Collection of Christmas present boxes on a light blue background
This time of year, the same question seems to be on everyone’s mind… “What should I get the child(ren) in my life this holiday season?” Here is a guide of my favorite gifts for the children in your lives that are both fun and encourage development!
It’s that time of year where everywhere you look you see pumpkins! Not only do they get in the fall spirit but did you know that there are several activities you can do with a pumpkin that can help nurture your child’s development! Below are four ways that you and your child can have endless fun with just a pumpkin.
What is Free Play?
Free play is when we allow children to have freedom to play in whatever and however way they want, with no direction from an adult (but adults are encouraged to participate from time to time!) They can choose their play materials and activities and how they engage with them. Choice is the crucial component for free play.
What Are the Benefits to Social Therapeutic Playgroups?
Play is the universal language of early childhood. It has been proven that children learn from each other. Therapeutic playgroups are interdisciplinary programs that allow children with developmental delays to grow through learning in a social setting. In this group setting, children learn how to foster their engagement by developing social-emotional and cognitive skills along with their peers. Therapists help facilitate organic social interactions between children. Therapists help foster relationships by encourage children to use them as a resource to engage with others. Playgroups are play-based programs that allow for children to be intrinsically motivated by their peers, grow their problem-solving skills, and facilitate social language in a sensory friendly environment.
The power of a play-based playgroup allow for children to grow their sense of self. Play therapy is used to promote cognitive development and social-emotional strategies to help children succeed in multiple environments. These play-based activities encourage children to problem-solve in a natural environment that is different from their home. Problem-solving skills are important for children to develop as these skills will be with them throughout their lives. In these playgroup children also learn how to follow directions. Children learn from peer models to follow familiar and novel directions. Peers grow their engagement for structured and unstructured play-based tasks by learning alongside on another. Unstructured tasks promote creativity and allow children to grow their symbolic play skills. Structured activities allow children to attend to adult-led activities and grow their task completion. The cognitive and social-emotional skills that children learn from playgroups allow them to succeed in a variety of environments and throughout their educational experiences.
Rachel Weiser, MS, DT
Developmental Therapist
Photo: PlayWorks Therapy classroom, Photographed by Thomas | © 2019 TK Photography |
What do you love most about working for PlayWorks Therapy?
I love the community PlayWorks provides. Every day I have the opportunity to learn new skills and tricks from my fellow coworkers and the families I work with.
What is your favorite children’s book?
I’m a big fan of anything by Mo Willems! I love his humor and the messages his stories provide.
What do you enjoy most about living in Chicago?
I love that there is always something to do in Chicago! Exploring new restaurants, going to a museum, I love being a tourist in my own city!
Would you rather a mountain or beach vacation?
This is tough for me! Both? My most recent favorite vacation was Grand Lake, CO featuring both a beach and mountains.
Share a proud “therapy moment” with one of your clients?
I was seeing a child with a gross motor delay. He was still learning how to walk. Through a motivating play scheme, I was able to see him take his first steps! It was a great moment!
What’s your hometown?
Deerfield, IL
What do you specialize in?
I specialize in social emotional development. I love helping families increase their child’s frustration tolerance and attention span to adult directed (structured) activities. I incorporate my knowledge from my previous teaching career to set my clients up for success for when they exit Early Intervention.
What do you do in your free time?
I love to do anything outdoors- especially when the weather is nice!
What is your favorite therapy toy?
I love Mr. Potato head! Mr. Potato encourage growth of symbolic play, concept knowledge, and turn taking!
What is your favorite Telehealth activity?
I love doing scavenger hunts! I will hold up colors or shapes and ask a child to find something in their home that is the specific color or shape I am holding up! It’s a great way to get the kids moving and work on following directions!
Share a fun fact about yourself:
I was an extra in the Muppets movie!
Rachel Weiser, MS, DT
Developmental Therapist
I love how Developmental Therapy allows me to look at the big picture to see how all the various areas of development and environment affect the others. I also enjoy the focus on a child’s social and emotional development in that bigger picture.
