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About Karen Trengove

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So far Karen Trengove has created 43 blog entries.

Does my child have Dyslexia?

I think my child might have Dyslexia.

What does this mean and where do I even start?

Gosh…we hear this so often when concerned parents contact us seeking help for their children. Dyslexia is one of those words that unfortunately has so many myths and misinformation associated with it.  Let’s try to clarify some of this for you and put your on the right path if you are concerned that your child may be showing signs of Dyslexia.

Most children learn to read, write and spell without too many major challenges.

Some children, despite the very best of intentions and instruction from both parents and teachers, will struggle over several years to acquire even the basics of literacy. These children may have a Specific Learning Disorder with impairment in reading (dyslexia).

Okay…so how do you find out if your child does or does not have dyslexia and what is it?

A Specific Learning Disorder (with dyslexia being the most commonly diagnosed) can be defined as a persistent difficulty in a specific area of academic achievement.  These disorders are as a result of a combination of genetic, environmental and cognitive factors.  The disability with reading persists even in the presence of terrific, appropriate instruction at school over a period of at least 6 months.

What can we do to help?

Firstly we need to have these children accurately assessed to understand what is the root of the learning difficulties they are experiencing.  Importantly, what those children who are then diagnosed with Dyslexia then need is a higher dose of a high quality, evidenced based reading instruction. Sure, we need to tweak interventions where possible to suit a child’s learning preferences but these children do not require anything inherently different to the other children in the class when it comes to learning how to read.  They just need more of it!  Much more.    More time.   More repetition….but more of appropriate evidenced based interventions for Dyslexia in a later follow up Chatterbox blog post!

Let’s start with assessment.

How do you get your child diagnosed with dyslexia if you think this is what might be holding your child back from learning?

Firstly, it is important for us all to understand what dyslexia is. This Specific Learning Disorder is characterised by difficulties in accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling abilities.  These difficulties are often unexpectedin relation to the child’s other cognitive abilities and in realtion to the amount of effective classroom instruction that has been provided.

Possible signs of dyslexia may include:

  • Difficulties in learning letter sounds and names in the early years of schooling
  • Poor phonemic awareness i.e. ability to reflect upon the individual units of sound within words
  • Trouble in decoding /sounding out new words in text
  • Poor reading fluency in the high school years
  • Slow and inaccurate word recognition
  • Slow and laboured reading

If you have concerns, it is always best to start by speaking with your child’s classroom teacher who will have reading records and data from classroom […]

2022-12-21T22:30:43+00:00
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Late Talkers

My Toddler is Not Talking Yet.

Should I be concerned?  What can I do to help?

These are comments and questions that we hear quite frequently when concerned parents contact us at Learn2Communicate.  So many parents have, what they describe as, a niggling doubt about their child’s speech and language development.  At first, they may rely upon the well-meaning advice of loved ones.  Being told ‘Don’t worry.  He will grow out of it’ or  ‘Your father didn’t speak until he was 4’ can temporarily put those worries aside but, unless that little toddler starts to talk soon after, such comments rarely help to allay a parent’s worry.  Before long someone will surely say something  along the lines of ‘I think he should be talking by now’ or ‘Your child should have 50 words by this age’.  Although such comments often tip a parent into action; these types of comments can also fuel a parent’s concern and do little by way of assisting the parent in knowing what to do next and when to do it.

For those of you reading this post and think ‘Ahhh…I do have concerns about my child’s language development’, then please read on as we have some simple tips to get you started and to help you feel  empowered with the knowledge, skills and capacity to nurture your child’s communication development.  There is much that you can do to help young children learn how to communicate. All children can become effective communicators…even those who have a significant degree of disability and other co-morbid conditions.  Okay, read on for some great tips to get started!

The ‘WHY’ of Communication

Sit back and observe your child for a few days.  Take note of the reasons WHY your child communicates.  Take your focus off which speech sounds your child can or cannot say for now.  Just ask yourself WHY does my child communicate / for what communicative purposes?

Some reasons why you child might communicate include to express:

  • Greetings / Farewells
  • Request for items, food, drink and actions e.g. to be lifted out of the highchair, to go outside
  • Comments about what he or she is interested in or is noticing
  • Responses to your simple questions and to your requests to follow simple directions
  • Enjoyment, excitement, frustration, protest and rejection

The HOW of Communication

Some of the many ways in which your child might communicate these intents might include:

  • Facial expressions
  • Tone of voice
  • Gestures including pointing
  • Speech ‘jargon’ that is unintelligible but that has the intonation of language
  • Single words
  • Short phrases

Identify any gaps in the WHYs of communication

Communication is a complex dance between people that goes back and forth in a reciprocal relationship.  Communication involves far more than identifying body parts or imitating words after an adult requests a child to ‘say…’.  Look for the gaps in your child’s communicative intent.

Perhaps your child can wave hello and bye bye but may not yet be communicating for the purpose […]
2022-12-21T22:27:54+00:00
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Talking Time with your Child…Make it an Atomic Habit

I have recently been reflecting upon how our daily habits all contribute to our long term health and wellbeing after reading the bestselling book ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear.  For those of you who attended our face to face Learn2Communicate events throughout the Central West of NSW earlier in 2022, you would already know this.  I haven’t stopped thinking about the idea of applying this concept to my work as a Speech Pathologist.  How can we make small and easy changes to our daily routines and interactions with children in a way that will have a powerful impact?

We know that children respond well to frequent, positive interactions with a loving caregiver and that child acquisition of oral language skills can be boosted in the early years via such interactions. As a Speech Pathologist and also as a Parent, I also know that providing families of children who have speech, language and communication challenges with comprehensive, detailed ‘home programmes’ in order to provide this boost to oral language can be ineffective.  Add to this the request by the Speech Pathologist to “complete this home programme with your child at least 3-4 times per week and try to spend 15-30 minutes during each practice time” and we see many parents opting to run for the hills!

What if we could, instead, infuse some new powerful habits into everyday routines and that these habits were easy yet effective in helping all children become effective communicators?

How can we make Talking Time with Children a new Atomic Habit that each and every one of us can adopt?

Here are some ideas I would encourage all of you to consider!

Start by identifying what the exisiting routines are during your day that involve you and your child.

Write these down.  A routine doesn’t have to have many steps; it is simply just something that happens on several days each week with some degree of predictability.  Some examples I can think of with a toddler in mind might be: getting into the car seat, packing a bag for daycare, bath time, story time at night, getting dressed, breakfast, snack, lunch and dinner time, parent returning home from work time, bed time.  Perhaps keep a blank piece of paper on the fridge for a week and note every small little routine that you can think of as it occurs.

Now…choose one of those routines and write down the ‘script’ for what happens. Here is an example for a fictional child. Let’s call him Dylan:

Snack Time after Preschool

Mum opens front door.

Mum and Dylan walk inside.

Mum takes Dylan’s backpack and unpacks drink bottle, lunch box and hat.

Mum puts each of these items away.

Mum takes Dylan’s shoes off.

Mum opens fridge and makes Dylan a snack of carrot sticks and hummus.

Mum lifts Dylan to sit at kitchen bench and places snack in front of him.

Mum says “time for afternoon tea”

Dylan eats snack whilst mum […]

2022-11-21T01:23:17+00:00
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