Receptive Language Improved - Thank you!!!

[Guest guest]

About 4 or 5 months ago we really started working on my son's

receptive language. It was so poor. I was given some great tips from

this board (lots of info from Janice). Three months ago we had a

private therapist evaluate my son (she gave him the Preschool

Language Scales-4 test). He was just retested with EI (using the same

test) since we are transitioning out soon. For auditory comprehension

he went from a standard score of 92 (age equivalent 2 years 5 months)

to a standard score of 111 (3 years 4 months). In just 3 months his

receptive language increased 11 months!!!! Thanks to all of you for

the therapy tips and support. We could tell that he was a lot better

with receptive, but it was so cool to actually have some numbers.

We still have a lot of work with receptive language especially with

the conversation aspect where he really seems to lose it. He is good

when you ask him questions and pictures are involved (this is how

they evaluated him). However, just start conversing with him and see

how far you go :-( I guess they don't have a good test that evaluates

receptive language in conversation? He was also given the Kaufman

Speech Praxis Test for Children. Which put him at moderately apraxic.

He had a percentile ranking of just 3 for imitation of oral

movements. We will be aggressively starting the oral motor exercises!

BTW - his expressive language did improve - went from 2 years 3

months to 2 years 11 months - no doubt influenced greatly by the

improvement in receptive language (this was also tested using the

preschool language scales test).

Following are some of the activities we did to help him with

receptive language:

- Reading, reading, reading and reading! We read all the time and

most importantly he actively participates. I don't just read to him

anymore. I'm forever asking him questions about the story! And we try

to focus on the same books for several weeks - this gives him the

repetition needed to learn!

- magnetic books/felt story board books. You know the books that have

the little cut outs of animals and people and you stick them on the

book and create your own stories. We involve his older brother. I go

first, putting the characters on the page and create a very simple

story (usually 2 to 3 step story). Then I ask my son to tell me the

same story. " What happened first " , " What happened next " and " What

happened Last " . Then each of my boys get their turn to tell their own

story. My son tends to just want to put each cut out on the board

without much words so I encourage him by asking " What is the animal

doing " and so forth.

- I bought some stories on CD. We listen to them in the car and I

stop the story and ask questions while we are listening.

- We did one round of therapy listening in the last several months.

We use KizJamz and Samonas Carulli. Not sure how this compares to the

others.

- We play a lot of board games like color/animal Bingo, card memory

games, candy land, brown bear, sequence ...

- We kind of do digit spans (I think). I name off colors and ask him

to repeat them. My older son loves to do this with us. Unfortunately,

my younger doesn't enjoy it as much. So, I've tried to just tell a

simple story (The little bear woke up and brushed his teeth - then I

ask " What did the little bear do first " ). I've also been showing him

picture flashcards and asking him to repeat back what pictures they

see.

- I get a bunch of different, small toys from around the house and

put them in a bag. We then take them out and I ask my son to do

things with them. e.g. Put the dinosaur under the car. Put the

dinosaur on top of the car.... Every time we play I have different

toys in the bag so my son is always excited to see what is in it.

- I also incorporate receptive language in the clean up of all toys.

If we are doing a puzzle then I tell him what puzzle pieces that I

want. He loves his " things that go " puzzle - so I might say " give me

all the pieces that go in water " or " give me all the pieces that are

red and fly in the sky " .

- Lastly, I try to incorporate questions in everything that we do. If

we are leaving the house I will ask him what do put on before we

leave the house. I'm looking for the answer shoes. If he can't get it

then I give more of a hint. " What do we need to put on our feet

before we leave the house " . If he still can't get it then I ask " Do

we need to put shoes or a hat on our feet before we leave " . Or if we

are eating breakfast I just give him a bowl of cereal (no spoon) and

ask him what else does he need to eat his cereal....

Anyway - got some of these tips here, some from our ST and some just

made up myself. Thanks again!