Four magical words!

There are four magical words that I always carry in my speech bag, and they are - 
one, two, three, start!
As you can guess, this set of words can be used every time you want your child to do an activity or start any action (even talk!)
This set of words if used carefully, can even entice and motivate a non talker to jump on her first word! Just like other words in the speech therapy world, its more about how and when you use them than what they mean.
The magic begins when the child hears the word - 'start'.. the numbers ( 1, 2, 3 ) act like a preparatory set for the child to get ready for some speech.
You can start by preceding any exciting activity by these words. For instance, speak out these words and do something that the child loves ( sing her favourite song, toss her in the air, swing on your arm, play peek - a- boo etc). The idea is to reinforce this set of words when the child is happy and automatically she would learn that something new and exciting will begin soon.
I use these words before starting any sort of game/activity/rhyme etc with the kids. They can just read my eyes and wait for me to say the word 'start'. You will often find that kids start copying you by saying out these words out loud in unison with you.
Consistency is the key like always. You might have to use these words hundreds of times before your child understands what you are aiming at. 


Keep going :)

Tongue Aerobics

Tongue is one of the busiest muscles in a Speech Therapist's body :) 

Talking, Tasting, Swallowing, Chewing, Singing ...all are possible because of this dynamic muscular oral organ.

I do a lot of 'tongue aerobics' with kids who need to exercise their tongues to elicit clearer speech. Here is an insight -

Home based activities to develop tongue protrusion (Sticking the tongue out)

• Push or show how to push your child's tongue against an object like - a flat spoon, tongue depressor, an ice cream stick, cheerios on the plate etc.
• Ask your child to balance a cheerio/crax/small fried onion ring/ a piece of chocos cereal ( anything small and light) on the tip of her tongue.
• Play an imitation game of poking the tongue out like a snake. Sit in front of the mirror and encourage your child to copy you.
• Encourage your child to lick foods from a plate. Get all messy with stuff like ketchup/chocolate syrup/honey/ sweetened malai/ kheer/ yoghurt etc. Your child should use her tongue and not the lips..
• Encourage licking of stuff mentioned above from a spoon.Use colorful spoons to draw your child's attention to the activity.
• Encourage your child to lick ice creams - sundaes/softies/choco bar etc
• Place food stuff ( mentioned above) on the lips and ask your child to lick them. Get innovative with your little one's favourite sticky foods and use them in this game which works best while played in front of a mirror.. Mom does it, and then the baby does it..

Tongue Retraction ( Pulling the tongue in)

• Use difficult to blow whistles/party horns etc
• Encourage longer and sustained blowing -- like blowing bubbles
• Drinking with different sized straws. Use thinner liquids first and then move on to thicker shakes and smoothies. The Krushers at KFC is ideal for thick shake sucking. I even like their fat straw :)

Tongue Lateralization ( Moving the tongue from side to side)

• Licking sticky foods from the corner of the mouth.
• Put small bits of melt in the mouth foods like - chocolate buttons/ crackers/orange candies etc
• Show your little one how to chew with molars ( back teeth). Use crunchy foods like carrot sticks/ onion/raddish salad/sprouts/soup sticks etc

Tongue Tip elevations ( Lifting the tongue)

• Get your child to lick from a plate wth sticky food placed in front of the face.
• Dab a long line of chocolate sauce on the lip line and encourage your child to lick it all at one go with his tongue tip.
• Tongue Lifts - Think youre a weight lifter and youre lifting cheerios with your tongue..how many can you lift and how fast??
• Open your mouth a little, then slowly lick around your lips in a circle, clockwise and then anticlockwise. Ask your child to imitate
• Open your mouth a lot and repeat the aforesaid.
• Try touching the nose with your tongue tip.
• Try touching the chin with your tongue tip
• Do the nose and chin touch consecutively. Do this 3 times.
• Poke your tongue into your left cheek and then into the right cheek.. Repeat 5-6 times.
• Clean your teeth with your tongue
• Make faces in the mirror. Ask your child to copy you :) Children love this !

