Yoga for Speech-Language Development

This is the first book to present yogic practices and resources for enhancing speech-language development in young children from birth through to age 12. With easy-to-carry out exercises and demonstrative photographs throughout, this innovative approach can be used to improve a range of speech-language issues.

Yoga is a long-established approach for addressing behavioral or emotional issues in children, but it is also an engaging way to facilitate speech-language development. In this book the authors present their pioneering approach of applying yogic principles and practices to enhance speech-language development in children.

Combining years of experience as certified speech-language pathologists and as qualified yoga teachers, the authors explain how yoga relates to speech-language development. The book offers yoga-based exercises for improving prelinguistic communication, breathing, motor planning for speech, vocabulary and concept development, symbolic play and emergent literacy. Illustrations of children demonstrating yoga poses enrich the text. Information on working with children with neurodevelopmental disabilities including language disorders, speech sound disorders, intellectual disabilities, autism spectrum disorders and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder is infused into various chapters. This an excellent resource for speech-language pathologists looking for a complementary approach to traditional therapy for working with children from birth through 12 years.

Table of Contents

Dedication. Acknowledgements. Disclaimer.

Part One: Introduction.

1. Yoga and its Relation to Speech-Language Development.
2. A Developmental Perspective on Language Acquisition.
3. Yoga for Different Stages of Speech-Language Development.

Part Two: Yoga for Different Developmental Domains.

4. Yoga for Prelinguistic Communication.
5. Yoga for Breath Support.
6. Yoga for Motor Planning for Speech.
7. Yoga for Vocabulary and Linguistic Concepts.
8. Yoga for Symbolic Play.
9. Yoga for Emergent Literacy. Summary and Conclusion.

Part Three: Appendix of Yoga Resources. References. Index.