Foundational Skills before Talking

 There are many skills that children have to acquire before they speak!

 
Watch this video WALKIE TALKIE to help you!

11 Skills that Toddlers MUST have before WORDS emerge 1. Responds to events in the environment 2. Responds to people 3. Develops an attention span 4. Exhibits joint attention 5. Plays with toys 6. Understands and uses early gestures 7. Understands early words and follows simple directions 8. Vocalizes 9. Imitates actions, gestures, and words 10. Initiates interaction with you 11. Begins turn taking

Favorite Videos- part 3

Ten Tips to Help Speech Delayed Children 

Favorite Videos part 3

This is one of my fave videos that I'm posting. There is a lot of information out there and I wanted to go and share it with SLP's, educators, and parents. We all need help with ideas, resources and information so I thought I would put it all in one place. Now, if you are like me, you don't have a lot of time but you might have a minute or two to freshen up your skills....

If you are a parent watch this!!

 

I really like this video because it basically sums up what you parents (and SLP's) can do with children who have a speech delay.

It is very quick and to the point but all of the information is important.

I would encourage parents to watch it, focus on perfecting 1 skill for a day or two with their child,and then watch the video again and focus on a different skill.

My First App

My First App

My First App is an app for small children that targets categorization. Children are able to sort through  toys and then sub categorize within each category. Transportation, balls and toys are available on the free version. There are many more categories on the paid version which is $3.49.

 I like this up because it's very simple for children and it works on vocabulary and categorization. I did have a hard time maneuvering some of the items so I'm sure if I had trouble small children would probably have trouble too. Although, other people have noted that their small children used the app with ease.

I especially like the transportation page because you can sub categorize. You can categorize the  items to land, air and sea. This is a great extra step for helping little ones with categorization and vocabulary skills.

It has very cute graphics that would be so cute for small children.

I did like this app! What do you think?
Disclaimer- I have not been compensated in anyway for review of this app and the opinions are strictly my own.

Cheers,
Mindy

Why aren't they talking?

 Promoting communication in children!

Many people believe that to teach children language skills  you need to sit down and get out the flashcards! Nothing could be farther from the truth. Anything you do during the day, including routine activities, can be an opportunity to provide a language rich environment for your child.

graphics by: my cute graphics.

Use bath time as a time to talk with your:

Baby

· talk about anything

· Label body parts

· Label items in and around the bathroom

· Follow what your baby’s interested in– play with what they like to play with.

Toddler

· Use short phrases  2-3 words.

· Use on, off, two, feet, hands, colors, and describing words—wet, dry, in, out, etc.

· Repeat the same words at least 5 times.

Preschooler

· Label sequences; first we put the water in the bath tub then we get in, etc.

· Ask open ended questions– not yes no questions. This will help to keep the conversation going!

         The first step to improving your child’s language skills is to observe them! Watch what they like to do and what interests them. Which toys, books and activities they play with the most and then talk about those items.

The second step is to Wait!

When they are talking don’t interrupt them and when you are waiting for a response– wait at least 5-10 seconds.

They may seem like very simple, easy skills but when you focus on them you realize how much you actually don’t use these techniques!

Check out this link for development norms for children.

Have fun!
Mindy