I’ve included some of the toys that made the cut this year in my Stages of Play Podcast series (currently ongoing!), but these are NEW additions and I’ll be adding them to my Best Toys for Speech Therapy List. Please check out that list too! It’s grouped by developmental age range and has loads of fantastic information for you to help you choose the right toys and make your work – and their play – easier and more fun for the both of you.

In this post, I’m listing individual toys along with a few ideas to get you started teaching language, both at home and in clinical settings.

You’ll also find Amazon links to each toy to streamline your shopping. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn a small commission from these purchases. It’s a great way to support our work at teachmetotalk.com – especially if you’re looking to add to your toy inventory or shop for children for the holidays.

Happy Shopping!

Santa Wobbler

I LOVE this cute wobbler toy for our youngest friends in speech therapy. It’s perfect for babies who are working on tummy time, using their hands and playing purposefully, and it’s a good choice for teaching the beginning levels of cause and effect and intentionality when a child is beginning to play. If you’d like other Christmas themed toys, check out this list.

Lollipop Drum

Music toys are always fun for toddlers, and I love this lollipop drum set. I teach early imitation with this all… the… time.

If you’re looking for more of a music set, here’s a good option too. My favorite thing to do with this is to have a parade – even if it’s just mom, a kid, and me.

iPlay Cars

I found these cars a couple of months ago and they have become one of my all-time favorite toys! They’re so easy for little hands to push — great for teaching functional play and cause and effect! For language, I like working on lots of play sounds – vehicle sounds like a motor sound, beep beep, crash, boom, and screeching brakes as well as the animal sounds for each car.  Another obvious language goal is using the classic verbal routine… “Ready Set Go!”

Community Helper Blocks

This Montessori inspired block set is like my favorite set of blocks on this list, but instead of farm animals, the blocks include cars, trucks, and people making it a fantastic choice for expanding a child’s vocabulary and play skills.

Melissa and Doug Barn Puzzle

I love this half puzzle/half shape sorter toy. It’s a great step for kids who aren’t doing puzzles yet. For minimally verbal kids, work on animal sounds. For receptive language, target animal names as in “Show me the pig.” or “Find the one that says ‘oink.’ ”

Talking Cactus

I usually detest voice-activated toys because they usually don’t work, but this one does! It’s tacky for sure, and I don’t care for the packaged songs, BUT it detects and repeats a child’s vocalizations pretty well — if the child is close enough to the microphone. Hearing their own voices can be very reinforcing for many quiet toddlers.

Bilbo

This is a fabulous choice for inside gross motor play. One of my favorite quotes a darling 3 year old said to me when he played with this toy the first time was … “This is so fun!”  What an endorsement! Use it between other “sit down” activities to help a child regulate and get to his “just right place” for listening and learning. Play “Row Row Your Boat” by taking a child’s hands as he sits in the Bilbo and rock him as you sing the song. Most toddlers love to be dumped out and you can create a verbal routine by counting to build anticipation as you say something like, “1..2..3…Dump!” or “Dump…you…. out!”

Toddler Scavenger Hunt

I LOVE working on receptive language when toddlers think it’s a game. These cards make working on following directions very “game-like’ and will be a winner for sure. Use it to target simple one or two-step (or more!) commands. Examples are… “Find a book. Point to a picture or word.” and “Can you find a chair? Sit on it and sing a song.” It’s a great way to teach parents how to play these kinds of listening games at home. It’s like an easier version of Brain Quest cards … which I also love! I use them to help slow busy preschoolers down to listen and follow directions. The card sets below are for 2’s, 3’s, and 4- 5.

Imitation Board Book

The SLP author of this darling book emailed me to tell me that my levels of imitation from Building Verbal Imitation in Toddlers was the inspiration for this super cute way to target teaching a child to imitate. I love it and I know you will too!

Basketball Hoop

If you work in an office setting and don’t have a toddler basketball goal, order this one now! I have used mine for every kind of a child from helping busy toddlers learn to complete (and stay with me!) during a beginning play routine, for verbal routines… “1, 2, 3… Shoot!”… and for a vital part of an obstacle course for older toddlers and preschoolers. Pair it with a slide and/or tunnel and you have a inside “sensory gym” of your own, great for our most active friends who need to move regardless of the weather! So many moms I’ve worked with have found a way to squeeze these into their homes to bring outside play indoors for the winter.

Crayons and Coloring Book for Toddlers

If you have a young child who likes art and drawing — or needs to learn to like it — this is a super beginning set. My daughter, also an SLP, found this for her little boy and I love it so much, I’ve bought a set to use too. The pictures are not busy and easily recognizable by toddlers who are learning language. It’s a wonderful preschool readiness activity.

Fisher Price Garage

This is such a reasonably priced classic toy that provides endless play opportunities for toddlers for many years. Use it for teaching every level of language from play sounds (all those car noises – even filling up with gas!), to early words, to short phrases. It’s always a big hit with both boys and girls. At the time of this post, it’s 30% for Black Friday on Amazon.

Kitchen Play Sets

This versatile set is fun for toddlers of all developmental levels. Toddlers are captivated by learning to cut the food themselves. I love the dress-up component when a child first begins to pretend. Target all kinds of words and play routines with this set — which comes in a box for easy transport and clean up.

Or SPLURGE and buy a play kitchen that’s not too visually overstimulating for a home or an office. I love this one. It’s been in my Save for Later cart since we moved to our new office.

Need more ideas? Check out my Ultimate Toy List for Speech Therapy with Toddlers.  

The post Speech Therapy Toy Picks for 2024 for Toddlers and Preschoolers with Language Delays appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

If you need specific therapy ideas, I’ve devoted 3 entire podcasts to this topic and you can find those here:

Making Books Better Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Here’s the list of books — along with potential goals to help you plan how to use the books to target language skills in toddlers with language delays.

Please keep in mind that many of the books I’m including are picture books meaning there’s no storyline, but the pictures are engaging and perfect for building a busy toddler’s attention, sharing an experience together (to target joint attention), learning how to link meaning with words, and finally, naming pictures. Some books are listed under multiple goals — which is even better! I’ve included a few more books that I love and use mostly for “just reading” to help a child learn to listen to a whole story at the bottom of the list.

This information is discussed in detail in podcast #415.

1. Demonstrate awareness and enjoyment of books measured by attending/listening with joint attention, not mouthing book immediately, righting the picture, and turning pages.

Little Blue Truck

See Touch Feel Books by Roger Priddy

2. Point at pictures for awareness (not accuracy – that’s coming up!)

Bright Baby Board Books by Roger Priddy

To teach pointing…

Press Here

Poke A Dot

Introduce sliding books for kids who need practice isolating their index fingers to point. 

For more specific strategies for helping children learn to point, watch this video.

Slide and Find

Brown Bear Sliding Version

Cheerios books – to target pincer grasp

3. Complete simple actions with books.

Watch the show for more specific ideas, but in this phase, you’re modeling an action for a child to imitate such as kissing a baby, patting a puppy, knocking on a door, etc.

Roger Priddy Bright Baby

Follow the directions in the book for imitating actions: 

Pat the Bunny

Repeat One Action for the Entire Book

Never Feed a Shark

Modify Books like Moo Baa La La La

Song-Themed Books

5 Little Monkeys

To teach a child to imitate using Peer Modeling:

Shake a Leg

Elmo Says

From Head to Toe – Eric Carle

4. Identify familiar pictures on request.

(We’ll do much more about targeting receptive language with books in the next developmental range in show #416!)

Bright Baby Board Books

In my podcast #416 Making Books Better for Toddlers with Language Delays Part Two, I demonstrated strategies for the following goals with specific books for speech therapy sessions and recommend to parents. Here’s that list for you. For detailed instructions for using these books to meet the following 6 early literacy goals for kids with language delays who are in the 18 to 36 month developmental period, please watch show #416!

Goal #1… Identify familiar pictures on request.

A child will point to the picture you name as you say, “Show me the ___,” “Where’s the ____?” “Find the ____.” or “I see the ___. You find the ____.”

Begin with simple picture books and when a child is ready, increase your complexity. (more about that in show #417!)

Roger Priddy Books

SPANISH EDITION

Here’s the book I use for making “sets” of objects to match with pictures. See details in show # 416.

Not the same book sound book as I used in the podcast, but very similar:

Goal 2: Match pictures to objects

Select a book with familiar objects and find an object (try for one per page) so that the child can match the object to the picture.

Goal 1: Child will imitate play sounds and exclamatory words while reading books.

Goal 2: Child will imitate familiar words during verbal routines using books.

Goal 6: Child will name pictures.

Select counting books with familiar words and instead of counting the objects name them sequentially. For example, on a page of 3 dogs, you’ll say, “Dog. Dog… (expectant waiting for the child to fill in “dog.”)

In my podcast #417 Making Books Better for Late Talking Toddlers (18 to 36 months), I demonstrated strategies for the following goals with specific books I use in therapy sessions and recommend to parents. Here’s that list for you. For detailed instructions for using these books to meet the following 6 early literacy goals for kids with language delays who are in the 18 to 36 month developmental period, please watch show #417.

Previous books lists for 415 (part 1 of this series) and 416 (part 2 of this series)

1. Identify pictures of familiar actions or verbs.

Go Dog Go

Open the Barn Door

Mrs. Wishy Washy

Spot Goes to the Park

Pat the Bunny

Maisy Goes to Preschool

What Are They Doing?

First 100 Words

2. Identify pictures of first location words or prepositions.

Dear Zoo

Big Red Barn

3. Find 2 pictures on request as a prequisite for following two-part commands. 

100 First Words Book

Baby ABC

Troubleshooting Ideas:

ACTIVE BOOK – younger – Eric Carle

Active Book – older-  Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

Make any book active just by giving a job on every page

Design activities around personal preferences to help with attention/participation/and general listening.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?

Priddy Pop Up

4. Identify objects by function. 

100 First Words

The Going to Bed Book

Llama Llama

5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

5. Answer yes/no questions

6. Teach negation “not”

GREAT BOOKS TO HELP BUILD A CHILD’S ABILITY TO LISTEN TO AN ENTIRE STORY!

The post Best Books for Speech Therapy for Toddlers appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

In case you’re looking for a few new holiday items to add to your rotation, here are my favorites from the last few years!

As an Amazon affiliate, we earn a **tiny** commission from your purchases. If you’re planning to buy anyway, it’s a great way to support our work!

I love, love, love this cute plush Santa set. It’s not the best for therapists to use since it’s plush and not quick to sanitize, but if you’re a parent, I bet you’ll love it too! The house provides a built in play routine – taking the characters out and then putting them back in. The handle makes it fun for toddlers to carry around … a favorite activity for sure!  I like working on clothing items with this toy (hat and boots are easy to teach with this set!), in addition to names of the characters, and of course, in/out.

I love this set too – a Christmas choo choo! I have lots of additional pieces to this set I’ve collected through the years, but this one is a great starter set. Key words of course are choo choo, Santa, reindeer, elf, in, out, go, push.

I don’t have this tree, but it’s close to the one I’ve used — and now passed along to my sweet grandbaby this Christmas! With this tree, you’ll be focusing on vocabulary expansion with new nouns for the ornaments, plus the verbs push and pull, and of course, on and off.

Poke A Dot books are fantastic for teaching and practicing pointing as well as maintaining attention to pictures for our little ones who are too busy for books! I have lots of these and I’m adding the Christmas version to my inventory now that I’ve seen it in my research for this list! More books below…

Here’s are two more options for a Christmas trees. If you don’t have time for the real DIY version (as in you go buy and cut out all the ornaments), these options look pretty good! My homemade versions are always a hit with toddlers. I love this one because it has velcro spots for the ornaments. The snow men will be a nice extension for January or for families who don’t celebrate Christmas.

An Advent calendar is similar to this activity. Hide the ornaments in the pockets… always a fun play routine. Watch a video with a similar calendar for therapy ideas.

