As a member of the International Literacy Association, I enjoy receiving articles about literacy and evidence based strategies that are practical and interesting. In the latest journal of The Reading Teacher, July/August 2018, I gravitated towards the article titled, Understanding Character Perspective: Strategies to Support Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder by Elizabeth G. Finnegan and […]
Improve Your Child’s Language and Learning in 20 Minutes
Do you want to improve your child’s language and learning in 20 minutes? Since beginning my website in 2012, I have become passionate about learning different literacy strategies to improve read alouds with my children. These skills have also helped me as a speech language pathologist and children’s book author. This eBook that I wrote […]
How Jottings Can Help your Child plus an Author Interview
I recently read an article in The Reading Teacher titled, Jottings: An Approach to Guided Reading in the Elementary Classroom (March/April 2018) written by Jennifer A Knight and Hilary A Justesen that immediately caught my eye. As a parent and a speech language pathologist, I am very interested in discovering new ways to encourage critical thinking for […]
Using The Think Aloud Strategy with Dr. Molly Ness
I wonder…I think…I like that…I feel…. Do you want to help build your child’s language during read alouds? Try the Think Aloud strategy! As a speech language pathologist and parent, I am always searching for any new evidence based strategies that can help a child improve language and literacy skills during read alouds. I recently […]
The Link Between Physical Activity and Better Academic Performance
Recently, I read an article in the newspaper that stated children are better at using technology then tying their shoes. It also said that children know how to use computer games better than riding bikes. Reading these statements, I can easily find them sad, but true. Having children growing up in this world of technology […]
How Does Technology Affect Face to Face Communication?
How does technology affect our face to face communication? As a speech language pathologist, communication is a great interest of mine. With the dramatic increase in technology in the past five to ten years, how is this affecting our conversations and ability to communicate face to face? The technology I am referring to in this […]
Television and Language Development
As a parent and an SLP, I am interested in understanding the relationship between television and language development. Learning from the research helps me make better choices with regards to being a parent and when training other parents of young children. I read an interesting article titled “The Relationship Between Television and Language Development” by Jessica M […]
Expanding Vocabulary During Storytime
Would you like to expand your child’s vocabulary? When I am reading aloud, I will often define a word as I am reading it. Many times, I will provide visual cues to go with unfamiliar words so the child can get a “picture” in their mind of the word. With regard to vocabulary expansion, I am […]
Screen Time and how it affects social skills…
Does your child spend too much time on the screen? As a parent, I constantly feel torn with screen time and how to monitor it. What are the effects of too much screen time? I found an interesting study titled Five Days at outdoor education camp without screens improves preteen skills with nonverbal emotion cues […]
Video Modeling and Individuals with Autism..what the research says…
Do have a specific behavior that you would like to improve with your child? Try video modeling! Research from the last three decades states the benefits of utilizing video modeling for children with Autism. Video modeling is also effective for other varying disorders, specifically those that impact pragmatic and expressive disorders (e.g. ADHD, Social Communication Disorder, […]