Nancy Lynch

2011-12

Mrs. Nancy Lynch
Speech-Language Pathologist
Early Childhood, Park School
708.364.3944
nlynch@orland135.org


My name is Nancy Lynch and I am a speech pathologist in the Early Childhood Department at Park School. I travel between buildings within the district to see students. My schedule for ths year is as follows:


Park School: Monday, Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday morning, and Friday.
Center School: Tuesday morning, Wednesday afternoon, and Thursday.


Students typically have 1-2 sessions per week, therefore, it is important to continue practicing between sessions. Periodically, I will send home materials to practice, but children also learn speech and language through their everyday experiences. It is best to practice for a few minutes at a time, as many days as  possible. Longer sessions less frequently during the week are ususally not as successful. I encourage you to have fun with speech "homework". Make it part of your daily routine (trips to the store, setting the table for dinner, waiting in the carpool line, etc.). Many activities that you already do together can be an opportunity to practice.

• If your child has difficulty pronouncing certain sounds, I Spy is a game that you can play anywhere. See how many things you and your child can "spy" that begin with "their sound".
  
  
• If your child needs help connecting words into longer sentences, ask them to describe what they see or what is happening. "Do you see the birds? What are the birds doing? The birds are flying in the sky." Ask wh-questions to encourage longer responses. In the beginning, your child may just listen to what you say, or you can give him a choice between two or three things and ask which one he/she wants.
  
  
• Concepts: Use descriptive words like big/little, wet/dry, hot/cold, etc. Use words describing location (ex: on/off, inside/outside, front/back, over/under, etc.) when playing with dolls/blocks, action figures, etc.
  
  
• Social skills: Encourage turn-taking in conversation as well play. One person speaks, the others listen. Hand puppets are a good way to reinforce conversational rules or practice asking and answering questions.
  
  
• READ, READ, READ! Books are a wonderful opportunity to practice all of the above. Find words in the book with "their sound". Take turns reading a page from the book by describing what is happening in the pictures. Many books also review basic concepts. The Orland Park Public Library always has programs and activities for all ages.
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• For all of my high tech parents, there are many inexpensive/free apps that you can download from iTunes that reinforce speech and language goals in fun, educational games for preschoolers. There is also a website called momswithapps.com. It is a resource for many companies that offer apps for iPad and iPhone. A bonus is Free Friday, when many new apps are free or discounted. The website also has a Moms With Apps app that you can download from iTunes.

Below you will find a link to the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) website. It has a lot of information for parents re: speech and language development in children.

www.asha.org/public/speech/development/


Here are some additional websites I recommend for students working on sounds/articulation.  Some of the games are targeted for older children who can read, but an older sibling or parent can read the words and have the younger child repeat it.

www.quia.com/pages/havemorefun.html

www.quia.com/pages/speechersclass.html

www.asha.org/public/speech/development/