Alex Trichilo | Public figure
Alex Trichilo
Phone: +61 448 464 854
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25.01.2022 Do you ever have that gut feeling as a parent that something you've been recommended just isn't the right fit for you? Especially when it comes to newborns? I had the best chat with @jenbutlerearlyparenting yesterday about sleep routines, and she busted a couple of myths about sleep that so many parents are taught. Go take a listen to our chat on my latest episode of the @mamalearnpodcast
24.01.2022 - recently these two have been in what I call "extreme mode" Extreme best friends or extreme enemies Extreme tantrums or extremely angelic... There doesn't seem to be any in between at the moment and I can't predict what we're going to get in each moment. From a Speech Pathologist perspective, I communicate to them that I love them and I'm here for them with verbal language, body language, cuddles and more. From a mum perspective... I kind of lose my shiz... Often And my baby boy, well he just steers clear and stays away from the drama Are your kids in extreme mode like mine? @ Perth, Western Australia See more
24.01.2022 ? ? I've combined forces with an amazing experienced teacher, Samantha from @__little__cherubs__ to bring you a whole month of # It is as easy as it sounds - reading with your children and then using those books to inspire play. Because play is the work of children.... We'll each be sharing 20 easy book play ideas (that's 40 in total!) this month (Mon-Fri) starting this Monday. Swipe through the pics to see our rough themes for each week and the types of play that might be inspired. We have an amazing coming out Friday to support you with ideas and recipes. We would love for you to join us, please tag us @__little__cherubs__ and @speechwithalextrichilo and start using the hashtag #easybookplay and stay tuned for Friday's mini ebook release! @ Perth, Western Australia See more
23.01.2022 Go ask them now.... ? For those who are new, welcome to my Sunday " ...?" series. ... The // sound at the beginning of this word is expected to be mastered by the age of 4. The "air" vowel might not be perfect at first, but you should see it develop and change over time. Some common errors with this word before the age of 4: 1. Deaffrication: "shair" 2. Stopping: "tair" There are some errors that might ring warning bells before the age of 4 because they arent typical: 1. Backing: "gair" 2. Voicing: "jair" If you are seeing these errors or other errors after the age of 4, it might be worth considering a referral to a Speech Pathologist. Or send me a DM to pick my brain a little. If this language is all a little new to you, head back to my IGTV Speech Sound Series to start learning! My ebook is also great as a starting point for speech sounds at home, it's called and I'll be releasing a hard copy version VERY soon! See more
23.01.2022 8/20 # Caterpillar's Wish by Mary Murphy This book has a beautiful simple story about a caterpillar, ladybug and bee. The caterpillar is sad because it can't fly like the other two. Then one day the bee and the ladybird discover that the caterpillar is in a cocoon and then emerges as a butterfly who can fly like the other two. I love this one because it gets kids thinking about similarities and differences between insects,as well as of course the life cycle o...f the butterfly. I stole this #easybookplay activity idea from a piece of craft that my nephew brought home from school. We painted the different pasta separately so that we could talk about each stage of the life cycle of the butterfly. It's so simple and suitable for such a variety of ages. This activity also presents with a few good - ", , " and when we look at these words, some of them can be pretty tricky for kids. When you look at the big words that your children are trying to say, you have to consider the number of coordinated movements that need to be made for each sound in the word, plus they need to smoothly transition between each sound. Let's take caterpillar for example... C-a-t-er-p-i-ll-ar - that's EIGHT sounds! And look at the sounds in this way: -- back-vowel-front-vowel-lips-vowel-front-vowel -- stop-vowel-stop-vowel-stop-vowel-liquid-vowel -- off-on-off-on-off-on-on-on Wow, now kids have to combine those three different parts of articulation (place, manner, voicing) accurately to say this sound correctly! If this language about Articulation is new to you, take a look at my Speech Sound Series on IGTV or take a look at my Speech Sound book on my website to learn more. Head over to @__little__cherubs__ to see what book she's reading and playing with today for #easybookplay! @ Perth, Western Australia See more
