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B4 Thme Canadian Champion, Fniday, December 5, 2008 Cail ta book an appointment mproving your quality of Every Tuesday HearSay wilI be running small group programs to facilitate early language skills as well as iteracy skills. Times vary by age of child. Call the clinic for further details and to enrol your child as space is imited. 10:3Oam-11 :3Oam Storytime for Preschoolers (1l8mos -3yrs) 4:00-5:OOpm Literacy and Language Group (4-8yrs) 1Dec. lst - 19th Christmas shortbread is now on sale in the office.Come in to choose from a variety of flavours, or place a custom order to have n time for Christmas. HearSay wiIl be closed Dec. 24- 26, a~nd Dte il -Ian 2. Regular hours wiII resumne Monday, January 5th, 2009. With the purchase of a hearing aid. Offer valid until December 31 st, 2008. SPEHAND HEAINGTEIC<,? 1 . Get your childs attention; bc sure lie is Iooking at you and at the same physical level. 2. FoIIow your child's Iead; get involved and talk about what he is doing (Le., use games and activities your child enjoys). 3. AIIow time for your child to respond on his own (about 5 seconds). t3ive hlm help if he needs it, but leave him time to respond flrst. 4. Provide a good speech model. Use simple, short sentences and speak slowly and clearly. 5. Provide your child with new experiences. Use new words frequently. TaIk about what you are doing as you go about your daily activities. 6. Your child may use many gestures while trying to communicate. Be sure not to respond only to gestures but encourage him to say the words. 7. Try to refrain from discussing your child's speech problem in front Uf him. If he is aware of lis difficulty, acknowledge it but point out that everyone lias difficulty talking sometimes. Dont pretend it doesnt exist. 8. Set aside a special time to listen and talk with your child. Focus on things leies interested in talking about. 9. Read books or look at pictures that both of you are interested in. Be willing to answer lis questions. Encourage him to teli you about pictures and stories in books. 10. Accept al l is attempts to communicate. Be a good listener, especially when your child wants to tell you something special. Respond to what lie says, but correctly restate how lie said it. Try not to make him repeat after you. 11. Activities which could be used for language stimulation include puppets, playing telephone, Simon Says, role play, finger play songu. These help build vocabularY, increase listeniing skills and encourage general language play. 12. Use open ended questions and comments sucli as, 'l wonder what would happen if. 'Whats going on?: Tfeli me about..: Avoid questions which require one word responses such as 'What is that? Who..' and those which can be answered with . esl no' 13. Make sure everyone in your home sets a good speech example. Encourage family members to support your child by providing good speech and language models rather than trying to correct errors. Discourage use of 'baby talk' such as ~' ba-ba' for 'bottle' 14. Be patient witli vour child. Progress may be slow, try not to put extra pressur on hlm to improve. Information adapted from the Speech Language Department, Windsor Western Hospital Centre, Windsor, Ontario 311 Commercial St., Suite 109, Milton& Tel: (905) 875-3345 www.hea rsay.ca IN N