Make any toy into a language-development toy!

This time of year, SLPs are often asked about which toys are the best for language development. The magic secret (or the ultimate disappointment?) is that no such toy actually exists. In fact, the language development doesn’t even come from the toy. It comes from the interaction the child has with their playmates! As a result, any toy can become one that can be used to enrich speaking skills when certain strategies are used. While this list is not comprehensive by any means, here are a few ideas you can use during play to give your kiddos a language boost.

Ear infections and language development: Research Rumination

Raise your hand if you had ear infections when you were little! How many of you had tubes in your ears when you were a kid (or, in the case of one of my recent co-workers, AN ADULT)? Ear infections, or otitis media (OM), are super common. 5 out of 6 kids get one by the time they’re 3. Sometimes, kiddos get them a lot. Like…a lot, a lot.

What is the impact of recurrent ear infections on language development? Well, we’ve got a Research Rumination coming in hot from Australia this week that’s going to tell us all about this. Winskel (2006) wanted to investigate specific language skills and how early, recurrent OM impacted these skills later in childhood in this study. Let’s go!

SLP favorite books round-up

There are a lot of things on Earth that make me happy, but books are in the top 10! As a speech-language pathologist, I’m always looking for ways to incorporate books into practice as well as pointing parents to good books that they can read with their kiddos. I have my own personal favorites, but I thought I’d get the opinion of some other speech experts to see what they have to say. So, friends, I present to you our first SLP Favorite Books Round-Up!

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