KIDmunication, LLC

We picked up some Far Side comics at the book store for Lily today. She has not put them down. Soooo many giggles. Speech therapist dork out moment here: Humor and satire are such an important part of language development—particularly social language development. Kids aren’t getting exposed to it nearly enough. “It is now widely recognized that effective communication requires much more than knowledge of linguistic forms” (Bell, 2007, p. 28). Understanding humor “requires a broad base of linguistic, pragmatic, sociolinguistic, and cultural knowledge” (Shively, 2013, p. 931). As your kids get older, take them to plays. Put them in plays. Expose them to comic strips. Get them cheesy joke books and have laughing contests. Let them watch old-school cartoons chocked full of humor, satire, and sarcasm (eg., Looney Tunes). Laughter is good for their mental health AND language development.