22.01.2022 17/20 # Slow Down, World by @taisnaith_books This beautiful book is from @growing.kind and will be part of our . If you haven't seen Growing Kind before - go take a look, she stocks beautiful children's toys and books, donates to charity with every order and only uses recycled packaging This book is very timely considering the Covid situation as it describes several strategies that children (and adults) can use to help themselves to slow... down and feel more calm . But it describes them using imagery and a story telling style so that it is really captivating. My eldest daughter can be quite nervous, whilst my second daughter is very high energy so they each need different strategies to slow down . But our favourite from the book is to imagine you are a piece of seaweed, with your roots in the ocean floor and the current allowing you to sway gently to and fro whilst standing in one place As you can see in the picture, the pictures in the book have been created out of clay and paper collage so I thought we'd use our Playdough to recreate the strategies in the book and this was our result for #easybookplay We have to remember that sometimes our young children aren't cognitively ready for long winded discussions about emotions, however having some imagery and strategies can be useful to help them comprehend what you are trying to put into words. Playdough in itself can be calming for some children and this activity gave us an opportunity to talk about the strategies. Go and see @__little__cherubs__ to see what she's reading for #easybookplay for fiction week! Oh and very excited that this beautifully meets @the_literacy_playroom 's #pictureyourplaydough prompt, Bookish Play. @ Perth, Western Australia See more
21.01.2022 14/20 # Boo Hoo by @benclan This book is one that I bought for my kids from @bookieboobox and its already a favourite. I thought it might be because one of my kids' favourite games to play with my hubby is "ghost" where someone hides under a blanket and then scares everyone I get bored but they play for ages! The book is so cute, about a ghost who just feels a bit invisible but then discovers that she is unique and it does have some advantages. ... For #easybookplay we made some frozen banana ghosts - stick a popstick in half a banana, roll in yoghurt, then roll in coconut. Add sultana or chocolate eyes and freeze. All the of my kids loved these! Speech Pathologists love getting kids into the kitchen, not only do they learn life skills but also comprehension, reading, following instructions, patience, safety and more. This is the perfect toddler 'cooking' activity (only my 18 month old couldn't wait for his ghost to freeze). I thought I'd remind you that we have a great little ebook about Easy Book Play that you can download for free from the link in my bio. Go and see @__little__cherubs__ to see what she's reading for #easybookplay for fiction week! @ Perth, Western Australia See more
21.01.2022 20/20 # Grateful by Sarah Ward (feeling sad this is our last book for this series!) This might be the first time I've shared a screen based activity for your kids. I'm a huge advocate for utilising screens in my office and reducing paper. But I'm not a huge advocate for giving my children screentime. TV is the only screen my kids have and we've reduced that down to just a bit in the morning when they wake up so that I can sleep a little longer. But screen ti...me is a conversation for another day. This is the 5th book in the giveaway from @growing.kind at launches tonight and it keeps within the beautiful theme of gratitude. A large aspect of gratitude is reflection on your day, your week, your life etc. But this can be exceptionally difficult for toddlers who live in the here and now. This is developmentally typical and we can teach them gratitude in the moment but for #easybookplay, I have a little strategy that I love to use for reflection and gratitude. Throughout the day I snap some pics of things that we are doing, playing with and people we've seen and then at the end of the day, I can simply whip out my phone or ipad for us to use as a reference to reflect on what we did during the day. It is such a powerful activity for your children to do daily and you can see them progress to the point where they don't need the photo support any more. Incorporating gratitude in this reflective exercise is a fantastic strategy for your children so they can begin to think beyond themselves and instead to others. Go and see @__little__cherubs__ to see what she's reading her last book for #easybookplay for nonfiction week!
19.01.2022 Did you know Marilyn Monroe had a stutter? She learnt to modify her speech and language so that people didn't know! Have you always wondered about stuttering? Or maybe you have a child with a stutter? My very first official podcast episode is now live and it is just me chatting about stuttering. I'll be answering all your questions:... What is a stutter? Will my child grow out of it? When should I take them to see a Speech Pathologist? Take a listen, and while you're there, make sure you subscribe so that you don't miss my upcoming episodes with some amazing guests - we'll be talking all things sleep, food, movement, play and health for your kids and yourself. The link is in my bio or search "Mama Learn" where you listen to podcasts. Learn with me Mama.
