Language opportunities for Lucas in summertime

Since it’s summertime, it’s time to take advantage of chances to go out and around with Lucas. This is good for several reasons – he’s less likely to sleep as well as less likely to yell. However, it also gives plenty of conversations to improve his abilities to communicate, which include spoken and written. Here are a few of our favorites.

Lucas is mostly signing. What started as a hand-waving mumble in the past is now a mix of clear hand-shapes and brief sentences. It’s only when I see him with his peers who are hearing that I realize how powerful the eye contact he has, as well as the expressiveness of his face and hands, are. It’s fun to talk to him in this manner; I only wish more people could. We’ve been taking part in Auditory Verbal Therapy for a little over a year now, and he’s beginning to talk to me about what he sees around him using spoken words.

Conversations about nature

We’re blessed to have a natural reserve within a short distance of our home. However, a walk around the garden or locating an area park can work just equally well in the city. The first step is to open and shut the gate. We then practice stamping and stamping on the ground’ using the symbols for “tree” as well as ‘flower as well as showing all the colors we see. We look for snails and then discuss their ’round’ and round’ shells, or we find rabbit holes and then signify “house” and “sleep.”

The British weather offers plenty of opportunities for practicing the indications for rain, wind, and sun. We have a gorgeous book at home, “Tree” by Britta Teckentrup. It’s great for reliving certain aspects of what we’ve observed while out and about. Additionally, we can use it to practice using the words and the signs over and over again.

Vehicles spotting

Lucas is prone to recognize vehicles by a steering wheel that is ever-growing in size and has an elevated degree of excitement (the larger the car is, the more he smiles and the louder the sound). Anything larger than the size of a Ford Focus is a bus when it comes to identifying a bus. If a bus appears, the sign turns into a rousing hit on the head.

We speak or write about cars being small and big as well as their colors, who’s inside them, how loud they can be,e and other things. I’ll usually keep the book on vehicles in my change bag to match it with the things we see and then talk about them a bit longer after they’ve gone off in complete ignorance of the craziness they’ve left behind.

Park Activity

Lucas is adamant that all ladders and steps can lead to an unintentional slide. He was quite unhappy when we went up the steps to an area for birds. Instead of observing birdlife, he was frantically making the sign “where” while also saying, “wheeeee.” The slide craze he has can be a perfect chance to get him used to the words ‘up’ and “down at the park. It’s a good idea to say “Ready and steady” ….” and patiently wait for him to shout “Gooooo,” and then observe the slow descent, hampered by his shoes with rubber soles.

Pollen

I suffer from hay fever, and it’s a pain; however, it also offers an unanticipated language opportunity for Lucas because of being a person who is a fan of sneezing! Not only does he recognize the sound whenever he hears it, which is fantastic and all, but when we say “Aa Aa Aa” …” it will be inevitable that he’ll finish it with “Ooooo.”

We’ve also watched the bees gather pollen from the flowers in our garden, and because there are many of them, he’s learning to sign the same in the event that he sees multiple. The bee sign he uses is “bee,” and his spoken words are becoming clearer, too.

Water game

I adore the concept of messy play, but I fear the actuality. So, summer is a wonderful time, and the mess will stay outdoors! We’re practicing ‘P’ and “T” sounds right now, which is why water is a fantastic medium to use for “pitter-patter,” pour,’ ‘and tip’ as well as for other terms like the squeeze of a sponge well as the splash from the water.

One of Lucas’s favorite signs is ‘boat’; therefore, we incorporate other items into our games that allow him to use signs along with speech. We have just bought several different colored boats at Aldi and then used household sponges, bottles of plastic, and Tupperware for pouring and squeezing.