Final consonant deletion, articulation, phonology, expressive language….ehmm I’m not sure I follow. Speech Pathologists (or Speechies as we often call ourselves) can sometimes throw around words that you don’t fully understand or may not have even heard before. We understand that there are certain terms that need explaining for those families who have not had much involvement with this area of health and development. That’s why we’ve come up with a handy go-to guide for when one of these unfamiliar words comes up!

But before we dive in, it’s important that we give a quick mention to the difference between Speech and Language. Speech is about how we actually make sounds and put them together to pronounce words. Language is about using words in phrases and sentences to make meaningful messages and understanding the messages communicated by others. We’ve split up the guide below into Speech and Language.

SPEECH: being able to communicate by using the voice and structures in the mouth to form sounds and put them together the right way to make words.

INTELLIGIBILITY: how well the child can be understood by others. Sometimes Speech Pathologists will talk about this in assessments and ongoing support by ranking it with a percent of speech that can be understood. E.g. ‘30% intelligible’ means they can be understood 30% of the time by an unfamiliar listener.

ARTICULATION: the pronunciation of sounds themselves. This is about using the structures in the mouth to form speech sounds correctly (eg. raising the back of the tongue to meet the soft palate for the /k/ sound). Difficulties in this area are seen when children can’t actually make a particular sound – rather than when they can but they are using the ‘old way’ because its easier.

PHONOLOGY: the study of speech sound processes involved in saying words. Children make words easier to say by using special ways (phonological processes) to say them while they are still developing e.g. ‘stawberry’ instead of ‘strawberry’ because the str- cluster is tricky (this is called ‘Cluster Reduction’). This process and other common ones are described below.

STOPPING: an error pattern when a long sound, such as /s/, is replaced with a short sound, such as /t/ (“tea” for “sea”).

The following are not a normal part of speech development and often need speech support to reduce:

A comprehensive list of phonological processes can be found here: http://littlebeespeech.com/resources/pdf/phonological_processes.pdf

PHONEME: a single speech sound unit – not the same as letters (eg. /t/ is a phoneme, whereas the letter “tee” contains two phonemes: /t/ and /ee/).

FLUENCY: this is the over-arching term used to discuss stuttering. ‘Fluent’ refers to stutter-free speech and ‘disfluent’ to stuttered.

This is just an overview of some of the words you may hear while attending speech therapy with your child. Don’t hesitate to ask your Speech Pathologist for an explanation if there are any terms you don’t understand. You're welcome to give us a call on 8353 5543 if you want to discuss any concerns about your child in these areas.

So it’s a new year and we all love hearing about everybody’s new year’s resolutions. Things we would like to achieve now that the new number at the end of the date makes us feel like we have a fresh start. But resolutions aren’t always realistic and more often than not, by mid-January, we quietly continue our old habits, hoping everybody has forgotten our excited motivation for change from just a few weeks ago.

When it comes to children with communication difficulties, either beginning or continuing speech therapy, it’s important that we set goals that are meaningful and achievable. Some things to remember:

1. What will make the biggest difference?

A child may be severe in one area, but his more moderate difficulties in another area are causing him more trouble as he tries to communicate with other children at kindy. When, together with your Speech Pathologist, you are planning which skills should be targeted first, consider what is having the biggest impact on your child’s life at the moment and what will be the most helpful difficulty area to focus on.

2. Start with success

Some children thrive on challenges, but some are easily discouraged when the first thing they are expected to do is very difficult. This can decrease their motivation for therapy which can make it tricky to achieve progress. Sometimes starting with a skill they are likely to succeed at in a relatively short space of time can be a good way of starting therapy on a positive foot and giving your child a boost of confidence and belief in themselves.

3.What is realistic?

Let’s be honest, we’d all prefer a quick fix. But setting massive goals that probably won’t be achieved in the timeframe you are hoping for, won’t be beneficial for effectively planning therapy and managing both your and your child’s expectations. Setting smaller goals that work towards a larger, overall goal will mean that success is more likely to be achieved and also gives opportunity for more frequent celebration. Always a plus!

4.Be flexible

Children and difficulties change and what might have been a priority two months ago, may no longer be as relevant now. A child may also be showing slower progress in the target area, while making greater gains in another. It may be worthwhile to shift focus for a time to the skills that are more likely to achieve outcomes, and then later return to the ones that are appearing a little stuck at the moment.

