therapy allows us to connect with children and support their progress using a live platform that is creative and resourceful. I have personally found online therapy to be fun and engaging for the children through the various in-built apps, games and the interactive and gameified nature of the activities.

This big shift in delivery of therapy to 100% online has opened our eyes to the many benefits of conducting therapy online. Once we have fought this pandemic together, I hope that online therapy will continue to help children access speech and language therapy within schools across the world.

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If you have any concerns about your child’s speech, language or communication, now is the perfect time to refer your child for a free online assessment: https://www.magicwordstherapy.co.uk/onlinetherapy-children

A therapist like myself will assess your child’s needs online and discuss the support we could give moving forwards. You will be able to see for yourself the interactive nature of online therapy and how this can be an effective solution for supporting your child’s progress towards their communication goals.

3 Myths About Your Child's Speech and Language Development

By Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist, Eva Chan

Myth 1: Signing with my child will delay his talking

Fact: Signing provides extra clues to help your child better understand and bridge the communication barrier. Makaton is a unique language programme that incorporates signs, symbols and speech to facilitate effective communication.

An example of how helpful Makaton signing can be is if your child has difficulty understanding concepts of position such as on, in and under, supplementing these spoken words with Makaton signs will provide your child with a clear visual cue. It will also allow your child to express themselves effectively and eliminate any frustration they might feel when trying to communicate.

Myth 2: Asking my child to repeat her sentences when she stammers will help with her fluency

Fact: When a child is being put on the spot, their level of anxiety increases and that makes stammering worse. Instead of asking her to repeat her sentences, provide her with your undivided attention and let her know that she has all the time in the world to express her thoughts.

Myth 3: Children learning more than one language should be encouraged not to mix words from both languages in a sentence

Fact: Mixing different languages in one sentence, which is also known as ‘code switching’ is common for most children who are bilingual and if they are doing it, this is a good thing!

This is normal for children immersed in a bilingual environment. Code switching does not mean your child is confused by being exposed to more than one language. Rather, code switching is a sophisticated way of interacting unique to bilinguals as they are able to access words from multiple languages to best get their point across. Children who code switch are actually showing impressive skill with how they are developing language, so be proud of them rather than worried! As a child progresses in their language journey, most children will be able to effectively tell languages apart and switch between them appropriately.

Switching to Online Speech Therapy

By Magic Words Specialist Speech and Language Therapist in Complex Needs, Raveena Reniga

Just like many other Speech Therapists all over the world during the last few weeks of the COVID-19 lockdown I have been exploring the very interesting world of online speech therapy. Going from seeing all my clients face to face, I thought it would be a whole new world. To my surprise, online speech therapy has many similarities to face to face therapy.

Something that has by far exceeded my expectations is the large variety of activities we have available to us on our Magic Words Online platform that are designed focus on all aspects of speech and language therapy. Not only that, we are also able put our own resources that we create onto our specialist platform.

I have been able to continue working on the same targets with the children I had been seeing face to face and I have seen the children continue to progress and excel without losing any of the fun of face to face! Activities can be tailored in the same way as face to face and for some children who are really into technology, this use of it in our speech therapy has made them even more motivated. It has been a fantastic way to maintain their social interaction.

For the few children who have not been able to access online therapy directly, I have been able to work directly with their parents/carers to support their child’s speech and language development at home. This support has ranged from creating personalised home programmes with daily activities, to supporting parents to adapt their environment and communication styles to integrate therapy into their daily routine, reviewing progress regularly.

For those who have not yet experienced it, online therapy can be daunting. I would definitely recommend any parent to speak with a therapist who can talk through how it could work for them and their child. It may just surprise you too!

How Does Hearing Affect Speech, Language and Communication Development?

By Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist, by Catherine Clancy

If you have concerns about your child’s speech, language and communication skills, one of the first questions to ask is: what is my child’s hearing like?

It has been well documented over many years that hearing is fundamental for speech and language development. If a child cannot clearly hear the sounds in the word being said, how can we expect a child to identify these sounds, discriminate these from other sounds and produce them? How can we then expect a child to develop his or her vocabulary?

