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Made It Myself Haggadah - A Language Enriching Experience
Growing up, I had a hard time sitting through a Passover Seder. It was LONG and not particularly child friendly. I would have loved: My Haggadah: Made It Myself by NYC parents Francine Hermelin Levite and Adam Levite. This fun learning tool will help create meaningful conversation through simple art activities (which can be completed with basic equipment: crayons, scissors, glue stick) and thought provoking questions which will engage your child. Four through ten year olds will love coloring the pictures of the wise, wicked, simple and silent "children", making an envelope to hide afikomen from you, and following directions to hide their private wishes for the next year.
Stimulating questions may be simple: "If you had to pack in a hurry what would you take?" Or more complex: "We're free, but a lot of people are in trouble. Who or what would you like to help?"
The 15 steps of the Seder are included. The book can be used as a supplement or in place of any Passover Haggadah.
Even if you feel your child learned about Passover at school, this Haggadah will enhance their Passover experience and help you get to know your child better.
The book is available two ways:
1. You can request a free PDF download at francine@madeitmyselfbooks.com - subject line: My Haggadah PDF.
2. You can order printed copies via paypal.
Happy Passover!
The New York Times: When To Worry If A Child Has Too Few Words
Read how Pediatrician Perri Klass, M.D., discusses how difficult determining a language delay in toddlers can be in The New York Times article When to Worry if a Child Has Too Few Words published February 8, 2010.
Labels: Hearing, Language, Language Delay, Speech Therapy
Stuttering Update
Dennis Dryana, Ph.D., a director of the Stuttering Foundation and researcher for the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders announced the discovery of three genes for stuttering today.
While this information could be helpful to one day find a cure, we still need to rely on speech therapy to prevent stuttering. This significant finding rules out stuttering is due to factors such as stress.
What is stuttering? The following information is condensed from Let's Talk, I think my child is stuttering. What should I do? American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2003.
It is considered normal for young children to have some dysfluent speech, especially when they are expressing complex ideas. It's also common for children ages 2 through 7 to repeat whole words or phrases and to use "uh" and "um" in their speech. Most children become more fluent as they get older and their language skills improve.
However, stuttering often begins during these early years. A speech therapist that specializes in treating stuttering / fluency disorders can help determine if the child is beginning to stutter or just has a normal dysfluency.
Characteristics of the child at risk for stuttering: - Repeats parts of words, prolongs a sound, or breaks up words
- Often repeats part of the word about 3 times
- During repetitions, the child substitutes an uh vowel (tuh-tuh-tuh-table)
- May use a broken rhythm during repetitions (b.b.....b..boy)
- Has 10 or more disfluencies every 100 words
- Opens mouth to speak but no sound comes out
- Has other family members who stutter
Select Characteristics of a child with normal disfluency: - Often repeats whole words or phrases
- Typically repeats part of the word no more than 1 or 2 times
- During repetitions, the vowel sound remains the same (ta,ta,table)
- Rhythmic repetitions
- 9 or fewer disfluencies every 100 words
- Starts speech easily; keeps speech going
Speech Pathologists that Specialize in Stuttering in Manhattan
Dr. Lesley Wolk
212.678.3895
Karin Wexler 212.678.3409
American Institute for Stuttering 27 West 20th Street Suite 1203 New York, NY 10011 212.633.6400
Phil Schneider 3333 Henry Hudson Parkway Suite 7 Riverdale, NY 10463 718.549.0433 phil@schneiderspeech.com
Attend a Stuttering Group For Kids Meets At Brooklyn College
Labels: Articulation, NYC, Speech, Speech Therapy, Stuttering
My son tends to leave out details in conversation, how can I help him?
To be more specific with details and descriptions, encourage your son to "read" wordless picture books to you. You can also use picture books with text, as long as the pictures are detailed / expressive themselves. This works best with Caldecott Medal / Honor Books. These books won the Caldecott Award because a child who can not read, can tell the story on his own, just by looking at the pictures. Caldecott books can be found at your local library or where children's books are sold. Try: Books of Wonder or the Bank Street Bookstore in Manhattan.
Caldecott Favorites Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems Flotsam (This is also a wordless picture book) by David Wiesner The Hello, Goodbye Window by Norton Juster, Illustrated by Chris Raschka When Sophie Gets Angry, Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang No, David! (Essentially wordless) by David Shannon The Paperboy by Dav Pilkey Rumpelstiltskin by Paul Zelinsky King Bidgood's In The Bathtub by Don and Audrey Wood A Chair For My Mother by Vera B. Williams One Fine Day by Nonny Hogrogian Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak Umbrella by Taro Yashima A Tree Is Nice by Marc Simont Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
The pictures in books by Leo Lionni and Ezra Jack Keats are incredibly descriptive.
