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!
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.
Importance of Reading to Young Children
Reading to children helps build their vocabulary, helps them learn early literacy skills (like print concepts, letters and their sounds, etc.), and build a love for reading. Not only does reading improve your child’s academic skills, research shows that reading also strengthens children’s social and emotional development. According to this research, reading to young children is linked to decreased levels of aggression, hyperactivity, and attention problems (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2017). Aside from all the wonderful things reading to your child helps teach them, it is also a great way to spend quality time together (Van Amburg, 2021)!
Literacy skills develop from language skills and language skills begin to develop as soon as your child is born. Your baby begins communicating through eye contact, smiling, crying, facial expressions, and gestures and relies on your response with words and attention to lay the foundation for language and literacy development. Your child’s brain develops the most during those early years, and frequent exposure to language and reading will help build your child’s vocabulary, comprehension, story-telling, reading, and writing skills.
Why is Early Literacy Development Important?
Research shows that babies and toddlers who participate in literacy activities with their caregivers are more likely to develop a sustained interest in reading and writing. Developing an interest in reading and writing early on will have a positive impact on your child’s academic readiness.
Literacy, which is the ability to read and write, is comprised of a variety of skills including letter recognition, phonemic awareness, use and understanding of vocabulary, and story comprehension. These skills begin to develop within the first year of life. For example, when your child is six to twelve months old they may begin to grasp books or pat pictures they are interested in. At twelve to twenty-four months your child may begin to turn board book pages, give a book to you to read to them, and point to and name objects in pictures. Between the ages of two and three your child may start to scribble, request the same story over and over, and begin to complete sentences or rhymes in stories that are familiar. As a parent or caregiver, you can provide your child with positive early literacy experiences, which will lay the foundation for language, reading, and writing skills to develop.
Tips For Promoting Early Literacy Skills:
1. Have fun while reading! If your child is engaged and enjoying themselves, they are learning. You can use silly voices and actions while reading your child a story. This will promote positive feelings towards reading for your child.
2. Talk about the pictures. Rather than reading the words on each page, try talking about the pictures. Point to the objects and actions in the pictures as you describe them so that your child will begin to make connections between the words you are saying and what they see. Eventually you can ask them to describe the pictures themselves.
3. Let your child interact with books. Let your child hold the book and turn the pages even if you need to help them do this. Remember that it is okay to skip pages and to talk about pictures rather than read all of the words.
4. Make books and stories a part of your daily routine. Have books in your car, sing songs and nursery rhymes during mealtimes or play, and make time to look at books before naps and bedtime. Provide your child with frequent opportunities to engage with books and story time.
Early Literacy Skills Are Developed Through Early Experiences:
Remember that early language and literacy skills are learned through every day experiences with you and your child. Through playing, talking, singing, and reading together, your child is developing early language and literacy skills. While your baby or toddler may not be ready to read or write yet, exposing your child to frequent opportunities to interact with books and tell stories will help to develop your child’s vocabulary, comprehension, story-telling, reading, and writing skills. Remember, it is never too early instill a love for learning and reading in your child!
Questions or concerns?
If you have questions or concerns about your child’s early literacy skills, please contact us at info@playworkschicago.com or 773-332-9439.
Claire Kakenmaster, MS, CCC-SLP
Speech Language Pathologist
Photo Credit: Child, Fun, Family, Love via Pixabay.com
“It is a happy talent to know how to play,” -Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Toys help foster children’s play development. Toys are one of the first opportunities that a child has to explore and interact in their environment. They open up a world of learning opportunities through education of play. Toys provide developmental growth when it comes to cognition, language, motor skills, and social interactions (plus many more). They create opinions, reactions, and fun experiences. These experiences allow a child to engage independently and socially. Toys must be introduced and used interactively with another social/ communitive partner (i.e. an adult or parent). A child must learn how to functionally play with a toy in order to use a toy to the fullest.
Although toys have many benefits for toddlers and preschoolers, having too many toys can feel overwhelming and distracting. A toddler can feel distracted by the overload of toys and not use the toys to their full potential. A toy must be introduced to a toddler first to learn the functionality of the toy. Too many toys can distract a child from focusing their attention on one toy at a time. Many children will pick up toy bins/containers, dump them out, move them around, the room, instead of using them for their functionality. Using a toy functionally with adult assistance will help a toddler use the toy to the fullest. After a child is done using a toy having them clean up and move on to the next activity will help with the growth of their attention span. Having too many toys does not encourage the growth of their attention span.
Tips
Have fun playing!