A new-born hearing screening is offered to all babies in England which helps to identify babies with permanent hearing loss as soon as possible. Your child’s hearing may then be tested as part of a review for his or her health and development from 9 months – 2.5 years. Most children will then have a hearing test when they start school, at around 4 or 5 years old.

We are very fortunate in the UK with our NHS to have free screenings like these in place that support early identification of hearing difficulties. However, if you have concerns about your child’s speech, language and communication skills you should ask the question: what is my child’s hearing like? If you also have concerns about your child’s ability to hear, then their hearing can be checked at any other time by speaking to your GP or health visitor who will support a referral to audiology. It is important that your child’s hearing has been assessed in the last year if they are presenting with delayed speech and language skills.

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A therapist like myself will assess your child’s needs online and discuss the support moving forwards. https://www.magicwordstherapy.co.uk/our-team

Facilitating Positive Interactions with your child with SEMH Needs

By Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist, Gianina Giangrande

The more we focus on creating the right kind of environment for our children with SEMH (Social, Emotional, and Mental Health) needs, with an emphasis on warm relationships and suitable stimulation, the more we will see the secure and happy side of them. With schools closed and routines drastically altered, the PRIDE model (Gershenson, Lyon and Budd, 2010) gives parents ways to think about positive interaction in the home environment.

P: praise appropriate behavior.

Encourage positive behavior being displayed by making specific and anchored statements (e.g. “I love how you helped your brother prepare lunch”).

R: reflect appropriate speech.

Reply to your children’s remarks to show that you are listening and respond using slightly more complex sentences and wording to model it to them. (e.g. Child: I made a dragon. Parent:Wow, you made a really unique and devilish dragon. I like how the eyes show his deviousness).

I: imitate appropriate behavior/ engagement.

Imitate your child’s actions when they demonstrate appropriate engagement to reinforce your togetherness (e.g. If your child starts making up dance moves, join in and do the same).

D: describe appropriate behavior.

Be vocal about what the child is doing well so that they know they are engaging appropriately, and they feel praised (e.g. I like how you’re waiting nicely for your brother to finish).

E: be enthusiastic in tone and body language.

Keep your interactions positive and playful to help your child maintain interest and want to build on the experience (e.g. parent uses a lively tone and frequent smiles while together).

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The impact of applying these strategies will be nurturing a child to have greater self-esteem and be more willing to engage in positive interactions. Thus, the child will have greater access to social opportunities in his or her world. A win-win for all!

Online Speech Therapy: Top Tips for Parents

By Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist, Eva Chan

Here are some top tips for parents to help you prepare for your child's online speech therapy session so that they can get the most out of this highly effective way of accessing speech and language therapy.

SET THEIR EXPECTATIONS

Before the session, discuss with your child the differences between an online session compared to a face-to-face session. Explain they’ll be seeing and talking to their therapist on a screen!

ENVIRONMENT

Choose an appropriate environment. Reduce the background noise by setting up your laptop or tablet in a calm, distraction-free place in your home. A home office, or a sitting room would be ideal. To further reduce distractions, try giving them headphones.

EQUIPMENT

While most children will probably know how to work a mouse or touch pad, some training in this may be required for younger children who are not familiar with these. If you can help them to learn to use a mouse or touch pad your child can then join in onscreen drawing on the virtual whiteboard during the online therapy session. This is a really fun and useful part of online speech therapy.

PREPARATION

You can always set up a trial session with your therapist beforehand. Get your child to roleplay and get comfortable before a session starts. Allow ample time to prepare for a session so you are ready to go at the scheduled time!

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Making the change from face-to-face sessions to online speech therapy sessions can be a little daunting to think about but in practice it’s not too different once you get going! In fact,most of my clients have engaged and responded extremely well to online therapy. Which child do you know that wouldn’t want a virtual sticker or to play an online game as a reward after some good work?! Children seem to love seeing us through a screen and get very excited to see us in their living room!

Apps for Online Speech Therapy

By Magic Words Speech and Language Therapist, Susan Woodley

At Magic Words Online our online speech therapy platform has a fantastic range of built in communication apps. Here’s a selection of the apps we use in our online speech therapy and a bit about how they can help with a variety of different communication difficulties.

