2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference

March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH

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3/10/2020  |   10:10 AM - 10:40 AM   |  It Isn’t Snack – It’s Language with Food!   |  Chicago C

It Isn’t Snack – It’s Language with Food!

Most children love snack time. For many preschool teachers, snack is an opportunity to provide children with nourishment and to take a break from the academic curriculum. Snack time also provides a natural opportunity to reinforce social interactions with peers and practice other social language constructs, such as requesting or making choices. However, utilizing snack time to also embed rich language-focused goals can maximize children’s learning experiences, and minimize lost critical learning time during the school day. Research has shown typically-developing preschool aged children rapidly learn new language, primarily without explicit instruction. This learning is incidental and occurs throughout a child’s natural routines. Children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) can acquire knowledge incidentally, but also benefit from explicit language instruction, particularly when facilitated within natural routines and environments to promote more meaningful integration and generalization of skills. By utilizing natural routines for language goals, the language is given semantic, pragmatic, social, and syntactic information for the child to apply to real-world experiences. Preschool routines generally have a common snack component and provide natural opportunities to enhance or reinforce auditory perception development, language, or other academic targets. Snack activities need not be elaborate or expensive to be an effective, goal-oriented activity. This presentation will 1) facilitate discussion with educators and parents regarding the importance of embedded learning, 2) provide participants with practical suggestions for developing targeted and goal driven snack routines, whether simple or more elaborate, and 3) discuss suggestions for connecting weekly preschool themes with the snack activity. Although discussed in the context of preschool classrooms, this presentation will be relevant to parents and implementation of language-focused snack opportunities in the home.

  • Participants will discuss the importance of creating embedded learning opportunities within a daily snack routine for children with language delays or who are DHH.
  • Participants will discuss practical ways to facilitate language as part of a snack routine, including suggestions for both simple or more elaborate snack activities.
  • Participants will discuss the importance of utilizing each segment of the day as a rich language-learning opportunity by connecting weekly preschool themes to the goal-focused snack activity.

Presentation:
21060_12661AmberSaeli.pdf

Handouts:
Handout is not Available

Transcripts:
CART transcripts are NOT YET available, but will be posted shortly after the conference


Presenters/Authors

Amber Saeli (), Utah State University, amber.saeli@aggiemail.usu.edu;
Amber is currently a graduate student at Utah State University. She is studying Deaf Education with a Listening and Spoken Language Emphasis in Early Childhood Education. She has done coursework in preschool classrooms and early intervention as well as interdisciplinary collaboration with pediatric audiology and speech pathology. Amber has already obtained a Master of Arts degree in Linguistics, and will graduate with her Master of Education degree in May 2020.


ASHA DISCLOSURE:

Financial -

Nonfinancial -

Lauri Nelson (), Utah State University, lauri.nelson@usu.edu;
Lauri Nelson is a Professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education at Utah State University. She is the Deaf Education Division Chair, the Director of the Listening and Spoken Language Deaf Education graduate training program and Sound Beginnings. She was one of the co-founders of the Hear to Learn website. She has a dual background as both a pediatric audiologist and LSL deaf educator.


ASHA DISCLOSURE:

Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.

Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.

Sarah Law (), Utah State University, sarah.law@usu.edu;
Sarah Law is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education in the Listening and Spoken Language Deaf Education program at Utah State University. She has a background in LSL deaf education and currently supervises the LSL deaf education graduate students at Utah State University.


ASHA DISCLOSURE:

Financial -

Nonfinancial -