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SAN JUAN ISLAND LIBRARY |
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May is Better Speech Language and Hearing Month
According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, nearly 50 million people in the United States have a speech, language, and/or hearing impairment. This can range from children having a hard time saying their sounds to people with a hearing loss to adults who have suffered a stroke and have residual communication difficulties. What does this have to do with the library? The library is an excellent resource for learning about these issues and how to cope with them. Why am I writing about this? Because May is Better Speech Language and Hearing Month, of course! Okay, maybe also because my sister is a Speech Pathologist and she convinced me of the importance of creating awareness of this for our community. One of the best ways to foster language development is to read to your child. Reading to your child can teach vocabulary and basic concepts. Sometimes "reading" is simply describing the pictures in a book without following the written words. For young children, choose books that are sturdy and have large colorful pictures that are not too detailed. Ask your child, "What's this?" and encourage naming and pointing to familiar objects in the book. We have tons of great books in our children’s section for this. In the parenting section and regular non-fiction areas we have materials on stuttering in children and adolescents. There are videos and books for parents that address types of stuttering, emotional issues related to stuttering, and ways to help those who stutter. We also have many nonfiction books that deal with speech, language, and hearing issues like hearing impairment, stuttering, aphasia, stroke, and autism. These books can provide true insights about living with a speech, language, or hearing disability. Some examples are:
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