Dictations: to give or not to give ?

Dictations have been a long-standing tradition associated with learning to write in grade school. It has long been thought to promote mastery of grammar and syntax. For many years, dictations have been used as a means of assessing children’s academic performance. Many adults remember being rewarded for their errorless dictations, as children, by receiving stickers […]

What’s in a spelling mistake? Tips to help identify different types of spelling mistakes in order to reduce their frequency

(This post was previously published on September 22, 2015 on Chantal Mayer-Crittenden’s blog, and cross-posted with permission.) If we were dropped off on a deserted island void of alphabet, written words, signs or messages, we would never learn to write, nor would have the need to. Social beings that we are, we would, however, inherently […]

Introductory post

Language. It’s how we think. It’s how we communicate. It’s how we relate. Whether language is oral (i.e. speaking and understanding), written (i.e. writing and reading), signed, gestured, explicit (direct), implied (indirect), the very nature of language is all-encompassing. One thing remains: language is language. Let it be oral or written, the two are inextricably […]

Language From Head to Toe

Welcome to my blog: Language from Head to Toe ! What is the purpose of this blog, you ask? My goal is to encourage each and every person who interacts with children and adults with written and oral language difficulties to have a more mindful approach to intervention. Intervention is teaching and teaching is intervention. […]