Having a direction to follow is paramount for therapy to be effective and it’s important to set goals that are right for your child. It can be a hard process, but with the support and expertise of your Speech Pathologist, you can work together to set your child on the path that will lead them to success.

With Christmas just around the corner, you may be hoping to get most of the present-buying done early to minimise the last minute scrambles! But with the number of toys advertised, it’s hard to know where to start and where to go to keep your wallet intact. We all know you’re itching for an excuse to do yet another Kmart run… and here is it is! In addition to having brilliantly stunning and affordable homewares, Kmart also has a great toy section! We’ve picked out some of our favourites to share with you.

Our handy list of gift ideas will not only be fun for your little one, but will support their communication development as well:

1. Who Is It?

Pretty much Guess Who in a much cheaper, $5 version, this game will help teach your child to take turns, ask questions, search for relevant information, utilise a wide range of adjectives and nouns and have fun getting closer and closer to the big reveal!

2. Pop! The Pig

This is always a favourite with the littlies. Be silly taking turns to feed the pig until he can’t take any more and pops! This game provides a wonderful opportunity for practising speech sounds with consistent rewards: “sssnake! That was a great “ssss”sound, let’s feed the pig another burger!” Also great for practicing prepositions like ‘in’, ‘on’, ‘under’, ‘next to’ by hiding the burgers before feeding them to him. It’s a good opportunity to talk about numbers and colours too. $25

3. Hanging Monkeys

You may have heard of Tumbling Chimps. Same game, but for an easy 10 bucks at Kmart! This is another good one for regular fun rewards and encourages your child to understand and make requests: “can I have two blue monkeys?” Hanging Monkeys also supports focus, careful play, turn-taking and anticipating a final goal, eg. the monkeys all fall down!

4. Toy cars

Kmart is packed full of these cheap little goodies so be sure to stock up! Toy cars and vehicles are simple, but they provide an incredibly rich opportunity for language input and development. Say “brum” and “crash” while you push the cars to encourage new speech sounds, build your child’s vocabulary by describing your play (eg. “push car! Ready steady go! That car went fast, now let’s go slow”) and give your child a chance to make requests of you. This pack is $5 for five.

5. Bubbles

We can’t possibly miss out bubbles! These are our signature at Say Hooray and for good reason. Not only are they wonderfully fun in that safe way we know parents love, they can also be used as a basis for functional communication. Bubbles give your child the opportunity to practice: “more”, “up”, “down”, “blow”, “pop”, “clap”, “stamp”, “big”, “small”, “all gone” and many more fun words and phrases! Once again, they learn to request, to wait, to use their words and gestures to communicate what they want, and what’s not to love about happily jumping around popping an army of bubbles?

You can get a large single bottle for 50 cents. We also love the Mega Bubble Sword for $4 that makes huge bubbles!

Christmas is a fantastic time when you can give your child a present they will love and learn from. We hope this list will give you the excuse you’re looking for, to your favourite Kmart, zoom through your Christmas shopping stress-free and leave this wonderland with our suggested goodies under your arm, feeling like a champ!

P.S. Not in any way associated, or sponsored by Kmart – we just Kmart addicts as much as you are!

Whether your child has a formal diagnosis or is simply having some trouble with their communication and learning, it can be hard as a parent or carer to hear that your little one has “difficulties” and will need therapy. It can continue to be hard when change appears to be slow and you begin to wonder whether significant improvement will be possible. It’s important to acknowledge when these thoughts and emotions are having an effect on you and your child and to learn that yes, it may take a little time, but every new step your child makes deserves celebration.

Here are some helpful ways to stay on track with your positive thinking:

Recognise that every child is different.

It’s hard not to compare your child to others, especially when Julia at school is speaking like a grown-up and my little Ned is still hard to understand. But did you and all your siblings learn to drive in exactly the same way and in exactly the same time? Or did you or one of your brothers or sisters take a little longer, was the clutch extra tricky to master? Learning is a dynamic process and we all do it in different ways, so try not to stress too much if your child is doing things a little differently to others.

2. Appreciate the little milestones.

To you or I, saying the /k/ sound seems so insignificant and tiny that it probably has never been given a passing thought. For your little one however, this sound may be the trickiest thing they have ever had to learn. So when she says it for the first time, do not undervalue the occasion! It is special and huge achievement for your child. Showing them how excited and proud you are and this will motivate them even more to continue trying with anything else they are having trouble with.