If you’re in to wind-up toys like me, here’s a darling Christmas set. You can assess a lot with a wind up toy! Read more here…

I love my Fisher Price nativity set for older toddlers and preschoolers. Match the characters/animals to a book as you read or reenact the story. Great for Christian families, faith-based programs, and therapists like me

My favorite Christmas books are listed here too. You can work on anything with books…. attention/participation, receptive language (Find the ____), naming games where the child points to the picture and you name it, imitating actions with pictures (Kiss Santa!), and of course, vocabulary expansion as a child names the pictures. One of my favorite things to do with books is to gather objects that look similar to the pictures for matching or reenacting the story…. such a great language expansion activity!

I made a video about this one!

AND… this puzzle that I’ve loved since 2016… but it’s no longer available on Amazon. Listing it here in case you can find it somewhere else… it’s worth it! I use it for teaching a child to imitate actions as described in this video.

The post Christmas Themed Toys for Toddlers with Language Delays appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

Today I want to share my Ultimate Therapy Toy Guide with a few new favorites in a post I’m calling The Best Toys for Speech Therapy for Toddlers with Autism and Language Delays. 

I’m grouping the toys by developmental language range (not necessarily age!) along with a very brief summary of each category with a simple description for how you could use the toy to teach language, both at home and in clinical settings.

You’ll also find Amazon links to each toy to streamline your shopping. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn a tiny commission from these purchases. It’s a great way to support my work at teachmetotalk.com – especially if you’re looking to add to your toy inventory!

Happy Shopping!

Best Toys for Speech Therapy for Toddlers for Autism and Language Delays

12 Months & Under

Kids who are functioning in the 9 to 12 month developmental range are learning to play with toys like cause and effect toys (push the button toys), simple problem solving toys like shape sorters and beginning puzzles, and early constructive toys like blocks. Children may be working on consistently alerting to and responding to events in their environment as well as sensory exploration. Kids in this range are not using very many gestures or words and are just learning to understand very simple commands while they’re playing like “Give it to me” and “Put it in.” If that’s what a child is working on, here are some great toy options.

Excellent Toys for Teaching Cause and Effect 

With these toys, we want kids to learn, I have to “do something to get something.” It’s an important cognitive and language milestone kids reach before they learn to talk. Provide opportunities for children to play with these toys with you and alone.

Spinning drum…. child reaches out and spins drum – easy to operate with a big non-electronic effect!

https://amzn.to/3O6lXMk

Piano… I love this simple piano for teaching cause and effect!

https://amzn.to/4hRWQL1

Pop N Pals – classic toy to teach cause and effect with 4 different motor movements to activate the toy

https://amzn.to/3URTTQx

Mirror Roll Away….  best for babies who aren’t mobile yet. The mirror rolls away as a child touches it — creating a reason to move!

https://amzn.to/44q3Jv9

Press & Glow Spinner… teaches children cause and effect with an easy to push spinning toy

https://amzn.to/4fq77w2

Push and Pop Bulldozer… Classic stand up push toy for new walkers

https://amzn.to/40OkAJV

Drip Drop Cups …. teaches cause and effect as babies fill the cups and watch the water drip out the bottom during bath time or play time

https://amzn.to/4fpojC5

Music Toys for Cause and Effect

When toddlers have significant developmental delays or sensory differences, I do use the extra “umph” by providing toys with lights/sounds to help a child learn to attend to the toy and participate in play routines.

First Drum

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Bongos… easy to operate bongos with lights and music

https://amzn.to/3YLlKTQ

Farmyard Cube… activates easily helping a baby learn cause and effect

https://amzn.to/3AFZjY0

Excellent Toys for Teaching Simple Problem Solving

Tissue Box …. child learns to pull and brightly colored tissues come out!

Soft Tissue Box

https://amzn.to/40Np0k2

Solid Tissue Box — Eric Carle themed

https://amzn.to/48MIhE6

Earliest puzzle… no choices –  child fits circle into opening and gets the bonus of seeing herself in the mirror! …

https://amzn.to/3Z7mfsN

Great first shape sorter… child can get shape in 2 ways… excellent for babies and children with fine motor delays

https://amzn.to/40Loxie

Montessori Box with 2 options to help kids learn to discriminate shapes and size by teaching trial and error

https://amzn.to/4hSKlyy

Basic Nesting Cups…. sized for little hands! Child learns about size and fitting objects together

https://amzn.to/4fJhcnN

Block Sets

https://amzn.to/3AwdzTl

EASY Push Cars… My favorite car for toddlers! So easy to operate… push and go!

https://amzn.to/3USF68c

Poke a Dot Books…. Best books for teaching pointing! There are several versions to find something that captures a child’s attention.

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https://amzn.to/4fNCSPp

Bubbles are always a favorite throughout childhood. I love no-spill bubbles so you can focus on the fun without the mess. If a child is developmentally ready to talk, begin with words to teach him to ask for what he wants, or as an SLP would say, to request. The most obvious word to try is “bubble,” but if he can’t say that, it’s perfectly fine to teach him a general word to use for requests like “more” or “please.” Some therapists discourage those as early words, but read here why I STILL think teaching these all-purpose requesting words are a good idea for late talking toddlers: 10 Reasons I Still Teach The Sign for “More” First

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12 – 18 Months

Kids who are functioning in the 12 – 18 month developmental range are continuing to play with toys from the previous period such as cause and effect toys (push the button toys), simple problem solving toys like shape sorters and puzzles, and constructive toys like blocks. In this stage, toddlers begin to follow commands during play such as “Where’s the dog?” and “Hit the ball with the hammer.” It’s an exciting time for expressive language development too… gestures (like waving and pointing) and first words emerge! During play toddlers are learning “functional object use” meaning that they focus on learning what things do… you roll, throw, and catch a ball, push a toy car, build with blocks, put a hat on your head, look at pictures in a book, use a cup to give the baby doll a drink, etc. Imitation is how toddlers learn best so be sure to show them how to play with toys. Talk as you play together emphasizing key words to help a child  understand and then say the new word. If that’s what a child is working on, here are some great toy options.

A great farm set – This is a classic toy for toddlers and preschoolers with lots to do and tons of target word options! I own all 3 of these barns and use them all!

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First Baby Doll Sets

Babies are also a universal play theme for young children — both boys and girls. Here are my favorites with lots of accessories to increase your target word possibilities…

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https://amzn.to/4fDEN9y

Baby Doll Accessory Set

https://amzn.to/3AHI60j

RING STACKERS

https://amzn.to/4hOZkcT

https://amzn.to/3CuBvHi

https://amzn.to/3Z4PoVc

BUS

New walkers are fascinated with this spinning bus. Work on sound effects like “Whee” or a verbal routine like “Ready Set Go” as a child pulls the bus.

https://amzn.to/3YRH1Lk

NESTING BLOCKS

Nesting Blocks with Plastic Animals teach about size/order as well as animal sounds and names. I also work on prepositions/location words with these toys like in, out, up, down, on and off. My most favorite set of blocks is this darling one from Djeco. It is pricier than plain ole wooden blocks, but your possibilities for using this toy are unlimited! The blocks are so cute and graduated for stacking by size and have a rounded opening for a “door.” The set comes with several darling plastic animals for you to place in the “house.”

I have so many cute play routines for this toy, but in the beginning I tell the child we’re going to stack the blocks and I teach the word “build” or “up” as we’re stacking the blocks on top (“On top” is a good one too!) When several blocks are stacked, we choose an animal to go inside the opening of the block and, as I mentioned previously, I call this a “house.”

If a child is working on receptive language, I’ll teach him to learn the animal names and follow directions by holding 2 animals and asking, “Where’s the dog?” Once he’s chosen the correct animal, let the child put it in one of houses. Or model “up up up” as you make the animal climb up to find his house. You can knock on the door, which toddlers love, and you’re teaching them to imitate an action.

When a child is more verbal, you can try to elicit animal sounds or names. In case I haven’t said this clearly enough, the sillier you are, the better, when you’re teaching animal noises and other fun play sounds. Usually when you let go and really get in to playing by loudly modeling animal noises or doing ridiculous things with the animals, the better the child’s attention and participation will be! Once the blocks are stacked, or anytime you feel like you’re losing the child’s attention with blocks, ask him to knock over the tower. I love anything with “fall down” as the gag, because toddlers love it and I can get them to do it over and over again. Target words I teach with this toy are: block, up, push, uh-oh, fall down, knock knock (on the “doors” when animals are in the blocks), animal names, animal sounds, and names of objects on the blocks. You can also target size words with this set by teaching a child with directions like, “Let’s find the big one,” or “That one is little”  as you’re stacking and playing.

https://amzn.to/3Z8H8Ut

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https://amzn.to/40LtPdC

Shape Sorters

Shape sorters are also a classic toy. I love the versions that also make noise to hook a child’s attention!

https://amzn.to/48X5tzS

https://amzn.to/4fsN6VI

Ball and Hammer Toy

If I could only have 1 toy for therapy, this would be it… my favorite ball and hammer toy! Teach exclamatory words like “Boom! Boom!” and “Yay!” I teach the words ball and push with this toy. Prepositions are a natural target too – in, down, out. Many kids will try to match the balls to the hole openings.

https://amzn.to/48QYZ5t

https://amzn.to/3Z3Bu5V

https://amzn.to/3AGO5m6

GREAT quiet activity for toddlers… long car rides, planes, etc. Prep a child first by playing together with the book to show her how to complete the interactive pages…

https://amzn.to/4hPqUqA

Race Track

All car toys can be tons of fun for toddlers, but I love a good race track! Kids will try to imitate the car noise, “Vroom, vroom,” or a raspberry car sound or any other goofy car sound you make! Other targets are “Ready, set, go!” especially if you’ve introduced that phrase or word with other toys and are trying to generalize that word. When a child LOVES this toy, I do use it for requesting. You can start with a general word, but I try to teach words like “car” or “truck” since the toy is motivating and the turns are very quick.

https://amzn.to/3Cs383H

https://amzn.to/3ACRF0H

Easy Puzzles

Beginner puzzles – not too many options and big knobs to guide little hands!

https://amzn.to/3UPmar3

https://amzn.to/3AJzI0q

https://amzn.to/4fJPKGs

Combine your barn/farm theme with puzzle pieces…

https://amzn.to/4fr8xXo

Tot Tube Great for kids with short attention spans! Put almost any small toy in and watch it slide through the tunnel and pop out!

https://amzn.to/3UQt1k7

18 to 24 Months

Kids who are functioning in the 18 – 24 month developmental range are continuing to play with toys from the previous period and continue to master cause and effect toys, simple problem solving toys like shape sorters and puzzles, and constructive toys like blocks. In this stage, toddlers follow commands to identify objects during play such as “Where’s the dog?” and to complete tasks like “The cow is so tired. Put him in the barn to go to sleep.” During play toddlers continue to perfect “functional object use” and are expanding the kinds of things they do with toys including early pretending as a child begins to use one toy to represent something else during play based on familiar, everyday
activities they perform. For example, a child may place a block to his ear and pretend to talk on the phone or use a drum stick as a spoon to feed a baby doll. Imitation is still how toddlers learn best so be sure to show them how to play with toys. Talk as you play together emphasizing key words to help a child  understand and then say the new word. Children typically experience a language explosion during this developmental range so include toys that teach new words, and not just nouns or labels for objects! Be sure to introduce verbs/action words, prepositions/location words, and early possessives/pronouns. If that’s what a child is working on, here are some great toy options.

Mr. Potato Head

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https://amzn.to/4fsJ13O

https://amzn.to/4hGufYO

https://amzn.to/3VkXreD

Mr. Potato Head is fantastic for any toddler! It’s a basic vocabulary building activity since you can target body parts and basic clothing items such as hats and shoes. There are sets with purses and earrings and other “themed” sets related to holidays and children’s characters. Get the giant 2.5 size gallon ziplock bags so you can keep all of your accessories together. I would definitely use this during parent-child playtime only so your pieces don’t get lost.

