PRC-Saltillo is joining in on the AAC Awareness Month discount fun! Enjoy 50% off all AAC applications, including TouchChat and LAMP Words For Life, from October 14-18!
More AAC Deals! AssistiveWare Sale October 12-16!
AssistiveWare will be offering 50% off all AAC applications, including Proloquo2Go. This sale will run from October 12-16 in the app store - no code required!
SLP Center will be CLOSED on Monday, October 12
Friendly reminder to all our families, the SLP Center will be closed on Monday, October 12, 2020 in observation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Please call the office with any questions or schedule changes!
Save the Date, October 1-15: Aviz AAC Deals!
To celebrate the start of AAC Awareness Month, Avaz Inc. will be offering 50% off all AAC products from October 1 - 15, 2020. Visit their website so you don’t miss this amazing sale!
Back to School Books
Check out this awesome list of “back to school” books for children! No matter what your school schedule looks like this year, the transition from summer to fall can only be helped with these cute stories. Supplement your children’s speech and language goals by practicing words with their target speech sounds, pointing out vocabulary, and discussing personal connections to the book.
Virtual Learning Resources
Back-to-school season is here! Even though learning might be looking a little different this year, there are plenty of resources to help students, teachers, and families along the way. This website is here to help! Click below to get started. Happy learning!
Helping Children With Speech & Language Disorders in Virtual or Modified In-Person Classrooms
“As the new school year nears, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is offering advice for parents of the more than 1 million U.S. children who receive school-based treatment for speech and language disorders to help their children perform and adjust to new virtual and modified in-person learning environments.”
SLP Center will be CLOSED for Labor Day
Friendly reminder to all our families, the SLP Center will be closed on Monday, September 7th, 2020 in observation of Labor Day. We hope you all enjoy the final long weekend of summer! Please call the office with any questions or schedule changes!
How To Turn Your Backyard Into a Wildlife Sanctuary!
“From honeybees to beautiful birds, it’s easy to make changes to your backyard that will attract wildlife. Our guide explains how you can transform your backyard and turn it into your very own wildlife sanctuary.” Click the link below and have fun!
22 Best Scavenger Hunt Ideas!
Scavenger hunts are a fun and easy summer activity – they’re inexpensive, entertaining for the whole family, and can be done no matter the location (indoors, outside, at the beach, etc.). Check out this website for free, printable scavenger hunts or get creative and make your own!
Here are some ideas on how you can tailor your scavenger hunt to practice speech and language skills:
Articulation: Put together a list of items that contain your child’s speech sound. For example, if your child is working on the /l/ sound, you could include words like leaf, log, caterpillar, dandelion, and snail for a backyard scavenger hunt.
Language: You can use scavenger hunts to target a number of concepts your child is working on, such as shapes, letters, descriptors (e.g., soft vs. hard, tall vs. short), categories, etc. The opportunities are endless!
New Insight About How Dogs Process Speech!
If you are a dog lover, you will enjoy this new study! “Humans keep talking to dogs whose sensitivity to human communicative signs is well known. Both the words what we say and the intonation how we say them carry information for them. For example, when we tell ‘sit’ many dogs can sit down. Similarly, when we praise dogs with a high toned voice, they may notice the positive intent. We know very little, however, on what is going on in their brains during these.” Researchers are using MRIs to study how dogs are processing speech and findings indicate plenty of similarities with how humans process speech! Read the article here!
Beat the Heat!
The hottest part of summer has definitely arrived and your stay-at-home activities may have slowly dried up… Never fear! Click here for fun summer activities to keep cool and work on speech and language at the same time. We love the ideas of ice sensory play and smoothie making to target your child’s specific speech and language goals. Stay cool!
How to Make a Volcano!
Making a volcano is a great way to target speech and language goals! However, make sure you do this activity outside! See an outline below and grab the full details here!
Ingredients:
Dish soap
Cold water
White vinegar
Food coloring
Baking soda slurry (fill a cup about ½ with baking soda, then fill the rest of the way with water)
Empty 2 liter soda bottle or water bottle
Instructions:
Combine the vinegar, water, dish soap and 2 drops of food coloring into the empty soda bottle.
Use a spoon to mix the baking soda slurry until it is all a liquid.
Eruption time! … Pour the baking soda slurry into the soda bottle quickly and step back!