3. Strive for the future but be accepting of today.

Maybe you were really hoping to see some changes this week but it just didn’t happen. Maybe your child will need some more help before they get to the next stage. That’s okay. Learning to accept the here and now, not pushing for too much and showing your child that everything will be okay no matter what, is very important for maintaining a happy outlook both for yourself, as well as your whole family.

Life is never smooth-sailing, particularly with children. Throw in speech and language difficulties and it sure can be a bumpy ride! Nobody can be smiling all the time, but we shouldn’t forget that even the little things deserve a hooray.

Having your own little one can be stressful to say the least, especially when you are trying to make sure they are developing well. It’s hard to keep on top of all the many changes they are constantly going through - their feeding, play, social skills, communication, motor skills – all of this is continually evolving as your child grows. You’ve heard books are great for children, but when should they be introduced? When is too early? When is too late?! To help make things clear as mud; there is no rule for when books should be read to children. But! It is never too early! Books can be a big positive, even for children less than a year old. Here’s why:

1. Books provide opportunity for language input.

Children are constantly soaking in the language they are hearing around them. Books are a great, focused way of increasing this input which benefits their communication development, particularly their vocabulary. You don’t have to read the words, instead, talk about the story, the pictures, let your child show you what interests them in the book and provide as much rich language as you can.

2. Starting early will support later literacy development.

Learning to read is a momentous skill. It requires knowledge of the sounds of words and how they can be manipulated, as well as how this pairs with the written squiggles we see on a page. By showing your child letters and words early, you will help them to realise that language can be written as well as spoken, and following the words on the page as they listen to you will give them a head start on identifying which sounds match which letters.

3. Your child will learn how a book works.

Books aren’t just about the words on the page. You must first understand the concept of a book and its structure before you can make sense of what is written. By introducing books early, your child will get to know that a book has pages that must be turned, that there is a title on the front, that there is a beginning, middle and end, that there are pictures that go with the story. These are all important skills for literacy development and general academic work; books are fundamental at kindy and school, so it is always a good thing to help your child learn about what books are for and how they work.

4. A love of books will be fostered.

Do you find it hard to keep your child sheltered from the wide world of screens and technology? It certainly is a challenge in today’s world of TVs, iPads and phones which more and more children are gravitating towards as a means of entertainment. Bringing books into your child’s life early will show them an activity that is fun, positive and interesting, which will make it more likely that they will continue to engage with reading as they grow into an older child. A love of books builds a positive connection with the academic work children will be a part of at school and has countless benefits in terms of your child’s learning and imagination.

5. Sharing a book is a wonderful opportunity for fun and closeness with your child.

Are you finding it hard to keep up with your child’s energy levels and seemingly constant need to be always “GO-GO-GO!”? Sharing a book together is a lovely, peaceful time when you can connect in a fun way with your little one. The natural closeness of this activity, either side by side or with your child on your lap, means that your child feels safe and loved while engaging with this positive experience of reading and talking about books. This is a simple but invaluable way to strengthen your bond with your child.

There are no downsides to the wonderful pairing of books and children, so starting early will only bring positives. No need to stress about “am I doing this right?” The most important thing to remember is to make it fun and happy and the rest will follow!

Are you a playground-run parent? Have littlies pulling at your clothes asking to go to the park? Playground trip can be lots of fun and a great school-holiday time-filler when you don't have any other plans. It is also a fantastic opportunity to get those language skills up. Without the distractions of home life, it's a little easier to engage in richer interactions with your children. Check out the tips below on how to boost their language development on your playground trips.

1. Be a commentator

Kids need to hear language being used and understand it before they can use it themselves. If you're a naturally chatty parent, this might come easily to you. If you don't usually commentate, try talking about what you're seeing them doing e.g. 'you're climbing up the stairs!', 'you're going down the slide!'. You can also talk about what you see/hear/smell/feel around you and your child e.g. 'the bark feels rough, doesn't it?'

