Time to set a goal for this week!  Here are some AMAZING tools to help get your toddler talking.  My suggestion:  rate yourself on how well you are already doing, and then pick one skill to work on at home this week.  For more information on helping your toddler talk check out this blog post: encouraging-my-child-to-talk.html

Wait for your child to try!
Don’t cater to your child’s every need or want before they have a chance to communicate with you.  Observe their actions, wait for them to interact with you, and then listen!!

How often are you waiting?   Never  -  Rarely  -  Sometimes  -  Often 
 
Mess things up:
Mess up routines so your child has to communicate his or her needs.
Example: During mealtime give everyone a spoon but “forget” to give your child a spoon. Wait and see if your child initiates they need something. If they don’t initiate what they need, help them by saying. “What do you need?” or “Are you missing something” or “Uh-oh!” Label the item before you give it to them.
 
Do you ever mess up the routine? Never  -  Rarely  -  Sometimes  -  Often 
 
Parent Speech:
Use clear simple speech with your child during play routines. The goal is to talk in phrases you want your child to copy.  Use one or two words more than your child is using.

How often do you use Parent Speech? Never  -  Rarely  -  Sometimes  -  Often  
 
Use add-ons:
Add 1 or 2 words to what your child says when you respond back to him or her.
Example: When your child says “up” say “up… you want up”.

How often do you use add-on? Never  -  Rarely  -  Sometimes  -  Often 
 
Narrate your life:
When your child is within hearing range, talk about what you are doing while you do it.
Example: When washing your hands at the sink say “I'm washing my hands”, when the phone is ringing say “I hear the phone”.

How often are you narrating your life? Never  -  Rarely  -  Sometimes  -  Often
 
Narrate your child’s life:
When playing with your child, describe what your child is doing while they are doing it.
Example: When your child picks up a car – say “pick up the car”. When your child drops a block – say “you dropped the block”.

How often are you narrating your child's life?  Never  -  Rarely  -  Sometimes  -  Often 
 
Hopefully this list gives you an idea of a skill to focus on this week.  You can do it!!!

Mom!  I'm hungry!!  Can I have a snack?

Who has heard that before?  Like 10 times, or 20 times... and it's 10:30 am.  Am I right?

Lucky for us, making meals and snacks can be a super excellent way to work on speech and language AND feed your starving child.  It's a win-win!

When I first started working in early child development, a mom told me the most valuable thing she had learned so far was how to talk and be with her kid while he was eating.  She told me that before her therapy services, meal and snack times were all about getting other stuff done while her son was busy eating.  BUT once she started using some of the following tips her son's language really started exploding.


Building Vocabulary 

• Use lots of describing words when you cook and while you are eating:
  • adjectives: hot oatmeal, sticky honey, wet, cold pudding, crunchy carrots
  • verbs: cutting, mixing, pouring, squishing, rolling
  • adverbs: carefully, quickly, before, after
  • prepositions: in the cup, on top of the muffins

 
Using My 5 Senses 

• Talk about how things taste, look, feel, sound, and smell.  These kinds of sentences help your child make connections.  I use my nose to smell.  Apples smell sweet AND peas smell sweet!  I wonder how they taste?

Beginning Literacy

• Use words like first, next, then, after, and last to help your child learn to sequence.  These words automatically take language to a more complex level.

 
Imagination and Guesses

• Ask your child to imagine what his meal or snack might look like, taste like, feel like one you are finished.  Being able to make an educated guess based on what you know is critical for good reading comprehension and social communication skills.

Repetition is key! 

• One of the best parts about cooking is that it is naturally repetitive.  You follow the same basic steps each time you pour a bowl of cereal or make your child’s favorite sandwich. Because of the repetition your child has lots of opportunities to learn and practice! 

*these tips are mainly geared toward the toddler/preschool age kids, if you have older children some good ideas would be having them navigate the recipe card, measure ingredients, and then create their own notebook with their favorite tried and true recipes.

Check it out!  My first speech and language therapy video!!

I reviewed a new toy that I bought at www.smartfelttoys.com.  For the month of April it is 20% off in honor of World Autism Awareness Month, use the Promo Code: WAAD. 

Hooray for discounts on specialized SUPER AWESOME toys!!

I see a lot of preschoolers in my private practice, and with good reason.  Preschoolers (ages 3-5) are right in the middle of some of the most important language learning years.  You see a huge change in how a child communicates during this time.  Preschool is a golden time to target language skills. 

Because these kids are not in all day school yet, home is still their main source of language and learning.  Preschool children no longer qualify for Early Intervention which means they (might) get some preschool services through their school district BUT families miss out on the parent training that comes with Early Intervention.  

If you have questions about how you can help your preschooler at home I have some resources that might help! 

