Good Job!
How many times as parent do you catch yourself saying to your toddler, “Good Job!” If you are like me, probably a lot!
Certainly there is nothing wrong with praising your toddler for a job well done, but the more effective way to praise your little one is being specific with them about what they did that you liked.
Maybe your toddler, after countless times of being reminded, is finally remembering to be gentle with his or her little brother. Instead of just saying good job, specifically tell them what you liked. For example, “Joey, I like the way you gently hugged Johnny!”
Kids responds to praise, but even more so to specific praise!
So parents, don’t forget: Be specific and get baby-talking!
Catch Them Doing Good!
Let’s continue our discussion regarding communication and behavior. Good speech and language skills in a toddler can help decrease tantrums. If a toddler is adequately able to communicate his or her wants or needs, the less likey they are to have tantrums due to being misunderstood.
But remember though…even toddlers with great speech and language skills can have tantrums because, well, let’s face it…toddlers want things when they want it!
Let’s take some time to look at another facet of behavior in toddlers. It’s very, very important to catch your toddler doing good. Please note that I said ‘doing’ good versus ‘being’ good. Your toddler is good, worthy of love, valuable no matter how they behave. We need to communicate this to them right from the beginning. We love them no matter what; they are our children!
By stressing or emphasizing to our toddlers that they are being good could, unfortunately and unintentionally, lead to a performance mentality in them. And they could start basing their worth or value on ‘how they behave’ versus simply the fact that they are precious human beings worthy of our love!
Do you see the difference? It may seem nit-picky or a semantic issue, but our children process things on many different levels; and the smart and astute parent is willing to delve deeper into their parenting style and make changes when necessary for the benefit of their little one. After all, parenting is about our children, not us, right? Yikes…I’m preaching to myself today!
So, how do we catch them doing good? Simple! Be on the look-out for when they are doing what you have instructed them to do. For example, maybe your toddler has had a problem sharing their toys with the neighbor next door.. No big shock here! When you see them actually sharing their toys without being reminded to do so, tell them! “Hey Joey, great job sharing your hot wheels with Mike!”
Stay tuned for smart ways to praise your toddler!
Don’t forget: Get baby-talking!
The Link Between Behavior And Communication
Boy, I got to tell you, these toddlers years are exciting! It’s amazing to watch your little one blossom into a unique personality that’s all their own! Hopefully, it’s a happy hybrid of you and your partner’s best traits…
One of the challenges we face as parents of toddlers is how to handle discipline. As toddlers learn that they are separate entities from their parents, they endeavor to assert themselves more and more. In other words, they can have tantrums, melt-downs, etc., whatever you want to call it!
Did you know that strong speech and language skills in a toddler will help decrease the amount of tantrums they are experiencing? Often times, tantrums arise because of the toddler’s inability to clearly communicate his or her wants or needs.
This is not always the case. Sometimes, toddlers clearly communicate what they want and it’ not something they are going to get at the time, and consequently, a tantrum may show up!
Stay tuned tomorrow for more information and tips regarding the link between behavior and communication in toddlers!
Don’t forget: Get baby-talking!
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!
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!
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
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!