Education Station Helping at Home Playing with Mirrors

Mirrors are a wonderful tool! Sit in front of a mirror with your child or hold one so your child can look into it. Ask "Who is that boy/girl?" Wave at the child or make faces and see how he/she laughs and enjoys this.

Practice oral-motor exercises in front of the mirror. Model the exercises for the child and encourage them to copy you. Open and close your mouth slowly several times. Be sure lips are completely closed. Pucker your lips, like you are going to give a kiss, hold, then relax. Stretch your lips into a big smile, hold, then relax. Alternate Puckering (holding) and smiling (hold). Open your mouth then try to pucker with mouth wide open. Don't close your jaw. Hold, relax..  Purse your lips tightly and press together (hold and relax).  Close your lips firmly, suck all the saliva onto the top of your tongue. Open your mouth and stick out your tongue, making sure it points straight ahead. Stick out your tongue and move it slowly from corner to corner of your lips. Hold in each corner and relax. Stick out your tongue and try to reach your chin with the tip of your tongue (hold and relax). Repeat each of these oral-motor exercises several times before moving on to the next exercise.

Just as a picture is worth a thousand words, so is a reflection! Sitting in front of a mirror while attempting sound production can be an effective tool. Often speech-language pathologists use gentle touch and/or sight cues to help children learn how to create a sound. At times children can learn to produce sounds by observing an adult make the sound. However, other times the child may need additional assistance. Touching a child's face in a certain way, or in a certain place, helps he/she learn more about how a sound is produced. These tactile cues are gentle and soft - never hard or deep. These touches can be performed together as your child tries to create longer and longer words. Instruct the child on the face features (tongue, lips, teeth) necessary to use the cues.  Demonstrate the cues both on you and on the child.  For example, when teaching a /b/ sound - purse your lips together, gently pinch your fingers together and hold them close to your lips, then make the /buh/ sound.  At first, you will need to display many cues for the child.  As the child practices the sounds over an over, fewer cues will be necessary.  Combining each sound with the vowels (a, e, i, o, u), like: bay, bee, buy, bow, boo can be helpful.

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