Jj is for Jottings 120.  Listening: Obstacles and Good Listening. Following on from hearing versus listening and types of listening and nonlistening, this article will discuss listening obstacles, and tips for good listening.  They say that love makes the world go around, but I think good listening skills help it along a bit, too. Listening: […]

Jj is for Jottings 148.  Other Effects of Noise. Most of us know about the effects of noise on our hearing, discussed in the previous post.  Spending much time in noisy environments can cause long-term damage to your hearing.  Examples are working in a noisy factory or living near an airport.  Exposure to loud music […]

Jj is for Jottings 127.  Sequencing is Important. We probably don’t think about it very much, but sequencing is important in many aspects of our lives.  A definition of “sequence” is: a set of related events, movements, or items that follow each other in a particular order.  (This is the definition for the noun.  It […]

Jj is for Jottings 18. How More Routine and Fewer Choices Make for Smarter and Happier Children. Part 1. Here is the first part of an article which appeared in the Pulse section of the Border Mail on February 6 last year, and it bears repeating. We will visit other parts of the same article […]

Jj is for Jottings 126.  The Bossy ‘E’. The bossy ‘e’ (sometimes called the magic ‘e’) appears so often in written language that it is worth revisiting in its own right.  It is a classic case of “Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish […]

Jj is for Jottings 136.  Developing Auditory Processing Skills. Following on from the article on auditory skills, we turn to the topic of developing auditory processing skills.  An article on communication milestones from 12 months to 5 years can be found here.   But now we will explore the development of auditory processing skills in a […]

Jj is for Jottings 136.  Developing Auditory Processing Skills. Following on from the article on auditory skills, we turn to the topic of developing auditory processing skills.  An article on communication milestones from 12 months to 5 years can be found here.   But now we will explore the development of auditory processing skills in a […]

Jj is for Jottings 96.  Interactive Reading With Children. There is a difference between reading to children and reading with children.  Reading TO children is just that – reading a story without any sort of discussion or interaction.  (For disquieting statistics on reading to children, see here.)  On the other hand, interactive reading with children, […]

Jj is for Jottings 145.  Manner of Articulation. As a reminder from the previous article, we classify the spoken aspects of consonants across 3 dimensions: Place of articulation. Manner of articulation. Voicing We have previously covered voicing, and then place of articulation in the previous article.  So now we turn our attention to manner of […]

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 148.  Other Effects of Noise. Most of us know about the effects of noise on our hearing, discussed in the previous post.  Spending much time in noisy environments can cause long-term damage to your hearing.  Examples are working in a noisy factory or living near an airport.  Exposure to loud music […]

Jj is for Jottings 121.  A Noun is a Name. A noun is a name.  But there’s a bit more to it than that.  A noun is one of several parts of speech, which also includes verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, articles, prepositions, conjunctions and even interjections.  Although they are called parts of speech, they are […]

Jj is for Jottings 148.  Other Effects of Noise. Most of us know about the effects of noise on our hearing, discussed in the previous post.  Spending much time in noisy environments can cause long-term damage to your hearing.  Examples are working in a noisy factory or living near an airport.  Exposure to loud music […]

Jj is for Jottings 144.  Place of Articulation. We classify the spoken aspects of consonants across 3 dimensions: Place of articulation. Manner of articulation. Voicing. The voicing dimension specifies whether or not the vocal folds (or cords) are vibrating.  It has already been discussed in Voiced vs voiceless minimal pairs.  And I have outlined the […]