Auditory Workout

This app looks at following instructions and is recommended for use with children aged 4-10. It helps develop children’s key word understanding of language and understanding of concepts such as prepositions (positional language), size and colour. There are over 1000 different instructions on the app, meaning it can be tailored specifically to a child’s needs.  It uses engaging colourful pictures and with every correct answer the child earns a basketball. Once the child has earned 5 basketballs, they can play a game!

Articulation Carnival

This is a great app for children with speech sound difficulties. It can support children at every stage of their speech sound therapy. From working at producing the sound in words, phrases and sentences. The therapist can go through flashcards relating to the target sound or can play a memory game with the client.

Social Skills with Billy

This app can be used to help develop social skills, so is useful for working with our clients that have ASC (autistic spectrum condition) or social communication difficulties. You can work through social situations with the main character Billy, working out what are the appropriate things to say and do. There are over 100 real life situations to work through: birthday parties, going to the doctors, family dinners and so many more. Using this on our online therapy platform give the therapist and the client the opportunity to discuss the situations and the responses too.

Comprehension Aphasia

We also have apps to use with our adult clients. Comprehension Aphasia is an app designed for use with clients with Aphasia, central auditory processing disorder and Autism. It looks at understanding of yes/no questions and following directions with increasing levels of difficulty. It also has the option to have background noise, helping create an environment that simulates the difficulties our clients face in real life.

Wh- Question Island

This app can be used to work on children’s Blank Level understanding. Blank Levels relate to understanding different types of questions. The app starts with ‘what’ questions and progresses all the way to ‘why’ questions. It can be adjusted to the child’s level of need; with either multiple choice questions or the child giving the answer to the therapist. Using the app online gives the child the opportunity to discuss their answer and improve their understanding of the questions even more.

Magical Concepts

This is a fantastic app which works on understanding of language concepts such as same/different, positional language and size. It also works on understanding of describing words and emotions. This app uses photos to help develop children’s understanding in a real life context.

Syntax Workout

This app works on children’s use of spoken language. It focusses on grammatical elements that children with language disorders or autism may commonly find difficult, such as pronouns (he/she, his/hers) and function words (is/are). This uses a mix of photos and pictures with sentences for the child to complete

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If you’d like to know more about online speech therapy and how it could work for you just get in contact and one of our expert speech therapists will give you a call to discuss your needs and what we can do to help you achieve your own personal communication goals.

We Love Stories: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt

By Speech and Language Therapist, Charlotte Twelvetree

Book Details:

“We’re going on a bear hunt. We’re going to catch a big one. What a beautiful day. We’re not scared… UH OH …”

Anyone who has read this book will be singing this line in their head the same way that I did whilst writing it! In fact, this catchy, rhythmic, sing-song pattern is one of my favourite elements of this story and is what makes it so brilliant for helping develop language and communication in children.

I also love the variety of ways this book can be read and how it can be used in different environments.

It has an element of nostalgia for me on a personal level. As a child I can remember so clearly the excitement of going to the local library with my Mum to borrow this book. It was even better when they had the supersize version available!

Here are a few of my favourite ways to use this wonderful book:

Creating opportunities for communication:

The repetitive nature of this story can be used to create opportunities for children to communicate in any way possible. You can use pauses in repetitive phrases to allow your child to ‘fill the gap’.

Your child will then have the opportunity to complete the phrase. This can be done verbally, using vocalisations, communication boards, communication books, switches, a range of high-tech AAC, and signing.

It can also be used to request for continuation of the story because of the predictable adventure which is going to follow.

Sensory Stories:

Sensory stories can be used to bring life to books and immerse children in a story. Sensory stories are great for supporting children with sensory differences, learning disabilities, attention and language difficulties. Children can experience a wide range of textures, smells, lights, movements, tastes and sounds related to the story.

I regularly read this book outside where the children can see, smell, feel, and experience the grass, mud and water. Using our senses can be very beneficial in developing a child’s understanding of language. I also use a sensory bag to create the effect of the obstacles you come across in the story. For example; we will throw foam balls in the air, turn on fans, and feel ice cubes to create the experience of the snowstorm.

Language exposure:

“You can’t go over it. You can’t go under it. You’ve got to go through it!”