Rachel Weiser, MS, DT
Developmental Therapist
Resources:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/12/05/many-toys-bad-children-study-suggests/
https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/may2017/case-brain-science-guided-play
Sucking is a postnatal reflex and is a natural part of your child’s development. So it is no wonder that a large majority of infants and toddlers use pacifiers to help them self-soothe throughout their daytime and nighttime routines. Pacifiers may be helpful for comforting your child in stressful situations, distinguishing between a fussy and hungry infant, and also as a sleep aid. But how old is too old for pacifier use? And are there any negative affects from prolonged use of pacifiers?
Pediatricians recommend that babies be weaned from pacifiers around four- to six-months of age. Pacifier use is no longer needed as a calming strategy after six months, primarily because the sucking, or “rooting,” reflex has disappeared. Prolonged use may result in the pacifier becoming a habit and therefore more difficult to wean.
Speech-language pathologists also recommend discontinued pacifier use by 12 months of age for many reasons. First, your child’s oral development is changing rapidly during the first few years of life. Prolonged sucking may in fact create a raised or indented palate, resulting in an oral cavity that is too large for typical articulation. This may manifest as a speech disorder around four to five years of age, often requiring therapy to remediate. Additionally, sucking on a pacifier encourages an immature suck-swallow pattern, resulting in possible feeding difficulties and articulation concerns.
Pediatric dentists recommend that pacifier use be discontinued by 24 months of age at the latest. The constant sucking on a foreign object beyond 24 months may cause the palate, gums, and teeth to develop atypically. This is primarily seen in the atypical eruption of permanent teeth, leading to crowding and/or gaps in the teeth.
If you are ready to tackle the job of weaning your child from his/her pacifier, there are a few strategies that can ease the transition. It is not recommended to go ‘cold turkey’ at first; rather, tell your child that the pacifier is for sleeping only and keep it out of sight during the day. Once you have established this routine, remove the pacifier from nap times and eventually from bedtime. It is helpful to offer a brand new comfort item (such as a new blanket or stuffed animal) that your child can use as a replacement for self-soothing. The most important thing to remember for weaning your child from a pacifier is to remain consistent with the rules you set in place!
While there is variability in the recommended age for weaning your child from a pacifier, general consensus is that pacifiers should not be used at any time (day or night) after 24 months of age. Consult your speech-language pathologist or dentist if you have any questions about your child’s pacifier use, as well as for recommendations and support for weaning your child from the pacifier.
During the holiday season, many families have the pleasure of spending time together, increasing their daily family time. There are many fun family activities that you and your child can do to promote their cognitive development.
Winter scavenger hunt: Create a winter themed scavenger hunt around your home and outdoors.
Organization/ laundry: Have your child help you organize your home and take care of daily chores.
Singing songs: Singing songs is a great way to work on your child’s engagement and imitation songs.
Pin up pictures: Put pictures around your child’s room or in your home to practice picture identification.
Winter crafts: Arts and crafts are a great way to engage with your child in creative ways. These activities help them practice their fine motor skills, their color concept knowledge, and their concept knowledge.
Have a great winter season!
Rachel Weiser, MS, DT
Developmental Therapist
References:
http://dailymom.com/nurture/encouraging-cognitive-development-through-arts-and-crafts/
If you are a parent who has tried implementing some of the language strategies your speech therapist has taught you with your little one- only to end in your child running off or having a meltdown- this blog is for you! Often the reason for these meltdowns is due to pressure. Not only the pressure put on your child but also the pressure you put on yourself. Below are three strategies for ways to encourage language development while avoiding a meltdown.
By taking the pressure off talking you will see your child become more engaged and eager to participate. I hope these strategies are helpful and as always if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us!
Claire Kakenmaster, MS, CCC-SLP
Speech Language Pathologist
With the holidays quickly approaching, families are always asking for recommendations for toys for their small children. Here are a few ideas for age-appropriate toys for your baby or toddler!
Babies (0 to 12 months)
YOU! Your baby from 0-3 months is most interested in his or her parent or caregiver. Encourage eye contact, sing songs, talk to, play peekaboo, and make silly faces at and with your baby!
Mobiles: As their vision is starting to become more clear, toys like mobiles with simple pictures or solid colors will motivate them to reach for the objects above.
Rattles: Our littlest humans are interested in sensory play so what better than something they can bang, shake, and mouth? Rattles provide visual, tactile, oral, and auditory stimulation.
Unbreakable Mirror: Children love to look at themselves and playing in the mirror teaches them self-awareness. Look at each other in the mirror, make faces, put stickers on your face, put toys on your head, or play peekaboo.
Young Toddlers (12 to 24 months)
Simple Books: Make sure the books have simple, real pictures. This will help young toddlers recognize objects in the world around them.
