Welcome! Check out some of my favorite series!

by Lauren Barnett, MA, CCC-SLP

Hello!  Welcome to LaurenBarnettSLP!

I am using this website to try out some new things style-wise. To see the activities that I really am and doing with my own children as well as clients, please check out my blog: iHeartSpeech.com

I look forward to being a part of your child’s development! If you have any specific communication skills that you would like to have me address, please let me know and I’ll do my best to create an activity!

In the meantime, check out what I’ve done here:

Orange You Glad it’s time for Pumpkins!!

I am so tempted to write this whole post in orange…but I’ll spare you!! But I do want you to know that I love talking about and teaching toddlers and preschoolers about colors.

Teaching Big Sister her colors was one of my favorite things. We had so many fun activities that we did while we were learning…so many in fact that I’ve started writing a book on that topic! I hope one day to finish it!!

In the meantime, I’d like to share a few activities with you to help you teach your child his colors!

Squirrel Mask

Welcome LEADer’s Class families!

I am so glad that you stopped by my blog! There are lots of activities here that you can use to help you continue to develop your child’s speech and language skills!

These activities are designed for children with advanced, typically developing or delayed communication skills. There are activities for children of all ages – 9 months to 6 years old (and older). Look around and find some favorites!

But I know that you stopped by to see a sample of the Squirrel Mask that your child took home this week. Well, here it is (the pink in the ear scootched over a little, but you get the idea!):

Please work on this project together! You can focus on following directions like: “turn the pink piece over and put glue on the back.” Or “put the teeth under the dark gray piece.”

Since our social skill was to work on a task until completion, this is a fun task with a handful of pieces. Your child should experience success completing the mask! Praise your child for completing the task and make sure you emphasize the idea that they completed it! Once it’s done, have some fun singing the Gray Squirrel song!

In next week’s class, I will be bringing in some giant (or at least very large!) pumpkins!

If you are a family that is not currently in one of my LEADer’s Classes, you can find out more here! The LEADer’s Class is custom designed by me (a certified Speech Language Pathologist) to work on Language Enrichment And Development for preschool children who have typically functioning langauge skills but who are looking to grow in their development!

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above may be “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Please know that I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Fun with Location Concepts at the Zoo!

We had so much fun this past weekend at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We went for the purpose of working on Big Sister’s photography skills (more on that later!). As we were watching the monkeys, I realized what a great opportunity we had to work on location concepts with little W.

I wanted him to be able to find the little monkey in the cage so I said “look! The monkey is in the house.” “He’s in the house?” replied Little W. Then only seconds later, the little monkey was on the rope or in the tree or near the ground or any other number of places in the cage.

Can you see him in the picture below? He is on the tree branch 🙂 

As the little monkey swung and jumped from spot to spot we were able to practice saying the location concepts. Plus, he got good exposure to me saying the different location concepts. It was also a great opportunity for Dad to work with Little W on his location concepts. This is a simple task for any parent, grandparent or babysitter to do!

He also got to hear how there are differences between in and on. He’s in the house. He’s on the house! Being able to practice that a lot is very good for his language development plus it’s so much fun to watch the little monkey run and swing all over the place!

This was an activity we were able to do with a lots of different animals at the zoo.  For the animals that moved more slowly like alligators, I could ask him to tell me where the animal was and give him the time to think about it and then respond. For animals that move more quickly like monkeys or birds or baby gorillas we were able to practice quickly saying and repeating location concepts.

What you CAN DO!

For little ones, ages nine months to 18 months, just pointing to the animals and saying where they are is a good start.  From 18 months to about three years old, letting them hear the location concept in a prepositional phrase “in the… ” or “on the…” is a great language skill to be exposing them to!

Also for 2 1/2 to 3 year olds, it would be a good time to work on having the child use the prepositional phrase with some help from you. Maybe you say it and they repeat it. “The alligator is on the sand. Where is the alligator?”

And 3 to 5-year-olds can work on using the prepositional phrase independently. You’ll ask where the animals are and they will tell you!

Don’t make it a drill-style practice. Make it fun and your child will learn!

I hope you take your child to the zoo and have fun talking about location concepts. If you do, send me a picture of your child or you showing where the animal is located!! I’d love to see you guys having fun, practicing language!

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above may be “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Please know that I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”