19.01.2022 BONUS/20 # Sea Life Kit from @pagesandpaintau Have you been thinking these #easybookplay ideas from @__little__cherubs__ and myself are still a little overwhelming? As soon as I saw this business pop up, I knew we needed to collaborate with her. She takes the guesswork out of creating book related craft and activities in her beautiful kits. You get a hard cover book and then 4-5 activities (mostly craft). She provides the materials for all of it, all we need...ed was scissors and glue! My pictures show just 2 out of the 5 activities in our kit. @pagesandpaintau is very generously giving away her Forest Kit in our Friday giveaway so stay tuned!!! And, bonus, she's a WA girl! But we'll be posting the giveaway box Australia wide. Head over to @__little__cherubs__ to see what book she's reading and playing with today for #easybookplay! @ Perth, Western Australia See more
19.01.2022 5/20 # In My Heart by Jo Witek This book was gifted to my 2nd daughter when she was born and it is a favourite in our house. Each page shares a different feeling with some fantastic description of actions or associations with each one. Swipe to see the "mad" page. Funnily enough, this week we've had quite a few opportunities to talk about feelings and over time I'm noticing my kids using more varied feeling words than the usual "happy" and "sad." For ex...ample, when my 2 year old taunts my 3 year old in the car, the 3 year old let's me know that she feels annoyed For our #easybookplay today we made some balloon stress balls (just cornflour funnelled inside), and we matched the colours and the little icon for each feeling in the book. I didn't manage to take photos of us making them because it was very hands on and there was cornflour everywherrrrrre. Now we can use these balloon balls and the book to reflect on our day and to talk about the feelings we had. When you read books like this, it's important to change your voice throughout. Talking with a light happy voice sounds a bit strange on the "mad" page so adapt your voice to suit. For my last little bit of info about play this week, a really important next stage of development is interactive play. Where children play together with the same activity and talk to each other as they do it. This involves negotiation, collaboration and language skills. Feelings play a huge role in this type of play because children will experience a lot of them whilst they play. Or even pretend to feel different feelings in play as well. Head over to @__little__cherubs__ to see what book she's reading and playing with today! And keep an eye out for our Week 1 giveaway! @ Perth, Western Australia See more
19.01.2022 1/20 by @matt.cosgrove We love this book so much, in fact I'm surprised it's not falling apart! It's the story of two Alpacas who try to find their talent for the local talent show so they test some talents out but realise they are called to play the Maracas. It is fun, silly, creative and has lots of rhyming words!... So this month with #, I'll share a little tip with you each day. This week is about the development of play - from an early age we expect kids to explore their environment and between 0-2 this is often solitary play. Maracas are an awesome little toy because they show kids that from a very simple cause (shaking) there is an awesome effect (noisy!) For our Maracas we just filled some old plastic Easter eggs and kinder surprise eggs with all sorts of goodies (swipe to see) and then we secured with washi tape (easy tear paper tape) and some spoons. We don't need a big fracas, we just need maracas!" Have you got this book? And some old plastic eggs? It's #easybookplay at its best! @ Perth, Western Australia See more
18.01.2022 ....? ? I was just thinking the other day that for a Speech Pathologist, I haven't talked a lot about speech sounds properly for a while! So this will by my Sunday " ...?" series.... The /k/ sound at the beginning of this word and the /p/ sound at the end are both expected to be mastered by the age of 3. You will typically see the /p/ sound emerge earlier than the /k/ sound. Some common errors with this word before the age of 3: 1. Final Consonant deletion: "Cu" 2. Fronting: "tup" If you are seeing these errors or other errors after the age of 3, it might be worth considering a referral to a Speech Pathologist. Or send me a DM to pick my brain a little. My ebook is great as a starting point for speech sounds at home, it's called and I'll be releasing a hard copy version VERY soon! See more
17.01.2022 Ask them in the morning.... ? For those who are new, welcome to my Sunday " ...?" series. (but I missed yesterday, so it's Monday ) This week, I'd love it if you found a picture or a toy fish and asked them what it is without you saying it. If they copy you, it isn't always representative of the way they usually say it because it uses a different pathway in their brain. ... The /f/ and /sh/ sounds in this word are expected to be mastered by the age of 4. Some common errors with this word before the age of 4: 1. Stopping: "bish" 2. Final Consonant deletion "fi" 3. Consonant harmony: "shish" 4. Interdental lisp: "fith" There are some errors that might ring warning bells before the age of 4 because they arent typical: 1. Lateral lisp: slushy sound with spit coming out 2. Backing: "gig" 3. Voicing: "vizh" If you are seeing these errors or other errors after the age of 4, it might be worth considering a referral to a Speech Pathologist. Or send me a DM to pick my brain a little. If this language is all a little new to you, head back to my IGTV Speech Sound Series to start learning! My ebook is also great as a starting point for speech sounds at home, it's called and I'll be releasing a hard copy version VERY soon! See more
17.01.2022 Struggling to read books to your kids? It is such a powerful form of learning for our kids, so we're here to give you a whole bunch of tips, plus some #easybookplay resources, ideas and recipes. Download the free ebook that I developed with @__little__cherubs__ and share your book play this month with the hashtag #easybookplay - the link to the ebook is: https://mailchi.mp/b0fde32e1bd4/easy-book-play-July-2020
16.01.2022 , ! . Are playgrounds open where you are? If you've been hanging out to join me in developing your child's first 100 words, I'm only a week away from launching subscription to "Alex's 100 Club" and we'll be starting in July. It will be perfect for anyone with a baby just learning their first words or yet to learn any words. *insert ha...ppy dance* I'm excited! Each week, I've been posting a new themed activity and two or three early developing key words. Each activity will be utilising things that you most probably already have or can access for free, so this week is ! I'll only be doing these challenges for another 2 weeks because then I'll be hanging out over in my 100 Club. My challenge to you is to expose your kids to these three words as much as you can this week: . . . Each week, I'll give you a little strategy too. This week I encourage you to focus on praise. Be specific with your praise e.g. "beautiful talking" "wow, you said such a long word! or simply excitement and clapping. Find any opportunity you can to praise them. If they aren't yet saying words, get excited and give praise for anything that resembles sound play or an attempt at words or talking. For example, when my son babbles at me and it sounds like conversation, I respond to him as if we're having a conversation and at the end, I say "thank you so much for talking with me." Tag me in your posts and stories if you join me and also use the tag #addlanguagetolife Special Note: please don't ask or force your child to say these words. This strategy is simply about exposure through modelling. There is no guarantee that they will say the words. See more
16.01.2022 Alana from @my.strong.little.body is someone I wish I'd discovered years ago. She is an Australian Paediatric Physio and she is so full of knowledge about the baby years (and beyond). My latest episode of the @mamalearnpodcast was a breeze to create with her so if you've got a baby or you're expecting a baby, take a listen. You'll get so many tips from her that you can start trying straight away. Alana shares information from tummy time to walking with everything in between. I luckily had 3 kids who loved tummy time, but not all kids like it and she gives some easy strategies. Did your kids like tummy time?
15.01.2022 We've had a lot happening behind the scenes in the Trichilo house and we're all a little tired. I'm just catching up on my to do list, my DMs, my emails and more. If I've missed any of you, please let me know. I'm really feeling for so many people around the world who are doing it tough and feeling so aware that my life is a breeze in comparison. I'm in Perth, Western Australia and restrictions have eased significantly. ? I've g...ot a little gift in the works for any of my followers who are doing it tough, and at home with little ones, as a way to give back so please stay tuned! (let me know if you are one of these people and want a reminder when I launch it) Beautiful photo by @thelittlephotoco See more
15.01.2022 Did you know, your child can have glue ear without you even knowing? And it can mean that kids are not hearing speech and language clearly? I'm talking more about this in my 100 Club this week (designed to help your child achieve their first 100 words!)
14.01.2022 What does it mean to you for your children to communicate with confidence? Episode 7 of the @mamalearnpodcast is live! And it's a special episode for Speech Pathology Week. This week I spoke to four families and what it means to them for their kids to communicate with confidence.... We hear from: Karly and Ellis from @bookieboobox - Ellis has a diagnosis of Gluteric Aciduria 2. Tracy and Elliot from @expressyourself_withelliot - Elliot has a diagnosis of Down's Syndrome. Natasha and Miller from @hears_millsy - Miller has bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. Steff and Pearl from @steffholmes.co - Pearl has a diagnosis of 2q37 Deletion syndrome. These amazing mums are so down to earth, knowledgeable and full of great advice. I feel inspired each time I listen to them speak. Take a listen and come back here to let me know what you take away from it. Better yet, send them a DM if you feel inspired or share with another mum who needs to hear from these mums
14.01.2022 10/20 # Tales from the Gumtree by May Gibbs May Gibbs' gumnut babies were a childhood favourite of mine. I loved all the little bush fairies. And now my kids do too. We have beautiful conversations about "humans" and how they need to care for the bush. For our #easybookplay, I thought we'd make our own little gumnut babies. Of course when we went on the hunt for gumnuts, not many had fallen from the trees so we ended up only finding three. But we also found a ...whole lot of little Red caps from the redcapped Eucalyptus trees near our house. I used to love finding these, and the silver ones too! Then, together with some felt ball heads, I glued them all together. We've added our gumnut babies to our little nature box of things we've collected. Recently we've had some incidental conversations about skin colour so I loved seeing the girls choose a variety of different felt ball colours for the gumnut babies' heads. On a side note, I love hearing different names for gumnuts - what do you call them in your house? Head over to @__little__cherubs__ to see what book she's reading and playing with today for #easybookplay! @ Perth, Western Australia
13.01.2022 6/20 # Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell Lift the flap books get loved to death in our house. To. DEATH. But I love them because they provide so many opportunities for language and I use them a lot in Speech Pathology sessions, especially Dear Zoo. For our #easybookplay today, I thought I'd give our books some respite by making our own lift the flap activity. We just used some pretty squares of paper, animal stickers and washi tape. Such a good activity for littl...e fingers and we love talking about why each animal could or couldn't be a pet at home. Plus it's a relatively mess free craft activity! This week I'm going to talk a little bit about multisyllabic words - words that can be broken into multiple chunks, e.g. Spi-der or ca-ter-pi-llar (as opposed to "bat" which only has one syllable). When you say multisyllabic words, it's good to sing them a little to draw your child's attention to all the syllables in the word. I'll show you on my stories a little later today. Head over to @__little__cherubs__ to see what book she's reading and playing with today for #easybookplay! @ Perth, Western Australia See more
13.01.2022 Hi I'm Alex I'm so happy you could come and join me in this instagram world, I thought I would tell you a bit about me. I'm a mum to three kids, two girls and a boy. I had them pretty close together (26 months total) and they are currently aged 3, 2 and 1. I love being a mum and getting out and about with them. ... I'm a very passionate Speech Pathologist and my goal in this online world is to empower parents with knowledge and take the stress out of decision making and parenting. I love reading! I read as many novels as I can, when I have the time, I'm currently reading Cilka's Journey, which is the sequel to the Tattooist of Auschwitz. My kids love books too so stay tuned for some book ideas coming up in July. I recently started a podcast. It's called the @mamalearnpodcast and it's designed for parents who want to learn more evidence based information from some amazing guests in a variety of topics that mums can relate to. (a new episode just dropped this morning!) Are you new here? I'd love to learn a little bit about you and why you're excited to follow me? See more
12.01.2022 18/20 # Wombat Big, Puggle Small by @reneetreml Another favourite of mine, this book is full of opposites: big/small, in/out and I especially love that it is all relative. Compared to the echidna, the wombat is big but when compared to the emu, the wombat is small. And that's the thing about these concepts, they are comparative. #easybookplay can be easy. I found this printable which is actually designed for Wombat Stew. I printed it, stuck it onto thick ca...rdboard, cut them out and stuck them onto popsticks to make little puppets. I only realised afterwards that I forgot to take photos of us playing with them because we were having so much fun acting out the story. Comprehension of these concepts can take time, especially understanding that different people have different likes and dislikes. In the book, the wombat thinks ants are yuck but the echidna thinks that they are yummy. And made even more confusing for toddlers who like a food one day but not the next. Go and see @__little__cherubs__ to see what she's reading for #easybookplay for fiction week! See more
12.01.2022 I'm hitting the pause button here for a little while. Are any of you feeling a little swamped or buried and something has to give? It's so hard when everything is important, how do you prioritise? I need to spend a bit of time focusing on being a mum, a wife and a friend.... I'm also going to spend a whole lot of time bringing all the programs, products and ideas to life. They've been in my head forever so it's time to knuckle down and bring them to life. I'll be back with a whole lot of goodies to support your kids in their speech and language journey later this month (or maybe earlier) and I'm so excited! I'll be around here in my stories a little bit and keeping up with what you're all up to. My 100 Club will continue to run and you can sign up any time so if you're stressing that your toddler has no words, sign up now. Thank you for always being such a supportive community, see you soon xxx
10.01.2022 ? Doesn't exist in our household Let me paint a picture for you. I sat down to read books with my 3 kids. They are 18 months, 2.5 years and almost 4 years old. The 18 month old went straight off to play with his trucks. The 2.5 year old reads her own books. The 3 year old decided to tickle the characters in the book and didn't care about the story. Then they all decided that their Papa reads books better so I ...was kicked out and this is what resulted. The two little ones reading their own books and my hubby reading to the 3 year old. This is all normal. There's a few things to keep in mind when you read books to your kids: Attention spans are VERY short, many toddlers aren't capable of listening to a whole book If they take off to play, that's OK, reading the words is still good for them to hear, or leave the book open on the floor for them to come back and explore. You don't have to read the words on the page. Don't beat yourself up if reading books with your kids isn't picture perfect. You can still nurture a love for books in other ways. What does it look like in your house? I'm collaborating with the lovely Sam from @__little__cherubs__ this month to bring you 40 books that we love and EASY activities to go with them. Swipe to see our topics. PLUS we created a free ebook for you to download with some starting ideas. https://mailchi.mp/b0fde32e1bd4/easy-book-play-July-2020 See more
09.01.2022 ... . I've been talking to so many stressed mums in isolation these past few weeks for so many different reasons: Kids suddenly started stuttering overnight Parents noticing so many more speech and language difficulties having their kids home with them full time... Parents of one child getting worried about their kids not interacting with other kids for such a long time. Speech therapy sessions being cancelled for various reasons Isolation creating too much stress all round and parents feeling guilty for just surviving rather than doing all the things they "should" be doing. I am trying my hardest to create as many helping resources as I can for all of you so I have a lot coming in the next few months. Information and programs for stuttering, lisps, Speech sounds, early literacy and baby development. In the mean time, I've got 4 workshops that you can purchase to watch on demand, plus my 100 Club is entering its second month - perfect if you're worried about your baby or toddler learning their first words. Bear with me, I'm slowly chugging away here, if there's something you're desperate for, please let me know! (and I'll of course refer you to other amazing people who might be able to help you if I can't). Amongst all this work, I'm home full time with my 3 kids so I'm trying to stop more to appreciate the little moments like this one in the photo. ( @thelittlephotoco) See more
07.01.2022 9/20 # Diary of a Wombat by @jackie_french_ and Bruce Whatley I've loved this book for 15 years, since when I bought it as a Speech Pathology student. The wombat (aka Mothball) is so cute but my favourite part is that it is full of past tense verbs... Something only a speechie would say right? If you haven't seen @jackie_french_'s instagram, you must check it out, especially if you love wombats!... This was meant to be posted yesterday for our cooking Thursday #easybookplay but we got a little busy. Seeing as the wombat loves carrots so much, we made carrot cake with yummy cream cheese "grass" icing. We love getting into the kitchen together when we have the time and, with practice, the kids are getting good at cracking eggs, whisking, measuring and pouring. The conversations we have whilst cooking are my favourite part - we decided that wombats would like carrot cake too. Now, back to those past tense verbs - these can be tricky creatures because some of them follow the rules e.g. "scratched, demanded, discovered" whilst others are irregular e.g. "found, ate, won." This beautiful book exposes your kids to so many past tense verbs and shows kids how we can use past tense to explain something that we did in the past. And this is exactly what we did when we finished this activity: "mixed, measured, cracked, cooked, made, decorated." Head over to @__little__cherubs__ to see what book she's reading and playing with today for #easybookplay! @ Perth, Western Australia
