Gender Differences
I was reviewing some research today and came across an interesting study. This study by Infoture, Inc. reported that mothers of girls tended to talk more with their daughters than mothers of boys talked with theirs sons. Up to age 30 months, mothers conversed with their daughters 12.2 percent more than mothers talked with their sons.
That’s an interesting statistic to me. It makes me wonder, “What is the reason for this?” Do we just naturally assume girls are more verbal than boys or are more interested in communication, even when they are babies? And based on that presupposition, do mommies just talk more to their daughters than their sons?
Well, whatever the case may be, the bottom line for me is to talk a lot to your daughter or your son. Studies have shown a strong correlation between the volume of talk a baby or toddler hears from birth to age three and their language and cognitive skills. In other words, the more talking they hear and conversational turns they participate in, the better their language and cognitive skills are…
Bottom line again: Get baby-talking!
The Best Speech Therapy Tool I Ever Used!
O.K…
Can you guess what was the best speech therapy tool I ever used? It was nothing high-powered, expensive, or super special, but it was highly effective in eliciting responses from my clients. Are you ready?
BUBBLES!
Yes, good old-fashioned bubbles! I would use them with my clients as young as 15 months old up to 10 years old! Everybody loves bubbles. Not only do they put a smile on your face, but who can resist chasing them and popping them?
So, besides being great fun and completely engaging, bubbles truly do have some great speech and language building characteristics. Let me name a few!
1. Bubbles are great for encouraging those early developing sounds like b and p. You can ‘pop‘ the ‘bubbles‘ and say the words or at least the /b/ and /p/ sound at the same time you’re popping them.
2. You can identify ‘big’ bubbles versus ‘little‘ bubbles; great way to build opposites!
3. Did I mention they make you smile?
So, parents, if you want a great way to boost your little one’s developing speech and language skills, go get some bubbles and get baby-talking!
The Bucket Game Continued…
Another way to play the bucket game is to have your child group the objects they remove from the bucket into categories.
For example, you put into the bucket a combination of food (fake, of course!), doll clothes, cars, and trucks. Your child divides them into categories or groups of food, clothes, and vehicles. Of course, you will want to explain to your toddler what ‘vehicles’ are! You’ll be really surprised how quickly they pick this stuff up!
And by the way, Happy Valentine’s to all of you out there and don’t forget…get baby-talking!
The Bucket Game
A great and fun way to expand your toddler’s vocabulary skills is with the bucket game!
Put objects into a bucket, and have your child take them out one at a time, naming what it is! (This may be a little tricky, but keep working on it!) You repeat what your child says and expand on it.
For example, your child pulls a teddy bear from the bucket and say “bear!” You could say, “Yes, that’s a soft, cuddly, brown, little bear!”
Stay tuned to tomorrow’s post for more ways to build your toddler’s vocabulary through the bucket game.
Get baby-talking!
Give Your Child A Chance!
By the time your toddler is heading towards age 3, you should be able to hold little conversations with them. This is such a fun time to learn more about your toddler’s personality and likes and dislikes!
An important thing to remember when conversing with a toddler is to give them a chance to respond. Often times, as parents, we want to fill-in the blank! Don’t do that…give them a chance to talk and figure it out for themselves. They’ll get it!
Get baby-talking!
What Do I Talk About With My Baby?
For those of you who are familiar with my blog, you know the more you talk to your baby and toddler in the early formative years of birth to three, the better prepared they will be for academic success. Talking to your baby and/or toddler is one of the best ways to nurture your child’s language and cognitive skills!
But what to talk about with a little one? Often times our communication with our little ones, particularly toddlers, is business-oriented. For example, we say things like “don’t touch” or “stop that”…but we need to remember to extend our conversations beyond the daily routine. Embellish, embellish, embellish!
Talk about the objects in the room you’re in or talk about the items on the shelf in the grocery store when shopping. I love to use picture books with a baby and use every adjective I can think of when describing the picture to them. Instead of a red apple, I might say a rosy, shiny, glistening, delcious red or rojo apple! I like to throw in a little Spanish. Thanks to Dora the Explorer, I’m becoming fluent. Well, that’s a stretch, but I do know more words in Spanish than I used to know. I really do this with my daughter. I know the dividends are worth it!
You know what I’m going to say next: Get baby talking!
Pirates Of The Can and Beans!
“May I have some pirates of the cans and beans please?”
This is what my almost 3 year old nephew calls his favorite Pirates of the Carribean Disney snack…that is too funny!
So, how intelligible or clear should a 3 year old’s speech be?
By the time a child turns 3, they should be approximately 80% intelligible to the listener. There will still be some substitution and distortion of consonants, i.e. says woad for road or wook for look, but overall, they should be able to get their point across without too many misunderstandings!
Get baby-talking!
My Favorite Books!
Since I’m always encouraging you to read to your little one, I thought I would share some of my favorite books to read, particularly during the first year of life.
Here’s my top 5 in no particular order:
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle
- Goodnight, Moon? by Margaret Wise Brown
- Where’s Spot by Eric Hill
- Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear by Steve Scott
- Where Is Baby’s Belly Button? by Karen Katz
I can’t say enough good things about reading to your baby. The benefits are priceless!
Get baby-talking!
Cheers To The Ears!
Our ears are amazing! Did you ever stop to ponder what they actually do? Yes, you know that they ‘hear’, but did you know what an amazingly complicated wonderful process that is? Check out this website to learn more – so cool!
Why all this praise for our ears? Good hearing is absolutely essential to strong speech and language skills. Babies and toddlers must hear properly in order to develop speech and language skills optimally.
It’s vitally important that your newborn’s hearing is tested at birth. It’s also important to get regular check-ups throughout these early, formative years to make sure those ears are clear of infections and fluids. Obviously, you want to get regular check-ups for children throughout their childhood as well!
If you have concerns about your baby or toddler’s hearing, go to your pediatrician and voice your concerns.
Take care of those ears and they will take care of you!
Get baby-talking!
Time To Go To Starbucks Again…
…or wherever you can get away to relax and have some time to yourself! Time to decompress, destress, keep from imploding, whatever it takes to keep yourself sane and balanced!
I have said this before and I will say it again, one of the best ways you can help your child is to make sure you are rested, balanced, and ready to face the demands of parenting. Because let’s face it, parenting is DEMANDING!
You might be out there thinking, “Yeah, that sounds great, but I don’t know how I can do that with three kids, a job, and house to keep up!” I hear you, but it doesn’t change the fact that you have to take care of yourself.
Find a way. Make a way. Just do it.
Everyone, especially your little ones, will be better for it.
So, get baby-talking and go to Starbucks!