Speech and Language
Speech-Language Programs
Preschool
Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades
District Preschool Speech-Language Program
District families with children ages 3, 4 or 5 years old not yet in Kindergarten who are concerned with their child’s speech and/or language skills may request a screening appointment. If your child qualifies for services, a schedule of times and days will be made available. This service is open to all families in the District, not just our Crow Island families. For further information about this program, please click here or go to our District’s site, under the Pupil Services Department and find the link to Preschool Speech-Language Program .
If you would like to discuss the speech-language development of your preschool child and you are a resident of District 36, please contact:
Carole White, Preschool Speech-Language Pathologist
(847) 446-0393 ext. 4812.
Speech-Language program for Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades
Any child who presents a deficit in his or her speech-language skills that affects his or her education in some way qualifies for therapy through the public schools.
For K, 1st, & 2nd graders, some of the areas we help students with are:
- Articulation – a student has difficulty producing multiple speech sounds, which is impacting their ability to be understood by their peers/ educators. Keep in mind; some articulation errors in the early grade levels could be developmentally appropriate for your child’s age (i.e., saying: “wabbit” for the word rabbit).
- Processing of auditory information – a student has difficulty attending to auditory information, recalling directions given verbally, comprehending a story read to him or her;
- Expressing knowledge – a student has difficulty defining words, retelling experiences and formulating a story in a logical sequential manner, retrieving known words; using correct grammatical structures;
- Vocabulary – a student has difficulty comprehending and retaining key classroom vocabulary, basic concepts (temporal, spatial, & quantitative), antonyms, synonyms, multiple meaning words;
- Social-Pragmatic Language - a student has difficulty engaging in age-appropriate reciprocal conversations with their peers (i.e., initiating, maintaining, and terminating conversations appropriately, reading peer/adult nonverbal body language appropriately for the students age, turn-taking, and topic maintenance);
- Problem-solving/ Reasoning of Language (many of these skill areas begin to develop in 2nd grade and may not warrant intervention until a discrepancy between a student and their peers is observed by their teacher) – a student has difficulty determining the main idea, cause-effect, answering how and why questions, answering inference questions, making predictions; understanding relationships between concepts;
- Other less frequent areas we support our students are in the areas of stuttering and vocal quality.
In addition to helping students directly, we help them indirectly by consulting with teachers about strategies to use in the classroom.
Tips for promoting your child’s language development at home:
- Include your child in cooking activities – even just a mix from a box – because cooking lends itself to the development of important vocabulary, sequencing, and math skills;
- Reinforce social conversational skills (listening, not interrupting, asking questions of others, turn-taking, retelling experiences) during family meals;
- Subscribe to a children’s magazine for your child. Preview the possibilities at the library;
- Play board games that encourage word knowledge, following directions, and turn-taking: Scattegories Junior, TriBond for Kids, Outburst Junior, Scrabble Junior, I spy, Guess Who, Simon Says, Hedbanz for kids, and Secret Square.
- During dramatic play and/or building block activities try to emphasize spatial (“next to, “in front of” etc…), quantity (more, less, few etc…), and temporal (1st, next, last, after etc…) concepts to improve language comprehension.
- Try to read a balance of fiction and non-fiction to and with your child every week. Reading books that are slightly above your child’s reading level promotes excellent vocabulary growth.
- Help your child understand time concepts by involving him or her in scheduling and reviewing past, present, and future events on a family calendar.
Mostly, just enjoy sharing observations, thoughts, ideas, and experiences with your child!
If you would like to discuss the speech-language development of your K, 1st,or 2nd grade Crow Island student, please contact:
Rosemary M. Tuma, Speech-Language Pathologist
(847) 446-0353 ext. 4794
Speech-Language program for 3rd and 4th grade
Any child who presents a deficit in his or her speech-language skills that affects his or her education in some way qualifies for therapy through the public schools.
For 3rd and 4th graders, some of the areas we help students with are:
- Articulation – a student has difficulty producing speech sounds, such as “r” or “s”;
- Processing of auditory information – a student has difficulty attending to auditory information, recalling directions given verbally, comprehending a story read to him or her;
- Expressing knowledge – a student has difficulty defining words, retelling experiences, formulating a story, retrieving known words; using correct grammatical structures;
- Vocabulary – a student has difficulty comprehending and retaining key classroom vocabulary, antonyms, synonyms, multiple meaning words, idioms;
- Reasoning skills – a student has difficulty determining the main idea, cause-effect, answering how and why questions, answering inference questions, making predictions; understanding relationships between concepts;
- Other less frequent areas we support our students are in the areas of stuttering and vocal quality.
In addition to helping students directly, we help them indirectly by consulting with teachers about strategies to use in the classroom.
Tips for promoting your child’s language development at home:
- Include your child in cooking activities – even just a mix from a box – because cooking lends itself to the development of important vocabulary, sequencing, and math skills;
- Reinforce social conversational skills (listening, not interrupting, asking questions of others, turn-taking, retelling experiences) during family meals;
- Subscribe to a children’s magazine for your child. Preview the possibilities at the library;
- Play board games that encourage word knowledge: Scattegories Junior, TriBond for Kids, Outburst Junior, Scrabble Junior.
- Try to read a balance of fiction and non-fiction to and with your child every week. Reading books that are slightly above your child’s reading level promotes excellent vocabulary growth.
- Help your child understand time concepts by involving him or her in scheduling and reviewing past, present, and future events on a family calendar.
Mostly, just enjoy sharing observations, thoughts, ideas, and experiences with your child!
If you would like to discuss the speech-language development of your 3rd or 4th grade Crow Island student, please contact:
Mary Ethington, Speech-Language Pathologist
(847) 446-0353.
