Friday, January 28, 2011

Oral Motor Exercises for Tongue Elevation

Many students enrolled in speech therapy are working to improve articulation of the "r" sounds. The following exercises are designed to improve tongue elevation. Raising the tongue to the palate improves the child's ability to produce a clear "r" as well as other palatal phonemes like "sh" and "ch." Students are encouraged to practice the exercises at home.

  • Bite on a toothbrush as you move your tongue to different places in the mouth. Do not drop the toothbrush.
  • Practice licking popsicles or pretzel sticks. Move your tongue, not the stick!
  • Put peanut butter on the roof of the mouth and try to lick it off
  • Put a small piece of food (cheerio, raisin, etc) on the tongue. Hold it there for 5-10 seconds. Lift the item to the hard palate (roof of the mouth).
  • Click your tongue 5 times.
  • Say “kkk” “ggg” a few times. Watch the back of the tongue go up.
  • Brush the sides of the tongue with a toothbrush. Then raise your tongue so the sides of your tongue are spread along the top teeth. Slide your tongue back and forth against the teeth.

Friday, January 14, 2011

More Vocabulary Tips

Here are some more vocabulary tips from www.improvingvocabulary.org

Making a word personally relevant will dramatically enrich your learning. Studies show that our memories are actually geared to "forget" or "block out" information that isn't perceived as relevant. The same studies also show that your memory improves when information is made personally relevant

Tips for learning vocabulary:

Make up your own examples When you learn a new word, think of common examples in your own life where the word would apply.

Define it in your own words Another way to make a word personally relevant is to define it in your own words. When you look up a word, first read the definition presented in the dictionary. After you have closed the dictionary, try making up your own definition

Encourage students to think of personal examples of new vocabulary, formulate sentences using the words, and to generate definitions. This will help them to retain what they have learned.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Vocabulary Practice

The old saying "practice makes perfect", rings very true for vocabulary building. Studies show that rehearsal dramatically improves long term memory. In fact, it takes between 10 and 20 repetitions to make a word part of your vocabulary. What's even more surprising is that rehearsing a word, even after you believe you have mastered it, can double the effectiveness of your learning, greatly reducing the chance that you will forget the word in the future.
www.improvingvocabulary.org

Students at Lakeview continue to practice using adjectives that describe personality traits. This week they reviewed some words from the word wall, sorted the words according to meaning, and formed sentences using new vocabulary. We will continue to think of examples of various traits and incorporate the new vocabulary in reading and writing activities.