2. Stress

And no, I don't mean that kind of stress! Stress your words, your key words! Think about what vocabulary you'd like your child to learn and use, and highlight it for them! You can stress words by saying them louder, with a change in intonation (the tone of your voice), saying them slower than they other words or adding a change in facial expression. Try out these sentences and stress the highlighted words using the techniques listed above, 'wow, you're JUMPING!', 'you're going FAST on the swing'. Stressing words helps them stand out and makes it easier for children to notice, understand and learn for their own use.

3. Ask questions

Questions can be a great way to help kids practice their language, but they do need to be balanced with our comments. Ask questions like, 'what are you doing?', 'what should we build?'. Remember to balance these by making comments in between, e.g. 'I'm digging in the sand!', 'we could play shops!'. If we're always asking questions, we're not modelling (teaching) how to answer questions. Give your child plenty of time to answer your question and make it shorter if they don't understand. If they still can't answer, model an answer for them so they know how to respond next time.

4. Be at their level

This refers to two different, but equally important things: physically positioning yourself for rich interactions by putting yourself in a position where you are face-to-face or close to it, and pitching your communication style to their developmental/age level. We often complain to our children that yell out to us from the other side of the house that if they want to talk to us they have to come to us. Yet, we somehow forget to do this with them, running commentaries or asking questions from afar. Give them the best chance to learn and engage in interactions by being close and at their eye-level if possible. It's also important to use the right language for your child's age or development level. Toddlers are more likely to respond to shorter sentences with fun intonation (use of voice). Whereas older children need more complex, rich language to stimulate their ongoing development. Know where your child is at and meet them there.

5. Wait!

The above five points have been about how you can use your own language to help them learn, but this point is about you holding back to give your child space to do the talking. While it is very important that we do good modelling (talking to 'show them how it's done'), it's all too common that we 'talk, talk, talk' and don't give them an opportunity to practice themselves. You can wait by watching what they are doing (with interest) and letting them be the first ones to say something before you respond. This way, they'll be hearing language and practicing using it too.

Using strategies like the ones above can make your park outings a richer experience. Of course, above all, have a great time together and enjoy being in the moment with your little ones, while they're still equipment-climbing monkeys!

The photos in this post are all from Adelaide playgrounds, including the Gleleng Foreshore Playground, St. Kilda Adventure Playground and Nature's Playground at the Adelaide Zoo. For more great places to explore, visit Adelaide Playgrounds at adelaideplaygrounds.com.au

Develop your child's language skills by making a day-trip to one of these five locations in Adelaide! Find tips for children of all ages below.

The Adelaide Central Markets

Littlies: Vocabulary galore! Label (name) fruit, vegetables and other food items. If they repeat the names, make to reinforce with praise.

A Little Older: Add more complex vocabulary. Use describing words (e.g. 'round', 'hard', 'soft', 'yellow') as you walk around the markets.

School Aged

The South Australian Museum

Littlies: Give simple labels and respond to communication attempts as they point and vocalise or name things they see. Respond by copying back their sounds or word attempts and label the item of interest.

A Little Older: Describe the purpose of items. E.g. ‘This is a sled. It was used to help get the Eskimos and their things from one place to another.’ Giving them these examples helps them to learn to make their own statements.

School Aged:Model question asking to encourage them to use questions and find answers. E.g. ‘I wonder what this tool is used for?’ ‘Oh, look, it says it was used to cut up reeds to make mud huts with.’

The Adelaide Zoo

Littlies: Name all the animals! Copy the sounds the animals make and have fun taking turns to copy the sounds. This should lead to some wonderful back-and-forth interactions.

A Little Older: Describe actions. Talk about what each animal is doing. E.g. ‘the hippo is swimming’, ‘the wallaby is hopping’.

School Aged: Talk about what sound the names of the animals start with or let them have a go at spelling the name of the animal before checking it on the exhibits’ signpost. Alternatively, they could read out the names on the signs themselves.

Local Playground

Littlies: Label play equipment, E.g. ‘slide’, ‘swing’. When pushing them on the swing or playing a repetitive game, ask them if they want ‘more?’ and wait till they respond in some way before performing the action. The level of response will be different for children at different developmental stages. For some children this may be them saying, ‘yes, more!’ for others it may be a nod or even simply making eye-contact with you.

A Little Older: Practice instruction following by giving fun directions e.g. ‘run under the slide then jump in the sand pit!’ Make the instructions shorter or longer depending on the child’s level of understanding. This is a particularly good skill to work on in preparation for kindergarten, as they will be required to follow many instructions.

