Sound Connections - Helping children reach their Potential

SOUND CONNECTIONS	THE SOUND CONNECTIONS CENTRES Calgary: (403) 453-0066 Red Deer: (403) 347-3050
Literacy and Language

Helping children reach their Potential!

SO WHAT EXACTLY DOES SOUND CONNECTIONS DO?

Sound Connections Programs can be used with all students whether they have identified learning needs or not. A key concept in the Programs is ‘multi-sensory learning’ which means that the brain is taught through as many senses and learning styles as is possible. Instructors use toys and attractive resources that appeal to children but also help them to learn. The Programs are fun and many children look forward to the sessions and are continually looking for ‘clues’ to what is coming next. Students are actively engaged as learners rather than being passive.

Sound Connections provides a unique blend of specialist speech-language and literacy expertise. Using original materials the Programs has been produced, tried, tested, expanded, and continually refined over many years. The methods suggested are beneficial for all learners and many parts of the Program have been used successfully as whole class activities.
We aim to teach children how to classify sounds by the way they are articulated. This helps them to store sound knowledge in a more precise and accurate way as well as increasing an awareness of what their mouths are doing. Once a firm skill base is established, the Programs build knowledge steadily and progressively and generalize sound knowledge into reading and writing until skills become ‘automatic’. We provide many opportunities to develop sound awareness through sound sorting, categorisation, blending, segmenting, rhyme, rhythm and manipulation tasks.

Whilst we aim to develop phonological awareness knowledge to prepare children’s brains, we advocate a balanced approach to literacy where a wealth of strategies are encouraged and taught.

Sound Connections resources aim to:

Strengthen oral language skills
improve literacy skills
learn sight words
work with children early on reducing the possibility of failure
provide truly multi-sensory activities
combine aspects of phonological awareness training and training in literacy
incorporate brain friendly learning
recognize that children have different learning styles
provide materials that help maintain children’s attention
provide an easy progression involving small steps
incorporate regular revision of skills learned
provide a tool for collaborative work
teach children to ‘over-learn’ material
give the teacher an increased level of understanding and expertise
help children to learn through exploration and discovery
increase children’s confidence when faced with literacy tasks
make children’s early attempts at written work readable by sound structure and then build on that

Learning from Listening and understanding Sounds at Sound Connections