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“The Twits”
By Roald Dahl
Illustrated by Quentin Blake
The 2015 edition of “The Twits” published by Penguin Books not only includes great coloured illustrations, but also includes a CD with a reading recording by actor Richard Ayoade (known to many from the TV show “The IT Crowd”). The audio-book could potentially assist children who struggle with reading as they could to listen to the text while following the words with their eyes or read together with the recording. The many coloured illustrations provide an opportunity for students to predict the potential contents prior to reading and can help build comprehension.
Being a Dahl book, the writing itself is high quality and rich with the use of very descriptive vocabulary and figurative language. For example Mr Twit’s hair is described as growing in spikes “like the bristles of a nailbrush” (simile) and Mr Twit is said to eat “Squiggly Spaghetti” or display a “ghoulish grin” (alliteration).
The ridiculous characters in the book with their revolting habits and terrible behaviour are just the sort of thing that would appeal to many children and adults with a sense of harmless fun despite, or perhaps because, it is all “so wrong”. The situations in the text provide an opportunity to discuss a large range of complex emotions. The illustrations are drawn showing expressive faces which can facilitate discussions about social cues. The faces include round eyes with pupils so children can discuss where a character’s “eyes are pointing”. The story is told in 29 short chapters. This could enable children who have difficulty reading to have a sense of accomplishment when completing a chapter without becoming too fatigued by decoding the text.
I think “The Twits” is an enjoyable text that will interest many children in reading. Children could read the book by themselves however, if read with their parents, it would almost be guaranteed to spark lots of excited and hilarious discussion before (predicting), during and after the communal reading.
Please note: Melbourne Child Development is in no way affiliated with this book and we do not receive any financial incentive to promote it (we just love this book!).
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Match and Spell
A fun, first reading and spelling game
Match and Spell is a game produced by Orchard Toys. The game is designed to develop early reading and spelling skills. It can also assist with letter sound links and phonological awareness skills (awareness of sounds and the structure of words).
Players can choose word boards that have words with 3 or 4 sounds. Short vowel sounds are used which include ‘a’ (e.g. cat) , ‘e’ (e.g. hen), ‘i’ (e.g. pig), ‘o’ (e.g. fox) and ‘u’ (e.g. slug). Some word board have the letters which players can match to the letter tiles. Other boards have a picture and blank spaces to add in letters to spell the words.
This game can be used for the phonological awareness skill of segmenting words into their individual sounds. For example, the word slug has 4 sounds, s-l-u-g. Players can say one sound at a time and select the corresponding letter tile.
Families can also download free templates from the Orchard Toys website to make their own words to match and spell!
Please note: Melbourne Child Development is in no way affiliated with this resource and we do not receive any financial incentive to promote it (we just love it!).
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Can we skip the games and use flash cards instead?
If you have ever spent time in the waiting room of Melbourne Child Development, you have no doubt seen the Speech Pathologists whizzing past with their arms full of games, pushing a tub of blocks or dragging a plastic kitchen behind them. While many of us love thinking of new ways to set up fun sessions for our clients and families, playing and using games in therapy is good for many different reasons:
1. Building strong relationships: Many children are quite shy when they meet a new person, and this is no different when they start therapy with a new Speech Pathologist. Playing games can help to break the ice, with fun and laughter being a great way to quickly build good rapport. Continuing to have fun, even when the child has been attending therapy for a while, is a way of maintaining a strong and effective therapeutic relationship with the child. Research tells us that this relationship is one of the most important factors to therapy outcomes, and so by making the sessions fun, we are working to strengthen and maintain this.
2. Increasing motivation: Through play and games we are able to introduce many different concepts or goals (that can often be quite difficult or dry) in a way that is exciting for the child. In this way, they want to continue working on the goal because it is enjoyable (intrinsically motivating). This can lead to children to continue longer with tasks that they might find difficult or can increase the frequency of a therapy target by building it into a repetitive game.
3. Promoting generalisation: Research shows us that children are learning more when they are having fun! By working on goals through play or with games, the child is able to begin using the targets in a more natural way (i.e. in the way that they typically would outside of therapy). This means that when they play a similar game or in a similar way at home or at school, they are more likely to accurately use their therapy targets.
4. Helping with regulation: Children can sometimes feel tired, stressed or worried when entering the room for a therapy session. On the other hand, some children are over excited and full of energy at the prospect of another great session. Whichever the case, being in a state of dysregulation can impact on the child’s participation within the session. Starting off the session with a game can help the child regulate and gives them time to physically and mentally prepare for the learning that is to come.
5. Creating positive experiences: In therapy we challenge children by asking them to complete tasks that they find difficult. A fun game can often be the reward needed (an extrinsic motivator) to help children continue trying in tasks they may be having little success with or are finding hard.
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In early childhood development, one of the most eagerly awaited milestones is a child’s first words. We often place so much emphasis on the use of verbal language that we sometimes overlook the importance of foundational communication skills that evolve before or alongside words.
There are lots of components of communication, particularly social communication. This includes using eye contact, gesture, facial expression, body language, tone of voice, turn-taking, and joint attention. Our Speech Pathologist Natasha wrote a piece detailing joint attention in our November Newsletter, if you would like to have further information on this (click to read). Social communication can be broken down into four steps that are clearly outlined by Michelle Garcia Winner in her book ‘Social Thinking Thinksheets for tweens and teens- Learning to read in between the social lines’...
READ MORE
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Amaze launches their #ChangeYourReactions Campaign - an Australia-first autism public education campaign.
Have you seen the campaign yet? It's on TV, radio, newspapers, internet and outdoor billboards.
There are three different ads, and they aim to remind people not to judge autistic people, and be accepting and kind. You can see the ads, and find out more here: https://changeyourreactions.com/
Talk'N'Tumble: Gymnastics based Therapy Groups
This is a gymnastics based group program for kinder and school aged children facilitated by a Paediatric OT and gymnastics coach. The program is held at Eastern Gymnastics Club in Box Hill South, and there is a Come and Try Session on Tuesday 17th March. Find out more here: https://www.talkntumble.com.au/
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