Crack The Code - Back To School - Following Directions

Cracking codes is fun. This activity targets listening, following directions, vocabulary, auditory processing, and memory skills. It’s aimed at kids from about first grade and up.

There are 20 Back To School themed listening codes to crack. Each code has two steps.

First - The child listens and solves a school-related vocabulary clue.

Second  - Then, using that answer they follow directions and fill in the blanks.

Example:  If your dog eats this you will be in big trouble with your teacher. 

Homework

Write the first letter of what the dog ate in Boxes 13 & 30

Decoded - There is so much that you can learn when you listen.

Crack The Code is can be

• printed for face-to-face sessions or for playing at home.

• used on a computer, iPad, or teletherapy platforms using PDF reader apps such as the free Adobe Reader DC. In teletherapy, open the PDF, then screen share that window into the teletherapy platform.

Additional Back To School Listening and Spoken Language Resources

Ready to Go! Auditory Skills - Back To School

READY TO GO Auditory Skills are school-themed materials at your fingertips  This Ready to Go resource is useful for distance learning, in a therapy setting, small group, classroom, or at home. Space is included for collecting data. . It can be used alongside a reinforcing game or as terrific warm-up exercises.

Examples of the following skillsets which are targeted:

Set 1: Auditory Discrimination (e.g.) Same/Different Teacher - Creature 

Set 2: Categorization (e.g.) Listen then name 3-6 items that can be found on the playground...

Set 3: Auditory Memory (e.g.) Listen and repeat the words in the same order: School, school supplies, school lunch, school bell, school bus.

Set 4: Auditory Directions (e.g.) Count backward from 10 before naming 2 words that rhyme with school.

Check out Ready To Go - Auditory Skills resources for other seasons and holidays.

Additional Back To School Listening and Spoken Language Resources

Listening and Language Tips For Swim Lessons

https://blog.medel.com/lynn-woods-top-swimming-tips-for-kids-with-hearing-loss/

This post is written from Lynn Wood’s Top Swimming Tips For Cochlear Implants a guest post at The MED-EL Tips and Tricks Blog

Learning to swim is not only fun but an essential water safety skill for children. Creating safe spaces for children near water is the first consideration. Rebecca Parlakian has an excellent article on Water Safety For Children over at ZeroToThree.org.

For Children That Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Outdoor bodies of water and indoor swimming pools are large spaces and difficult environments for listening and talking. In a quiet environment at home, pre-teach related vocabulary, instructions, safety rules and swimming routines before the child begins swim lessons.

Tips For Swim Lessons

1. Plan ahead and identify the swimming vocabulary and routines your child needs to know.

2. Visit the pool and observe other children in swim lessons.

3. Role-play swimming routines, expectations and instructions.

4. Prior to the first lesson meet the swim instructor along with your child. Share basic information about your child’s hearing implant technology. Offer the following practical advice to the instructor:

• Give instructions on the pool deck facing the child prior to getting in the water.

• Use a predictable weekly schedule that is easy to follow. (A welcome song, then blowing bubbles, moving on to…)

• Check for understanding. “What we are going to do after we blow bubbles?”

• Provide vocabulary that will be used in the lessons to pre-teach at home (breath control, back float, flutter kick). This improves comprehension and the child’s confidence during group instructions.

• Agree on a signal to use to get the child’s attention as the pool is a noisy environment

Listening and Spoken Language Learning Activities

Encourage swimming readiness while expanding your child’s listening and spoken language skills. Here are some activities to try out.

Roleplaying allows you to teach your child foundational information about swim lessons and how they are to respond. Roleplaying can take place in a backyard plastic pool or with a container of water and small dolls at the table.

Talking about the weather: sunny, too hot, cool, cloudy, humid, breezy… “It’s raining so no swimming today!”

Describing the water: warm/cool; deep/shallow; sink/float; above/below/ under…

Packing a bag for the pool. Brainstorm together what items go in the bag.

Putting on a swimsuit and describe the process step by step: “The straps go over your shoulders”. Swimsuits can be called a bathing suit, a bikini, swim trunks…

Listening to directions. “Rub sunscreen on your face and shoulders.” “Rub sunscreen on your toes after your nose.”

Questioning Do you wear shoes or go barefoot at the pool? Talk about sandals, flipflops, water shoes…

Acting Out splashing, paddling, floating, diving, a cannonball…

Identifying through hearing; words that sound similar—sun, sunny, sunscreen, sunburn, suntan, sunglasses…

Reading books are an excellent source of new vocabulary. It allows your child to hear new words in new contexts and expands language primarily through listening. 

READ MORE:

Have you been reading the MED-EL Blog? Check out MED-EL Tips and Tricks posts for Rehab At Home; For Parents; and For Adults.

Classic Listening and Language Game - " I'm Going _____________."

All summer we have been playing, the classic, “ I'm Going _________. “ virtually. Kids are crazy about this game board 🌁 which is a memory tool. This activity targets auditory memory, processing, sequencing, vocabulary, listening, and conversational skills.

To play pick a place like a picnic, to the beach or grandpa's house. The first person starts the game by saying,” I'm going on a picnic and I'm taking…” That person starts with the letter “A”. The second person repeats the first part of the sentence, repeats what the first person is bringing, and then adds something starting with the letter “B”.  Kids always get a kick out of when their parent or I make a mistake. (Wink, wink!😉

It's in the Grinning From Ear to Ear collection of kid-approved games that require very little prep and no planning. The kids love this game board and always eager to try their best. They get a kick out of it when their parent or I make a mistake.

Self Advocacy Scenarios - Turning Lemons Into Sweet Lemonade

For individuals that are deaf and hard of hearing self-advocacy and personal responsibility are keys to success. Advocacy means standing up for your needs which requires knowledge, skills, and practice. 

Fostering self-advocacy must begin early when a baby or very young child is fit with hearing devices and woven into the routines of daily life. In the preschool years, responsibility and self-advocacy are explicitly taught and practiced at home, in therapy, and at school. Elementary-aged children learn new skills related to their hearing, hearing technology, access to sound, services, and communication strategies. Expanding and evolving self-advocacy skills grow and adapt as new challenges are faced throughout school and for a lifetime. 

When Life Gives You Lemons Make Lemonade

A scaffolding strategy, I find successful when introducing self-advocacy to preschoolers in auditory verbal therapy begins with an experiential language activity of making homemade lemonade.  This rich experience sets a foundation for an ongoing series of lessons on self advocacy and the premise of this resource. Children in my practice learn early, they are the boss of their hearing loss. Sometimes life hands them sour lemons but they can choose to turn those lemons into sweet lemonade. 

20 Scenarios

Twenty scenarios portray common situations encountered by school-aged children and are derived from true stories I have heard from children over the years. Each scenario requires problem-solving and brainstorming possible solutions for each difficult situation. While the theme is making lemonade the scenarios are common listening situations where problems may occur due to the setting, the listener or the person talking.

The adult reads aloud each scenario. The child listens to the lemon situation and retells or paraphrases it in their own words.  The adult asks, “How can you make lemonade out of this lemon situation?” and guides a discussion using the given prompts with each scenario. Together they think about the difficult (sour lemon) situation and ways to address the communication breakdown and how to turn those lemons into sweet lemonade.

The scenarios are of real photos that elicit language and engagement. This resource is a digital interactive PDF with clickable buttons to navigate between pages. It was created to be used in teletherapy and as no print in face to face lessons/sessions.

The video shows the format for this resource. Remember, sometimes life hands you sour lemons but you can choose to turn those lemons into sweet lemonade.