Housework activities are of high interest to toddlers and a great way to teach imitation!

https://amzn.to/3CuGqYM

Baby Doll Sets

Baby Doll Sets are another high interest toy for boys and girls. It’s perfect for teaching functional object use (brush the baby’s hair, give her a drink, etc.) as well as early pretending.

https://amzn.to/3O6ApUq

I love to use baby bathtubs for a “bumped” up doll play experience. Don’t get your hopes up too high for the shower! It’s a drip-drop but so fun for toddlers!

https://amzn.to/4fsUEI5

Phlat Ball

The Plat ball is a toy for older children, but I use it with toddlers all the time! It’s a ball that can be pushed flat and then pops open. Toddlers need help to learn to push the ball flat, and their little fingers can get caught in the edges, so save this toy for play with a parent or older child. The directions on the package talk about throwing the ball and letting it pop open in the air, but I use it on the floor. It’s a great toy for sensory-seekers and kids who crave deep pressure. I also use it for turn-taking practice since the turns are fast and fun, even if you’re not the one who gets to push the ball. There are so many words you can teach with this toy, but the ones I use most are: ball, push, pop, mine, more, please, roll, kick, stuck, uh-oh, surprise, scary (“not scary”).

https://amzn.to/3Z3FPpJ

https://amzn.to/3Z4BTot

Ball Poppers

Another favorite ball toy… but don’t let the child chew on the foam balls! Hog Wild makes this toy in a variety of animals… cow, dinosaur, unicorn, even a Christmas line. Set up a verbal routine like “Ready Set Go!” or “Push and Pop!” for a child to fill in the last word. Great activity for kids who need to move to stay regulated. Use this toy between other sit down play routines.

https://amzn.to/3CpLZaN

https://amzn.to/3Cs6Ryd

https://amzn.to/4exl4au

24 Months to 36 Months

When kids are in the 24 month developmental range, they’re talking! Not only with single words – but short phrases begin to dominate a child’s speech. Vocabulary development continues to be a focus so that what a child says becomes longer and longer and more and more complex. Play sets become much more appropriate and can be used to teach TONS of new words!

A great barn if you’re looking for a bump up from Fisher Price!

https://amzn.to/4foaDaz

If one of your little friends loves latches but not playing with toys, this barn helps blend those activities and hooks his attention with something he loves.

https://amzn.to/3AHj0Pa

Cars and Trucks

Vehicles will always be fun, but this set is great because of the magnets!

https://amzn.to/4fqN7tr

House

With a play house, help a child learn to pretend first by doing things he already does in his everyday life – eat, take a bath, go to bed, etc…

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While it’s fun to use this toy as an animal hospital, I usually use plastic characters or other small toys (like cars or balls) to hide inside the doors to teach object identification and new nouns.

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More Toys with Keys

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Another Fun Ball Toy – an excellent choice for a child who is obsessed with numbers. Use his preferred interest to help him connect with you and share a play routine.

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Kitchen Play is always a wonderful opportunity for language development. Here are my favorite kitchen toys:

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This pretend microwave is always a big hit!

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Super fun water play for toddlers as you’re teaching a child to pretend!

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Easy Wooden Puzzles

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In previous posts I’ve admitted this, and I’ll share it here too…I own an embarrassing number of toddler puzzles, but they are “gold” when it comes to targeting language. The best puzzles for toddlers have wooden pegs or tiny knobs for easy handling by little fingers. Each picture is one individual piece that comes out separately. Wooden puzzles are cheap ($3-$10) and most toddlers love to do them. You can find puzzles with any kind of theme – farm animals, zoo animals, vehicles, food, bath time, toys, etc… I’ve linked several here so you can be sure you’re looking for VARIETY! Don’t buy more than a couple for each theme! Stay away from puzzles with ABCs, colors, and numbers until your child is really talking. Stick to puzzles with words a child needs to expand his vocabulary with new words.

Of course you can teach a child to say new words with puzzles, but many times a toddler isn’t quite ready for this during early sessions. What should you do then? Puzzles are great for targeting an earlier skill – building receptive language or what a child understands. You’re teaching a child to learn new words as you label the piece as you place it in the puzzle, but there are several better ways to target comprehension with puzzles. You can hold up 2 different pieces and say, “Get the ___.” Or place several pieces on floor and ask him, “Where’s the ___.”

You can also target receptive language during clean up time with puzzles. After you’ve named the pieces as he’s putting the piece in, tell him which piece to get to clean up the puzzle. Expand receptive language more by asking him tougher questions, “Which one says moo?” “Which one flies?” Which one goes in the water?”  “Which one do you wear on your feet?”

One more IMPORTANT tip… DON’T INSIST THAT THE CHILD DO THE WHOLE PUZZLE BEFORE YOU PUT IT AWAY.

When you do this, you are CONTRIBUTING to all sort of undesirable behavior!! No wonder he cries or throws or whatever else he does that you don’t like… if he can’t sit still that long, he can’t sit still that long! It’s up to YOU to make it fun enough so that a child wants to stay! If he does 2 pieces today, that’s okay. He may do 3 tomorrow and 4 the next day. Take it at each child’s pace! I promise this is a better “no tears” way : )

Playdoh!

I love Play-Doh! Use a set with accessories for more vocabulary-building opportunities!

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Fantastic gross motor options for toddlers who need to move, move, move!

Bowling Sets are tons of fun for first games with peers!

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Train Sets 

Trains are another universally-appreciated toy! I love all the Thomas stuff that’s so hard to find now, but this set is always a winner and it’s portable!

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Blocks for Hiding Various Objects for Naming Activities

For decades I owned a set of open/close Tupperware blocks that finally look too worn to use! This set has become my replacement! Great for hiding various small toys for naming and keeping a child’s interest when they want to move on quickly.

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More Advanced Play Set with blocks

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36 Months and Beyond

Play really “bumps up” to a new developmental level when we provide realistic props to support developing imaginations and language skills. Be sure to add extra sequences (or steps to play), new vocabulary across word categories (not just nouns, but verbs, prepositions, descriptive words, and pronouns), new relationships (or roles in play), and new toys to enhance pretending. Watch this podcast for a full explanation of these factors.

These tiles are super for open-ended constructive play. If a child is “stuck” on blocks or legos, introduce these!

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Excellent set/props for  more advanced pretending!

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Dress up!

Look for simple costumes for simple on/off to begin.

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Restaurant (pizza, ice cream shop, hot chocolate stand)

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Play doh sets continue to be lots of fun for preschoolers and provide language-rich teaching opportunities.

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The post Ultimate Toy List for Speech Therapy for Toddlers with Language Delays appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

Excellent Toys for Teaching Cause and Effect

Spinning drum…. child reaches out and spins drum – easy to operate with a big non-electronic effect!

Piano for non-electronic effect!

Music Toy for Cause and Effect

Electronic Piano/Bongos for Cause and Effect

Pop N Pals

Easy PUSH toy for cause and effect

Stand up push toy

Ball Toys… great for teaching cause and effect

Excellent Toys for Teaching Simple Problem Solving

Tissue box…. child learns to pull and brightly colored tissues come out

Earliest puzzle… no choices –  child fits shape into opening…

Great first shape sorter… child can get shape in 2 ways

FUN shape sorter with cool sound effect

Trial and Error with Simple Problem Solving… ball vs. coin

Cool Ring Stacker

Nesting Cups

Nesting Blocks with Plastic Animals

THERAPY MANUALS

Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual

Teach Me To Play WITH You

Let’s Talk About Talking

The Autism Workbook

Giggle Time… Susan Aud Sonders

More Than Words… Hanen

EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE FOCUS

422 – 429 Teach Late Talkers to Imitate

422 Help a Nonverbal Child Find His Voice

409 Treating Expressive Language in Autism

398 – 399 Teaching Expressive Language

The post #450 and #451 Recommended Toys 12 Months appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

One of the things I often say here at teachmetotalk.com is that you can teach language anytime anywhere.

But the truth is… not all play themes lend themselves to pairing play and language.

When we’re choosing play themes, here are 5 factors that help us determine the potential effectiveness for using play to build language in toddlers and preschoolers with language delays:

Factors for Choosing Successful Play Themes

(from Professional Development at Central Institute of the Deaf)

• Themes that present good play sequences with a beginning, middle, and end. Start simple with familiar activities like eating, sleeping, bathing, and familiar events for toddlers and then add steps to expand.
• Themes that provide practice for vocabulary development including new nouns, verbs, prepositions, descriptives, and pronouns.
• Themes that offer prime opportunities to work on language and play together. 
• Themes that allow specific relationships to provide reasons to communicate and practice!

I added one more… 

• Themes that can be simplified or expanded based on how a child responds.

Remember that toddlers respond best to familiar activities they do often like eating, sleeping, bathing, followed by activities they see you do often such as cleaning, meal prep, taking care of children and then, to activities they do less frequently such as going to the doctor or to a birthday party. Those same play themes continue to be popular throughout the preschool years as children add more steps, more props, new scenarios, along with the new experiences they encounter.

For a full discussion of these factors, please check out my podcast Best Pretend Play Themes for Toddlers and Preschoolers. In that show, we unpacked this list along with specific details for using these play themes during speech therapy sessions or at home. Here’s a quick list of the toys I use and recommend as props for play to support play and language development:

Best Pretend Play Themes for Toddlers and Preschoolers for Speech Therapy

Toddlers

Begin with activities from a toddler’s everyday routines like eating, sleeping, bathing, playing outside, or going on an outing.

• Kitchen and Housekeeping

  I love playing all things kitchen with toddlers! Watching mom and dad cook and clean has been one of a baby’s favorite things to do. As a toddler, now it’s time for them to join in! Plastic food for cutting, a microwave for cooking, a sink for cleaning up and perhaps some cleaning tools like mom and dad… and you’re all set!

• Baby Dolls 

  Dolls are the ultimate first pretend play choice – for both little girls and little boys! Add basic accessories for pretending such as a bottle and bowl/spoon for feeding, a blanket for sleeping, and for even more pretending, try a bath tub and stroller.

• House or Playground

Begin pretending with familiar activities from a toddler’s everyday routines – sleeping, eating, bathing, etc..

• Farm

Little boys and little girls love playing with animals. Teach new words and a whole lot more with a great farm set!

Preschoolers 

Play really “bumps up” to a new developmental level when we provide realistic props to support developing imaginations and language skills. Be sure to add extra sequences (or steps to play), new vocabulary across word categories (not just nouns, but verbs, prepositions, descriptive words, and pronouns), new relationships (or roles in play), and new toys to enhance pretending. Watch this podcast for a full explanation of these factors.

• Restaurant (pizza, ice cream shop, hot chocolate stand)

Birthday party (or other holidays)

I like making birthday cakes from playdoh. Here are other choices for birthday party play.

• Apples (orchard, farm)

Just like with toddlers, preschoolers love to play on the farm. Choose larger, more realistic sized toys for picking apples or pumpkins with little friends when peers are joining in your play too.

• Doctor

Kids want to begin to dress up around age 3 so the first set contains a “dr shirt.” All the following sets contain plenty to talk about as you pretend you’re going to the dr.

• Pet shop/Vet

Combine themes of animals and doctors, and you’ve got pet shop – always a fun hit for preschoolers. I love the Battat set below as a beginning prop for this play theme.

**Amazon affiliates earn a tiny commission on your purchase. Thank you for supporting my work!**

The post Best Pretend Play Themes for Toddlers and Preschoolers appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

Are you thinking about Christmas activities for therapy? I’ll be sharing all of those activities this month here at teachmetotalk.com so check back for new ideas regularly so you don’t miss anything.

Today’s therapy activity is super EASY…

Almost too easy to count, but I’m sharing it first so that even if you’re not in the holiday spirit yet, you can surely muster enough energy for this one!

I share this idea every year and always get emails saying how well it’s worked, so here goes…

JINGLE ALL THE WAY

Dust off any set of bells you own, whether it’s a set of jingle bell bracelets to more traditional bells. Christmas wreath bells are everywhere this time of year, even at the Dollar stores.