Wordless Picture Books
The Frog Series by Mercer Mayer The Snowman by Raymond Briggs Changes, Changes by Pat Hutchins Pancakes For Breakfast by Tomie DePaola Carl Goes Shopping by Alexandra Day Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann Hug by Jez Alborough
Listen to your child tell the story. If you feel he leaves out important information, ask an open ended, leading question (e.g., "OOOO - What's happening over here?"). If he can't describe what's happening, describe it for him. Perhaps this will increase his awareness that he needs to be more specific, or when he reads it to you tomorrow, or next week, he'll include that information. Have fun!
Stephanie is a speech pathologist in NYC. Labels: Bilingual, Language, Language Delay, Parent Friendly Activities, Speech Therapy
What Are Some Board Games You Recommend For Preschoolers?
While pretend play is extremely important for your two year old, it is also a great time to introduce board games. Games can enhance attention, concentration, turn taking, sharing, following directions and having fun!
Below are some great games to start with. If you find that your child doesn't respond well at first, put it away for a month or so and then try again. Help your child make matches, understand the directions, etc.
Cariboo - Opening the doors with the purple key to find colorful balls is motivating. When the treasure is revealed, all players are rewarded.
Zingo - This is Bingo with a fun dispenser. Kids excitedly shout out the names of the pictures.
Hullabaloo - Your child will be moving around the room from floormat to floormat while following the directions provided by the console.
First Games Set - Includes Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Hi Ho! Cherry-O and Memory. These games address a variety of skills such as counting, memory and following directions.
Picture Dominoes - Addresses matching, turn-taking and vocabulary (depending on the set you choose).
Naturally, the best part of playing games with your child is the quality time you spend with them.
Stephanie Sigal provides speech therapy for children in New York City. She can be reached at sayandplay@yahoo.com.
Labels: Language, Language Delay, Parent Friendly Activities, Speech Therapy
Fine Motor Activities
I often find that children with articulation issues have fine motor delays. At times, I feel a consultation with an occupational therapist (OT) is necessary. Other times it seems that a child may simply need to be exposed to the types of activities listed below to encourage development of the hand muscles.
Supervision is crucial for safety (many of these activities contain small parts) and to ensure that the fingers are used appropriately within each task. If the fingers are not used appropriately, your child is simply playing with the item and not developing their fingers / hand muscles.
Encourage the writing fingers (see picture above) to do the work during precise fine motor activities. While holding a marker or crayon, encourage a proper grip (see picture at right).
During writing and many other fine motor tasks, the writing fingers (thumb, pointer and middle fingers) are active, while the pinky and ring fingers stay tucked in, secure against the palm.
Proper use of the fingers lays the foundation for higher level fine motor skills like writing letters and tying shoes.
Some of these activities are great in the car or airplane.
Begin with these fine motor tasks: - Mr. Potato Head
- Crayons - try coloring with small, broken crayons to encourage a better grip.
- Pip-Squeaks Markers
- Stickers - peel off stickers with pincer grasp and place them on a vertical surface (piece of paper taped to the wall).
- Magnetic Sets
- Wikki Stix or Bendaroos
- String large beads or dried pasta - make a noodle necklace!
- Place coins in a bank - you can make a slit in a coffee cup top.
- Playdoh, Silly Putty - break off small pieces and roll them into balls between the pads of the thumb and pointer finger. Then, squish the small balls between the thumb and pointer finger. You can also roll and squish between the thumb and middle finger, thumb and ring finger and thumb and pinky. Place toothpicks or thin birthday candles into Playdoh and make a birthday cake!
- Glue dry macaroni - make a collage
- Scissor work - make sure the thumb stays facing upwards. Begin with My First Fiskars and promptly transition to a kids blunt tip.
- Magnadoodle
Later, try these activities: - Standard hole punchers or try challenging shape punchers
- Lacing cards (or make your own with a hole puncher)
- Clothes pins - pinch them onto the edge of a container or a dishcloth. Alternate fingers (first squeeze with thumb and pointer, then thumb and middle finger, then thumb and ring finger and finally thumb and pinky).
- Paper clips - connect colorful clips
- Practice fasteners (buttons, snaps, buckles, zippers)
- Eat with Farm or Fish sticks - or these tongs are easier.
- Tweezers - pick up small cotton balls and transfer them from one cup to another.
- Unifix cubes
- Zoobs
- Legos
- Lite Brite - you may like the travel size
- Small Pop Beads
- Pick Up Sticks
- Keychains like these are fun to connect. I recommend purchasing them from a hardware store where they will have more resistance than from a therapy toy catalogue.
- Theraputty - Choose a texture that will slightly challenge your child and then increase the resistance with a firmer texture. Hide pennies inside and encourage your child to find them.
Please remember, these activities are only helpful for fine motor skills if they are completed using an appropriate grasp as mentioned above. If you find the exercises are difficult for your child, a consultation with an occupational therapist may be appropriate.
My favorite Manhattan Occupational Therapist Lauren Stern has helped me compile these activities over the years. She can be contacted at laurendstern@gmail.com or 516.298.4084. Labels: Articulation, Fine Motor, Occupational Therapy, OT, Parent Friendly Activities, Speech
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