Meredith Lang Speech-Language Pathologist

10/30/2023

Trick or Treat Cards
Know a little one with speech difficulties? Cut out these little cards to hand out when trick-or-treating.

09/22/2023

The science of baby babble is surprisingly complex. And the idea that a baby exposed to two languages will be confused? Let's see what babble researchers have to say about that.

05/18/2023

Happy National Speech-Language Pathologist Day!

10/31/2022

We all know how much children love to celebrate Halloween. Did you know you can make learning fun and safe at Halloween time with candy? Here are some speech and language enrichment follow up activities your children will love!
Math & Candy:
*Addition: Have your child count how many pieces of candy he/she collected during trick or treating.
*More/Less: You can help your child graph the different candy to see which candy he/she collected more/less of.
*Subtraction: Find the difference between different candies (ex: skittles vs m & m).
*Counting: Open up a bag of skittles/m &m and count how many of each color, how many altogether?
*Prediction: Predict how many pieces of candy will be in a box of Nerds or bag of skittles.
Language & Candy:
*Categorization: Have your child empty all the candy on the table and categorize.
Sort Different candy by names/ sort by sugar candy vs. chocolate candy/ sort by candy size/ sort by color/ sort by texture (soft vs. chewy vs. crunchy).
*Concepts: Discuss which candy to eat-first, second, third, next, last.
*Answering questions: Which candy is your favorite and why? Which candy will you give away and why?
*Problem Solving: What will happen if you eat all your Halloween candy? What will happen if you eat a few pieces of candy vs. many pieces of candy?
*Compare/Contrast: How are 2 candies alike/different (skittles vs. m&m)? How do they taste (sour, sweet)? How are the textures alike/ different? How do they look (color, size)?

05/18/2022

Happy National SLP Day! I love my job!

11/01/2021

Halloween Language Enrichment Activities
We all know how much children love to celebrate Halloween. Halloween might look a little different this year. Did you know you can make learning fun and safe at Halloween time with candy? Here are some language enrichment activities your children will love!
Math & Candy:
*Addition: Have your child count how many pieces of candy he/she collected during trick or treating.
*More/Less: You can help your child graph the different candy to see which candy he/she collected more/less of.
*Subtraction: Find the difference between different candies (ex: skittles vs m & m).
*Counting: Open up a bag of skittles/m &m and count how many of each color, how many altogether?
*Prediction: Predict how many pieces of candy will be in a box of Nerds or bag of skittles.
Language & Candy:
*Categorization: Have your child empty all the candy on the table and categorize.
Sort Different candy by names/ sort by sugar candy vs. chocolate candy/ sort by candy size/ sort by color/ sort by texture (soft vs. chewy vs. crunchy).
*Concepts: Discuss which candy to eat-first, second, third, next, last.
*Answering questions: Which candy is your favorite and why? Which candy will you give away and why?
*Problem Solving: What will happen if you eat all your Halloween candy? What will happen if you eat a few pieces of candy vs. many pieces of candy?
*Compare/Contrast: How are 2 candies alike/different (skittles vs. m&m)? How do they taste (sour, sweet)? How are the textures alike/ different? How do they look (color, size)?

03/03/2021

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2021/03/01/read-across-america-day-dr-seuss-diversity-racism/6878454002/

Tuesday is Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss's birthday. Those two events, however, aren't as closely linked as in past years.

10/30/2020

Wishing everyone a safe and fun Halloween!

10/30/2020

Halloween Language Enrichment Activities

We all know how much children love to celebrate Halloween. Halloween might look a little different this year. Did you know you can make learning fun and safe at Halloween time with candy? Here are some language enrichment activities your children will love!

Math & Candy:
*Addition: Have your child count how many pieces of candy he/she collected during trick or treating.
*More/Less: You can help your child graph the different candy to see which candy he/she collected more/less of.
*Subtraction: Find the difference between different candies (ex: skittles vs m & m).
*Counting: Open up a bag of skittles/m &m and count how many of each color, how many altogether?
*Prediction: Predict how many pieces of candy will be in a box of Nerds or bag of skittles.

Language & Candy:
*Categorization: Have your child empty all the candy on the table and categorize.
Sort Different candy by names/ sort by sugar candy vs. chocolate candy/ sort by candy size/ sort by color/ sort by texture (soft vs. chewy vs. crunchy).
*Concepts: Discuss which candy to eat-first, second, third, next, last.
*Answering questions: Which candy is your favorite and why? Which candy will you give away and why?
*Problem Solving: What will happen if you eat all your Halloween candy? What will happen if you eat a few pieces of candy vs. many pieces of candy?
*Compare/Contrast: How are 2 candies alike/different (skittles vs. m&m)? How do they taste (sour, sweet)? How are the textures alike/ different? How do they look (color, size)?

08/17/2020

05/20/2020

Happy National Speech Pathologist Day!

05/15/2020

03/14/2020

As a Speech-Language Pathologist, I am always asked to provide some good language enrichment activities. As a parent to an always curious, creative, "I want something to do", only child-we have done almost every one of these activities (compiled in this list). During this difficult time of social distancing, I hope that you will enjoy some of these activities. Please feel free to comment with any other fun suggestions as we are always looking for more.
Best Wishes!