Or if you’re really desperate, grab the ones hanging from your doorknob! (Yes, I have used that kind before in a family’s home when I haven’t brought in my own bells!)

Actually, having a group of bells for a toddler to choose from is even more fun!

Place all of your bells in some kind of container such as a basket, a Christmas bucket, a clear drum, or my favorite, a zip-lock bag.

Tell your little friend or your own child that you’re going to make some music and play bells. Say the word “bell” and other relevant words like “shake shake shake” as you play your bells. Have fun with it yourself so that the child will want to play too. You can even march around the room and have a parade as you play together. Sing Jingle Bells as you march or just say, “March march march!” or “Shake the bells!”

While your child thinks you’re just having fun, you’re really setting the stage for first words.

Anytime you model an action with an object or a body movement for a child to copy, like shaking the bells or marching, you’re teaching him how to imitate.

Imitation is a CRITICAL step in helping a nonverbal toddler learn to talk!

Many times we expect a toddler with no words to begin to try to copy our sounds or words long before he’s developmentally ready. Teaching him how to imitate ACTIONS with OBJECTS and SIMPLE BODY MOVEMENTS is really where we should begin treatment. Include other easy actions such as holding the bells up high, down low, behind your back, ANYWHERE, so that a toddler wants to do what you do. For more information about this philosophy and step by step instructions for teaching a toddler to imitate, click here.

Another fun activity to do with your bells is to sing Jingle Bells. Here are the words in case you need a refresher:

“Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way.
Oh what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
HEY!”

Repeat

As you sing, or for more fun, SHOUT the word “Hey,” hold up both arms. You’re providing another opportunity for your child to imitate you, even if he’s not quite ready to say the word.

After you’ve sung the song dozens (and I do mean dozens!) of times, pause just before you say the word “Hey” to see if the child will fill in your pause with the word “Hey!”

Even if he just raises his arms, you know he’s learning!

Using simple songs like this during speech therapy with toddlers is great all year long, but it’s even more fun at Christmas time.

So dust off those bells and start singing, marching, and jingling all the way…

The Amazon link is below for your convenience for my favorite Jingle Bells in case you need some of your own!

Until tomorrow…

Laura

teachmetotalk.com

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Did your child gets lots of new toys for Christmas?

Don’t be too disappointed if he doesn’t seem to know how to play with new toys on his or her own.

AND… don’t fall into the trap of assuming “he must not like it” if he doesn’t play with a toy.

Most of the time when a toddler doesn’t play with toys, it means that he doesn’t know HOW to play.

That’s shocking to some parents of late talkers, but it’s true!

When children don’t know how to play, we have to teach them – just like we teach everything else.

So… psych yourself up, get down on the floor, and play with the toy yourself.

That’s what it’s going to take for many late talkers before they understand how a toy works.

This takes some effort, but it does pay off!

In my newest therapy manual Let’s Talk About Talking, I outline several ideas to help you begin to teach a toddler how to play. This isn’t a toy-by-toy approach, but guidelines to teach you how to help a child learn to play with any new toy.

One of the things I do first with toddlers who don’t play with toys starts with a strategy I call deconstruction. To summarize, you’re teaching a child to finish a play routine or take a toy apart rather than putting it together. Once you learn how to do this, you’ll never look at introducing a toy in the same way again. Last year I published a Therapy Tip of the Week about this technique. I’ve tweaked it a little since then (that’s in the new book!), but here’s a look to get you started.

The post When a Toddler Doesn’t Play With Toys appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

I love this game year-round, but it’s especially fun in the fall!

As I explained in this earlier post Board Games for Toddlers, I rarely play a game with “rules” for late talkers – or any toddler for that matter! Kids this age are usually not developmentally ready, and when we force these kinds of restraints, it ruins the fun for everyone. We can miss fantastic opportunities for interaction and teaching language by being too much of a stickler!

When you’re not following the rules, what else can you do? Let me share great ideas for how I use this game in therapy with my little late talking friends:

Introduce the Game Pieces

By taking a few minutes to introduce the game pieces, you’re already working on language, even before you begin to play the game!

Show a child the squirrel tongs, the stumps or “trees”, and nuts. Talk about squirrels by making connections to when a child may have seen a squirrel. If you’re close to a window or door, direct a child’s attention to the trees outside and discuss how the stump pieces come from trees. Mention the nuts too with comments about how nuts grow on trees and then fall to the ground for squirrels to eat and gather to eat later.

When you’re talking with any young child with language delays, adjust your comments to match her receptive language-level or what she understands. If a toddler has a moderate to significant receptive delay (or a super short attention span,) do not go on and on during this initial conversation. Keep it simple! Say things like, “Oooh! Look! It’s a squirrel. We see squirrels when we go outside. Remember? Squirrel!” If she’s still listening, you might say something else like, “Squirrels run fast! They climb up in the trees! Go squirrel!”

Set Up a Way to Play

Next, present some way to play the game. We can blow it with toddlers when we don’t establish how we’re going to play from the get-go. No wonder a child runs off with the pieces or begins to “do his own thing.” You can (hopefully!) avoid those problems by setting up your realistic expectations from the beginning.

Older preschoolers may be ready to spin the spinner and understand how to play the game and follow the rules, but most of the time, I play this game with toddlers simply by putting nuts in the holes.

Set out the tree stumps and say something like, “Look! Trees! See the holes! The holes are for the nuts.” Then show a child how to place a nut in one of the holes.

For children with coordinated fine motor skills, you can use the squirrel tongs from the game. Most of the toddlers I see cannot manipulate the squirrel tongs without lots of effort (which ruins the fun!), so I use well-worn toddler tongs. They’re sized for little hands and have been easier than any other tool I’ve tried.

More often, I’ve just let toddlers use their fingers, which is challenging enough for many of our kids!

Choose Your Goals Based on These Priorities

Participation For some busy or disconnected toddlers, participating should be your ONLY goal initially. Do everything you can to keep him happy and with you for as long as you can. Period. No other goals beyond sticking with it, placing as many nuts in the holes as possible, and then helping clean up the game after you’re finished. That’s it. Once he’s easily doing this, add something else.

Turn-Taking When I’m working on turn-taking with a child, I use my own stump piece and take a fast turn saying things like, “My tree! Here’s a nut! The nut goes in! In!” Remember to take your turns very quickly during games so that you don’t lose a toddler’s attention or make him too mad. For some kids, your turn may just be cheerfully saying, “In!” as you hurriedly put a nut in the hole and then move on to his turn.

When you try too hard to emphasize turn-taking by saying things like “Stop. You have to wait for me. It’s my turn now,” and then insisting that a child sit there patiently while you take F…O…R…E…V…E…R makes some toddlers lose their minds. No wonder they get upset or don’t want to stick around and play!

Language Goals

Requesting When a child is developmentally ready, target requesting. Hold the nuts in your hand or place them in a Ziplock bag and give the child a nut after he requests. This makes you a necessary part of the game. He has to go through you to get the nuts!

For some kids, just making eye contact is a request! Hold the nut in your hand until they look at you.

For others, they can do much more, but carefully select a word or sign based on what a child is ready to target. If he’s nonverbal, you can’t expect him to say a word before he gets the nut. You just can’t. You need a goal he can meet! For example:

• Start with a sign, a picture if you’re using an approach like PECS, or even some kind of gesture like holding his hand out to you.
• If he’s a brand new signer or talker, choose easy words and signs like “nut,” “more,” or “please.” Model the sign or word he should use to request.
• If a child loves colors and already knows some of those words, let him request by saying the color he wants. Be very, very careful with using color words for requesting! You don’t want to emphasize academic concepts when a child does not say very many functional words. I only use this as my target when colors are a preference (aka – obsession!) for a child. Even then, I try to get other words first and default to the color word if that’s the only way I can keep him with me and talking.
• If she’s working on phrases, you can easily incorporate that goal here with several different phrase combinations including “More nuts” or “I want more” or “One more.”

Spontaneous Communication

This is a fantastic game for helping a child become more spontaneous with requests. Initially, you will have to cue a child and get him to directly imitate whatever your language target is. That’s how we teach everything – gestures, signs, words, and phrases. BUT eventually, we do want to build in opportunities for a child to ask us for things without us telling him how to ask.

Sit back and playfully withhold the nuts in a bag or your hand until he asks for another nut using whatever method he can. Don’t overuse this strategy though, or you may lose him altogether!

(**If you’re not having much luck with getting a child to sign or talk on request or can’t find a balance for withholding that doesn’t result in a meltdown, I can help! My new book Let’s Talk About Talking walks you through that process! My other therapy manuals Building Verbal Imitation in Toddlers and Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual also contain instructions with these techniques. If you need a visual example, you can SEE this strategy in my DVD Teach Me To Talk.)

Other Areas An obvious cognitive goal with this game is to teach or practice color matching. Matching is an important cognitive skill and it always comes before kids learn the names for colors. Sneak in your language goals here too. (Get it? Sneaky Squirrel!) I’ve successfully taught “No” with this game by purposefully mismatching the colored nuts and then pointing this out to a child. Make a big deal about it. Exaggerate shaking your head and finger while saying, “Does it go here? NO!!! NO!!! NO!!! That’s blue. Not red. No way! No!” Be silly while you do this so that it doesn’t sound punitive. Keep it light, playful, and fun!

Those are my beginning ideas for this cute game. The good news is…you can take these same concepts and apply them to virtually any other game too! We’ll be doing that in later posts!

Until then…

Laura

Link to purchase this Sneaky Squirrel game:

**Amazon affiliates earn very small commissions on purchases.

The post Sneaky Squirrel Board Game for Late Talkers appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

Introducing board games with any toddler can be hard, and it’s even more of a challenge for toddlers with developmental delays.

Does that mean we give up and don’t try at all?

No way! Of course, we should try!

There are plenty of ways to “play” board games with toddlers.

BUT…

Expecting them to understand and follow the rules of the game is not one of them!

RULE #1: There are no rules.

When we begin to expose a very young child, especially those with developmental delays, to any kind of new game, we should be prepared to “go with the flow” as we play. In practical terms, this means you will probably never follow the rules.

Never as in ever.

Although it would be nice to think that board games can be a tool for helping a child learn to understand and follow directions, it never works out that way. Typically developing toddlers usually won’t have enough self-control to follow these rules during games and our little friends certainly don’t.

We teach compliance during daily routines and with our house rules with things like “We wash our hands after we go potty,” “We do not hit,” and “We take our shoes off at the door.” This kind of “rule-following” IS a realistic expectation for any toddler living in our households. We teach those kinds of important rules with consistent repetition day in and day out.

Rules like “Don’t touch the spinner until it’s your turn,” and “You can only move two spaces” really aren’t that important in the general scheme of things with a late talker, even when you’re trying to teach him how to play a game. Our goal in board games should be the same as it is with other toys…just have fun! Enjoy playing together. Once he likes the game and likes you, THEN you can begin to teach other things. That won’t happen if you’re the GAME CZAR.

In my opinion, as an SLP, language and interaction trumps ALL other focuses for a late talker no matter what the activity. Who cares if he takes four turns in a row as long as he’s talking? Does it really matter if he puts a red marker in the blue space if he’s staying with you, laughing, and participating? Don’t ruin all of this momentum by insisting that he play correctly!

Tomorrow I’ll be sharing one of my favorite board games for late talking toddlers for fall. Stay tuned for that!

P.S. I never play Candy Land with clients!

The post Board Games for Late Talking Toddlers appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

This a problem with joint attention. Joint attention means that a child learns to share experiences with you. It’s one of the prerequisite skills toddlers master before they begin to understand words and communicate.

One of my first strategies for teaching joint attention is using a highly enticing toy like a light up spinning wand like this one.

Some therapists shy away from these kinds of toys since toddlers can become entrenched in them, but I don’t and here’s why…

We have to begin with things kids like.

We have to give them reasons to want to be with us.

