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Welcome back to another great year at J.R. Tibbott and Speech Therapy. For those of you that we have not met, I am Mrs. Eugenia Harvatt, the Speech and Language Clinician. Mrs. Arlinda Nunez is a Graduate Student working with us until November 28, 2007

Your child has been scheduled for speech and language therapy in accordance with his/her IEP. Your child will be receiving the services as stated in the IEP.

If at any time you have questions, comments, or concerns, do not hesitate to contact us at Tibbott School, 739-7155 or e-mail: harvattem@vvsd.org

We are looking forward to much fun and success while working with your child during this school year.

What is Speech and Language?
The ability to understand completely the speech of others and to communicate ideas thoroughly is essential for the best achievement in school. When we think of speech, several areas must be considered. The first area is called language, this includes the child's ability to both understand the speech of others and to express his/her thoughts and ideas verbally. The second area called articulation, involves the production of speech sounds and their blending into words. Voice is the third area. We are concerned with the pitch, rate, quality, and loudness of speech. Finally, the last area is fluency, which is the rhythm and flow of speech. All four of these areas are equally important in the development of good speech and language skills.

Suggested at Home Activities:
The following activities have been selected to help your child develop good speech and language skills. Don't feel that you must use all of them. Some children will be intrigued by one idea and bored by another. Perhaps equally important, select those activities which you will enjoy doing with your child. All of the activities will be beneficial to your child's learning of speech and language and you can repeat the exercises as often as desired. It is important to remember that every child learns at his/her own rate, therefore first find and use those activities with which your child will have success, and then progress to the more difficult tasks.

Providing as many pleasant speaking situations as possible is necessary for helping a child communicate. Since the majority of your child's time is spent at home with the family and at school, enjoyable speech environments should exist in both situations. Included below is a list of important suggestions for encouraging a comfortable speech and language situation for the child.

1. Spend some time reading to your child. Make an effort to use clear, distinct speech.
2. Be a good Speech Model for your child.
3. Imitation of your child's incorrect speech pattern tends to reinforce it rather than correct it.
4. Try not to correct your child's speech errors unless you have been instructed to by the Speech/Language Clinician.
5. When speaking to your child, use short complete sentences rather than long involved ones.
6. Listen to your child as attentively as you would an adult.
7. Provide a healthy atmosphere for your child's speech. Accept his/her speech efforts and encourage others around him/her to do the same.
8. In your own speech, emphasize sounds which are difficult for your child; do not however, expect your child to imitate you.
9. Do not anticipate all your child's wants. Expect him/her to use speech in requests.
10. Remember that speech is learned, (errors are learned as well as correct speech habits), and therefore improvement can be a slow process.
11. Do not be influenced by others' interpretations of your child's speech.
12. Each child is an individual and it is important that you do not compare the speech of one child with that of another.
13. If you and others in the home use a slower rate of speech, it will help your child to learn good speech habits.

Speech Sound Development:
Children develop and master speech sounds at different ages. The following chart is the one most Valley View Speech/Language Pathologists use to determine if your child's speech is developing at an appropriate rate.

Age 3 -- All vowels plus p,b,m,h,w
Age 4 -- t,d,n,k,g,ng,y
Age 5 -- f
Age 6 -- v,th,zh,sh,l
Age 7 -- ch,j,th,s,z,r, consonant clusters