When I was a young child, it was The Berenstains’ B Bookby Stan and Jan Berenstain, much to my parents’ chagrin. Now in my sessions, I love using Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?by Bill Martin Jr. I guess there is a bear-theme in my reading choices!
I enjoy Chicago’s diversity the most. It’s one of its richest assest. I also love how Chicago incorporates nature and green spaces into the cityscape.
I went to a summer camp for many years in North Carolina, and each summer was a blast, but I especially remember the summers I went backpacking on the Appalachian Trail. I picked wild blueberries, pet wild ponies, and enjoyed gorgeous views.
Mountains, hands down!
I had a client diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and he had been working for months on regulating his body enough to engage with others in the room. I walked in one session and knelt down to say hello and he calmly walked to me, let me take his hands, then he kissed my forehead. It was the sweetest “hello!”
Archdale, North Carolina
I work once or twice a month at the Chicago Children’s Museum and enjoy working with different populations and ages. When I’m not working, I’m going for walks to my neighborhood beach or hanging out with family and friends.
I have been to three continents other than North America: Europe, Africa, and Oceania. I would love to see a couple more!
Songs and books!
Becky Clark, MS, DT
Developmental Therapist
Whether your child is transitioning from the Early Intervention program to the public school system, or they have recently qualified to receive services through the school, it is important to set them up for success by advocating for them at their annual Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting.
What is an IEP?
An IEP, or individualized education program, is designed to create a plan to ensure your child receives a free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment (LRE), as is mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). A meeting is held once a year at your child’s school to create, review, and or adjust this plan to best serve your child’s learning needs.
What can I expect?
There may be several professionals at the meeting including your child’s teacher, the special education teacher, your child’s therapists, the principal, and a representative of the school district. The team (which includes you!) collaborates and shares your child’s present level of development and what progress has been made in the last year. They discuss goals for the coming year and what services and accommodations may be beneficial and necessary.
What can I do?
1. Ask questions if you do not understand something. Every profession has their specific jargon, and it is easy for professionals to slip into the alphabet soup (IEP, LRE, IDEA, OMG!). Read over your copy of your rights that they provide and have the team review any portion you do not understand. Understanding the jargon and knowing your rights sets you up to successfully advocate for your child.
2. Bring ideas with you to the meeting about what you want for your child. This will help keep the goals relevant to your child rather than using goals that are too generic. You are a valuable and necessary contributing member of the team since you are the expert on your child. They need more from you than just your signature on forms. They need your input about your child’s strengths, areas of challenge, and what has or has not worked in the past.
3. Voice your concerns. This applies to during the meeting and also throughout the year. If you feel something is not working after an appropriate amount of time, ask to brainstorm other strategies and approaches. Remember that the laws say your child should lean more towards inclusion in a typical classroom (LRE).
Questions or concerns?
If you have questions or concerns about your child’s IEP meeting, please contact us at info@playworkschicago.com or 773-332-9439.
Becky Clark, MS, DT
Developmental Therapist
Reference: Cheatham, G.A., Hart, J.E., Malian, I & McDonald, J. (2012). Six things to never say or hear during an IEP Meeting: Educators as Advocates for Families. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 44(3), 50-57.
Wrightslaw (2007). IDEA 2004 Roadmap to the IEP, IEP Meetings, Content, Review and Revision, Placement, Transition & Transfers.http://www.wrightslaw.com/idea/art/iep.roadmap.htm
Photo Credit:Photo by mentatdgt from Pexels
“The initial evaluation team recommended developmental therapy for my child but my concerns are with her speech. How can developmental therapy help support her speech? I thought that it focused on preschool readiness skills?” — Concerned Parent
Developmental therapy (DT) focuses on the whole child and often addresses different areas of development, including speech and communication. DT can often be used to complement and support speech therapy by helping your child learn pre-communication skills. These skills include sharing joint attention, attention span, imitation of gestures and play ideas, and general play skills and are essential in learning how to speak! This blog will explain these skills and how you as a parent can help your child with their pre-communication skills.