School Aged: Play ‘What Am I?’ by describing items e.g. ‘I am tall and I create shade. What am I?’, ‘Yes, I’m a tree!’

Find more ideas at our playground blog posthere.

Local Nature Reserve

Preliminary data from research shows that children use language almost three times more in natural environments.

For a list of local conservation parks, head on over to:

Littlies: Follow their lead as they explore the environment around them, look at what they’re looking at, touch what they’re touching, and copy their sounds and words to ‘get into their space'. Respond with excitement to encourage communication and interaction.

A Little Older: Help them describe the things they notice with their senses e.g. I see a creek’, ‘I smell flowers’, ‘I hear a kookaburra’

School Aged: Use items from the environment around you to make up stories. Get creative!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Princess Elsa from Frozen, Woody from Toy Story, Spiderman, Thomas the Tank Engine, Peppa Pig and Minions... these are all characters with which parents have become well familiar. Some of us love them... and some of us are somewhat less enthusiastic about them. Whilst they may not fall in-line with the 'classic', 'educational' toys that well-wishing parents often prefer, character-based toys can actually have significant benefits for your child, as you will read about below.

1. Motivation

If they don't like it, they won't play with it. If they don't play with it, what benefit will they get out of it? Probably not very much. So, whilst those stunning all-natural wooden building blocks have a great learning potential (not to mention that are absolutely gorgeous to have in the nursery), your child won't reap the benefits unless they actually want to engage with them.

Choosing toys and games that children like is a very valuable tool in the Speech Pathologist's belt. When we find out that a child loves play-dough, we introduce it in therapy sessions. When we find out that the child looks up to 'Frozen's' Elsa, we come up with a way to introduce her into therapy sessions. Why? Because children learn best when they are enjoying themselves. When your child enjoys a toy, they access the benefits of play, of which there are very many, including language development.

2. Pretend Play

Character toys provide a rich opportunity for children to engage in pretend play. Pretend play is a very important skill and tool in language development. As most children narrate their play (talk out loud), they learn transform their ideas into words. They practice using vocabulary, building sentences and creating 'conversation'.

Play with character toys can also be a good way to introduce pretend play for children that are just getting into it, or struggling to get the grasp of it. The characters have well-established stories behind them that children are already familiar with and this can provide a good starting point. E.g. a child can pick up a Fireman Sam figurine and say, 'Fire! There's a fire!'

Pretend play with characters is also a great time for parents to join in and shape play into an extension of story-telling, by following the character's storyline.

3. Literacy Development

Character-themed toys/games/books provide valuable opportunities for literacy development. When children watch the film or show that they're interested in, they are essentially experiencing 'storytelling'. Similar to reading a book that they enjoy, children are exposed to a story line, development of characters, a plot including a 'problem' and a resolution and often a moral 'message'.

By extending this experience through play with character toys or books (i.e. book 'versions' of the show/film), children engage in the richness of the literacy experience here. They learn the pattern of narratives (stories), they practice comprehension (understanding what is happening), they explore 'themes' e.g. to always 'look out for' your friends (Toy Story) etc. In a sense, character play is a way of bringing a story to life, and lights the path for building those early literacy skills.

So get out those Elsa's, Minions, Thomas and his friends, jump in muddy puddles with Peppa and explore with Dora. Remeber, children learn through play. So let them play with things that they love.

Meet Julia, she has luscious red hair and bright green eyes. She also has Autism.

Julia is Sesame Street's new character, soon to be joining fluffy favourites Fluffy, Grover and Elmo

Launched on Wednesday morning, Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children is an initiative that aims to reduce the "stigma of Autism" and foster inclusiveness in children. The website provides some great resources for children, parents and education staff, including routine cards, a storybook staring the new character, and videos.

"Children with autism are five times more likely to get bullied," Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, the senior vice president of community and family engagement at Sesame Workshop, told People magazine. "And with one in 68 children having autism, that's a lot of bullying. Our goal is to bring forth what all children share in common, not their differences. Children with autism share in the joy of playing and loving and being friends and being part of a group."

One of the videos stars a boy called Benny, who talks about how he is unique, as is everyone else. He goes through some of the things he likes and doesn't like. The video ends by Benny talking about something that he and other children have in common, they all 'want to have fun'!