District Learning Support Services, Burnaby Schools

Author: yipw

Articulation Workshop 2022

Thank you to those who took time to attend our virtual Articulation Workshop. We believe that parents and caregivers are a child’s best teacher and we hope you learned some strategies to help your child practice their sounds at home. Speech sound practice can be fun!

If you have questions about the home program, need more materials or have any feedback about the workshop, please contact your school speech-language pathologist. Remember to fill, sign and return the consent form if you would like us to follow up with your child. Have fun practicing!

Orange Shirt Day

Orange Shirt Day is a day that we honor and remember the Indigenous children who were taken from their families and sent to residential schools across Canada.

Why do we wear an orange shirt on September 30th?

Phyllis Webstad was given an orange shirt by her grandmother before she was sent to a residential school. When she got to the school, they took her clothes and belongings, including her beautiful new orange shirt. She never got it back. When this happened to her, she felt as though “my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and I felt like I was worth nothing.”

For more information, please watch Phyllis’ story here.

Your child may be learning about this and participating in special activities related to this day at school. Here are some ways you can further the conversation with your child at home. It is a great time to target some language goals too!

  • Read books that talk about the first day of school: Jessica by Kevin Henkes, Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt or The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn.
  • Talk about feelings: You and your child can take turns to talk about your feelings about your first day of school. Brainstorm feelings words about how children would feel to be at residential schools (e.g. scared, angry) and then how they should feel (e.g. safe, happy, respected) instead.
  • Retell Phyllis’ story: Read or watch Phyllis’s story and retell the story in order using words such as first, next, then, later, in the end.

For more child friendly resources and information, check out these websites:

https://www.cbc.ca/kidscbc2/the-feed/what-is-orange-shirt-day

https://www.orangeshirtday.org

Also check out these children’s books by Indigenous authors: Some great books are featured right here on CBC Kids!

Supporting your child’s language skills when watching TV or movies

As we are spending so much time at home, we are facing the dilemma of how to keep our children entertained. Thoughts of children sitting in front of a screen while many parents are still trying to get some work done dredges up mixed feelings.  At least they’ll be entertained and kept out of mischief, but we know that too much TV cannot be a good thing. But TV does not have to be only negative. Television (with controlled and limited  screen time) can be part of a balanced program for kids. You can actually support your child’s language skills when you watch TV or movies together! Keep reading below or click here to download a handout on supporting your child’s language when watching TV or movies and handouts for other activities.

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Welcome!

Welcome to the Burnaby School District Speech-Language Pathology Services website!

We hope this site will provide you with resources to support your child with his/her speech and language goals.  We invite you to explore the different pages on the top of the navigation bar. Whether your child is working on their articulation skills, language skills, social skills or learning to use their augmentative/alternative devices, you will find lots of information and links to useful resources in each of those areas.

As always, please feel free to contact your child’s speech-language pathologist if you have any questions or concerns.  We’re always happy to help and you can find our contact information on the “About” page.

We’re still building sections of our website so come back often for updated resources.  You can also subscribe to our site so that you will be notified every time we have updates.

Thanks for stopping by!