So, what’s the solution?

👉Explicit Vocabulary Teaching

✅ Pre-teaching vocab helps prep the brain. Ask the daycare/preschool/school for upcoming themes and use books, word cards, and pictures to pre-teach.

✅ Spark curiosity with homophones (toes vs. tows). They’re spelled differently because they mean different things.

✅Create a grapheme section on your word wall with examples like CH: chair, Christmas, chef. Point out how CH is pronounced differently in each word with acoustic highlighting.

✅ Frequently document and refer to new/known affixes. Check how adding an affix changes the word’s meaning (run/running).

✅ Explore word structures, i.e., “does” is not a sight word; it is a base “do” plus suffix “es”

👉 Accommodations

✅Use strategic seating and hearing assistive technology (HAT) to create learning opportunities.

✅ During storytime, ensure your face and the book are easily seen.

✅ If using HAT (like DM systems), mute the microphone when not talking to let the child overhear conversations in their environment. If not using HAT, stay within their two-metre “circle of sound” and move to quieter spots if it’s noisy.

✅ Let the “kids table” be in a quiet space during loud noisy get-togethers

👉Building Awareness

✅ Show how characters in movies learn by overhearing. Discuss how overhearing impacts the story.

✅ Keep the child informed about what’s next in outings/activities. Encourage question-asking. Narrate your world: “I’m putting the ham in the freezer”, “Sorting socks”, “I need to go to the hardware section”.

✅ Develop a signal for when the child hears a word they don’t know. Note and look it up later.

👉Using Other Senses

✅ Use visuals for story retelling, matching words with definitions, word maps, and post-its for new words.

✅ Play word games and charades. Show pictures on your phone for new words (e.g., tulip bulbs).

✅ Make up a game for labeling things at home: “I bet you can name 10 things in this room and challenge me to find something you can’t label!”