Toddlers have quite an impressive and expressive vocabulary of 150- 300 words in their lexicon, or personal dictionary. The early word combinations children use at around age 2 are already following predictable word-order patterns. Even though they are only saying a couple words at a time, they will typically be in the subject-verb-object order that …
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Morphology and MLU
My post from two weeks ago, Form, Content, Use- Repeat., spoke about phonology, so now it’s time to talk about the next component of form in language: morphology. A morpheme is the smallest unit of a word that carries meaning. Take the word “kick” for example. This word has one morpheme since it cannot …
Hollywood and Speech-Language Pathology
It’s that time of year again! Oscar weekend! The various accents actors/actresses can produce can make or break their character’s success. And who can actors turn to for accent modification? Yep, Speech-Language Pathologists! Behind the scenes, coaching can be used to target 1 or 2 specific sounds (phonemes, remember those from my last post?) …
Form, Content, Use– Repeat.
These are the three components of language, umbrella topics so to speak, which comprise what we use to create a message. Form includes phonology (rules about speech sounds), morphology (small units of meaning within words), and syntax (word order). Content includes semantics (meaning of words). And Use includes pragmatics (rules for communication through language). Throughout …
How to be a Successful Conversationalist
There are those people (or at least one person) in our lives who are fantastic story tellers, captivating our imaginations with every word. There are also those people who are terrible at getting their point across. You know, that person that makes you cringe a little when the phone rings or you see that tiny …
Technology Empowers Life
We all know that technology is a powerful force in our lives today, nearly impossible to avoid. Kids continue to astonish us by successfully navigating their parents’ smartphones and tablets without any formal instruction. It is precisely this ease of use that is one component of technology helping patients gain communicative ability. There are …
Can You Hear Me Now? Good.
Hearing begins to develop during the second trimester at about 18 weeks gestation. By the third trimester, the fetus responds to auditory stimulation. This is why by the time babies are born they have had extensive access to the general rhythm and intonation of the language in their environment, and therefore show a preference …
Children are like Sponges
…they soak in information from the stimuli surrounding them. Between birth and 3 years of age, the human brain increases to 80% of its adult size. What a powerful fact. This is such a crucial point in development for children and therefore, it’s so important to foster their learning in this age period. Healthy interactions …
Is Brazil Ready to Communicate at the Games?
The Brazilian government is trying to increase the number of English translations on public signage, but they aren’t doing this very successfully. In a recent opinion article in The New York Times, contributor Vanessa Barbara cites that the exit gates to a newly opened football stadium in Salvador, Brazil were labeled “Entrace.” So they …
How Many Times…
Hi everyone! For my fellow college-goers, I hope the semester is going well! If you need a distraction from the stress of finals being around the corner (or are bored for some reason) this website is your answer: http://www.wordcount.org/main.php Make sure you really have time to waste, I was on this site for longer than …
