Using music to support speech
Sarah Carling, Director of Music for Starters explains why music can be so effective as a tool for developing speech in babies and toddlers.
Speaking and Listening is a hot topic in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) at the moment. Those of you with teenagers will know all about the one word (or one grunt) answer! Establishing good conversational skills in very young children is crucial.
Children sing simple phrases very naturally. "I'm the king of the castle" style songs can be heard in most playgrounds. If you use simple tunes to sing questions, you'll often get sung answers, that are structured well and have more than one word. "Hello Sarah, how are you?" might get "Hello Anne, I'm fine," in reply as the child will try to extend the answer to fit a natural phrase length (usually 4 beats).
Sarah's tips:
- You might need to model this first of all. Character (doll) puppets are very important here, as you can mock up conversations for the children to hear, including establishing the art of turn-taking for conversation. Once you've shown the way, pass the puppet to the child and ask them to continue the conversation.
- They will soon stop doing simply what you did, and move on to their own little improvisations, but the principles of using whole sentences and of turn-taking should remain.
- If you are working with younger children, who aren't using words yet, then enjoy some voice play with them. Encourage noises like "weeeeee" as they come down a slide, count and sing up a scale as they climb stairs, pretend your bike has a flat tyre and "hisssssssssssssssssss", then "sh sh sh sh sh" as you pump it back up.
- Singing animal songs will also really help. Try "mooo, baaa, neeeeeigh" (nice long sounds) or "glub, oink, quack" (short sounds) that children can practise over and over again - fabulous for developing aural motor skills.
If you would like to know more about using music to support children with speech and language, Music for Starters will be running their 'Using Music To Support Inclusion Course' in London during October or Birmingham in November. The organisation also runs a course called 'Supporting the Development of Speaking and Listening Skills Through Musical Games and Musical Play'. Both courses are packed with songs and ideas specifically chosen to support this work. They are simple, very engaging and lots of fun. To find out more, visit: http://www.musicforstarters.com/training.htm
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