Clay and Language
I am excited to present this guest post written by Hinda Rubin, speech language pathologist. Using clay during speech and language therapy can be such a multisensory experience, which is so important for many children. Often, exploring your senses can lead to important conversation, expansion of language and reduced anxiety. I find working with clay very relaxing and I know many other people do as well.
Hinda Rubin trained as a medical speech-language pathologist and then as a school-based speech-language pathologist.
As schools moved towards a push-in model, collaboration with staff in the general education classroom led to the creation of Claynguage; merging pottery skills with language development. The activities in Claynguage can be used by both parents and professionals.
Tips from Hinda
Act like a sports commentator and comment on the child’s activities as they roll, pinch, connect, squeeze and poke clay.
Examples:
” ‘Child’ is rolling the triangle over the clay”.
“Squeezing the clay looks like fun. I wonder how it feels!”
Repeat new words often for the child to hear.
Parent(s) can demonstrate by carrying out the activity and comment on the actions that they are taking during the activity.
Parents can verbalize and sequence the steps taken before, during and/or after.
First I rolled some clay into a snake.
Then I cut the pieces with a ________. Improvise with the end of a spoon if you don’t have pottery tools available.
I pinched and connected pieces together.
To learn more, check out Hinda’s Instagram page here.