There are always lots of smiles and laughs when you get children to move. We love acting out this story as if we are trying to get through the different obstacles. Especially at the end when we tip-toe ‘through the cave’ trying not to wake the angry bear. It is a fun and engaging way to teach positional language and concepts such as ‘loud’ and ‘quiet’.

Joint Attention and Social Communication Development:

I have used different elements of this story during Attention Autism activities at all 4 stages. You can tell this story in such an entertaining way that you become the most exciting person in the room, encouraging joint attention skills. My personal favourite is getting children to take it in turns to make their way through the grass, mud, forest, snowstorm and the cave.

Narrative and Story-telling Skills:

There is a clear, repetitive, and well-illustrated sequence of events throughout this story. This creates a great opportunities for story-telling. Encourage your child to tell you what is happening. Think about ‘who?’, ‘what doing?’, ‘what?’, and ‘where?’

For example; “The girl is walking through the river”

This book gives endless opportunities for you to get creative!

For more information about Attention Autism, please click on the link

http://ginadavies.co.uk/

We’re going on a bear hunt by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

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We Love Stories: Penguin

By Speech and Language Therapist, Claire Blagden

Book Details

Ben gets a present. He opens it and inside is a penguin. Keen to have lots of fun with his new friend, Ben says, “Hello Penguin” but Penguin says nothing.

Author Polly Dunbar has entertainingly illustrated some of the very typical (and sometimes very strange) things we do as adults to try to help children talk. The story of Penguin highlights just how difficult speaking can be for some children and that we don’t always know the reasons why.

Ben tries everything he can think of to make his new friend speak, including;

Asking questions: “Can’t you talk?”

Being silly: blowing raspberries, tickling and even ignoring him.

Coaxing: “Will you talk to me if I stand on my head?”

Penguin does not say a word.

Ben’s frustration builds and builds…. Penguin can sense it. Until eventually, Penguin’s steadfast silence tips Ben over the edge. Ben loses all sense of rationality and has a full meltdown demanding that Penguin says something. There follows a twist in the tale, which sees Ben and Penguin have an extraordinary encounter with a big blue lion who eats Ben in the blink of an eye for being too noisy. Penguin (still silent) bravely rescues Ben from the lion’s belly and their very special friendship is cemented. This is the catalyst for a change in their relationship, from one of expectation and uncertainty to love and security and where (much to Ben’s relief) Penguin opens up and tells Ben EVERYTHING.

How does this relate to Speech and Language skills?

The entire process of talking; from first words to full sentences is very complex and most of the time we don’t think about it unless we encounter a problem. Picture this very familiar scenario; at home your child never stops talking. You go out to meet a friend, your child hides behind you and doesn’t say a word. You encourage them to look and prompt them kindly: “Say hello”. Your child turns away, grips your leg tighter and buries their face into your coat. At this point you might feel a little awkward, you don’t want people to think your child is being rude so you might say something like; “come on, don’t be silly, you can say hello can’t you?” Or maybe a grandparent or another family member has come to visit and you notice your child goes from being a chatterbox to being reluctant to answer all granny’s questions. Or maybe you are a teacher? You know Sally can talk because you’ve seen her talk to her friends at playtime but she won’t answer the register or speak to you in class. This kinds of scenario can result in a bit of a stalemate. It can feel very worrying to see such a change in a child’s behavior too.

When in a situation where we are not sure what to do, adults sometimes say or do things that they wouldn’t ordinarily if they’d had time to think about it a bit more. For example, Ben tries every trick in the book to get Penguin to speak which only makes Penguin more anxious about talking but Ben hasn’t considered this.

Some of the phrases below might sound familiar to you. Maybe you’ve said them or have heard someone else say a similar thing?

“Have you forgotten how to talk?”

“He’s just being a bit shy today”

“If you don’t say thank you, you won’t be able to come to play again”

“Grandma will think you are rude if you don’t say bye bye”

Can you spot what all these phrases have in common? Well, they all carry a weight of expectation for the child to speak on demand. Most of us can relate to feeling similar anxieties as young people. Remember that time in school when you were dreading being the one picked to answer a question in class?

