Month: October 2017

Learning the Speech Sounds

Learning the Speech Sounds

Your baby’s babbling consists of strings of consonant-like sounds alternating with an ah-like vowel sound. While these sounds resemble speech sounds, they are not “phonemes.” The baby is simply vocalizing while opening and closing its mouth. When you imitate your baby’s babbling sounds, you set the stage for baby to imitate your sounds. You match the baby’s sounds, and the baby in turn match ...[Read More]

Apraxia (CAS) – A Motor Speech Disorder

Apraxia (CAS) – A Motor Speech Disorder

Most of us enjoy trying to recite a tongue twister faster and faster till the words get all “twisted” in our mouths. To the child with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS), the simplest word may be a tongue twister. Hundreds of quick nerve impulses are needed to produce a single syllable. With that in mind, it is truly amazing that most children seem to learn to talk so relatively easily! For the chi ...[Read More]

Learning Words–Early Stages of Vocabulary Development

Learning Words–Early Stages of Vocabulary Development

You have probably read some of those little “pointing” books with your baby. You know, those books with hard pages and a single object pictured on each page. You point to the picture and name the object. Pretty soon, your baby points to each picture as you turn the page and might even try to imitate the word. This is a great way to stimulate your child’s early speech development and teach some bas ...[Read More]

First Steps in Learning to Talk

First Steps in Learning to Talk

Your child’s speech development starts long before he or she says the first word. In fact, some research indicates that a baby learns to recognize the mother’s voice already while in the womb. At just a few months old, babies will distinguish between the language of their environment and a foreign language. Studies showing this did not include a familiar voice, just the familiar language contraste ...[Read More]