Pre-communication skills
Joint attention: Joint attention is when two people share attention with an object or activity. This can be demonstrated by sharing eye contact, using gestures, and/or other non-verbal and verbal communication. While children can learn some skills from toys and objects independently, they absolutely need to be able to share joint attention with another person to learn language and how to communicate with others.
Attention span: In order to learn any new skill, one must have the attention span to attend to an activity. On average, a child is expected to attend to a single activity for – at minimum – one to one-and-a-half minutes per year of age. And as they age, a child should be able to attend to several activities in a row.
Imitation of gestures: Imitation of gestures always comes before imitation of words. It is important for your child to learn that they can imitate what other people are doing! Once your child is consistently imitating familiar gestures (such as waving or clapping), novel or play gestures (feeding the baby a bottle, for example), and “invisible” gestures (this is a gesture that you can do but not see yourself do, such as sticking out your tongue or tugging your ear), we know that your child is on track to using sounds and words to communicate.
Play skills: A child’s “work” is play! It is important for your child to engage in functional play with toys to learn the concept the toys are targeting. Engaging in functional play provides your child opportunities to use language to communicate. Play is also a great measure of a child’s cognition!
How can parents support pre-communication skills?
Joint attention: Engage in a preferred activity that your child has mastered – we want to make sure they can focus on learning the skill of joint attention and not forcing too many cognitive demands at once. For example, if your child does not yet match, you would not use a puzzle for this activity. Activities with lower cognitive demands – such as popping bubbles – is much more appropriate for a joint attention activity (but if your child has mastered matching, feel free to use a puzzle!) After blowing bubbles a few times for your child, pause the activity. Give him or her the opportunity to come to you and show you that they want “more” by using eye contact or gesturing to you what they want. If they only look at or touch the bubbles, bring the bubbles near your face to encourage eye contact. Once they look to you, provide praise and blow more bubbles! Continue this routine as long as your child will tolerate.
Attention span: Toddlers are notorious for having a decreased attention span! Everything is so new and interesting to them, no wonder they want to bop around the room and get into everything! Make sure you create a learning and play space that is conducive to attending to activities. Having a large number of toys available at all times or always having the television can create many distractions for your child.
When starting to work on increasing your child’s attention span, your goal should be to complete one activity – that’s it! An activity with a clear beginning and end, such as a puzzle or book, are great activities to start with. Engaging in symbolic play with a baby doll, for example, would be considered an open-ended activity that can be finished after one minute or ten. And again, you want to choose something that they have mastered so they are not expected to complete an activity that is new or particularly challenging.
Imitation: To work on a child’s imitation skills, you can start by imitating them! If they bang a toy on their highchair, you do the same. Encourage your child to do the gesture again before imitating it again. Once you go back and forth a few times, change the gesture – rub an object on the highchair instead for example. If your child does not imitate this gesture, do it again. If they continue to not imitate this gesture, provide hand over hand assistance to show them exactly how to imitate this gesture.
Play skills: Sometimes, children need to be taught how to play functionally with objects! Just like any other skill, play needs to supported and taught and it is up to the child’s first teacher – their parents – to show them just that. Parents should be modeling appropriate play with toys and encouraging the child to do the same (this is also where those imitation skills come in handy!) Help your child master functional play by setting aside a few minutes every day to provide your child your undivided attention and PLAY!
Questions or concerns?
If you have questions or concerns about your child’s pre-communication skills, please contact us at info@playworkschicago.com or 773-332-9439.
