Increasing Communication Opportunities for Language Learners

We’ve all been there. Your language learner is indicating they want something. They might be crying, vocalizing, reaching for, or gazing at the item of their desire. As caretakers, we often anticipate their needs and are readily available to help. In this space between their indication and your response, however, is a great language learning opportunity. Our goal is to increase language use by: capitalizing on these organic moments, purposefully creating opportunities for communication, and providing models of language. Here are some helpful tips and tricks used in speech therapy sessions that can be used in the home and out in the community: 

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Play Together!

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 |

Keep Calm and Messy Play On!

Ever wonder why most of us have a baby photo with food all over our hands and faces? An important part of processing our world is through touch, even from a young age. Our sense of touch gives us information about our environment and the characteristics of our surroundings. We are able to determine if something is hot, cold, sticky, dry, soft, smooth, and so on! Messy play is a vital part of child development as our touch processing feeds into our skills such as motor planning, body awareness, visual-motor skills, fine motor skills, and more. At the moment with our schools and businesses closed many of us may be stuck indoors as we quarantine at home. While our current focus might be keeping our hands and homes clean, we can find ways to continue promoting our tactile sensory processing and get messy safely!

Our sensory processing abilities determine how we respond to tactile input. Your child may demonstrate sensitivity or avoidance to tactile input, such as withdrawing their hands when they get messy or splaying their fingers outward when they engage with wet textures. Maybe your child craves tactile input and you have a hard time keeping their hands clean or to themselves. Either way, incorporating messy play or multi-sensory experiences into their day can help them learn to process and respond to tactile input in order to better participate in grooming, meal time, bath time, and other daily routines!

Sensory Materials from Home:

You can always try to repurpose materials that you already have in your home to promote messy play. Try filling up a plastic bin at home with any of the following. You can switch out the material weekly to continue providing a range of tactile sensory experiences.

  • Cotton balls or pom poms
  • Feathers
  • Dried foods: pasta, rice, beans, oats, corn, seeds, coffee beans
  • Wet media: shaving cream, frosting, whipped cream
  • Slime, Gak, Flarp
  • Kinetic sand
  • Beach sand
  • Potting soil
  • Beads
  • Small rocks
  • Shredded paper
  • Water with ice cubes
  • Packing peanuts

Messy Play Activities at Home:

  • Have your child help you cook or bake
    • Roll dough, wash vegetables, mix batter
  • Art
    • Finger paint! Paint your child’s hand and make hand prints on paper
    • If your child has a hard time using their fingers use cotton balls, Q-tip, or a paint brush
    • Use halved apples, peppers, or celery to make vegetable stamps with paint
  • Homemade PlayDoh
    • Add essential oils for a multi-sensory experience
  • Hide puzzles or activities inside of a sensory bin
  • Make a mess with shaving cream in the tub during bath time
  • Practice letter formation in wet messy play such as whipped cream
  • Have your child help you garden by planting seeds or flowers in soil
  • Have your child wash their toys in soapy water
  • Hide beads inside of Theraputty or PlayDoh
  • Play barefoot in grass or sand
  • Blow bubbles and encourage your child to pop them with their fingers or toes
  • Make spaghetti or pasta and color with food coloring for edible messy play
  • Make clough dough or moon sand at home
  • Make homemade gak or slime
  • Go on a nature hunt and collect leaves, sticks, rocks for a nature sensory bin

Make messy play part of your child’s daily routine by adding it to their sensory diet activities or designating a day for messy food play at meal time. Increasing your child’s experience with messy play will help them learn how to process and respond to tactile input and tolerate a variety of textures and materials. It can also be a motivating way to engage children when you are stuck indoors.

Questions or concerns?

If you have questions or concerns about your child’s responses to tactile or sensory input, please contact us at info@playworkschicago.com or 773-332-9439.

Robyn Geist, MS, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist

Photo Credit: JBryson via istockphoto.com

Reuse and Recycle for Reclaimed Fun

Bottles, boxes, and bins…oh my! With everyone quarantined at home for COVID-19, recyclable materials are likely piling up! You may be thinking, “what can I do with all these toilet paper rolls?” Here are a few fun ideas using commonly recycled items. These projects will not only keep children entertained, but also target important developmental skills.

 

Toilet Paper Rolls

With all the toilet paper rolls around the house now, try making binoculars with tape, paper, and string. Play I Spy, and find objects of a particular color or shape to target those early categorization skills. You can also create a bowling set for turn-taking and eye-hand coordination. Decorating the tubes in any way will require plenty of precision and coordination as well!

 

Cardboard Boxes

Round up all of those food boxes and make some new puzzles! If you have older children, have them practice their cutting skills by creating the pieces. The thickness of the cardboard requires a greater amount of strength and coordination to cut. Have your little ones complete the puzzles. You can also use these boxes for imaginative play, like this fun car parking garage.