By using a toy like this, you teach a toddler to look at objects from a distance when someone says, “Look!”

How to Play…

When you are a few feet away from a child, hide an interesting object behind your back. Toys that work well for this are wands that light up and spin or any other object with an interesting visual effect.

Call a child’s name and say, “Look at this!”

Dramatically pull the toy out to show it to the child. Point to the item using your free hand as you say, “Look! Wow! Look at this! Look!”

If a child approaches you and wants to play with the item, let him! Your goal is for him to share an experience with you!

Stay together and continue to hold the item so that he will include you. Talk about the toy as you play together since this is your overall goal.

When he loses interest in this toy, move away from him, pick a new toy or an interesting object, and begin the process again from across the room. By playing this game, you’re teaching him to respond when you call him and say “Look!”

Troubleshooting Ideas

Of course, things can go wrong with toddlers during this activity and you’ll need to troubleshoot based on a child’s responses. Try these ideas:

Eliminate any other distractions in the room so that you are the show! Turn off the TV and put away any other toys.

Try a different object that’s more interesting to the child.

If a child insists that you give him the toy, try to keep yourself involved by talking with him about the toy. Make comments as you point out different parts or show him how to use the toy in a new way.

Or pick toys that a child can’t activate on his own so that he needs you to play.

If none of that works…

Maintain some control of the toy or object so that you are not excluded.

Do this by staying in very close proximity of the toy and the child. Keep your hands right there in the mix too as you play together with the toy. Leave the toy between the two of you on the floor or table.

Allow child access to do whatever he wants with the toy, but not full control. This will make it easier for you to stay involved and for him not to turn his back on you and leave you out. If he moves away from you, do not let him take the toy! You’re teaching him that he must stay with you to play.

In some cases, you may have to keep your hands on the toy to prevent a child from taking the toy and leaving but only do this as a last resort. Even then, keep your voice and face happy so that it doesn’t look or sound like you’re in a power struggle!

Don’t just sit there! Take a turn with the toy as the child plays.

Teaching joint attention means that you participate in playing with the toy too. You cannot just sit there with your hands on the toy guarding it to be sure she doesn’t getaway! That’s not purposeful or productive and will not promote playing together.

Take a turn and keep yourself involved!

Remember – your goal is to teach him to want to be with you so he can learn from you!

——————————————————————————————————-

These are excerpts from my new book Let’s Talk About Talking.  In that book, you’ll find lots of discussion for not only what to do to help a child begin to talk, but how to handle the missteps that are sure to occur along the way!

If you’re interested in where to buy the Halloween toy, here’s the link to Amazon. You can find LOTS of these toys almost anywhere toys are sold, especially this time of year!

The post Build Joint Attention with Toys appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

What are your favorite toys? 

I want to begin every response to that question with, “I’m so glad you asked!”

Several years ago I wrote a post that included my favorites, but I’ve had some additions in the last couple of years that I’d love to share with you. If you listen to my podcast or have watched my YouTube videos,  you’ve seen lots of these toys. I’ve certainly included many of these toys in this post, but I wanted to approach this a little differently this time, mostly because I also get this kind of question…

Where did you get that toy?

In this post, I’m sharing Amazon links. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn a tiny commission when you purchase.)

Speech Therapy with Toddlers Best “First Sessions” Toy List

When I say “first sessions,” I’m talking about those first few speech therapy sessions with toddlers who have developmental delays, who are late talkers, or who are at risk for a more comprehensive diagnosis such as autism, apraxia, or another medical diagnoses such as cerebral palsy, prematurity or Down syndrome. In nearly all of these cases, these children are nonverbal or minimally verbal when I start working with them – hence the need for speech therapy!

No matter what the diagnosis or suspected problem is in those first visits, I’m always still getting a feel for a child’s overall development, not just how they talk. So we’re looking at other skills too such as:

·        social engagement – how a child interacts with other people

·        cognition – how a child thinks and learns

·        receptive language – how a child understands the words he hears

·        expressive skills – what a child communicates using gestures, words, or any other means and how easily he’s understood

All of the toys on my list can be used to target a wide variety of goals in those areas and accommodate any young child at nearly any developmental level. I wanted to get that in here for parents (and grandparents!) who are new to this speech therapy thing, and who may think we can only use a certain set of materials or certain kinds of activities. Here’s the truth…

We can teach language anytime, anywhere.

However, having a go-to set of toys and lots of ideas of what to do with them can help you tremendously, whether you’re a speech-pathologist like me, a therapist in a related discipline – including any kind of early intervention provider (or whatever they call “teacher people” in your state), a committed mom or dad who is trying to tackle speech therapy at home, or even a grandparent trying to do everything you can to help the little late talker in your life.

That’s what this list is for!

No matter what your role is, this list of toys is a great place to start because you’ll see early success more often with these kinds of toys with very young children.

Since I’m in private practice now, most of my speech therapy visits in the last few years have been office visits, so I have these toys ready to go for my new little friends. For the 15 years I did home visits, I kept this kind of toy bag prepped in my trunk.

If you’re a “no toy bag” kind of therapist or work in a program where they’ve forced you to stop using your own materials, these are same the toys you should be looking for when you’re working with a family in their home so that you can provide the same initial ideas for parents. In my experience, most moms CRAVE direct teaching for how they can use the toys they already have – not just a suggestion of vague ideas like “Try to talk to him all day,” or “Read at least one book a day to her.”

Some state EO programs have discouraged SLPs from providing ideas to parents that look too much like “direct therapy” with a child. They’d like for you to do something a little more natural that a family would already do. My experience and success with families is contradictory to this idea. My style of coaching parents is NOT just hanging out with a family and trying to blend in with whatever they happen to be doing that day. For years, before coaching was this “brand new” way to do therapy, I spent time with mothers and dads going through their child’s toys and giving them TONS of very specific ideas for how to play WITH their child with the toys as we addressed whatever goals their child needed to target.

In case you’re one of those “but I only embed my strategies in a child’s natural environment and daily routines” kinds of picky people, I will address that concern. It IS important to teach parents how to tweak their daily routines like bath time, getting dressed, eating meals, doing chores, etc… so that a parent can target language (or whatever you’re working on) all day long. It’s so important that I’ve written several posts and devoted entire podcasts to this topic. Find those posts here:

A Tweak Here and There Can Make a Big Difference…Ideas for Bathtime

Tweaking Routines for Late Talkers Continued

Podcast – Teaching Language in Daily Routines

However…

we cannot forget how important it is to teach parents to play with their toddler who is struggling to master milestones.

Why did playing with a child fall out of favor?

To me, play should be a BIG piece of every child’s day.

And if that weren’t enough to convince you to play, let me just add that virtually EVERY skill a child needs to learn can be addressed through play (and through daily routines.) But often in order to get a skill to become mastered enough so that it can be generalized to the daily routine, moms and dads will probably have to do lots of direct teaching.

When you say a phrase like “direct teaching” to a parent, they automatically associate it with something similar to school… aka boring…aka tedious…aka SO. NOT. FUN.

Thank goodness we professionals who work with toddlers have come to associate every single skill we teach with PLAY so that it IS very, very, very fun… for the child and for his parents!

So… without any further explanation, I’m going to share my list of solid go-to toys. I use these toys faithfully during my first speech therapy visits with toddlers. Let me tell you why they’re so great:

·        These toys are EASY to find and most are fairly inexpensive.

·        Many families will already own these toys or a very similar version so they can continue to play between sessions using your new ideas.

·        The ones that aren’t so common or inexpensive are totally worth your investment and here’s why…

These toys work for nearly every kid!

How’s that for an endorsement?

In my previous post for recommended toys , I included ways you can use most of these toys.

In case this kind of information is new to you, let me be clear that YOU should be playing directly with a child in order to help him or her learn to understand and use new words. Every child learns to talk and learns to understand what words mean by hearing the people they hang out with all day talk. This means that parents play a HUGE role in helping late talkers, no matter what the diagnosis is. Even when your child is lucky enough to be seen by a wonderfully skilled therapist, parents still need to do their part at home.

That’s where this list of toys comes in. I want you to feel like you know what you’re doing!

But buying these toys isn’t enough.

The toys are not magic in that just by giving them to a toddler, he or she will begin to talk. (If it were only that easy!) You’ll still need to play with the child, but I’ll be making it a little easier since you’ll be getting lots of fantastic ideas to go with these fabulous toys!

For even more guidance, I’m linking a few clips so you can see EXACTLY how I play with these toys with toddlers I’ve worked with in therapy sessions. I’m also linking several of my Therapy Tip of the Week videos where I’m explaining how to use the toy to work on lots of different goals.

Here we go… my top 10 best toys for “first sessions” with toddlers…

1. No Spill Bubbles

I first wrote this sentence in 2008 when we launched teachmetotalk and it’s still true:

No-spill bubble containers changed my life!

I love the smaller containers with characters that kids recognize on the ends of the wands.

The link I included here is for the smaller size container. Lately, I’ve not seen the variety of bubble containers that I have in past years, so if your child loves a particular character, it may be worth it to purchase a special set when you see it. But here’s the truth…

Most little kids think bubbles are so fun that you won’t need the special characters! You may not even want the “no spill” feature and use the old-fashioned jar of bubbles, but the extra expense for the no-spill feature is worth it to me because it saves more time for fun when I’m not worried that a toddler is going to waste the whole bottle of bubbles in about 15 seconds!

For the record, I rarely use the automatic blower bubble toys with batteries because I want kids to learn to blow bubbles, or at least try, with their own little mouths. Imitating blowing is a great way to get toddlers to start to imitate any kind of mouth movement. Research tells us that for most children, learning to blow has very little connection with learning how to talk or with improving speech intelligibility, but my purpose here is to teach a toddler who is not yet talking to imitate me which is a very important skill!

When you’re playing with bubbles, your target words, or the words you try to teach a child, can be endless, but here are the words I say and try to encourage my little friends to learn – bubbles, pop, more, mine, please, blow, all gone, wet, yucky, in, out, plus any character name on the wand.

If a child is developmentally ready to talk, begin with words to teach him to ask for what he wants, or as an SLP would say, to request. The most obvious word to try is “bubble,” but if he can’t say that, it’s perfectly fine to teach him a general word to use for requests like “more” or “please.” Some therapists discourage those as early words, but read here why I STILL think teaching these all-purpose requesting words are a good idea for late talking toddlers:

10 Reasons I Still Teach The Sign for “More” First

If a child can’t repeat words yet, try teaching him simple sign language. Here’s some information about teaching toddlers to sign in my article Early Sign Language Vocabulary.

Bubbles are a great way to teach early words or signs! For even more ideas for using bubbles, here’s a Therapy Tip of the Week video for you filled with great tips!

2. Phlat ball

This is the COOLEST BALL TOY EVER!

The Plat ball is a toy for older children, but I use it with toddlers all the time! It’s a ball that can be pushed flat and then pops open. Toddlers need help to learn to push the ball flat, and their little fingers can get caught in the edges, so save this toy for play with a parent or older child.

The directions on the package talk about throwing the ball and letting it pop open in the air, but I use it on the floor. It’s a great toy for sensory-seekers and kids who crave deep pressure. I also use it for turn-taking practice since the turns are fast and fun, even if you’re not the one who gets to push the ball.

There are so many words you can teach with this toy, but the ones I use most are: ball, push, pop, mine, more, please, roll, kick, stuck, uh-oh, surprise, scary (“not scary”).

You can take a look at the phlat ball during this Therapy Tip of the Week video. The phlat ball ideas are at the 4 minute mark. (The ball and hammer toy at the beginning of this video is #5 on this list!)

In that clip I told you about my very fun Verbal Routine I use every single time I play with this toy. Boy, has it been a HUGE success for eliciting early words! I also use this little game for teaching impulsive and busy toddlers to learn to “wait,” for a few seconds anyway. You can see me play this game with a child during one of my online videos called Creating Verbal Routines with Toddlers. In this one hour video, you’ll learn how to design your own Verbal Routines and receive tips for achieving fantastic results fairly quickly with some children as you’ll see with clips of real children during therapy sessions with me and their parents.

