Why You Don’t Need Expensive Toys!
Our last blog post, “Therapy or Play? Well, Therapeutic Play!”, discussed why speech therapists often play games in their therapy sessions. As a follow-up to that post, we give you “Why You Don’t Need Expensive Toys”, a blog post to teach you how to use low-tech toys in highly beneficial ways!
Research* shows that initial language acquisition is a result of connection to a verbal caregiver and cannot be mimicked via screen time or using high-tech toys/devices. What does this mean for parents? It means that you are already equipped with everything you need to provide your child with language input!
Here are some tips for getting your little one started with language learning:
Self-Talk: You, as the parent, can narrate what is happening in the environment or what you are doing. For example, if you’re cooking in the kitchen, you might say, “Time to crack the eggs. Crack! The eggs go in the pan. Now let’s stir. Go, go, go.” You are telling your child about what is happening in short, grammatically-correct sentences so they can hear how language works.
Narrating/Parallel Talk: Is your child playing with an item or observing something? You can say, “Woah! That car went down. Down the track. It is fast!” Or maybe, “I see the cat. The cat is outside. It is orange.” Notice that we are entering their world and putting language into their activities. And, again, we are using short, grammatically-correct sentences or exclamations.
Expansion: This is when you take your child’s utterance and expand it slightly. For example, your child may say, “Mama home,” and you can say, “Yes, mama is home!” This validates that what they are saying is correct, that you understand them, and it provides them with one or two more words to make their thought a complete sentence.
So, what are our favorite games to use these language strategies with?
We love cause and effect games like
ball poppers,
bubbles, and
balloons.
These are low-cost, no-tech, and highly effective!
Wondering how we might use these along with our language strategies above?
Bubbles and Self-Talk: “I popped it. Pop! Pop the bubble!”
Ball poppers and Parallel Talk: “You popped it! Yay! Uh-oh, where’s the ball? It went bye-bye.”
Balloons and Expansion: Child: “Balloon yellow.” Parent: “Yes! The balloon is yellow.”
Takeaways: We don’t need expensive toys or technology to help our children learn. All they need is a caregiver with some language strategies who consciously connects with the child every day!
While these are great strategies to use at home, they do not replace speech therapy with a licensed and certified speech-language pathologist. Many times, parents are told to “wait and see” if their child’s language skills catch up to their peers. If you are wondering if your child could use a little more help with their language development, please contact us for a free 15-minute consultation. If there is something we can work on, it’s great to work on it early! And if they are right on track, then you have peace of mind.
Parents, have other tips you would like to share with others? Please comment below! We love hearing new ideas!