Let me tell you more about myself.

My name is Chanelle, a rather feminine name chosen for me by my mother who has a lifelong appreciation for Chanel fragrances.

I am a person who has a need to listen to music every day. As the Village People would sing, “You Can’t Stop the Music” … particularly in my head. I am forever singing along to the latest song or going back to the golden oldies. I love my music. As you continue to follow my blog, you will see a trend where I may link the fun facts I provide to a song title. As you continue to read my blogs you will see my more creative side.

I often use song routines in speech therapy as a way to encourage language learning in children aged 0-6 years. This is particularly for the little ones who are starting to understand what is being said and trying very hard to get their words out. Song routines are fun and are a big contributor to learning language as a child.

The repetitive nature of songs assists in learning words that are unfamiliar, and also allows the opportunity to build expressive vocabulary. Singing a nursery rhyme like “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” allows children to learn and talk about shapes (star, diamond), location concepts (up, above, in), size concepts (little) and rhyming (star-are, high-sky). The more we use song routines in our day to day activities, the more children will learn and use language.

This is a strategy the Hanen® “It Takes Two To Talk” program reinforces to families. I am trained in this program and I use these Hanen® principles in my speech therapy sessions daily.

I look forward to sharing more about myself and my experiences as a speech pathologist.

CB