Incorporate Humor

It's Friday!!!  Research shows that positive energy is highest on FRIDAYS!!!  What comes with good moods and positive energy?  HUMOR!  I'd like to share an article of mine that was printed in a professional magazine for Speech Language Pathologists!

Humor is important for social relationships, academic success and health, studies have shown. Children who have a good sense of humor are more likely to make strong friendships and be well liked by their peers, according to developmental researchers. When they become adults, humor makes it easier to get along with colleagues and manage frustration.

Humor can be divided into three linguistic categories: phonological, morphological and syntactical. Examples of phonological humor include minimal pairs and lexical items. Minimal pairs are based on the difference of one phoneme. Lexical items are based on the ambiguity of a word, as in "The soup factory canned all its workers."  Examples of morphological humor include morphological analysis and pseudomorphology. Morphological analysis is when a morpheme is extracted from a word and treated as an independent word, such as "Where do frogs sit? On a toadstool." Pseudomorphology is when an independent word is confused with a phonological sequence from a different, larger word. For example, "What is the key to a great dinner? A turkey."   Syntactical items may involve phrase structure, when a sequence of words has more than one meaning. For example, "The college student got his first credit card, and he got a real charge out of it."

Incorporating humor into speech and language therapy is important. Sometimes it has to be taught, and sometimes it just has to be developed. Therapy goals can easily be incorporated into certain activities, such as reading funny stories, singing songs with a twist, creating funny routines, doing unconventional artwork, and sharing funny stories.

 Dr. Seuss books are a great source of funny stories. The play on words, rhyming and pictures are all silly. Older children can create a Dr. Seuss-like book.  To sing songs with a twist, you can sing in different voices, at different speeds, and with different words. Children often find it funny when you put their name in a song.  Using rhyme to label activities helps to create funny routines. For example, you can use sidewalk chalk and call the routine "Chalk Talk." Games help to make drill and practice more interesting. For example, you can hide pictures or flashcards and play "hot/cold" to find them. When the child is "cold," pair the word "cold" with "freezing" or "put on your mittens and hat." You can pair the word "hot" with "you're on fire" or "call the fire department."

Use common art supplies in different ways to create unconventional artwork. Use cotton swabs for painting, or dip markers in water to make them look like water colors.  Finally, you can share funny stories by telling children about silly things you saw or heard and encouraging them to do the same.