If you’re more of a reader and want very specific directions for developing your own Verbal Routines, it’s actually Level 7 of the approach I use to teach late talkers to imitate words outlined in my book Building Verbal Imitation in Toddlers. If you need step-by-step instructions for working with a nonverbal child, then that book is the resource for you!

3. Wind-up Toys

I own at least 20 wind-up toys and here’s an example of a set. Wind up toys have worked for me for years!

Wind-up toys are a staple for my early therapy sessions, but an even more critical piece in my assessment for toddlers. A wind-up toy is the perfect way to assess several important skills in a baby as young as 11 or 12 months all the way through a 4 or 5 year old. In just minutes you’ll be able to determine a toddler’s joint attention skills, how he asks for help, how he understands a simple command like “Give it to me” and information about problem solving. In older preschoolers, you can also take a look at those fine motor skills! For a discussion of these skills, I’m writing a new post – 5 Things You Can Learn About a Toddler with a Wind-Up Toy.

Your target words for wind-up toys can be early requesting words such as “more” or “please,” but the word I typically start with for wind-up toys is “go.” I teach a child this word by consistently introducing the popular Verbal Routine “Ready, Set, Go!”

Let me give you some direction for how I implement this Verbal Routine with a wind-up toy. Start by getting the child’s attention with a warm smile, big eyes, and lots of anticipation as you wind up the toy. Slowly but excitedly say, “Ready…Set…Go!” Then set the toy on the table or floor to activate. If you don’t know how to use your voice and face to increase anticipation and establish a child’s attention, take a look at my book Teach Me To Play WITH You. In that book I give you step by step instructions for using early toys like wind-up toys and social games.

The other word I frequently teach with wind-up toys is “down” as I ask the child, “Where should we put it?” Then pat or slap wherever you’re setting the toy, as you excitedly model the word “Down!”

For children who are a little more verbal, teach action words. I have wind-up toys that jump or hop, walk, swim, and clap. It’s a perfect opportunity to introduce those kinds of early verbs.

You’ll find more good ideas for using wind-up toys in this Therapy Tip of the Week video.

4. Shape Sorter – Battat Sound Puzzle Box

As a rule, I don’t like shape sorters for teaching language because parents usually expect their child to learn the words for shapes such as “circle” or “triangle,” when their kids can’t even say simpler words like “milk” or “ball.” For new talkers, we always want to focus on the functional words a child needs in his everyday life. How many times should a child ask you for a “square” as he’s going about his day? Not many!

But I have found one shaper sorter toy that I do like. Mine is several years old so it’s not quite the same as this one here, but it’s close! There are shapes, but with cute animals on top. The thing I love is that the toy makes a very cool sound when the animal slides down the chute. You can still teach and have a child practice matching (a very important cognitive skill) like you would with any other shape sorter toy, but this one is an attention getter, and not as boring as the traditional shape sorter.

For children who are nonverbal, I mostly target play sounds and exclamatory words with this toy by making the animal sound as we’re choosing which animal to get and modeling (as best I can!) the “whoo” sound the toy makes as the shapes slide down the chute. Of course you can work on your early requesting signs and words for “more” or “please” or “again” and the location word “in” as you’re inserting the shape.

When a child needs help with receptive language, you can work teaching animal names by saying, “Where’s the cow?” or “Find the bear.” Here are more tips for this toy in this Therapy Tip of the Week at about the 6 minute mark:

5. Ball & Hammer Toy

With early talkers and any child under 2, I rarely do a session without this extremely engaging toy! You can find ball & hammer toys in lots of different versions by different companies. The one I’ve used for the last several years is shown here. The things that make this version so great are the squeaky hammer and the clear front so that kids can watch the ball fall into the hole, slide over a wheel, go into a tunnel, and roll out the door. Other features are matching the ball with the colored hole and teaching a child to sequence the entire routine by putting the ball in the hole, hitting it with the hammer, watching it make its way down to the door, getting the ball and starting over.

Because this toy involves a hammer, you’re teaching a child about tool use, but not in the sense of construction or repair work! We’re helping a toddler learn to use an object to accomplish a task. Play like this is an important step in learning how to use other objects during daily routines, such as eating with utensils, brushing his own teeth with a toothbrush, or using a hair brush to brush his hair.

Target words I teach with this toy are: ball, hammer, in, hole, out, door, hit (it), bang, boom, mine, more, please and down.

My most popular Verbal Routine with this toy is grabbing the ball as it comes out of the door before the child can get it and mischievously saying, “I got it!” I can’t tell you how many kids have started to try to imitate their first phrase using this Verbal Routine!

I used this ball and hammer toy in my first DVD Teach Me To Talk. Here’s a clip with this toy:

If you’re a visual learner and need to SEE other examples with how to use play-based activities to help a child learn to talk, Teach Me To Talk the DVD will be a good resource for you!

6. Mr. Potato Head

Mr. Potato Head is fantastic for early sessions. This is a basic vocabulary building activity since you can target body parts and basic clothing items such as hats and shoes. There are sets with purses and earrings and other “themed” sets related to holidays and children’s characters. Get the giant 2.5 size gallon ziplock bags so you can keep all of your accessories together. I would definitely use this during parent-child playtime only so your pieces don’t get lost.

7.Toddler Race Track

All car toys can be tons of fun for toddlers, but I love a good race track!

Kids will try to imitate the car noise, “Vroom, vroom,” if you leave the batteries in, but I took my batteries out long, long ago so the child learns to imitate me saying, “Vroom, vroom!” Or a raspberry car sound or any other goofy car sound you make!

Other targets are “Ready, set, go!” especially if you’ve introduced that phrase or word with other toys and are trying to generalize that word.

When a child LOVES this toy, I do use it for requesting. You can start with a general word, but I try to teach words like “car” or “truck” since the toy is motivating and the turns are very quick.

The race track comes with 2 cars and the cars are usually different colors. I’ve noticed that many parents default to trying to teach color words with this toy and having a child ask for the car by color with “red” or “green.” Resist that urge! It’s much better to teach functional words like “car” or “truck.” You’ll have to find another small truck that will work with this race track, but you probably already have one that fits, and it will provide a new vocabulary word for you to teach!

It is a little tricky to get the cars put back in the top to get ready to race again, but you can work on the word/sign for “help,” since toddlers may need assistance to learn how to place the car on at the top of the track.

This toy is one of my favorite toys to teach cause and effect. When a child over 12 months old doesn’t understand the concept of cause and effect (If I do this, then this happens,) you will have to do some direct teaching so they can learn this important cognitive concept.

You can see this super fun race track in action during this Therapy Tip of the Week video as well as some other toy options and ideas for teaching this important prerequisite for talking:

If you need help treating children with cognitive and receptive language delays, the best resource I can offer you is my Teach Me To Talk: Therapy Manual. You’ll find information about that book and my other therapy manuals in that post. Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual is a comprehensive guide for developing treatment plans for toddlers with cognitive, receptive, and expressive delays and disorders.

8. Djeco Blocks

There are hundreds of block sets available for toddlers and last year I introduced several of my favorite kinds of blocks in a series of Therapy Tip of the Week videos from last year.

My most favorite set of blocks is this darling one from Djeco. It is pricier than plain ole wooden blocks, but your possibilities for using this toy are unlimited! The blocks are so cute and graduated for stacking by size and have a rounded opening for a “door.” The set comes with several darling plastic animals for you to place in the “house.”

I have so many cute play routines for this toy, but in the beginning I tell the child we’re going to stack the blocks and I teach the word “build” or “up” as we’re stacking the blocks on top (“On top” is a good one too!) When several blocks are stacked, we choose an animal to go inside the opening of the block and, as I mentioned previously, I call this a “house.”

If a child is working on receptive language, I’ll teach him to learn the animal names and follow directions by holding 2 animals and asking, “Where’s the dog?” Once he’s chosen the correct animal, let the child put it in one of houses. Or model “up up up” as you make the animal climb up to find his house. You can knock on the door, which toddlers love, and you’re teaching them to imitate an action.

I use this toy often to introduce a toy to extend a child’s favorite social games. If a child likes peek-a-boo, we play this game with the animals by hiding them inside the blocks. The game most toddlers love with this toy is a version of sleeping or “night night,” where you pretend the dog is asleep and you wake him up. If you need more ideas for these kinds of fun social games, check out my book Teach Me To Play WITH You.

When a child is more verbal, you can try to elicit animal sounds or names. In case I haven’t said this clearly enough, the sillier you are, the better, when you’re teaching animal noises and other fun play sounds. Usually when you let go and really get in to playing by loudly modeling animal noises or doing ridiculous things with the animals, the better the child’s attention and participation will be!

Once the blocks are stacked, or anytime you feel like you’re losing the child’s attention with blocks, ask him to knock over the tower. I love anything with “fall down” as the gag, because toddlers love it and I can get them to do it over and over again.

Target words I teach with this toy are: block, up, push, uh-oh, fall down, knock knock (on the “doors” when animals are in the blocks), animal names, animal sounds, and names of objects on the blocks.

You can also target size words with this set by teaching a child with directions like, “Let’s find the big one,” or “That one is little”  as you’re stacking and playing.

9. Baby Doll and Accessories

Dolls are the best and easiest early “pretend” toy you can introduce with young children. For dads who feel that dolls are too feminine for their sons, try a boy doll, or a character doll, or even a stuffed animal.

I stick to plastic baby dolls, rather than cloth, so we can give the doll a bath in REAL water!

Beyond the doll, you’ll need to add accessories to build a child’s play skills by providing options for play. The doll in the link comes with a few accessories, but some of them are above where you’ll begin with many late talkers.

My basic set of baby doll accessories for toddlers at this developmental level includes one doll, a cup or bottle, one or two spoons, a bowl, a hat, a baby wipe, and a brush. I mix and match toys all the time OR I grab whatever is laying around the house that will work. There’s no need to buy a special baby doll bowl when you can walk in your kitchen and grab one out of your cabinet!

The most obvious way to begin teaching pretending is by playfully demonstrating how to use the objects on the baby doll. Develop some cute and silly play routines with lots of sound effects. When you’re giving the baby doll a drink, slurp loudly. If you’re offering the doll a bite from the spoon, say “Mmm mmm mmm.” The more fun you are, the longer the child will play with you, I promise!

Using play sounds and exclamatory words like the examples I gave you are an important step in learning how to talk. If you need more information about the steps that many nonverbal toddlers need to master before they learn to say their first word, I can help you in my book Building Verbal Imitation Skills in Toddlers. If you’re a therapist and want to take my full course on DVD with CEUs, check it out here in Steps to Building Verbal Imitation in Toddlers.

When a toddler seems uninterested in the dolls, it nearly always means he’s not developmentally ready to understand this kind of pretend play yet. You’ll need to back up and teach him the prerequisite skills. To introduce the baby doll with this kind of child, try patting, kissing, or hugging the baby first. Model those actions for him with LOTS of ENTHUSIASM – meaning that playing with this doll is the most fun thing you have ever done in your entire life!! When a parent seems too reserved or too adult-like during play, I always say this, “Ratchet it up a notch! Make it goofier! Be more fun! If you wouldn’t be embarrassed if your neighbor walked in and caught you playing, you’re not doing it right!”

Another way to hook a child’s initial interest in pretend play is by encouraging him to use the objects on himself (or on you!) for a while before you try to get him to play with the doll. Don’t be distressed if he wants to pretend to eat with the spoon, wear the doll’s hat, or brush his own hair. That’s what he’s supposed to do before he figures out how to use it with the doll! It’s all a part of the process!

There are so many language concepts you can teach with dolls and a few extras in the previous paragraph. First of all, target receptive language by teaching a child to follow directions such as, “Feed the baby” and “Brush her hair” and “Where’s her hat?” For toddlers who understand more words, expand to higher level concepts such as, “She’s sleepy. What should she do?” If you’d like to have more guidance for developing and working on  these kinds of less obvious “goals” for a child, take a look at my book Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual.