06.01.2022 7/20 # The Shark in the Dark by Peter Bently and Ben Cort. I love the cleverness of this book - lots of rhyming words and an ingenius idea that the fish come up with to scare the shark away. For our #easybookplay we recreated a scene from the book where all the fish band together to take the shape of a giant whale so the shark gets scared and swims away. I drew a big whale outline on a piece of paper and then let the girls fill the inside of the outlin...e with fish figurines and loose parts. Another mess free nature crafty activity - you can thank me later Today I'm going to talk a little bit about multisyllabic words - they can be a bit of a mouthful for kids when they are learning to speak more clearly. Often we will see what we call 'weak syllable deletion.' In English we naturally speak by stressing some syllables in words and not others. Take the word "octopus" - it has three syllables and the middle syllable is unstressed. Say it out loud and you'll notice you hardly pronounce it. As a result, young children will often delete these unstressed syllables, which explains why my 3 year old said "hotpuss" for octopus until recently do you notice weak syllable deletion in your kids? Head over to @__little__cherubs__ to see what book she's reading and playing with today for #easybookplay! @ Perth, Western Australia See more
06.01.2022 Are you a Mama in iso with young kids? I've got a special little gift for you, read on... I really struggled with our lockdown and so I feel for all of you that are doing it for a second time. I did a quick check and 25% of you here in my community are from Sydney and Melbourne, and then another 12% are from the UK and US. That's a lot of families in iso!... So many parents have contacted me because they are stressed about their children not getting any social interaction with other kids and also noticing more of their child's speech and language difficulties a whole lot more (being cooped up together full time will do that!) I want to put your minds at ease and give you some easy strategies if you've got little ones at home, so if you're in lockdown, please DM me with your email address and I'll send you a link for FREE to my one hour workshop about encouraging first words at home with your kids. Tag any and all friends in lockdown who could do with a little love in the form of my free workshop so we can spread the love far and wide. (and if your kids are a little older, still feel free to DM me with your speech and language questions!)
05.01.2022 4/20 # Possum Magic by Mem Fox @scholastic_au I've always loved this book, especially because it contains so many of our favourite Aussie foods (although some of them are controversial right... Do you think the pavlova is Aussie or NZ?). The concept that my toddlers have the most difficulty with in this book is the invisibility. It is a very unusual concept which they still don't seem to entirely understand. So we instead focused on the food and made l...amingtons! So easy, we made a sponge cake, cut into squares, dipped in chocolate icing and then coconut. It was messy, but my 2 and 3 year old girls were able to do all the steps except the oven for the cake. In fact my 18 month old would have given it a go if it wasn't his nap time. Involving your kids in the kitchen is so good for them when you have the time On a side note, the next stage in the development of play - associative play. This is where children play side by side with the same toy and talk to each other but they aren't yet collaborating in play or acting out a role play together yet. I see a lot of this in my girls and this is where cooperation becomes difficult because they both need the same toy but for different purposes because they aren't playing together #meltdowncity Head over to @__little__cherubs__ to see what book she's reading and playing with today! (and eating!?) Btw, do you have a favourite book that revolves around food? Could be a good excuse for a treat meal... Tell them Alex said you had to for #easybookplay in July @ Perth, Western Australia See more
05.01.2022 Just thought I'd share what I had for dinner tonight, with a side of a speechie tip for your Saturday night. I know you'd probably prefer Arancini, but a speechie tip will have to do. I was thinking today about how common it is for parents to not hear the speech sound errors that their kids are making. I do it too. We know exactly what they are saying that we often don't break it down. My 2 year old said something today that reminded me of this:... " " Can you guess what she said? She replaced the v sounds with a /b/ sound and the s sound with a /th/. But yet I knew exactly what she was saying. She used the sounds that she did have to get her message across. And she got "olibth" on her pizza so she was pretty stoked. Pronouncing these sounds in this way is totally appropriate and expected for her age. Are your kids saying some words a little differently and you're not sure whether to be worried? Let me know in the comments below See more