Push and Pull toys: These are great for gross motor activities. These toys encourage movement and great for early walkers.
Hammer and Ball or Peg toys: These are great cause and effect toys to help your child problem solve. Hammer and ball toys also allow them to use tools, which we know these little toddlers love!
Blocks, Cups, Stacking Rings: Stackable toys help children learn spatial relationships, size concepts, and problem-solving skills. And this allows them to do engage in one of their favorite activities – destruction!
Older Toddlers (24 to 36 months)
Matching/Sorting toys: Puzzles are a great way to teach matching and sorting! Older toddlers enjoy see organization in the world and help encourage the earliest of preschool readiness skills.
Pretend/Imaginative Play toys: How often do you see your older toddler use the remote control as a “phone”? Provide your child realistic objects or toys so that they can imitate your actions and daily life. Baby dolls, kitchen utensils/play food, toy phones, cars, trains, dress up clothes, child size broom or vacuum – these all encourage pretend or imaginative play. This type of play to helps your child learn about social-emotional relationships and shows you their understanding of the world.
Art Supplies: Large crayons, markers, clay, paint, glue sticks, child-safe scissors, and construction paper are great utensils to introduce art and explore color! Be sure all of your supplies are non-toxic and to engage in these activities while wearing clothing you don’t mind getting messy – or ruined!
Simple Board or Memory Games: As children get closer to three, these types of games are great ways to work on turn taking and exercise memory and object permanence skills. It will also help your child improve their concentration.
Kimberly Shlaes, MAT, DT
Director of Developmental Therapy Services
The importance of play in language development
Many parents are confused when their birth-to-three speech therapist arrives and begins talking about “play skills” instead of “speech skills.” Do not fret! Speech and play skills are HIGHLY related. Play, and more specifically pretend play, gives us a look into your child’s world. Play skills demonstrate your child’s cognitive skills, which are your child’s ability to think, process language, play attention, learn, and plan their next move. All of these skills are essential for speech and language development!
Let’s break it down!
There are four basic types of play: Exploratory, Functional, Constructive, and Pretend.
Exploratory: using senses of touch, taste and smell to learn about new objects. This begins when your child has intentional control over their body. Children who enjoy shaking, mouthing or smelling new objects are in the exploratory stage.
Functional: using toys and objects as they were intended. Functional play, such as is using a spoon to stir, racing cars or rolling a ball. Pay attention to whether your child is using an object or simply enjoying watching one part of the object, such as wheels turning.
Constructive: manipulating objects to make something new. This stage of play includes more trial and error to see how pieces can work together with a final goal in mind. Constructive play includes building train tracks, assembling and disassembling blocks and other toys, or sorting shapes and objects.
Pretend or symbolic: using objects in imaginary ways. Such as, pretending your hand or a block is a phone, emptying a box to make a doll a bed or bathtub, pretending a baby is crying and soothing a baby, or making a pretend steering wheel for a car. Children who dress up and act like a specific person are also engaging in pretend play.
Why is it important?
If your child is using functional play then they are demonstrating an understanding of what objects are and why they are used. When your child uses pretend play, they are demonstrating symbolic understanding of one object for another object. Words are also symbolic! Words are a symbol to represent objects, people, events, feelings, and physical states. If your child is using objects for another object, then your child demonstrates understanding that words have symbolic meaning and the cognitive skills for using words meaningfully!
Children who are using words, but are not yet playing functionally or symbolically, likely do not yet have a solid understanding of word meanings and may have difficulty using the same words in a variety of contexts. For example, think of all the ways we can play with a ball: we can roll, throw, or bounce a ball. There are different balls for different sports, or we could even pretend a ball is an apple. A child who only knows “ball” for labeling or does not yet play with a ball meaningfully is not understanding what that toy is used for and how it can be related to other objects or people. Children who are not using pretend play by the time they are two years old are at risk of cognitive and speech and language deficits.
Ways to help your toddler!
Meet your little one where they are with play. If your child is still in the exploratory phase, try modeling constructive play (fill and dump or assemble and knock down) and functional play to begin showing how objects go together. For example, a spoon can be used for stirring or eating food, but we don’t use a spoon to wiggle in front of our face.
Once your little one has some early play skills, get creative and add additional prompts or a new way to play. Pretend food, animals and baby dolls are some of my favorite toys for pretend play!
For more information on pretend and symbolic play, check out a previous blog from Kim Shales, our director of developmental therapy.
If you have further questions or concerns, call PlayWorks Therapy, Inc. for a full speech and language evaluation.
Jessica Delos Reyes, MA, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist