Servicing Georgia, Illinois, Texas and Virginia
+1 (877) 522-4438

Supporting speech and language skills on Christmas

Supporting speech and language skills on Christmas

Well we are half way through December, although we’re not sure how that happened!  We are at that tricky time when as an adult we are no where near prepared for Christmas day, but all the children are over excited and ready for the holidays to start.

So what do you do, when on top of all of this, you also need to practice speech and language targets?  Some families find that keeping to a routine is easier and manage to find five minutes to squeeze in some practice.  However for many families this just isn’t going to happen.  We always get some parents feeling very guilty that they “haven’t done any practice”.  Well today, we are here to say that it is OK not to get the pictures or sheets out, its OK to say no to homework over the Christmas break!  Let us explain why.

There are any different things happening and exciting things that only happen once a year.  This provides so many natural opportunities for learning and language.

  • Putting up the Christmas tree.  If you get a real tree you can use language like heavy, tall and short or prickly.  If you have a fake tree, you can talk about opening the box or count the branches.  Then you have all those great things to decorate it with – tinsel, lights, baubles, stars etc.  You can also reinforce this vocabulary throughout the time that the tree is up and when you take it down.  If you have an older child you could find out together about the tradition of bringing a tree into the house.
  • Christmas movies and books.  Again these are great opportunities for Christmas specific vocabulary – elves, reindeer etc.  You can also encourage your child to retell the story afterwards or talk about their favorite parts.
  • Winter walks. Talk about the trees, have they lost their leaves or not?  Is it cold? You might even get some snow which provides even more opportunities to learn new words!
  • Teaching negatives.  Don’t climb the tree!  Don’t open your brother’s presents! There will be lots of opportunities!
  • Christmas songs.  Songs are a great way to learn new words and sentences as well as working on memory skills.
  • Photos.  We all take lots of photos at Christmas.  You can use these to talk about what has happened, expand expressive language and sequence events – to name just a few.  They are really versatile and on your phone!  It can also be fun to let your children take some photos – they often find exciting, different things to photo.
  • Social skills. Christmas is full of opportunities to practice social interactions and skills.  Saying thank you for a present you might not really like, thinking of others, not taking others toys even if you like them more.

What if you don’t celebrate Christmas?

We realize that there are many families that don’t celebrate Christmas, but it is still an interesting time of year.

  • With older children you could look at the moon each night and learn some facts about the stars and planets.  You could draw the moon each night and talk about how it changes and why. 
  • With younger children you can use the winter walk idea above.  You could look for leaves and acorns outside.  You could decide if they are crunchy or soggy etc.

So whether you do some targeted work or not, please don’t feel guilty.  You will have done lots to teach your children new skills.  Above all enjoy spending time with your family and friends and have a great holiday!

Related Posts
51 Comments

Hey! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us beneficial information to work on. You have done a extraordinary job!

I will immediately snatch your rss as I can’t in finding your e-mail subscription link or newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Please let me understand so that I may subscribe. Thanks.

Thanks for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do a little research on this. We got a grab a book from our area library but I think I learned more from this post. I’m very glad to see such great info being shared freely out there.

whoah this blog is wonderful i love reading your articles. Keep up the great work! You know, lots of people are looking around for this info, you can aid them greatly.

You are my intake, I possess few web logs and infrequently run out from to brand.

You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this matter to be really something that I think I would never understand. It seems too complicated and very broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!

Hi there, simply became aware of your blog through Google, and located that it’s truly informative. I am going to be careful for brussels. I’ll appreciate when you proceed this in future. A lot of other folks will probably be benefited from your writing. Cheers!

It’s onerous to search out knowledgeable people on this matter, but you sound like you already know what you’re talking about! Thanks

Thanks for your personal marvelous posting! I quite enjoyed reading it, you’re a great author.I will make certain to bookmark your blog and will often come back sometime soon. I want to encourage one to continue your great posts, have a nice morning!

It’s laborious to search out educated people on this topic, but you sound like you already know what you’re talking about! Thanks

As a Newbie, I am always browsing online for articles that can aid me. Thank you

I’ve learn some excellent stuff here. Certainly value bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much effort you place to make the sort of magnificent informative site.

I think this website has some rattling superb info for everyone. “The penalty of success is to be bored by the attentions of people who formerly snubbed you.” by Mary Wilson Little.

The very root of your writing while sounding agreeable originally, did not sit well with me after some time. Somewhere throughout the sentences you managed to make me a believer but just for a short while. I nevertheless have got a problem with your leaps in logic and you would do well to fill in those gaps. When you actually can accomplish that, I could certainly be impressed.

I believe you have observed some very interesting details, appreciate it for the post.

Just a smiling visitant here to share the love (:, btw great layout. “The price one pays for pursuing a profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.” by James Arthur Baldwin.

Very interesting information!Perfect just what I was searching for!

Keep functioning ,remarkable job!

I like this website very much, Its a real nice position to read and obtain info .

Hello achievetherapies.com admin, Your posts are always well-cited and reliable.

As I web-site possessor I believe the content matter here is rattling fantastic , appreciate it for your efforts. You should keep it up forever! Best of luck.

Dear achievetherapies.com admin, Thanks for the well written post!

Hello achievetherapies.com administrator, Thanks for the well-structured and well-presented post!

I just couldn’t depart your site prior to suggesting that I really enjoyed the standard info a person provide for your visitors? Is gonna be back often to check up on new posts

Dear achievetherapies.com owner, Thanks for the well-organized and comprehensive post!

Hey There. I found your weblog using msn. That is an extremely smartly written article. I’ll make sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your helpful information. Thanks for the post. I’ll certainly comeback.

I think this website has got some rattling good information for everyone : D.

Thank you for your sharing. I am worried that I lack creative ideas. It is your article that makes me full of hope. Thank you. But, I have a question, can you help me?

I went over this website and I believe you have a lot of excellent information, saved to bookmarks (:.

Hey there! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers? I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any tips?

I like this web blog very much so much good info .

I think other web-site proprietors should take this site as an model, very clean and wonderful user friendly style and design, let alone the content. You’re an expert in this topic!

An attention-grabbing dialogue is value comment. I think that you need to write extra on this matter, it might not be a taboo topic however generally individuals are not enough to talk on such topics. To the next. Cheers

Some really fantastic content on this site, thanks for contribution. “The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.” by Arnold Glasgow.

Great paintings! That is the kind of info that are supposed to be shared around the net. Disgrace on Google for not positioning this submit higher! Come on over and seek advice from my site . Thank you =)

Magnificent web site. A lot of useful information here. I am sending it to several buddies ans additionally sharing in delicious. And certainly, thanks in your sweat!

I simply could not leave your site prior to suggesting that I extremely enjoyed the usual information a person supply for your visitors? Is going to be back often in order to check up on new posts.

Rattling great info can be found on weblog. “I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure.” by John D. Rockefeller.

Hi I am so delighted I found your blog page, I really found you by accident, while I was looking on Yahoo for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say many thanks for a fantastic post and a all round thrilling blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to look over it all at the minute but I have bookmarked it and also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a great deal more, Please do keep up the awesome job.

Generally I don’t read post on blogs, but I wish to say that this write-up very compelled me to take a look at and do it! Your writing style has been amazed me. Thank you, very nice post.

Good day! This post could not be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my previous room mate! He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this page to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!

This really answered my problem, thank you!

Someone essentially help to make seriously posts I would state. This is the very first time I frequented your website page and thus far? I surprised with the research you made to make this particular publish extraordinary. Fantastic job!

Hey there! Quick question that’s completely off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My site looks weird when viewing from my iphone. I’m trying to find a theme or plugin that might be able to resolve this problem. If you have any suggestions, please share. Thanks!

Simply wish to say your article is as astounding. The clearness in your post is simply nice and i could assume you are an expert on this subject. Fine with your permission let me to grab your RSS feed to keep updated with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please keep up the enjoyable work.

obviously like your web-site however you need to take a look at the spelling on several of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling issues and I to find it very troublesome to tell the truth however I will definitely come back again.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.