25/05/202025/05/2020 Jj is for Jottings 122.  Definite and Indefinite Articles. Following on from the previous article on nouns, it is timely to discuss definite and indefinite articles.  Articles are simply “a” or “an”, and “the”.  It sounds simple, but there’s a bit more to it than that. Continue reading → Categoriesalpacas, articles, consonants, conversation, grammar, […]

Jj is for Jottings 16: Keep Reading to your Children. Now that the school year is beginning it’s a good time to remind parents that, just because your child is learning to read, it doesn’t mean that it is time to stop reading to THEM. (That’s not shouting – it’s already bold and the underlining […]

Jj is for Jottings 149.  Poor Neglected Adverbs. Unlike the dreaded apostrophe, which many people underuse and many people overuse, the poor neglected adverbs are in danger of disappearing altogether.  (Although I still have no idea whether the same people underuse as overuse apostrophes, if they’re different people, or a bit of both.  I suspect […]

Jj is for Jottings 108.  Preventing Apostrophe Catastrophes. NOT preventing apostrophe catastrophes here. They could have avoided one of the errors but saying just “incense”.  With thanks to Ann, who photographed this to show me, to discover shortly afterwards that the post I had just written was about apostrophes. As promised in the previous article, […]

Jj is for Jottings 137.  Auditory Processing Disorders. Following on from auditory skills and developing auditory processing skills, we now turn our attention to auditory processing disorders.  There are so many conflicting ideas in the literature as to exactly what constitutes auditory skills. One could really become bogged down by this and therefore any resulting […]

Jj is for Jottings 131. Learning Vocabulary. Learning vocabulary – the words a person knows and uses – is a lifelong process. Talking to and reading with your child right from the start is a good recipe for a child to develop a rich vocabulary.  I have talked about vocabulary in previous articles, mainly in […]

Jj is for Jottings 59.  More Minimal Pairs: Voiced vs. Voiceless. I was reminded a couple of days ago that there is more to say on the subject of minimal pairs ( see Jj is for Jottings 47.  Minimal Pairs: Voiced vs. Voiceless.  You may wish to read/re-read this before continuing), when an intelligent, well-educated […]

Jj is for Jottings 138.  Brain Gym. WHAT IS BRAIN GYM? Brain gym is a series of movements which claim to enhance whole-brain learning.  An alternative term is “educational kinesiology”.  The word “education” comes from the Latin educare, which means “to draw out”.  “Kinesiology” is from the Greek root kinesis, which means “motion” and is […]

Jj is for Jottings 71.  4 Signs of Weak Spellers. This is just a quick post a week after the last one, so I can get back into sync with my working days. The 4 tell-tale symptoms of weak spellers are: Continue reading Jj is for Jottings 70.  The End of a Word is Not […]

Jj is for Jottings 89.  Unilateral Hearing Loss. Does Geisha have a unilateral hearing loss? It looks as if she has only one ear, in which case she would have. This is the third article on hearing loss.  The previous articles are about fluctuating hearing loss and effects of hearing loss on speech, language and […]

Jj is for Jottings 140.  Tongue Tie. After discussing /s/ speech sound problems in the previous post, in a way the topic of this post is the opposite: tongue tie.  Why is it the opposite?  Some /s/ problems involve tongue protrusion or sideways movement. But tongue tie anchors the tongue which limits movement to varying […]

Jj is for Jottings 102.  Effect of Vowel Shapes on Consonant Sounds. Following on from the previous article on Vowel Shapes, we will talk about the effect of vowel shapes on consonant sounds.  This is especially important in sound production for speech therapy and also useful when learning sound-letter links.  If you haven’t already done […]

Jj is for Jottings 124.  Neuroplasticity, Power and Children. This article follows on from the previous article on neuroplasticity and power.  However, I just want to mention a couple more points before moving on to the subject of neuroplasticity, power and children.  These points include people’s differing needs for power, and avoiding the negative effects […]

Jj is for Jottings 95.  Oral Storytelling. Oral storytelling is wonderful for developing listening skills (no pictures – so there is no visual ‘cheating’) and language.  It also encourages memory and can stimulate imagination.  You can read about the importance of listening here and here.  You can tell the story, or you can encourage your […]