 

Plastic Bottles

The possibilities are endless with plastic bottles. Put raw beans or rice inside of them for homemade maracas, make a science experiment lava lamp, or use them during bath time for pouring and filling. You can also create animals for container play for young ones to practice fine motor skills. Or have your older children get creative for some cute spring planters.

 

Questions?

If you have questions about how to use other materials or how to adapt an activity specifically for your child, please contact us at info@playworkschicago.com or 773-332-9439.

Kristen McManus, MOT, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist

Employee Spotlight: Kristen McManus

What do you love most about being an Occupational Therapist?

I love that occupational therapy is all about cultivating success in everyday activities. Occupations for us mean anything a person needs or wants to do in his or her daily life. For kids, their most important occupation is play! There is no better job than playing with children to help them learn and have fun!

What is your favorite children’s book?

My favorite would have to be The Giving Tree. I think it has such a beautiful lesson, and Shel Silverstein’s illustrations are so unique.

What do you enjoy most about living in Chicago?

As a Texan born and raised, Chicago was quite the change for me! I love the views of Chicago most, especially those of the skyline or river. It is such a beautiful city, whether covered in sunshine or snow.

What is your favorite childhood memory?

I fondly remember playing board games with my grandmother. She played harder games with me, such as Scattergories or Scrabble, and she always had so much patience. I certainly think this is why I love incorporating games into my sessions, and why I use that same patience with the kids I work with in therapy.

Would you rather a mountain or beach vacation?

I would pick a beach vacation without a doubt. I am a fan of warm weather, and I think the sights and sounds of the ocean are wonderful.

Share a proud “therapy moment” with one of your clients.

I am a strong proponent of learning the child’s own goals. One little girl with cerebral palsy wanted to learn how to brush her own hair. One little boy on the autism spectrum wanted to learn how to make himself a snack. Some of my clients on the autism spectrum want to have a best friend. Nothing makes me more proud than to help these children achieve what is important to them.

What is your hometown?

I was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas.

What do you like to do in your free time?

In my free time, I like exploring the city. My fiancé and I will often go to a new neighborhood and walk around for hours, trying new restaurants and shops. I also enjoy reading novels, taking boxing classes, scrapbooking and crafting, and playing board games.

What is your favorite therapy toy?

I love using pretend play food or picnic sets. They encourage great imaginative play skills, along with social skills and fine motor skills.

Share a fun fact about yourself.

I can play the alto saxophone.

Kristen McManus, MOT, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist

Employee Spotlight: Caitlin Chociej, MS, OTR/L

What do you love most about working for PlayWorks Therapy?

One of my favorite things about working for PlayWorks Therapy is having the opportunity to work, connect, and collaborate with such a diverse community of clients, families, therapists, and staff. The warm environment created by every individual provides continual support for clinical and personal growth and self-discovery.

What is your favorite children’s book?

I loved Walt Disney’s 101 Dalmatians. To this day, my mom jokes about how I memorized every word after asking to read it for three months straight and insisted excitedly to “look at all the puppies!” as we drove past cow pastures on the way to and from daycare each day.

What do you enjoy most about living in Chicago?

I love how there is always something to do in this city, from trying new restaurants, exploring diverse neighborhoods, and catching an improv or comedy show, to learning about its historical influence, going to a sports game, or walking along the lake. Opportunities are endless!

What is your favorite childhood memory?

My favorite childhood memories are from family vacations to Cape Cod. Aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins would come together for one week every year, renting the same house on Scusset Beach and spending sunny days swimming in the ocean, searching for sand dollars, playing board games, and eating enough seafood to make our bellies hurt.

Would you rather a mountain or beach vacation?

I’d be equally happy with either! It just depends on whether I’m in the mood for taking in panoramic vistas after a high-energy hike or lounging on the sand with a good book after a day spent swimming and snorkeling.

Share a proud “therapy moment” with one of your clients.

There are so many proud moments that I’ve shared with clients and their families since becoming an OT. One moment that stands out was when a little boy diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder noticed me walk into his classroom, smiled, and ran across the room to give me a hug. It was the first time he initiated eye contact and engagement in almost six months of working together.

What is your hometown?

I grew up in Naples, New York.

What do you like to do in your free time?

My favorite thing to do in my free time is travel, whether a few states away to see family or across the globe to experience new cultures! I also love to read, spend time with friends, and cuddle with my kitten, Penelope.

What is your favorite therapy toy?

My favorite therapy toy is Play-Doh as it encourages imagination and creativity while targeting a variety of developmental skills. Homemade options that modify color, smell, and texture also allow for fun sensory exploration.

Share a fun fact about yourself.

