NHSG Aberdeenshire Children's Speech & Language Therapy Service

07/10/2025

⭐️ Top Tip Tuesday ⭐️
Don’t put too much pressure on yourself in the lead up to Halloween 🎃
✅ Check out these helpful reminders fromBBC Tiny Happy Peoplee 🧡🖤
✅ Share any other money saving tips for Halloween in the comments below ⬇️

06/10/2025

👐👌Makaton Monday👌👐
Level 1️⃣ and level 2️⃣ Makaton course scheduled in Inverurie in November 👐
This course is suitable for:
✅ anyone who is just starting out in learning Makaton or who needs to refresh their previously learned signing skills 👐
✅ parents, carers, professionals and anyone with an interest in signing 👐
📧 If interested please email gram.makatonaberdeenshire@nhs.scot with the details requested on the form below 👇

05/10/2025

🎉 Sunday Funday 🎉
Here are more ideas of how to develop phonological awareness skills (important for speech sound and early literacy development) using a story 📖 Perfect for supporting your little one at home, and for teachers and EYPs in schools and nurseries 😀
This week’s story is...Stick Man 🏃‍♂️📖
✅ Draw their attention to the rhyming words - talk about them sounding the same at the end 💬👂
✅ Use a stick to beat out the syllables of words from the story (e.g. ‘ri-ver’) 🥁
✅ Build your own Stick Man by adding a body part for every syllable of different words from the story (e.g. ‘de-ser-ted’) 👀🦵💪
✅ Play pooh-sticks and drop a stick into the water for every word in a short phrase (e.g. ‘get ready to throw’) 💦

03/10/2025

🤔 💭 Factual Friday 💭 🤔
Have you spotted the communication boards in RACH❓ 👀
Well done to our RACH SLT colleagues and the Archie Foundation for their work to make this happen 👏
✅ Check out this video to find out more about the boards and how they can be used to support communication 👇

30/09/2025

⭐️ Top Tip Tuesday ⭐️
To support little ones’ talking skills try limiting the number of questions you ask them 💬 Instead comment on what they are doing, seeing or likely to be thinking 💬
✅ A ‘handy’ way to help thinking about the balance of questions and comments is to think about the 4 fingers and 1 thumb on your hand 🖐

29/09/2025

👐👌Makaton Monday👌👐
Did you see our post yesterday about the Monkey Puzzle story❓🐵 📖
Here’s Julia Donaldson using Makaton signs with the Monkey Puzzle song 🐵 🎶
✅ See how many new signs you can learn and use when sharing the song and story 👐

Julia Donaldson and her husband Malcolm perform The Monkey Puzzle Song with Makaton signs.

28/09/2025

🎉 Sunday Funday 🎉
Every week we are continuing to share ideas of how to develop phonological awareness skills (important for speech sound and early literacy development) using a story 📖 Perfect for supporting your little one at home, and for teachers and EYPs in schools and nurseries 😀
This week’s story is...Monkey Puzzle 🐒📖
✅ Draw their attention to the rhyming words - talk about them sounding the same at the end 💬👂
✅ Draw and cut out monkey finger puppets. Then make the monkey jump for every word in a short phrase (e.g. ‘where is mum?’) ✍️ ✂️ 🐒
✅ Stamp out syllables of different words with different animal figures and some paint (e.g. ‘e-le-phant’) 🐘🦒🐅🎨👣

26/09/2025

🤔 💭 Factual Friday 💭 🤔
Did you know that Live Life Aberdeenshire are running an ASN October holiday programme at venues across Aberdeenshire❓


📲 Book via the app, website or at your nearest Leisure Centre:
🔗 App: https://download-mobilepro.myfitapp.com/a/9VEB?p=5?pv=1
🔗 Website: https://www.livelifeaberdeenshire.org.uk/october-programme/

23/09/2025

⭐️ Top Tip Tuesday ⭐️
Another great tip shared by our colleagues in Lothian for supporting little ones’ talking skills. Spend time playing with them and follow their lead during the play 😀 Think about OWL 🦉
✅ Observe 👀
✅ Wait ⏱
✅ Listen 👂

22/09/2025

👐👌Makaton Monday👌👐
Chocolate Mousse for Greedy Goose story with Makaton signs from More Than Words Charity 📖
✅ Perfect for using signs alongside the activities in our post yesterday about this story 👐

21/09/2025

🎉 Sunday Funday 🎉
Here are more ideas of how to develop phonological awareness skills (important for speech sound and early literacy development) using a story 📖 Perfect for supporting your little one at home, and for teachers and EYPs in schools and nurseries 😀
This week’s story is...Chocolate Mousse For Greedy Goose 🥣🐦📖
✅ Draw their attention to the rhyming words - talk about them sounding the same at the end 💬👂
✅ Thread some dry pasta on a piece of string and then move a piece for every syllable of different words (e.g. ‘ma-ca-ro-ni’) 🧵
✅ Make tomato ketchup fork-prints or fingerprints for every word of a short phrase (e.g. ‘the pony is hungry’) 🍽