Practical Ideas to develop better tongue movements from a mother's point of view :)

• When spoon-feeding your child, place  the food centrally on the  tongue and apply firm  downward  pressure. This will reduce tongue  protrusion that occurs during swallowing.
• As the protrusion reduces, place the food at the sides of the mouth, between the teeth. This will encourage munching and sidewards tongue movements. 
• To stimulate biting, munching and sidewards tongue movements.
•  Initially, do this at times when your child is relaxed.
• Initially, these activities should not be done at mealtimes. 
• Use items such as teethers (ridged etc.), foods that do not break up (bite & stay firm  foods - Dried fruit: bananas / peaches / apricots etc
• Place the item in the mouth, between the teeth, along the line of the jaw and  ensure that  it  is not placed  so  as to  stretch the lips.  Do  not  place too far back in case your child gags.
• Place on the best side initially, than move to the other side.
• If the child is not munching, pull the item out slightly and gently or press down.
• When you feel your child is confident about  their biting  skills, introduce food items. Initially use bite-and-dissolve foods  (Glucose biscuits,Crax, etc.). 
• If the child is not biting off the food, break it off for them while they are biting down on it. Do not force your child to take foods that their mouth is not ready to handle.
• Over time, gradually introduce chewier foods in the same way.

Holi based language activities

Holi, the festival of colours, is the most popular spring festival of Hindus.It signifies the victory of good over evil and marks the end of the winter season and the commencement of warmer summer days in Northern India. 
There is so much that you can teach your child about the festivities through simple enjoyable activities. Here are some ideas..

• Colours

• Cut different coloured balloons from glazed paper sheets. Stick them on a scrap book or just play with them on a table/mat. You can play a colour matching game, get your child to identify or name the colours, revise numbers with the colourful balloons etc. 
• Get messy with the colourful gulal available in the market. Spread it on white paper sheets to make butterflies or flowers.This would facilitate eye-hand co-ordination too. Age no bar!
• Dab some gulal on your face to revise the facial features. You can give 2 -3 step instructions to make the game tougher.e.g - Dab the red gulal on your forehead, yellow on your right cheek, green on your chin and pink on mine.. etc. This activity will help to improve listening skills.It can be modified depending on the language age and abilities of your child.
• Make a Rangoli on the floor. 
• Finger painting with different colours. Children love this!
• Create new colours by mixing them.. e.g - yellow + blue = green, red + yellow = orange etc.
• Go Shopping
• Great activity to get the Holi related objects in your little one's vocabulary bank.
• commonly bought items - gulal, pichkari, balloons, glitter, water colours, mithai,namkeen,dry fruits etc.
• Ask your child to choose the items she likes. Giving choices always encourages better language expression 
• In the Kitchen
• Holi is also a festival for foodies! Get your little one to help you in the kitchen while you prepare or arrange the grubs. You can do simple activities of sorting and arranging. Mix the sweets in a bowl and ask your child to sort the similar ones in a separate plate.
• Transferring of food items can be another activity.
• For bigger children, you can give multiple instructions and also ask them to tell you the sequence of making a particular sweet/mithai etc.
• Get a cake ( or even cupcakes) and have your child decorate it with different coloured frostings/gems/smarties etc.
• Memory games
• Take turns and name as many holi related stuff that you can. The winner gets an extra sweet to munch :)
• You can also ask your child to draw these objects and colour them.
• For bigger children - List out or sing Bollywood/regional Holi songs(Antakshri)
• Photo Album
• Make sure you click pictures of your child playing with the colours and water.Encourage her to meet the children in the neighbourhood and get naughty!
• Create a photo album ( printed or even an array of pictures on your computer should suffice). Ask your child simple questions based on the pictures.Great task for improving retrieval from the past.
• You can share and talk about old Holi pictures from your childhood days too!
• Religious Streak




• Motivate your child to get a sneak peak on the history of Holi
• Tell her about Krishna and Mathura/Vrindavan Holi
• Watching Holi related news on TV can be a good practice
• Printable pictures that can be coloured or painted are pasted above.
• Online stuff 
• Click here to play some fun games on Holi 
• Snowy Holi Game

• Holi VOCABULARY

• Holika dehan
• Gulal/colours/rang/abir
• Pichkari
• Water
• Bucket
• Balloons
• Sweets
• Gujia
• Namkeen
• Mithai
• Holi Milan
• Krishna/Radha
• Family get togethers
• Gifts
• Cards
• Wishes
• Messages
• Cheer
• Bachhon ki toli
• songs/dance/masti
• Happy Holi :)