Kimberly Shlaes, MAT, DT
Director of Developmental Therapy Services
Reference:
Teach Me to Talk. (July 30, 2018). Sorting Out the 11 Prelinguistic Skills… Retrieved April 25, 2019 from http://teachmetotalk.com/2018/07/30/sorting-out-the-11-prelinguistic-skills/
Photo Credit: PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
It is never a fun moment when your child’s teacher calls, informing you that your child bit a classmate. Or what about when your child bites you or their siblings? Biting is a stressful experience for everyone involved. Let’s discuss why it may happen and what can be done to prevent it.
Is biting normal?
While not every child will bite, it is a very common behavior in toddlers. Biting usually stops by three or three-and-a-half. However, just because it is a normal stage of development does not mean it is an acceptable behavior. In order to try to prevent age-appropriate biting, we first need to try to understand what may trigger it.
Why is my child biting?
Toddlers are experiencing so many new feelings, both physically and emotionally, during this time in their development. These changes could lead to feeling the need to bite. Understanding why your child may be biting may help you support them from biting.
What can I do?
Questions or concerns?
If you have questions or concerns about your child’s biting, please contact us at info@playworkschicago.com or 773-332-9439.
Becky Clark, MS, DT
Developmental Therapist
Reference:Zero to Three. (2016, February 22). Toddlers and biting: finding the right response. Retrieved April 8, 2019, from https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/232-toddlers-and-biting-finding-the-right-response.
Lieberman, A. F. (1995). The emotional life of the toddler. New York: Free Press.
Photo Credit: PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
Pretend play can often be very difficult for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) because it directly impacts their ability to develop and understand social skills along with communication skills. Play skills are necessary for children to establish and create meaningful relationships with peers and understand the world around them. This blog will help provide some information to help engage your child with ASD while learning new foundational and essential play skills.
Where do I start?
Just like every child is different, every child with autism is different. It is important to understand your child’s strengths and weaknesses. Before introducing new unfamiliar activities with your child, make sure your child is at a ready-to-learn and regulated state. This means your child is demonstrating a calm body and is ready to play. It is important to reinforce eye contact and joint attention while playing with your child to help increase their engagement skills. Your child’s skill level, attention span, and interests will determine and help guide you in the right direction to begin introducing new unfamiliar play. Begin where your child is at and remember to slowly build on their current level of understanding and skill. If your child resists the new play, begin new play schemes with some of your child’s favorite games or toys. Remember, all children learn by repetition and benefit from having a model or demonstration with how to the use objects appropriately.
Sensory Play
Sensory activities include activities that stimulate our senses, whether in a positive way or a negative way using all our senses: taste, sound, visual, tactile, and smell. These different textures, colors, smells, taste, and experiences impact the way you experience the world around you. Sensory-based activities help children become engaged and focus on the activity presented. These activities can improve attention span, increase flexibility and exposure to new items, and help self-regulation. Please use caution when implementing new sensory items with your child and notice for any aversive or negative reactions.
Functional Play
Functional play is the child’s ability to use objects as they are intended and expected (e.g. block to build). Use cups to fill up and dump the water/waterbeads in the bathtub or a car to drive across the sand. Use the blocks to build a tower and crash them. Provide hands-on assistance and a demonstration if your child does not use the object functionally.
Pretend Play
Pretend play or symbolic play is when a child uses a realistic item or non-realistic item as something else (i.e. using play food or a spoon as a toothbrush). Use animals in the bathtub to walk across the tub and use the sounds associated with each animal. Once your child has mastered the play imitation skills, expand upon this play and encourage your child to have the animals go down the slide in the bathtub. Use their favorite stuffed animal during meal times and encourage your child to “feed” their animal. Continue the child’s bedtime routine with their favorite animal, while you demonstrate and explain what you are doing with your child and their animal.
Questions or concerns?
If you have questions or concerns about your child’s play skills, please contact us at info@playworkschicago.com or 773-332-9439.
Reference: The Australian Parenting Website (2017). Play and children with autism spectrum disorder.
Retrieved from: raisingchildren.net.au/autism/school-play-work/play-learning/play-asd.
Photo Credit: rawpixel via Unsplash.com