T ATTY At the Shabbos table Tully’s answers to his parshah questions are more on target. His grasp of the storyline is improving as well. And he now knows clearly how many days are left until Shabbos and actually looks forward to it.

REBBI Tully’s signature “lost look” is fading. It’s replaced with a look of intense concentration as he works to decode the language around him.

TULLY I can do worksheets! I finally cracked the code. I try to make pictures in my head and it helps me understand.

We’re schmoozing about school when Tully shares a tidbit: “My rebbi says we need to bring a spiral notebook ” he informs me “but I don’t know what ‘spiral’ is.”

“Let’s break this down and decode it ” I reply. On a sheet of paper I write “Bring a spiral notebook.” Then I ask Tully to draw what each word means. For “bring” he draws a hand for “notebook” he draws a notebook. The word “spiral” remains a mystery.

Language therapy teaches children to “crack the code” of the words around them.

“What can ‘spiral’ be?” I wonder aloud. “What’s it describing?” Tully is still silent so I continue helping. “Is ‘spiral’ describing ‘bring’?”

Tully shakes his head.

“Is it describing ‘notebook’?” Tully looks at me for confirmation before nodding.

I pull out an assortment of notebooks from a nearby filing cabinet. A spiral notebook is among them. “Can you guess what ‘spiral’ might mean?”

It’s tough for Tully to deduce the meaning of unfamiliar words through their context and it takes lots of practice. Progress is slow. I keep in touch with his rebbi and tutor and they work on reinforcing the skills we’re learning.

A few weeks later Tully and I are playing Twister. “Put your right hand on red ” I direct. “Now put your left hand on red after you move your right hand to green.”

Tully’s ability to follow directions has improved enough that when he moves his left hand to red before putting his right on green I know it’s not just a standard mistake.

Language-delayed children process information in the order it’s presented to them. Because I said “left hand” first Tully did it first. He did not process the instruction to do it “after.”

It’s time to tackle the concept and vocabulary of time.

Just as we decoded the mysteries of worksheets now we need to decode the calendar. Tully and I sit with a brightly decorated calendar and review the concepts of a “day ” a “week ” a “month ” and a “year.” By turning 12 pages from January (when he was born) to the next January Tully begins to grasp the concept of “age.”

“Time” serves as a valuable reference point. Mastering the concept of time will give Tully another tool to process and give context to information.

We read books together circling time-related words like “before ” “after ” “first ” “next ” “yesterday ” and “tomorrow.” Tully practices decoding the sentence not by the sequence of the information but by the “code words” for time.

In another session I read Tully a story about a boy preparing for Shabbos. Tully holds cards depicting the activities in the story. “While I read put the cards in the order of the story ” I instruct. Tully enjoys this game and gets better at it with practice.

When I report to his parents they note that his new skills spill over to improve all areas of his life. “Everything gets better with ‘time ’ ” his father quips. Time… and lots of effort. Language is one of the foundations of all other learning. For a kid with a true language-processing disorder success is a journey.

Bring It Home

If your child suffers from a language-processing disorder these strategies can reinforce their skills and help them function better:

• Pace your speech. Instead of long strings of directions (“Put away your coat and backpack and wash your hands before you come to eat”) pause between each directive. It’s easier for your child to process several one-step directions than one long multi-step direction.

• Use visual aids. A child with severe language-processing difficulties may need a visual cue that a direction is coming. The rebbi may ring a bell or raise his hand to alert the child that he’s about to give a direction.

• Have your child give you directions. Ask him to teach you how to make a paper airplane or a Lego creation. This is great practice and a perfect opportunity for him to use adjectives.

• Label everything you see in order to build vocabulary. (“Look at that cool truck. It’s a dump truck.”) And then expand on it to build associations. (“It’s carrying dirt away from that construction site.”) The label creates a memory; the associations are the glue that sticks it in his mind. Offer as many WH answers as possible for each new vocabulary concept.

• Play games that build language skills. Dance games like Step It Up are great practice for following directions. Guess Who gives kids the opportunity to practice using and processing descriptive words.

• Language-delayed children learn best through experience. Offer your child rich experiences and provide the language he needs to process them. For example when you go to the grocery teach your child words like aisle register cart and cashier and concepts like money and variety. Keep a list of new words that you introduce and reinforce them as often as possible.

• Most importantly read! Pause after each page and ask the WH questions. Before turning the page ask your child to predict what will happen next. Or after turning the page ask a question relating to the previous page — this will force the child to process the language and not rely on the picture. If the book has no pictures have the child draw illustrations. Reread familiar books: your child will learn something new each time and you can emphasize descriptive words and phrases. Lastly vary the type of books you offer: storybooks are great for building processing skills while information books (for example All About Planes) are great for building vocabulary. 

D. Himy M.S. CCC-SLP is a speech-language pathologist in private practice for over 15 years.