Learning to Read is a Ball {Review and Giveaway}

"What can I do to help my child improve their language skills?" This is a common question I hear regularly, especially now that I'm working with preschoolers. Although it may not be a mystery to us in the field, many parents (and other professionals) do not know how or what to do with their little ones when it comes to literacy.

Kimberly Scanlon's book, "Learning to Read is a Ball" is just the type of resource for those who are looking to work on important language skills but are unsure of how to do so.

In this simply illustrated book, you will find a 28-page picture book accompanied by a 17-page parent guide that covers techniques to develop oral language, strategies to improve vocabulary using synonyms and antonyms, methods of increasing print awareness and much more!

One of my favorite illustrations from the book.

Undoubtedly, children will find the illustrations and story line of "Learning to Read is a Ball" captivating. However, I believe the parent guide is the most valuable portion of this book. Not only will it provide strategies and tips to use with "Learning to Read is a Ball", but it also serves as a great jumping-off point for a host of other books!

The parent guide is a handy resource for parents and professional alike

Bottom line, I will definitely be recommending this book to the preschool families I work with. "Learning to Read is a Ball", can also serve as a lovely parting gift for many of my students who are transitioning to kindergarten.

So now that I've gushed over this wonderful book, you're probably interested in getting your hands on it! Lucky for you Kimberly was kind enough to provide a copy for me to giveaway. Enter below with Rafflecopter.


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a Rafflecopter giveaway



Disclosure Statement: I was provided a copy of this app by the developer. No other compensation was provided. This review includes solely my opinions.

Auditory Processing of Early Language Comprehension Skills {Review}

Frequently asking for directives to be repeated, delays in response time, difficulty following complex auditory directives, decreased comprehension in noise (the list goes on). According to ASHA's technical report (2005),             "(C)APD (central auditory processing disorders) may lead to or be associated with difficulties in higher order language, learning, and communication functions." Auditory Processing of Early Language Comprehension Skills is a useful resource from Great Ideas for Teaching Inc. meant to target the deficits those with processing disorders present.

Pages are perforated for easy tearing and photocopying

This 60 page workbook contains 30 reproducible black and white illustrations designed to improve comprehension skills.

While looking at pictures, students listen to a story pertaining to the illustration. Questions that gauge students' abilities related to comprehension, execution of directives, use of context clues, memory, inferencing, time, spatial details, etc. are provided (see below).

Despite being advertised as an activity for younger ages (6-9), students of any age who lack the aforementioned skills can benefit from these lessons. Activities can easily be expanded upon by requiring students to provide written instead of oral responses, as well as prompting students to provide supporting details to rationalize their responses. The activities in Auditory Processing of Early Language Comprehension Skills are straightforward, yet target a multitude of skills.

For those with skills that are a bit more advanced, Targeting Auditory Memory and Processing is a workbook from the same author that addresses auditory memory in addition to vocabulary, prepositions, verbs, etc.

Reference:
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2005). (central) auditory processing disorders [Technical Report]. Available from www.asha.org/policy.

Disclosure Statement: Great Ideas for Teaching, Inc. provided resources for testing in exchange for a review. The opinions expressed in this review are mine. No other compensation was provided.