I spent 11 years throughout high school and college participating in a performance-based activity called winterguard. We danced a choreographed routine to music while spinning flags, rifles, and sabres in a different themed show each year.

Caitlin Chociej, MS, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist

Teaching Play Skills to Children with ASD

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.

  • Music is a great way to engage any child! Fingerplays (e.g. “Wheels on the bus”) and dancing improve your child’s attention span, imitation skills, and gross-motor coordination.
  • Water, whether it’s outside when weather appropriate or in the bathtub all year round.
  • Play-Doh (roll, squish, animal shapes)
  • Waterbeads (fill and dump, have animals swim)
  • Sand

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.

Kelly Scafidi, MSW, LCSW, DT
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Developmental Therapist

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

What Toys Are Best For My Child?

As a walk down any toy aisle will tell you, there are many types of toys for all ages of children.  Most will indicate on the packaging what age they are geared toward (“for ages 2+”), but how do you know which toys will provide the best developmental opportunities for your child?

Choose toys that are open-ended.

Get the most bang for your buck by choosing toys that can be adapted as your child grows. For example, blocks are great for infants to bang together to practice cause and effect, as well as bringing their hands to the midline, a great exercise for the brain. Toddlers can begin to stack blocks for fine motor development. They can also use blocks to encourage imaginative play by pretending they are cars driving across the floor or as a telephone to call a loved one! Preschool children can use blocks to build more elaborate structures with playmates to encourage social skills and negotiating conflict. Blocks also enhance dramatic play and can be used to create a house for stuffed animals, a storefront for a restaurant, or bridge to connect people, things, and ideas.

Adapt “toys” you already have.

Parents joke that children often prefer the box the toy came in to the actual toy. Go with it! Let your creativity loose and find new purpose for items in your house. What about that mesh loofa? It makes a great sensory experience for infants, and it is easy for them to grasp as their hand-eye coordination is developing. It also makes a safe option for toddlers to throw and kick around the house. What about using it in paint for a unique texture on paper? Or add it your play with a doll or stuffed animal and practice the bath time routine.  The possibilities are endless!

Don’t forget your child’s favorite toy: You!

Playtime is not necessarily about the type of toy, but how it is used in relation with the caregiver. As caregivers, our schedules are packed, but even just a few moments of playing peek-a-boo your infants or singing a rousing rendition of “Wheels on the Bus,” with your toddler, complete with motions, will help your child’s brain develop synapse connections as they learn about the world around them. Point out your eyes, nose, etc.during bath time with your little one or try playing I-Spy in the car on the way to the store with your preschooler. Your child learns best in the context of a loving relationship with you, so go ahead, have a tickle-fest in the middle of that toy aisle and take advantage of the most priceless toy your child could have! You!

Questions or concerns?

If you have questions or concerns about developmentally appropriate toys, please contact us at info@playworkschicago.com or 773-332-9439.

Becky Clark, MS, DT
Developmental Therapist

Reference: Cook, R. E., Sparks, S. N. (2008).  The art and practice of home visiting. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brooks Publishing Co.

Photo by Susan Holt Simpsonon unsplash.com

Why is Play Important?

Play is a natural and important part of development that begins in early childhood. Children learn to connect with and understand their world through their play. Play contributes to cognitive, social-emotional, motor, and language growth in young children. Children learn through toys and people how to explore, discover, and play.

Sensory Exploration (3 to 6 months): A child explores an object texture by using their senses. They will put an object in their hands, mouth, or visually watching the object as a caregiver is displaying it to them. This is when a child is learning how to comprehend new experiences.

Relational Play (9 to 12 months): This is when a child use two different but related objects. For example, a child will bring a brush to a doll’s head.

Functional Play (12 to 15 months): This is when a child plays with an object according to how it works. For example, cups are for drinking or cars are for pushing.

Symbolic Play (15 to 18 months): A child is using an object for something else. For example, a child may use a block as a phone, or a straw as a toothbrush. A child can also use realistic props such as, pretend food to engage in symbolic play with realistic props.

Imaginative Play (24 to 30 months): This is when a child is starting to process their environment through play. For example, a child may act out a visit to the doctor’s office or pretend to have a birthday party.

The different stages of play help support the meeting of developmental milestones. Encouraging play in your child’s day will allow these play stages to naturally form. Playing and interacting with your child from the beginning of birth will help you encourage these developmental milestones to flourish. In each stage of play, children are learning how to interact with others in their environment. They are learning how to manipulate toys, move around the room to access activities they are interested in, how to problem solve, and how to share their ideas through communication. Play skills develop as a child develops. As a child’s understanding of the world and how it works develops so do their interests in toys and in social interactions with their caregivers and peers.

Rachel Weiser, MS, DT
Developmental Therapist

Resources:

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/119/1/182

http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=240

https://www.naeyc.org/resources/topics/play