Orthophonie Constellation Speech Therapy, Montreal, QC (2026)

Constellation Speech Therapy provides family-focused, convenient speech and language services for children and adults in the Montreal area and beyond through virtual care.

08/11/2021

✨✋🏻The Power of Pausing✨✋🏻

Holding space for your child to communicate by PAUSING is a key strategy to build early communication skills.

There are 2 really powerful early language boosting strategies that come to mind when I think of pausing:

1️⃣ Following your child’s lead-waiting, watching, and listening while your child directs the play activity. Then, joining in and building language along with THEIR chosen activity. This may sound passive, but it’s not. While you’re waiting:

✨ You stop talking

✨ Stay present

✨ Lean in and look at your child

As soon as your child communicates (with words, gestures, actions):

✨ Respond with interest and enthusiasm (e.g., “Look! You are stacking blocks!”)

✨ Join in and play with them

✨ Imitate/copy their actions, sounds or words

✨ Narrate what you are doing

✨ Narrate what they are doing

2️⃣ Expectant pausing to hold space for a child to take a turn-using a familiar routine (i.e., one they know inside out and can guess what’s next), pause and give your child a chance to show you what comes next. While you’re pausing:

✨Lean in and look expectantly at your kiddo

✨Really give them time to show you what’s next

✨If they do not respond, show them what their turn should look like and try again

A good time to pause is right before a “high point” in a routine, like right before you push the swing or blow bubbles.

For example, take that bubble wand, hold it in front of your mouth with your cheeks full of air and look at your child…pause, and wait for them to tell you or show you what to do!

What fun routines does your little one know inside out? Where could you try adding “pause” into your day?

07/22/2021

🌲Outdoor Play and Language Part 5 :: Boosting Language While Walking Outdoors ☀️  Let’s walk and talk!

This summer, I’ve been sharing some fun and easy ways to boost your child’s language while playing outside.  Today is all about boosting language while walking.  Some fun ways to boost your child’s language during water play include:  🛑 Read the Signs: If you’re walking around in a city, take advantage of the chance to point out and talk about the pictures and words you’re reading on signs. Talk about the letters you see on the signs and what the beginning letters sound like. Looking at writing in the world around you boosts early print awareness skills (i.e., understanding that print is organized in a specific way and has different functions in the world).  📜 Have a Scavenger Hunt: Ask your child to help you look for specific things while you walk. These can be pretty concrete (e.g., a bird, a stop sign) or more abstract (e.g., something shiny, something smelly, something alive).  🔍 Go on a “Sense Walk”: Listen, look, touch and smell! Use describing words (adjectives) to talk about what you both observe. Start by talking about the weather—think: hot, cool, windy, rainy. Comment on what you hear, see, feel and smell as you walk around. Try a new take on the classic “I Spy” by trying “I hear with my little ear” or “I feel with my little hand”.   What’s the most interesting thing your child has picked up while on a walk?

07/17/2021

✨Helping Your Toddler Learn to Use the Pronouns “I”, “Me” and “You” Correctly✨

Picture this…

Mid-meltdown, your toddler yelling, “Help you!”.

You respond, “You mean, ‘help me’” or you tell them, “YOU say ‘help ME, not help YOU!”… Everyone getting confused here already? Yeah, I thought so. 😵

That’s because pronouns can be hard to learn and confusing for little ones! If your little one is struggling with this, know that it is SUPER common and that you are not alone.

When do children learn to use “I” and “me” correctly?*

💫 We typically expect “I” to emerge between 12 and 26 months.
💫“Me” and “you” come a little later, between 27 and 30 months.

👍🏼 Rule of thumb: We expect to see the pronouns “I”, “you” and “me”, used correctly before 3 years old.

Using “I”, “you” and “me” correctly is something we’re working on currently in this house. Here are some of the strategies I’ve been using to help Lyra and that might help your little one too:

💫 Modelling more :: Like with so much language learning, simply giving your child LOTS and LOTS of examples of you using “I”, “you” and “me” clearly and correctly is helpful! Hearing it done right teaches them how to do it too. Often as parents we say things like, “Mommy is working”. Instead, try saying, “I am working”.

💫 Emphasize them :: Put extra stress on the pronouns in your sentences to make them stand out more clearly in your speech.

💫Pair with a gesture :: When you say, “I”, point at yourself or pat your chest. When you say, “you”, point at your child. When your child makes an error, simply repeat it back correctly rather than you’re repeating it back correctly, if they’re comfortable with touch, you can gently put their hand to their chest and then model back the correct way of saying it. For example, if your child says, “You want water”, you can gently move their hand to their chest and say, “I want water”.

Did your child mix up “I”, “me” and “you”?

* LinguiSystems Inc. (2009). Guide to Communication Milestones.

07/12/2021

✨Getting Face-to-Face✨

Being face-to-face with your child makes it easier to connect with them. It’s one of the smallest but most powerful adjustments that a parent or caregiver can make to their reading and playtime interactions. Try getting down to your child’s physical level and position yourself so that you can look right at each other.

Why does it matter?

Being face-to-face…

💫Shows your child you’re focused on them and interested in the shared activity.

💫Makes it easier to pick up on subtler clues about your child’s likes, dislikes and interests.

💫Allows your child to get extra speech and language cues from you by watching your mouth and facial expressions.

What games or activities do you like to do while face-to-face with your little one?

07/05/2021

🔥Baby and Toddler Book Reading-Hot Tip #4: Reading and Play🔥

Yesterday, Lyra made a little dollhouse out of her books during playtime. She told me that there were, “Two persons” in there (to which I repeated back, “Oh, you have two PEOPLE in there. Hello PEOPLE!”😂). This made me realize how interwoven reading and playing can—and should— be.

Reading and playing are not mutually exclusive activities. In fact, if you “market” your books like toys, then your little one is more likely to treat reading like a seamless part of playtime.

Here are a few ways to do this:

📚Accessible: Make books as readily accessible as the rest of their toys. Books should be easy for little hands to reach and available wherever fun happens for your child.

📚Easygoing: While having a specific “story time” can be great, it’s also great to make sure your child knows that they can pick up a book anytime and read (either with you or by themselves).

📚Versatile: Show your child different ways that you can read AND play with books. Unfold and line some up to make roads and bridges for toy vehicles, stack them up and make a house, or use the pictures on the pages as backdrops/scenery for pretend play.

Does your child play with books? Comment below and let us know!

Adresse

Montreal, QC

Téléphone

+15144004551

Site Web

http://www.constellationspeechtherapy.ca/

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