Why TV Isn’t So Great For Building Language Skills
Yesterday we talked about actively and animatedly responding to our baby or toddler’s attempts at communication with us. We learned that this was called a contingent response. In other words, our response to them is based on their response to us and vice-versa! This teaches your baby turn-taking skills and also helps them learn to sustain their attention.
There has been a lot of news lately about Baby DVD’s and whether or not they are good for your baby or toddler. One of the reasons baby DVD’s and TV in general are not so hot for your little one’s language development is the lack of contingent response.
A DVD or television program is not going to ‘respond’ to a vocalization or word from your baby or toddler. A baby and toddler’s language development is enriched, enhanced, and advanced by the ‘back and forth’ responses of parents and caregivers!
More on TV viewing and child development tomorrow…stay tuned!
And don’t forget…get baby-talking!
Contingent Response
Actively responding to your baby’s communicative attempts (babbling) is a great way to enrich and promote their language development. Scientists call this a ‘contingent response’. Early in their lives, infants attempt to understand language by reading facial expressions and interpreting the tone and cadence of our speech.
This is why it is important that we actively and animatedly respond to our babies and provide them the feedback their little minds are looking for!
Remember to respond with a nice soothing voice, pleasant facial expressions, and gestures to provide impact to what you are saying to them!
Get baby-talking!
Nursery Rhymes
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down, and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after.
Remember how much fun nursery rhymes were when you were little? Well, don’t forget to share them with your little ones. They are a great way to introduce rhyming to them.
What’s so important about rhyming? Check out this article about rhyming to learn all the reasons why it is such an important part of early language development.
http://www.minti.com/parenting-advice/1146/Rhyming-an-important-skill-for-literacy-development/
Get baby-talking and rhyming!
Connecting Objects With Words
One of the best ways to strengthen and enrich your toddler’s language is to connect words with objects.
In other words….simply tell your child the names of objects as well as give them a description of it too! And don’t skimp on the description…give them more than they need to know. Details, details, details!
Not only will you be building their language repertoire, but you will help your little one learn to sustain their attention as you identify the object and talk about it.
Get baby-talking!
Depression and Childbirth
A study published by the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine in March, 2006 examined whether a mother’s postpartum depression impacted her parenting practices.
The study revealed when mothers are experiencing symptoms of depression after having a baby, they are less likely to do the following with their newborns:
- breastfeed
- play with
- read to
- perform any other interactive parenting tasks
Based upon the list above, one can see that depression affects more than just the mother. Those activites listed above are crucial ways of bonding and enriching your baby’s life.
If you feel you are battling with symptoms of depression after giving birth, do not hesistate to talk to your doctor. Get help. Do it for you and your baby. Post-partum depression is real and it’s not your fault. Don’t let guilt or shame stand in your way. Talk honestly with your doctor and examine your options.
You are worth it and so is your baby.
Get baby-talking!
Organizing Your Baby’s Brain!
“To some extent, the size of a child’s vocabulary shapes the organization of the brain. As children learn to understand and produce more words, the brain becomes more specialized for processing language.”
Debra Mills, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscientist
What more reason do you need to keep engaging your baby in communication-rich, language developing activities?
Stay tuned for more great ideas to boost your baby or toddler’s speech and language skills.
Get baby-talking!
The Power of Communication
“That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, joy, set if free.”
Quote by Helen Keller
How often do we take for granted our ability to communicate? Perhaps no other individual could have appreciated more the ability to communicate than the great Helen Keller.
Helen Keller overcame great disability and learned to communicate through the use of sign language. Those gestures became Helen’s conduit to break free from her prison and let light and joy invade her soul. It allowed Helen to communicate her soul to others and let others do so in return.
The power of communication can never be overrated. Whether the mode of communication is the spoken word, sign language, some form of augmentative communication, or the written word, it is simply power in it’s purest form.
This is why I became a speech pathologist. This is why I am passionate about helping our children become the best communicators they can be. Communication unlocks our soul and sets us free.
Be blessed today and you know what I’m going to say:
Get baby-talking!
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!