STAY AT HOME ACTIVITIES
Here is a list of activities (some compiled from various resources) that I have created to encourage our children to be active and creative during downtime, vacation time, home sick time and social distancing.
*Read a book.
*Listen to an audiobook
*Write a book.
*Illustrate a book while someone else dictates the story
*Write a letter to a family member or friend
*Make a card to send to somebody
*Call or Facetime with a friend or family member
*Interview a friend or family member

*Build with magnatiles/magnetic tile toys
*Build with legos, blocks, Lincoln logs
*Build a fort with pillows and blankets
*Build a Rube Goldberg Machine
*Build something out of recyclable materials

*Create something with your arts and crafts supplies you have left over
*Make playdough
*Make slime
*Make beaded jewelry or friendship bracelets
*Make something out of clay
*Perler Bead designs
*Make a pencil holder out of an old can and decorate it
*Make paper airplanes
*Make a paper fortune teller/cootie catcher
*Make a collage or dream board with old magazines
*Knit or crochet
*Paint a picture/ Fingerpaint
*Paint rocks
*Paint with water inside or outside
*Make your own wrapping paper by designing and coloring paper.
*Use chalk to color pictures or outside on the sidewalk
*Learn the lyrics to new songs
*Learn how to play a new song with your musical instrument
*Choreograph a dance
*Perform a play

*Play card games-Go Fish, War, Gin Rummy
*Build a house out of cards
*Use cards to play a matching game---or make your own matching game (can target numbers, colors, letters, words, pictures)
*Play board games
*Create your own board game with pieces
*Play outside
*Take a walk
*Ride your bike
*Go on a nature scavenger hunt
*Go on an alphabet scavenger hunt by searching for things or objects that resemble letters
*Learn the rules to a new sport or game

*Clean your room or play area. W**d out any items or toys you don’t play with anymore.
*Go on a house scavenger hunt
*Help wash the car
*Help clean the windows
*Find a new recipe you can cook or bake

*Put together a puzzle
*Make your own puzzle by drawing a picture and cutting the pieces.

03/13/2020

This could be an amazing resource during this challenging time.

12/12/2019

As a Speech-Language Pathologist, I am often asked by parents “What are the best toys to buy to encourage my child to talk or be creative?” With the holidays quickly approaching, I thought I would provide some insight into some best toy picks.
Research has shown that children will acquire vocabulary quicker and better and understand vocabulary, when parent/child interactions occur frequently and are language rich.
The best toys are those that provide increased language opportunities and are meaningful in context. You don’t need to buy the latest electronic toy. Pick toys that are familiar to your child’s daily experiences such as feeding, getting dressed, taking a nap, or going to school.
The toys should promote social interaction, inspire children to be creative and use vocabulary functionally such as role playing, asking for help, showing, describing, commenting, sequencing and problem solving.
Some top picks for young children include:
*Toy Sets such as farm and farm animals, tea set, play kitchen dishes/utensils/food
*Building blocks
*Baby doll/clothes/bottle
*Mr. Potato Head
*Musical instruments
*Puppets
*Dress up clothes
*Art supplies, chalk, playdoh
Some top picks for older children include:
*Legos, Magnatiles, Building Sets
*Charades for Kids
*Apples to Apples Jr., Tribond Jr.
*Guess Who, Guess Where
*Zingo
*Magic show tricks
*Journal, gel pens, art supplies
Wishing everyone a very happy Holiday season

12/10/2019

Love ❤️ this!

The Tucson City Council has given the green light to build a park designed to accommodate those on the Autism Spectrum.

11/27/2019

THANKSGIVING BLOG
Happy Thanksgiving! Looking for some fun speech and language enrichment activities to do with your children over the Thanksgiving holiday? Here are some fun activities:
1. Cooking/Baking: Let your kids help with some cooking/baking tasks. These tasks can target listening, following directions and sequencing (1 step and up), prepositions and vocabulary. For example, please put the flour in the bowl. Add more directions to target sequencing, such as please put the flour in the bowl and then add the milk.
2. Vocabulary/Categories: Holidays bring fun and cheer to your home and some new words. Some Thanksgiving categories might include: food (turkey, sweet potato, pie, casserole);people (friend, family, grandparent); activities (football, parade, feast).
3. Expressive Language: Talk about what being thankful means to you. Discuss memories of Thanksgivings that have past. Take turns asking and answering WH questions such as:
Who do you spend Thanksgiving with? What do you eat on Thanksgiving? When do you eat dessert?
4. Social Language: Thanksgiving is often spent with friends and family that your children might not often see. This is a chance to discuss who you will be spending the holiday with and appropriate interactions. You can review how to introduce yourself or how to greet a guest. Polite manners can also be touched upon such as: saying thank you/no thank you, offering to help clean the table or helping to set the table and using a napkin or silverware while eating.
5. Arts/Crafts: As a child, I loved making Thanksgiving decorations out of a variety of materials. While making crafts, you can talk about colors, textures (smooth, sticky, soft), art supplies or practice writing letters/spelling for place cards.
6. Books: There are so many fun Thanksgiving themed books. Don’t forget to check out some books at the library in preparation for the holiday.

Wishing everyone a fun filled Thanksgiving!
Meredith