Dolls can be fabulous for teaching expressive language too. See my list of words in the following paragraph. For starters, have a child ask for every single thing you’re going to do with the dolls. There will be multiple options for what you teach as you add new accessories and become creative when you think about the kinds of words you will introduce. With dolls, you can teach not only new nouns (or names of objects), but verbs (action words), prepositions (location words), pronouns (words for possession) and descriptive words.

Here’s an extensive list of target words  I use with dolls by category:

Nouns– baby or doll, all of the nouns/names for all of the accessories you’re using such as spoon, bowl, bottle, cup, brush, hat, socks, etc…

Verbs – actions you do with dolls – wash, eat, sleep, drink, jump, walk, dance, swing, night-night, etc…

Prepositions – location words you can target – up, down, in, out, off, on – clothing items can be put on/off, baby can be put in/out of various things, baby can climb up, fall down, etc….

Descriptive Words – big, little, wet, dry, yucky, stinky, pretty, etc…

Here are 3 Therapy Tip of the Week videos with tips for teaching pretend play with dolls. The first one includes ideas for early play and the complexity increases with each segment.

10. Easy Wooden Puzzles

In previous posts I’ve admitted this, and I’ll share it here too…

I own an embarrassing number of toddler puzzles, but they are “gold” when it comes to targeting language.

The best puzzles for toddlers have wooden pegs or tiny knobs for easy handling by little fingers. Each picture is one individual piece that comes out separately.

Wooden puzzles are cheap ($3-$10) and most toddlers love to do them. You can find puzzles with any kind of theme – farm animals, zoo animals, vehicles, food, bath time, toys, etc… I’ve linked several here so you can be sure you’re looking for VARIETY! Don’t buy more than a couple for each theme!

Stay away from puzzles with ABCs, colors, and numbers until your child is really talking. Stick to puzzles with words a child needs to expand his vocabulary with new words.

Of course you can teach a child to say new words with puzzles, but many times a toddler isn’t quite ready for this during early sessions. What should you do then? Puzzles are great for targeting an earlier skill – building receptive language or what a child understands. You’re teaching a child to learn new words as you label the piece as you place it in the puzzle, but there are several better ways to target comprehension with puzzles. You can hold up 2 different pieces and say, “Get the ___.” Or place several pieces on floor and ask him, “Where’s the ___.”

You can also target receptive language during clean up time with puzzles. After you’ve named the pieces as he’s putting the piece in, tell him which piece to get to clean up the puzzle. Expand receptive language more by asking him tougher questions, “Which one says moo?” “Which one flies?” Which one goes in the water?”  “Which one do you wear on your feet?”

One more IMPORTANT tip…

DON’T INSIST THAT THE CHILD DO THE WHOLE PUZZLE BEFORE YOU PUT IT AWAY.

When you do this, you are CONTRIBUTING to all sort of undesirable behavior!! No wonder he cries or throws or whatever else he does that you don’t like… if he can’t sit still that long, he can’t sit still that long! It’s up to YOU to make it fun enough so that a child wants to stay! If he does 2 pieces today, that’s okay. He may do 3 tomorrow and 4 the next day. Take it at each child’s pace! I promise this is a better “no tears” way : )

Watch how to do this in a clip from my DVD Teach Me To Listen and Obey 2 as I’m working on both receptive and expressive language with one of my little friends in a really fun way with a “racing” game with puzzles:

Here’s one last Therapy Tip of the Week video with additional tips for wooden puzzles:

So…

that’s my “first sessions” toy list. Did you find some new ideas or get energized to use the toys you already have in new ways? I hope so!!!

I have other lists to share with you too – Best Books for Toddlers with Delays.

Until next time…

Laura

The post “First Sessions” Toy List for Toddlers in Speech Therapy from teachmetotalk.com appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

Can you believe it’s November already? You’ve probably used all of your standard therapy ideas for this time of year by now, so this week I want to share a few of my favorite fall therapy ideas for toddlers to carry you through the home stretch into Thanksgiving.

Today’s ideas are rich with opportunities to introduce new vocabulary for toddlers and young preschoolers with language delays. I’ve used each of these activities with success with individual children, as well as small groups of children in homes (think siblings!), daycare, and in classroom settings.

Circle Time or Music Activity

Channel your inner cheerleader and “chant” this catchy poem. Chanting is a fantastic alternative for a child with auditory sensitivities who dislikes hearing you sing!

I love this little song for so many reasons, but before I list those, here are the directions. Stand up while singing for more fun!

Gray Squirrel   

Gray squirrel, gray squirrel, Shake your bushy tail. (Shake your booty!)

Gray squirrel, gray squirrel, Shake your bushy tail. (Shake it again.)

Wrinkle up your little nose, (Point to your wrinkled nose.)

Put a nut between your toes, (Point to your toes.)

Gray squirrel, gray squirrel, Shake your bushy tail.

Now for all the great reasons this song “works” as a therapy activity:

1. “Squirrel” is probably a new word for most of the children you see. Even if a child lives in the city, if he’s outdoors at all this time of year, he’ll likely see a squirrel. With a little coaching from you, you’ve given his parents something new to look for and talk about. Because this is a new word, to help a child link meaning for the word squirrel, catch and bring in a live squirrel for… I’m kidding! However, it will help to find a life-like photograph and talk about a squirrel before and after you sing the song. Google and print a picture.

Say something like, “Look! See! Here’s my squirrel. It’s an animal. A squirrel. This squirrel is gray. Look! Where’s his tail? Let’s find his nose. Does he have toes? I see his toes right there. Squirrels live outside in trees. Squirrels like to eat nuts. I know a song about squirrels…”

2. When you’re performing the motions to the song, you’re teaching imitation with body movements. Imitating is THE critical first step to help a nonverbal child learn to talk. Imitation doesn’t begin with words either. It starts with imitating actions and body movements.

If that’s new information for you, let me direct your attention to my book, Building Verbal Imitation in Toddlers, to outline why and how this process works.

3. You can modify the color word in the song to teach new vocabulary for a child who is obsessed with colors and you’re using his fascination with color words as your “in” for teaching language. If the child knows the color “brown,” sing that version instead. OR introduce the “gray” for a child who is ready to expand his repertoire of color words. I would stick to the color in your picture of the squirrel so as not to confuse the child. OR for a child who is ready, you can teach that squirrels can be different colors. See more ideas to below in Expansion Activities for teaching this concept.

4. You’re also teaching and reinforcing body parts here with the words “nose” and “toes” and even “tail!”

Expansion Activities

1. To solidly introduce that squirrels can be different colors, print two coloring pages of a squirrel and color (or paint if you’re really brave!) one brown squirrel and one gray squirrel. Some toddlers will NOT be developmentally ready to understand this complex idea. For those kids, color or paint the squirrel the same color as your picture and song.

2. Another super fun related activity is to play with a squirrel stuffed animal. I bought several at Dollar Tree 12 years ago when I ran a playgroup program for toddlers and they were a big hit. I retired those poor things last year because they were too worn, but I found a great alternative with an “Alvin and the Chipmunks” set. I removed the clothes and have used those as my “squirrels.” Toddlers won’t be too picky about squirrels vs. chipmunks! Take a walk outside and gather real nuts for the squirrels to pretend to eat. You can also target verbs and teach run, jump, and climb.

3. My FAVORITE follow-up activity for this song is playing a newer board game called “The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game.” I bought mine at Amazon, but I’ve seen it this year in several stores, including my local Kroger Marketplace. Here’s a picture and with several suggestions for goals.

For children with coordinated fine motor skills, use the squirrel tongs to place nuts in the tree stumps. Most of the toddlers I see cannot manipulate the squirrel tongs, so I’ve used well-worn toddler tongs. More often, I’ve let them use their fingers, which is challenging enough for many of our kids! Older preschoolers may be ready to spin the spinner and understand how to play the game and follow the rules. Most of the time, I totally disregard the rules and play in whatever way I think will hold the child’s attention. An obvious cognitive goal is to teach or practice color matching.

I always work on requesting with this game. Hold the nuts in your hand or place the nuts in a Ziploc bag and give the child a nut after he requests using your carefully selected target word or sign. If a child is new to therapy, choose easy words and signs like “more,” “please,” or “nut.” If a child loves colors and already knows some of those words, let him request by saying the color he wants. If he’s working on phrases, you can easily incorporate that goal here with several different phrase combinations.

This is a great game for helping a child become more spontaneous with requests because you can sit and playfully withhold the bag or close your hand until he asks for another nut. Don’t overuse that strategy though, or you may lose him altogether!

Another fun word I’ve successfully taught with this game is “NO!” You can purposefully mismatch the colored nuts and exaggerate shaking your head and finger while saying, “Does it go here? NO!!! NO!!! NO!!!”

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That’s all for today!! Look for posts later this week for a darling song about turkeys and ideas for your remaining pumpkins!

Let me know how these activities have worked for you!

Laura

Do you want more ideas like this?

My Best Tips for Making Circle Time Successful so toddlers can successfully participate in small group activities at preschool, daycare, or little gym or library programs

Watch my Therapy Tip of the Week Videos for recommendations, goals, and instructions with specific toys for toddlers and young preschoolers.

Or go straight to my Videos Page to watch lots and lots of clips including Therapy Tip of the Week without the posts.

The post Fall Therapy Ideas for Toddlers…Squirrels! appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

PARENTS, ARE YOU FRUSTRATED TRYING TO TEACH YOUR TODDLER TO TALK?
ARE OTHER CHILDREN HIS AGE ASKING FOR WHAT THEY WANT AND NEED  WHILE HE CAN ONLY CRY?

Find help for toddlers with speech delay…

Maybe the experts tell you everything’s fine. But you can’t get past that nagging feeling that things should be getting better. And they just aren’t.

As a parent, there’s nothing more frustrating than watching your precious baby struggle to learn to communicate. While friends’ and relatives’ toddlers are all saying “Mama” and “ball” and even forming simple sentences, your child can only cry in frustration, locked away from the world of words that should to be opening up for her.

You can’t help feeling embarrassed, or jealous, or even angry. Why YOUR child? Why does it have to be so hard?

You would give anything for your baby to be able to ask for help when he needs it, or tell you he loves you when he snuggles close.

Everyone tells you, “Oh, she’ll talk when she’s ready.”

Even the pediatrician insists there’s nothing seriously wrong. But you KNOW your child. You know she WANTS to communicate. You see her trying. You know she’s ready now.

But no matter how hard you try to help her, the words don’t come.

Maybe your child is seeing a speech therapist. But it’s hard when the techniques the therapist tells you to use at home are too hard and too complicated for you , let alone your toddler!

I want to tell you right now, the problem is not you.

And it’s not your child.

The problem is simply that you don’t have the simple, easy to understand tools you need to help your child communicate.

Until now.

Right now, TODAY, there IS something you can do. Without letting another painful, frustrating, heartbreaking day go by.

BECAUSE FINALLY, THERE’S AN EASY, FUN, NO-TEARS METHOD THAT’S PROVEN TO HELP TEACH YOUR TODDLER TO TALK.

It’s called Teach Me To Talk, and take it from a mother who’s been there! And it’s just amazing.

The Teach Me To Talk DVD is packed with strategies that will unlock that beautiful voice your child has locked away inside. And best of all, these strategies are PROVEN to be simple to learn, easy to apply, and best of all, successful in teaching young children to talk.

Order here.

Interested in seeing the Teach Me To Talk techniques in action? Here’s a quick preview of the Six Essential Strategies you’ll learn — and a glimpse of the first technique you’ll see:

What makes Teach Me To Talk different?

It was developed by Laura Mize, a pediatric speech-language pathologist who has literally spent thousands of hours and 20 years on the floor, helping toddlers just like yours and mine learn to communicate.

Laura has read stacks and stacks of research on the subject of delayed speech in children. She’s attended more professional courses than you can count. She’s taken the best of the best from all the ‘experts’ in language development.

