Group of children playing with soap bubbles outdoors. Friends trying to catch the bubbles.
Chicago spring is on its way, and along with the warmer weather comes a wealth of opportunities to practice speech and language skills outside! No matter what your child is working on in speech therapy, you can find ways to target their goals in the sunny spring weather.
Like most things, the views on echolalia lie on a continuum. They range from considering its use non-functional, to tolerating it, to really accepting and celebrating it. We, as parents, caregivers, clinicians, and professionals, can facilitate further acceptance by understanding language learning differences, embracing echolalia, and educating others!
What is Play?
Importance of Reading to Young Children
Reading to children helps build their vocabulary, helps them learn early literacy skills (like print concepts, letters and their sounds, etc.), and build a love for reading. Not only does reading improve your child’s academic skills, research shows that reading also strengthens children’s social and emotional development. According to this research, reading to young children is linked to decreased levels of aggression, hyperactivity, and attention problems (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2017). Aside from all the wonderful things reading to your child helps teach them, it is also a great way to spend quality time together (Van Amburg, 2021)!