Welcome Back to Speech 2024!!
I hope that you and your family had a wonderful summer and your student is excited about the new school year. We are looking forward to a fantastic year of growth and learning for all of our Minnie Ruffin students.
Parents, please know that you are the most important person on your child's educational team. What you do at home matters. The amount of time that you spend reading, playing, and talking with your child helps to build their vocabulary and their language skills. This will have a direct impact on your child's success in the classroom. Here are a few ideas of how you can build your child's language skills:
- Limit your child's screen time- T.V.'s, phones, tablets, game systems, etc... Your child needs for you to talk with them face to face each day.
- Label items and actions in your environment and narrate your day as you interact with your child in daily routines. Talk to them about what you are doing or seeing when you are shopping, riding in the car, folding clothes, washing dishes, dressing them, at mealtime, playtime, bath time, etc...
- Read to your child each day. Let them choose a book on their level that they are interested in. Label items, label actions, and talk about the pictures. Ask them questions about the story, ask them what they think about the story, what they think will happen next, and let them retell the story to you.
- As your child plays, talk about what they are doing.
- Sing nursery rhymes and childhood songs with your child.
- Play games with your child.
- Allow time for your child to talk to you as you actively listen.
- Model complete sentences for your child. If they say, "Want cookie.", you say, "Can I have a cookie please." Encourage your child to repeat the complete sentences that you model.
- Consult the Building Language tabs for additional ideas and information on developmental norms.
Thank you for positively impacting your child's growth and development!
If your child is already receiving speech-language therapy here at Minnie Ruffin, services will continue with the goals we discussed at the last IEP meeting. You will be receiving Speech Progress Reports every nine weeks with report cards. You are also invited to stop by the Speech Room during our Open House and Parent-Teacher Conference nights to discuss your child's progress. I will be contacting you later in the year to update your child's IEP as we approach the anniversary date.
If you have any questions or concerns about your child's speech-language development, feel free to contact me at 322-3447 ext 4633.
I look forward to working with you and your child this year!!
Mrs. Barker