Back to School Fall 2020

Parents have been making difficult decisions about sending their children back to school in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. All of us who work in education have difficult decisions to make. This includes parents, teachers, administrators, and agencies providing counsel such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

The pandemic's impact is far greater for students with disabilities. Students with disabilities may have a more difficult time transitioning back to school this Fall. Students with disabilities have been missing out on instruction time as well as school-based services such as occupational, physical and speech-language therapy and mental health counseling. School districts across the country are still figuring out how to support these students moving forward. 

In September,  I will be featuring a set of guest bloggers who will be blogging about this topic, including Moms from Missouri, California, and Washington, a school-based SLP in Iowa, and a special education professional in Washington.

Until then, here are some some facts about schools:

• Apples and teachers go way back. Poor families in 16th-century Denmark and Sweden and gave teachers baskets of apples as payment for their children’s educations.

• America’s students are more racially and ethnically diverse than ever, while teachers remain overwhelmingly white.

• In the US, the average school day is 6.8 hours long. In Finland, it’s 5 hours, and in Taiwan, it’s 8.5 hours.

Sources:

1. National Center on Education and the Economy. http://ncee.org/2018/02/statistic-of-the-month-how-much-time-do-students-spend-in-school/. Accessed August 2020.
2. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/09/07/6-facts-about-americas-students/. Accessed August 2020.
3. Children's Museum of Indianapolis.  https://www.childrensmuseum.org/blog/why-do-teachers-like-apples. Accessed August 2020.
   

 
 
 
 

Want to encourage language development? Don't buy toys that talk!

Want to encourage language development? Don't buy toys that talk this holiday season.

Instead, think blocks and puzzles, a chalkboard and colored chalk, a tea set for an imaginary tea party, or better yet, give your child a cardboard box! A clinical report published this month by the American Academy of Pediatrics tells parents that toys that incorporate imagination and social engagement are the ticket for language development. What is more social and language-rich than an imaginary tea party? Want cookie? Oh, thank you! Delicious! More tea? Oh, too hot! Better blow!

The best idea is the cardboard box. The possibilities are endless. A TV program written and acted by your child in your living room, perhaps? Adventures of Pocohantas?

Or you can give up some real estate your living room and build a box tunnel. There is a language opportunity while you build the tunnel "Cutting, tape, scissors, careful!" and a language opportunity when you play with it "Oh no! Where's Johnny! Is he inside? Is he outside!? Here is he? Shhhh! Let's hide!"

Here's a great video with ingenious and fun cardboard box projects. (You can turn off the music if it gets repetitive.)

Over to You

 

What low tech toy can you pick that you already have at home, or what can you find in your kitchen to play with? What kind of imaginary scenarios can you think of play with this toy or object? What words can you associate with the scenarios? Sit with your child and play. Have fun!

Or if you are buying a gift for a child you love, what can you buy that is low tech and interactive such as blocks or a puzzle or a tea set. Can you include different play scripts with the toy as suggestions for the parents?  It will be like a virtual play date!




Photo and video credit to Birute Efe of Playtivities