So.. what can you say or do instead?

It’s a relatively simple formula. Try to ‘say what you would like your child to say’ (but please don’t ask them to say it).

Back to the earlier scenarios…

Instead of “Say hello” you could say “Oh look, there’s Lucy. Hi Lucy! Hi, we are glad to see you”. Instead of “Say thank you” you could say “I bet you had lots of fun, thank you for playing together”. Instead of “Say bye bye” you could say “Bye bye Grandma, see you soon, bye bye” (cue lots of enthusiastic waving).

You can also use comments instead of asking questions to create opportunities for children to speak if they want to. This removes some of the pressure or expectation for the child to respond straightaway.

Instead of “What did you do at school today?” you could say “I bet you had a busy day, I’d love to know what you did”.

In schools, instead of “Who can tell me..?” you could say “Who would like to show me..” and give children alternative ways of participating that don’t rely solely on speech.

Try not to ask questions, bribe, coax or even gently encourage ‘on demand speech’. It’s not useful as a strategy for encouraging children to use language, in fact it can have quite the opposite effect (and you avoid getting eaten by a lion so it’s a win-win).

Some children are naturally quieter than others, as are lots of adults. We live in a society that rewards extroverts but let’s remember that not all of us enjoy being center stage. The same goes for children too. As early as pre-school, children are rewarded for putting up their hands to speak, to be active participants in a busy language-rich environment, but not all children will want to get involved in these outward displays of confidence. It’s easy to forget this and focus on trying to develop children’s ‘confidence’ as something others can see rather than focusing on building confidence through acceptance and respect for a child’s very individual personality and character.

NB: If you notice a persistent pattern of differences in your child’s speaking habits in different places, or if you have a child in your setting who you feel is more than ‘just a bit quiet’ please contact a Speech and Language Therapist to discuss. We will be able to give you advice and recommend further help if needed.

Penguin, written and illustrated by Polly Dunbar

We Love Stories: Giraffes Can’t Dance

By Speech and Language Therapist, Bethany Potter

In this series ‘We Love Stories’ our Magic Words Speech Therapists are going to be letting you know their favourite story books to use with children to develop their speech, language and communication skills and give you tips on how to make the most out of these stories.

It’s Bethany’s turn first! She’s chosen ‘Giraffes Can’t Dance’.

Book details: Gerald the giraffe is very good at standing still and eating leaves off trees but when it comes to dancing, he is pretty bad. His bandy knees and thin legs make dancing very difficult so instead of joining his jungle friends on the dance floor, he gets laughed at which makes him very upset. With some help and inspiration from a friendly cricket, Gerald discovers that anyone can dance… if you just have the right music. Gerald wows the jungle animals with his dazzling dancing.

Speech and Language targets: Books are a fantastic resource for addressing speech and language targets. Here are my tried and tested ideas on how Giraffes Can’t Dance can be used with children to develop their skills in lots of different ways. The overall moral of the story and the use of rhyme makes this a very enjoyable story to share during your next story time as a parent or therapy session as a Speech Therapist!

Teaching the moral of the story: Giraffes Can’t Dance is an important story for teaching children about accepting that everyone is different, embracing their own differences, and building confidence and self-esteem.

Rhyme & sound awareness:

Rhyme – Rhyme is used throughout this book in words such as ‘floor and roar’, ‘trees and knees’.

Syllable counting – how many syllables are in… ‘giraffe, elephant, dance’

Initial sounds – recognising what sound the word starts with to develop phonological awareness.

Speech sounds:

‘j’ in ‘giraffe, Gerald, jungle, imagine’.

‘n’ in ‘neck, knees, animal’.

‘r’ in ‘run, really, rhinos, roar, rock, rolled’.

‘d’ in ‘dance, different, dancer, Gerald, bad, sad’.

‘r’ blends in ‘crooked, trees, grass, froze, dream, crept’.

Vocabulary:

- Adjectives – tall, long, slim, bad, thin, splendid, clumsy, little, beautiful.

- Nouns – animal names: giraffe, warthogs, rhinos, lions, chimps, cricket, baboons.

Giraffes Can’t Dance, Written by Giles Andreae and Illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees.