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This year, my goal is to be a source of encouragement, providing practical tools, engaging activities, and creative games. I hope to make your work with kids who are deaf and hard of hearing a little easier—and even more rewarding.
Let me begin by sharing a story book I’ve read with little listeners each January for years.
You may think that Dream Snow By Eric Carle is a story to only be read near Christmas. Well, not me!
Read moreCongratulations to the FIVE TEACHERS who won gift certificates for Listen With Lynn resources during the February Indiana Deaf Educators Conference.
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Silly Directions is an active listening and spoken language game for children of many ages and stages that can be leveled up or down to meet their needs. This game gets kids listening, moving, thinking, and learning.
The directions are designed to be fast, fun, and effective for children who are deaf and hard of hearing and for others who can benefit from practicing listening skills. Kids can expand their receptive language, increase their auditory working memory and processing skills while being engaged and active.
This game can help children learn to:
follow auditory directions
recall and process directions
'chunk' auditory information
remember critical elements in sequential order
use compound and more complex sentences
ask for clarification if they have trouble remembering
expand vocabulary:
Silly Directions can target:
- Similes - Children learn comparisons with similes. Similes use the words like or as to compare things —“Arch your back LIKE a cat.”
- Adjectives - Children hear and build vocabulary while naming the objects. They learn the adjectives that describe the objects — a BOTTLE of ketchup, a MONARCH butterfly, a GARDEN hose…
- Body Parts - Children hear and expand the names of body parts — forehead, waist, chin…
Do you think that Dream Snow By Eric Carle is only a story to read near Christmas? Not me!
Read the story all winter and target learning to listen sounds, early vocabulary of farm animals, weather, clothes, and counting. Dream Snow is a well-loved classic book for listening, spoken language, and literacy that I’ve read for years in auditory verbal sessions with children who are deaf and hard of hearing.
Dream Snow tells the tale of a farmer who falls asleep and dreams of snow falling and covering each of his animals like blankets. Can you guess what the Farmer discovers when he wakes up?
In the book, the snowy blankets are flaps that cover the farm animals. An LSL strategy is letting the child hear a sound or words BEFORE showing them the toy or object. Providing ear contact before eye contact is critical to growing a child's auditory skills.
So, peek at the hidden animal but keep it out of the child’s view. Then open the book’s flap or take off the blanket of snow and talk all about the animals.
Grab toy farm animals and white fabric - I use soft white interfacing material as the snowy blankets and act out the story.
On the last page, there is an opportunity to point out sounds. There is a button near the tree. Point to your ear then press the button. Surprisingly magical music plays. Say, "I hear that!" and talk about the musical sounds.
Use the Listen With Lynn store button below to browse games, activities, and resources created for kids with hearing loss!
Do you know the book Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal? (Ages 3-7) The simple story follows two kids as they debate whether they see a picture of a duck or a rabbit and then leave it up to the listener to decide.
Duck! Rabbit! is a "thinking with language" activity and so much fun! In LSL therapy, I introduce opinions and how to be persuasive. The parent and child must back up their final decision with at least three supporting details.
Recently, I was a guest reader and chose Duck! Rabbit! to read aloud.
The kids and their teacher loved it!
Auditory Verbal Center of Wheaton, Illinois