While this is a fun activity, you can also focus on speech and language!
Articulation – while making the volcano, keep an ear open for the speech sounds your child is currently working on in therapy. For example, if your child is working on the /k/ sound you could target: cold water, volcano, food coloring, keep stirring, etc. Incorporating difficult speech sounds into play helps to reduce stress and creates natural opportunities to practice.
Sequencing – review the steps of making the volcano with your child and see if they can predict the next step while you are making the volcano! We recommend using full sentences to help incorporate transition words (e.g. First, Next, Last).
Getting Children and Teens Outside While Social Distancing!
“As states start to ease restrictions related to COVID-19, many families are looking for healthy ways to play outdoors. But what can you actually do outside with your children while staying at a safe distance from others? Think nature exploration!” See the full list of suggestions by clicking below. Enjoy!
We're Happy To Be Back!
While it may look different than we’re used to, we are happy to be back!
Re-opening and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19
Now that the state of Massachusetts has entered Phase 3 of their re-opening plan, the SLP Center will be resuming in-office services. In order to keep your family safe, we are implementing a number of strategies to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The health and safety of everyone is our priority.
The new SLP Center strategies include: reduced on-site staff during any given shift, staff health screenings, use of protective equipment (masks, face shields, plexiglass barriers), maintenance of physical distancing whenever possible, and stringent cleaning/disinfecting policies.
We ask that our families implement the following strategies before visiting our clinic: calling upon arrival to complete a patient health screening, thorough hand washing, and use of protective equipment (face masks for individuals over the age of 3).
It is of the utmost importance that you stay home if you or anyone in your household feels sick. We are following MA.gov and CDC guidelines. If you would like more details about our COVID-19 policies, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly at 781-792-2700. As always, we look forward to continuing our commitment to improving the lives of our patient’s through communication.
SLP Center Will Be Closed July 2nd & 3rd!
In observation of July 4th, the SLP Center will be closed on Thursday, July 2nd and Friday, July 3rd. Please contact your therapist regarding any necessary schedule changes. We hope you and your family enjoy a safe and happy holiday weekend!
Boston Parents Paper 2020 Winner!
Boston Parents Paper’s 2020 Family Favorite votes are in! Thanks to you and your support, the Speech Language Pathology Center of Norwell WON the category of speech therapy!
It is such an honor to be recognized for our hard work and dedication to this community. We look forward to continuing to spread joy through communication!
Home Enrichment, #24 - Upcycled Bird Feeder
Reuse your plastic water bottle to make a bird feeder for your backyard visitors! This cute summer craft is fun and supports good speech and language, too!
Speech and Language Connections
Expressive language – This is a great activity to learn and practice new vocabulary! Talk about the birds you see at your feeder, pointing out the different parts of the bird (such as beak, wings, feathers, etc.), colors, and shapes you see. You can teach concepts such as empty and full by talking about how much birdseed is left in the feeder over time.
Sequencing and problem solving skills – After crafting your feeder, have your child try to retell the instructions in the correct sequence. Ask your child what might happen if you omitted a step or performed the steps out of order (e.g., “What would happen if we filled the feeder with seeds, but didn’t poke any holes in the bottle?).
Salt Tray Activity - Enrichment #23
Grab a cookie sheet, container of salt, and your imagination for this fun activity suitable for (almost) all ages! Salt tray tracings are an interesting way for your child to practice shapes, letters, and words. We recommend that you pick this activity for a sunny day so you can do it outside – in case of spills!
Materials: cookie sheet or tray - salt, sugar, sand, or anything that can be easily manipulated - blank flashcards - optional: colored paper for a fun surprise! - also optional: an unsharpened pencil or a paintbrush.
Directions:
1. Place the cookie sheet or tray on a stable surface
2. Place the colored paper directly on the cookie tray
3. Sprinkle enough salt on the tray to completely cover the surface
4. Create tracings for your child to copy on the flashcards (symbols, shapes, letters, or words)
Speech and Language Connections:
Phonics: practice letter recognition, with an added bonus of getting to practice writing letters!
Following directions: forgo the flashcards and have your child follow 1-2 directions to create different shapes or pictures.
Articulation: practice target speech sounds by practicing writing the corresponding letter and saying the sound out loud simultaneously.
Vocabulary: have your child think of words that start with each letter. For young ones working on shapes, work on the labels of different shapes!