Speech Development Issues

Montessori materials can pinpoint (and remediate) issues at very young ages, and in very precise ways.
A series of Montessori Nuggets will focus on some of these benefits to using pure Montessori materials.


SPEECH:


When the spoken language games in the primary Language album are played in their entirety and beginning at ages 2 1/2 - 3 1/2, they can provide SO many clues to a child's speech development. The spoken language components are so foundational to all other language works.

Indeed, primary trainers emphasize that if there is a delay or issue with reading, writing, vocabulary or any other language area within a classroom or a home, the best thing to do is to start the language album from the beginning all over again because something was missed. Then you can hone in on areas (without drudgery!) that need improvement. Note: you might not even ever figure out what was actually missing, because perhaps the children pick it up seamlessly the second time through.

Some of the things the adult can learn from these games:

• does the child have trouble with sounds in certain parts of words
• are some sounds just not heard by the child at all
• a hearing issue
• a speech issue
• a rhythm issue (yes, this impacts speech - think syllables, rhymes, songs)
• does the child not speak at all (no, you don't force this, but by age 4, they should be speaking even to school teachers whom they've known for several months)

AMI Trainers insist:
DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE ENTIRETY OF THE LANGUAGE ALBUM.


In summary, there are two Montessori Nuggets here:

1) The foundation and entirety of the language album. Do it all and have fun with it.
2) Use it to pinpoint issues that either need more work with the materials or may require a specialist.