Preschool Development - This is the page I just finished with information about preschool language skills and tips to help you work on some of them

Helping My Preschooler Learn to Learn - This is a blog post featuring some ideas on ways to help a preschooler learn new things

Summer Pre-K Program - In this blog post I share a program that I use to introduce or review new letters/sounds the summer before kindergarten.

Have fun with your preschooler and should you have questions or concerns don't be afraid to reach out to your pediatrician, preschool teacher, or SLP!

Today I ran across an magazine article called "Getting a Jump on Learning" (you can read the entire article too by clicking HERE).  The author, Michael L. Robinson, supports the idea of helping preschoolers, ALL preschoolers prepare for kindergarten by gaining the capacity to learn.

These are the main strategies that Robinson suggests:

• First, remember that learning is active, not passive. We don’t receive knowledge: 
  
• we experience it. 
• Second, make learning fun.
• Third, teach your child using all five of his or her senses. 
• Fourth, point out detail and differences in objects. 
• ​Fifth, and perhaps most important, program your child to succeed. 

​
Wow, pretty awesome advice.  My background in speech and language totally supports all of these ideas.  Active learning really does help you encode new information better, which leads to better myelination of the nerve pathways, which leads to better retention and retrieval.  Learning through our senses promotes active learning, and also provides language regarding function words and adjectives.  Pointing out details and differences will help give your child a rich vocabulary that he can use when organizing his thoughts and will increase comprehension.  Giving your child opportunities to succeed will help him learn persistence and gain self-confidence.  Try to provide opportunities that challenge your child but are also within his reach.  It is no good failing and failing again, kids need to be able to be successful.

Don't get so stressed about learning letters and numbers that you are missing these kind of learning opportunities.  There is SO much more to learning than rote memorization, sometimes I think parents feel pressure to see their kids perform rather than help them learn.  Relax, have fun, and talk talk talk to that preschooler!

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS).  In December my church makes a special effort to focus on our Savior.   Last year the LDS church offered a "Light the World: in 25 ways over 25 days" challenge. My family had fun trying to think of our Savior each day of the month leading up to Christmas.  We are excited to begin again this weekend.

Because winter holidays are generally a pretty big deal they are also a great way to work on functional applicable language skills.  I have created a calendar for the #LightTheWorld 2017 event based off the one found on lds.org (HERE) that includes ideas of how to apply each scriptural principle to your day.  Read through it, you will be amazed at how many activities are based on being able to communicate and use language (spoken, written, and social).  

As you begin traditions in your own home this year take advantage of modeling good language skills.  Provide examples of more complete sentences, explain how, why, where, when things are done.  Explore tastes, smells, how things feel and sound.  There is a whole world out there to share with your child this holiday season!

You can download the file here if you are interested:

We all know I LOVE using the holidays as a jumping off point for speech and language activities.  They are motivating, use language that is high frequency for that time of year, and they are just plain fun.  This activity is super awesome!!

This year I have been doing a TON of activities using prepositional phrases with kids.  I think I stumbled on THE BEST Halloween activity ever.  So I thought I would share.   
The book "175 Easy-to-Do Halloween Crafts" has this awesome craft idea:


Basically you take a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper, fold it into 16 squares, cut the edges and then fold a house...it is SUPER easy once you have given it a try.  Then you get to let the kids decorate it however they like.  In my world that means I get little clip-art guys (I love the ones found HERE) and have the kids tell me where they belong on the house using prepositional phrases.

For example:
The skeleton goes inside the house, Frankenstein lives on top of the roof, the pumpkin sits beside the door, the witch is flying over the house, etc.  

You can work receptive and expressive skills (following directions, giving directions), you can work sequencing, you can work pronouns, you can work verbs...so many options!  Or you can throw the goals out the window and just decorate and have fun knowing you are providing a language rich experience.  No matter where your child's language skills are they will LOVE this activity.  Give it a try!

My family loves to camp!  We find it a great time to unplug, slow down, and explore.  Turns out those elements make for some great language development opportunities.

Here are some of my favorite things to do while outdoors:

• Discover our senses (name 2 things I can smell, hear, see, taste, touch...)
• Discuss animal habitats and eating habits, "Who might live in this tree?  I see an acorn!  Who might eat an acorn?"
• Play "I Spy" games with a twist..."I spy something that is sweet and sticky!"
• Teach and review new routines (how to make a s'more, start a campfire, tie a knot)
• Compare/contrast leaves, bark, animals, camping food, etc.,
• Practice sorting outdoor things by what they look like, where you found them, what they are for, etc.
• Play "One Small Square" - a game from the "One Small Square" series by Donald M. Silver.  You use a twig to draw a square on the ground about 4 ft. x 4 ft. and then explore inside that square very closely.  The book is fabulous for expanding this activity, here it is on amazon.com 
• Practice following directions!  "Before coming into the tent, take off your shoes!"  "Always walk around the fire pit!"...lots of direction giving happens on our trips.

There are SO MANY fun ways to enjoy a trip to the great outdoors.  What are some of your favorite ideas?