This blog is designed to help families who have a child ages birth-3 who is experiencing a speech and language delay. As a speech language pathologist working in Early Intervention, my goal of this blog is to provide tips, tricks, and techniques for helping your child develop his speech and language skills at home!
I work full time. I have three kids, ages 4, 3, 1. My oldest two children are already involved in extracurricular activities, like swimming and gymnastics. As I'm sure many of you mama's of more than one child agree, giving baby #3 his fair share of attention isn't always easy. Sometimes I feel guilty that I don't just sit and play with him enough, but then reminded myself to practice what I preach! Turn the time you have with your kids into quality time!
So here is how I turned waiting for big sib at gymnastics into language learning time for Logan.
We had brought a blanket in to sit on, which turned into a game of peek-a-boo. Social interaction, turn-taking, action imitation, and sound imitation.
Body part identication--"where's Logie's head? There it is!" while patting his head (using a really excited tone of voice by the way--the other parents were probably so annoyed with me). After a few trials, when I said "where's your head", by golly little Logie reached up and touched his own head! We started the game for "belly" too before little man lost interest.
But, those two little activities alone added up to a good 15 minutes of interaction. We laughed, smiled, felt connected, and had fun--and hopefully next time I say "where's your head", Logan will reach up and pat his sweet little noggin.
In honor of Mother's Day, your sign of the week is "Mom". You can ask your child "Who am I?" and cue them to sign "mom." Also model saying "mama" at the same time. Touch your lips, or have your child touch her lips, to cue pressing the lips together for /m/.
What it is: baby doll and accessories. My favorite accessories include pretend bottles, sippy cup, spoon, bowl, soap bottle, wash rag, diaper, and blanket.
Where to get it: Ok, this is pretty obvious. You can get baby dolls pretty much anywhere! At Toys R Us I've found great "baby kits"--little plastic bags already filled with all of the baby accessories. They also have cool stuff like toy bathtubs, strollers, high chairs, etc. Your child can be playing Mommy in no time! This prices aren't too bad either, around $10.00-$15.00.
What to do with it: Playing with baby is a great receptive language activity. You can have your child identify items ("Give me the rag, where's the bottle?"); follow directions ("Give baby something to eat; wash baby's face).
You can also target expressive vocabulary, including action words (wash, eat, drink, sleep, rock, etc), body parts, and clothing items (if your baby doll has clothes). You can have two dolls, and have your child tell you what to do with your doll. This can be done in single words or phrases ("eat" or "baby eat")
Sound imitation can include "wah-wah", mama, dada, baba (bottle), eating noises, drinking noises, "pee-eww" (for a pretend stinky diaper).
Action imitation can include rocking baby, hugging baby, kissing baby, feeding baby, changing baby's diaper, patting her back, etc.
Playing with baby dolls is such a great activity for boys, girls, and parents! What is your favorite baby accessory? (Mine is using a real newborn size diaper to put on and off the baby).
This is a great sign for your child to learn if they are beyond using the sign "more" to request. Using "cracker" he can become more specific as to what he wants to eat! To teach the sign, show him a cracker, model the sign, and have him sign it back to you before giving him the cracker. If you do this enough times, hopefully soon your child will be standing in front of the pantry door, frantically signing cracker!