04.01.2022 15/20 # Twig by @auraparker This book is another one donated by @bookieboobox for our giveaway, which goes live tonight! It's a really cute book about a stick insect who goes to school and keeps getting mistaken for being a twig so then the class comes up with a way to help her be seen. ... I talk about with the kids when we go to the zoo or the aquarium so they are slowly understanding what it is. I was racking my brain for ideas for #easybookplay and then had a brainwave! Let's buy a stick insect kit for us to look after. ? Swipe to see her a few more times and our cute little spiny leaf insect too. The kids are loving looking for the insects throughout the day so we can talk about camouflage often - it's important to use "big" words with your kids, they cope with it better than you expect. And our new pets give us an opportunity to head outside for a walk to get them fresh gum leaves. Kids learn so much from their experiences and from opportunities to explore the world around them. When they can really touch, smell, see, hear all at the same time, they can store all the information together in their brain. If you're in Perth, our kit is from @kidsnatureclub - she runs an out door playgroup too! Go and see @__little__cherubs__ to see what she's reading for #easybookplay for fiction week! @ Gwelup Lake See more
04.01.2022 Is your baby babbling? You should expect to see your baby start babbling before they turn 1 so that they get heaps of practice with moving their mouth and experimenting with the sounds they can make. I gave my 100 Club members some information about babbling development this week because it is such an important stage of development which ties together with the development of first words. Want to get in on the action?... Click the link in my bio to sign up to get your baby on their way to saying their first 100 words.
03.01.2022 ' . Step 1: set up kids with Playdough without any instruction Step 2: make and drink hot coffee.... Aside from water and nature play, this is one of the main activities that can keep all three of my kids entertained for a good amount of time. And they get to practice so many skills, especially using cutlery. As a Speech Pathologist, you would probably expect me to tell you to add language to the experience. But I just really needed a few minute of silence with my coffee. And . Speech and language are so important, but they're not the only skills that our kids need. Don't feel inclined to fill every single moment with words, silence is good too! And you might just be surprised with the skills they demonstrate when given some quiet time too! Our new unicorn Playdough is from @_doughmydear (smells delicious!) and the vegan play mats are from the same lovely lady Luisa with @theamoreco (not an ad, just beautiful products ) @ Perth, Western Australia See more
02.01.2022 All the other kids in your mother's group seem to be talking except yours? Join my club and get a good night's sleep knowing I'll be supporting you in helping your baby say their first 100 words. I launched my 100 Club over the weekend, want more information? Swipe through the photos to read more, send me a DM or click the link in my bio to sign up now. Look forward to seeing you in the club! @ Perth, Western Australia
02.01.2022 "When will my baby say their first words? The number one question I get on the daily. So I thought I'd put it into a podcast episode so you can listen on the go.... I put a couple of strategies for first words in there too Latest episode link is in my bio or search Mama Learn where you listen to podcasts. See more
02.01.2022 ? For those who are new, welcome to my " ...?" series. Over time, I'll be covering all the speech sounds in all word positions. Try to get your child to say the word by looking at a picture or toy. If they copy you, it isn't always representative of the way they usually say it because it uses a different pathway in their brain. ... The /th/ sounds are some of the latest developing sounds for many children being mastered between 5 and 8 years of age. The most common error for this word is: "fumb" If an inaccurate /th/ sound is causing frustration, teasing or literacy issues for your child, it might be worth considering a referral to a Speech Pathologist. Or send me a DM to pick my brain a little. There is actually two /th/ sounds - one with the voice switched off (thumb) and one with the voice switched on (this). Can you hear the difference? There are different errors for the voiced /th/. My ebook is great as a starting point for speech sounds at home, it's called and I'm in the process of creating an entire speech sound at home lesson program - what do you think? See more
