Fast Thinking Category Game - Listening & Spoken Language

Searching for an easy, fun, and engaging game? JUST SAY IT - is a Listening and Spoken Language game created to build vocabulary, classification, and auditory memory skills often needed by children who are deaf and hard of hearing.

While not age-specific it has been successfully used with kids as young Pre-K and up through middle school. This resource can be easily leveled up or down to meet a variety of children's goals. There are 32 categories of multiple levels to support children in developing category knowledge.

 Just Say It! can also be found in TPT as an interactive digital PDF or in my Listen With Lynn™ Boom Learning Store. To use Boom Cards, you must be connected to the Internet.

The LISTENER names the category, keeps the card hidden, and listens for the items named.
The TALKER names as many things they can recall until the time is up.
The players switch places and take turns as either the LISTENER or the TALKER.
1 POINT for each item named in the category
2 POINTS if the item named is shown on the game card 
WINNER The player with the highest score wins. 

View the video to see example game cards including:
Things that are yellow
Things that are round
Things in a kitchen
Animals that swim
School supplies
Things made of metal
Kinds of containers

Not A Teacher - On Teachers Pay Teachers?

Teachers Pay Teacher (TpT) is a marketplace for original educator-created content. Look around and you will see fabulous content from Listening and Spoken Language Specialists, Speech-Language Pathologists, Audiologists, Teachers of The Deaf, Occupational and Physical Therapists, Mental Health Counselors, classroom teachers, administrators and others.

Little Known Fact: In addition to being an Audiologist by degree with over 35 years of experience as an LSLS Certified AVT I once held my K-12 and Special Education licensure through the Board of Education in the state of Ohio. After relocating to Illinois eventually I let my teaching licensure lapse. I still have the ❣️ of teacher and am without a doubt an educator just not in a classroom.

TpT is a treasure trove for those of us who guide families and work with children that are deaf and hard of hearing. On the 25th of each month a group of us who have connected on instagram offer select resources at 25% off. I am thankful for these creative friends and colleagues. Last Fall when I took the plunge as a AVT on TpT I knew only two out these sixteen authors. It’s the people we meet along the way that make us love the journey.

Gather new ideas, learn together and have fun shopping!

I’m All Ears! SAY WHAT? Fun With Idioms

The I’m All Ears resource makes teaching idioms a piece of cake. Teaching idioms may seem intimidating at first. It doesn’t have to be complicated or difficult. There is step by step teaching suggestions for starting simple and how to spend time explaining the figurative language of idioms.

I’m All Ears is a well-loved, humorous listening and language bookmaking activity. Children listen to a given idiom then draw a picture of what they literally heard. Say What? An idiom is a saying that has a meaning that is different from its literal words. To a child, the "laugh out loud" drawings in their book are a source of humor, fun but are brain-building opportunities. The DIY books help children understand and use idioms spontaneously. This activity builds vocabulary, expands high-level language skills of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. Understanding and using all types of figurative language plays an essential role in spoken and written language, pragmatics, and communication competence.

Children with typical hearing, learn idioms through incidental exposure without having to be taught. Whereas, children who are deaf and hard of hearing often require explicit and direct instruction especially with higher-level language like idioms. Idioms are challenging for children that process information literally and have a concrete or limited vocabulary.

This resource has easy to follow step by step suggestions for incorporating idioms into therapy or academic lessons. Included are the following -

TWENTY idiom activity sheets are included to begin the I’m All Ears DIY books.

NO PREP - Print a set for each child, open on an iPad drawing app or share the PDF in teletherapy.

Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) Tips

1. Ensure optimal access to sound with the child's hearing devices which is essential for overhearing. Research indicates that ninety percent of learning takes place incidentally.

2. Idioms are abstract. Teach with real experiences for new vocabulary to stick. 

3. Provide lots of exposure to the targeted idiom in multiple contexts.

4. Say the idiom (In one ear and out the other.) then WAIT. Give the child time to process what they heard. 

5. Use the child’s Auditory Feedback Loop by asking what they heard before repeating the idiom.

6. Teach the idioms in complete sentences. This allows for learning how the idiom relates to other grammatical structures as part of an auditory mental map.

7. Read aloud daily. Books introduce unusual vocabulary like idioms that may not come up every day but are important for the child to have in their repertoire.

8. Laugh at the humor!

Encouraging A Sense of Humor - Joke of the Week

A child’s ability to understand humor is evidence of growing listening, spoken language, and social skills. Many children who are deaf and hard of hearing are concrete thinkers and lack linguistic flexibility which has a negative impact on literacy, academic and social success. Research offers evidence of the value of understanding humor as a key element in developing higher-level language skills and complex language patterns such as inferences, multiple-meaning words, and idioms which are often weak for children with hearing loss without intervention.

Understanding jokes and why they are funny builds vocabulary, figurative language, and knowledge of structural and lexical ambiguity. Learning to tell jokes encourages clear speech, appropriate prosody as well as perspective-taking and social skills. Memorizing jokes to tell improves auditory memory skills.

Talk about different kinds of jokes. Jokes that ask a question with a “punch line” that makes people laugh. Knock - Knock jokes have two parts and are usually funny because one word sounds similar or rhymes with a different word. Ask a child to explain why a joke is funny. If not many bluff and laugh without understanding.

When learning how to reply and tell jokes a script is helpful.  “I have a joke for you.” introduces the topic of conversation.  Explaining that jokes are not logical and the answers are tricky is important. Teaching the child to respond with “I don’t know. I give up.” works well.

Child: I have a joke for you.
Adult: Ok. I’m ready.
Child: What is a dog’s favorite snack?
Adult: I don’t know. I give up.
Child: Pup-corn! LOL!

In my auditory verbal practice, children often age 5-7 come prepared with a joke to share. They draw a picture of the joke on one side of a piece of paper and the answer goes on the back often written by a parent.

Monthly and seasonal Riddles & Jokes are available for FREE in my Listen With Lynn shop. Share them in teletherapy, distance-learning or send home for fun and practice. They can be printed cut out and adhered to index cards for easy re-telling.