And she’s condensed all those years of learning and experience and trial and error into a single DVD, with the six most simple, most practical, MOST EFFECTIVE strategies to get your child talking. And best of all, you can start using them the minute you start watching the DVD.

“Thank you so much for this DVD! Our 3 and a half year old son has apraxia and only has 10-12 clear words. When I first started watching this DVD, I wondered if I could ever be that animated. About 5 minutes into the DVD, my son walked into the room and was instantly fascinated. He sat with me and watched the rest with me! His reaction was truly amazing, and our speech therapy will never be the same again! The most amazing thing to me, though, was how my son interacted with you! During the 90 minute video he  got two new words: choo choo and boom. He also tried to say pull and barn, and learned the sign for fish. Twice he signed ‘give me’ and then touched a toy you were playing with, and every time you tried to get a child to say a word he knows, he would say it with you.” Robyn, mother from Wyoming

Order here.

How wonderful would it feel to hear your child say “Mama?”

You’ve been waiting for that moment since he was born and you first held him in your arms. But as the months have dragged by, you may have started to lose hope that you will ever communicate with your baby, to hear what he wants, what he needs, what he feels.

And even if your toddler can say a few words, is it taking longer for her to communicate than other children her age? Are you constantly trying to interpret what you think she might be saying, or asking for?

Maybe both of you are ending up in tears.

“When I watched the DVD, I felt like I was reliving my son’s life for the past 1 1/2 years now. It was a little sad in some ways, but on the other hand, if I concentrate on where he is now and how far he’s come, it’s positive!..” Holly, a mother from New Hampshire

Order here.

The Secret is Simple- Change Your Approach!

Of course, you’ve been trying to teach your child to talk. It’s what parents do. But if what you’re doing hasn’t been working, the solution is simple.

Change your approach.

If you’re like me, you’re probably wondering what that can possibly mean when you’ve tried EVERYTHING. The problem is, you’ve probably tried without really knowing what to do, or how to do it.

This DVD will change everything. Because a lot of the time, it’s not what you do, but HOW you do it. Teach Me To Talk will lay out step by step, in easy-to-follow terms, exactly what you can and should be doing to help your baby learn to talk.

“I know for a fact that Laura’s approach really does work because I’ve been using it for years myself! Don’t be afraid to copy exactly what she says, how and when she says it! It is not hard and can become second nature to you, just as it has to me. By implementing her approach, you will set the stage for both you and your child to be successful!”  Kate, Developmental Interventionist, Kentucky

If your child has a language delay, no doubt you’ve heard it all. There’s always the well-meaning friend who tells you, “Boys talk later than girls.” Or the mother-in-law who tells you to “Wait and see” (while you worry what she’s saying about your parenting skills behind your back).

The fact is, the most critical time for language development in a child is from birth through age three. So if you feel in your heart that something’s not right, you’re probably on to something. You know your child.

Most parents of children with language delays regret that they waited to do something. The good news is, YOU DON’T HAVE TO WAIT ANY LONGER.

Teach Me To Talk will show you a better, easier way to do things. Things you can do RIGHT NOW, at home, that will help your child learn to talk. It’s all about learning a new and better way of working with your child.

After all, as a parent, you are the most important teacher your child will ever have.

“Just wanted to let you know how thrilled I am with your video. I just received it five days ago and I’ve watched it every morning to gear up for working with my daughter each day and I have to tell you what a difference it has made! My daughter has been in therapy for a year and a half (she’s 31 months) and she would often run from me during our ‘play’ sessions. Finally, after only five days, she is starting to think that her mommy is fun during playtime! Thank you for giving me a way to really connect with my daughter on a new level. This video is priceless.” Helen

“I do think the video will be very helpful for parents with late talkers. The ideas are great, and you really do show them how to do the things you are talking about which is very important!..” Holly, mother from New Hampshire

Secrets Your Speech Therapist Hasn’t Told You (or might not even know!!!!)

“Even when weekly therapy reports indicated a great deal of progress, we weren’t always seeing that progress at home. The Teach Me To Talk DVD has dramatically changed the number of words we hear. Seeing the techniques you use, and seeing how easy they are to incorporate in to our daily routines has been a blessing. I can get so many words and even phrases out of my both my toddlers by incorporating playfulness in to our daily activities. As a working mom, I’ve always felt as if I’m not as active in my children’s therapy as I should be. You DVD is finally helping me make that connection. Thank you so much for such a fantastic tool!” Stephanie, Mother from Kentucky

Speech therapy is a specialized skill, that’s why speech therapists charge hundreds — even thousands — of dollars for their services. But the very same techniques they use can be SIMPLIFIED, so that you can use them at home.

Teach Me To Talk will teach YOU how to use the very best, most effective techniques speech therapists charge hundreds of dollars for. Watch and learn as these techniques are explained in plain language so that you can use them at home. Then, see each technique in action.

And you won’t just see how it works with one child, but with 20 different toddlers, all with different personalities and challenges. You’ll be amazed and inspired by their progress as each and every one of them learns to talk, just like your child can with the Teach Me To Talk DVD.

“The DVD brought tears to my eyes (not your goal I’m sure, but there you go!). Each strategy you used – reminded me of my child. It is amazing how simple techniques (most of which we take for granted) can help a non-verbal child become verbal. Another thing I learned from my experience with being a mom, a pediatrician, having your guidance and the DVD – is that language, talking, speech, and articulation involve SO many other aspects of development.” Ranjana, pediatrician and mom from Ohio

If your child is a late talker, you’ve probably read dozens of parenting books and looked for advice on the internet. But when you apply it to YOUR child, it doesn’t always make sense.

Do you try to do what the “experts” say, but find it just doesn’t work with your child?

The secret isn’t just knowing WHAT to do, but WHY you need to do it, and better yet, seeing exactly HOW to do it. Teach Me To Talk unlocks those secrets.

“The DVD was quite different from what I expected – in a good way. I hardly expected to see so much one-on-one with the kids, and it was great!” Kristyn, mother from New Hampshire

“The DVD is great! I wish I had had this when we first started down the path with Gabe who has been diagnosed with apraxia.” Julie, mother from Illinois

View It — Then Do It!

You don’t have to read another book. You don’t have to make time for a class. All you need is a TV and a DVD player  or your computer, and you can watch and learn at your own pace, in your own time, in your own home.

And your child can be right there with you while you learn!

“I recently watched a DVD that has been advertised on this site called Teach Me to Talk, by Laura Mize, Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist. The DVD was 90 minutes long and taught six strategies to teach your child to talk.

It is aimed at toddlers who are delayed in speech…..which is how I will use it. It has tons of video of the speech therapist actually working with children! This was so informative. Laura Mize explains what she is doing while showing actual video of her working with children with delays! These are things you can incorporate in every day interaction with your child. I finished watching the video feeling like I could really teach my child to talk!

From the time I first learned Sophie had autism, I have wanted to see what a speech therapist actually did while working with a child. I desperately want to homeschool Sophie, but until now I have been in the dark about what the experts do to get children to talk. Now I have video examples to work with.

I watch this video with my 3 children in the room, and my daughter Sophie, was actually playing along with the video! I highly recommend this video for anyone who has a child with delayed speech. It is worth every penny.” Sarah, mother and author of the website www.wakingsophie.com

Teach Me To Talk takes the camera INSIDE therapy sessions with children just like yours. Whatever stage your child is at, if you’re just wondering if there’s a problem, if you’ve already seen a professional or if your child is currently in speech therapy, you’ll see all kinds of children in all kinds of situations.

So you’ll discover the very best techniques to use with YOUR child.

“Seeing these tips in action was very beneficial. When you have a child that is language delayed, you want to do as much at home as you can – after all, our children are at home most of all! And this DVD helped me do that.”  Kristyn, mother from New Hampshire

All of this for only $39.99???

It can be expensive teaching your child to communicate.

Conferences that teach parents and therapists cost hundreds of dollars  and take up hours and hours of time.

But the Teach Me To Talk DVD has all the information you need for only $39.99. That’s less than 1/3 the cost of a typical one-day training conference.

And the Teach Me To Talk DVD is packed full of ideas and tips you can use all day, every day as your child learns to communicate. Plus, it’s yours to keep and watch over and over again until you master the techniques.

“I have worked with quite a few speech therapists in my practice as a developmental interventionist. In ten years, I’ve only worked with one that was universally appreciated by parents and young children alike! Thanks to this DVD, you no longer have to live in our county to benefit from Laura Mize’s unique and effective approach. For a minimal investment, she comes live to your living room to demonstrate her highly successful approach to speech and language therapy.” Kate, Developmental Interventionist, Kentucky

To order, click this link.

Teach Me To Talk the DVD is now available for $39.99 plus shipping. Order yours now!

“A lot of the therapy techniques that you use, some and or all of his therapists have used EXCEPT for a few things. First, your enthusiasm, it’s AWESOME!!!!! I have never seen any of my son’s therapists be so upbeat and fun as you were in your video. I wish they had been because I know my son would respond so well to that in therapy. Any time I play with him at home and do some of the things you do with your kids, like tickling them and just being ‘silly,’ his whole frame of mind changes and I can usually get him to try whatever it is again at least one more time.” Holly, mother from New Hampshire

Watch how you can learn sign language to help teach your child to communicate.

“I also like the emphasis put on signing with your child. I was very hesitant to do this with my son at first, I was afraid it would hurt his speech development, but it helped him learn that he has to do something to get something, now anytime I hear someone say they are hesitant about signing, I pipe up and tell them to please consider it. What a great DVD! It will be a huge help to other parents like me!” Julie, mother from Illinois

Teach Me To Talk the DVD is now available for $39.99 plus shipping. Order yours now!

Get The Must-Have Speech Therapy DVD Recommended For Both Parents and Professionals!

The Teach Me To Talk DVD was especially designed for parents. But the techniques used are equally beneficial for professionals. Anyone who works with young children can learn from these PROVEN, EFFECTIVE techniques, including speech-language pathologists, developmental interventionists and therapists, occupational therapists, service coordinators, family therapists, and preschool teachers.

“I think this DVD is a tremendous & invaluable guidance tool for parents, preschool teachers, caregivers, and other therapists (speech, occupational, developmental, etc) and should be used as an accessory aid for anyone involved in early childhood development.” Ranjana, pediatrician and mother, Ohio

“Teach Me to Talk is an easy to watch DVD that empowers parents and caregivers with the ‘how to’ skills to not only promote speech development, but also PLAY. As an occupational therapist, I believe that play is an important ‘job’ for a child, but it requires more interaction from a parent than just watching a child play. Finally, parents have a visual tool that teaches them how to interact and play with their child so that he or she will not only learn to talk but will be on the road to reaching their optimal potential! The techniques are easy to implement, and you will discover playing with your child is actually fun!” Carey White, OTR/L, Occupational Therapist

The Teach Me To Talk program is so effective, university speech pathology programs all over the world have ordered this DVD to train their new grad students! Several state early intervention agencies have purchased Teach Me To Talk for their loan libraries to make these proven techniques available to parents and therapists.

Why? Because the experts know,Teach Me To Talk does exactly what it says it does.

“This is an excellent training DVD for parents of late talkers. The strategies that Laura teaches are the same ones she used when working with my son, who has apraxia of speech. My son made incredible progress working with Laura. These strategies are very effective and easy to apply to a variety of speech and Ianguage disorders. I wish all speech therapists possessed this level of knowledge and skill. As a Speech-Language Pathologist, I would recommend this DVD to my parents of late talkers. As a Mom of a late talker, I would recommend this DVD to all speech therapists working with children.” Laurie Felty, Speech-Language Pathologist

“I just finished your DVD. It was great! I really got into it and actually found myself taking notes! As a PSC (early intervention service coordinator) it was helpful to see the speech therapy in motion so I can answer some questions from parents. As an OT is was refreshing to see some OT techniques embedded into the speech therapy activities.” Cindy, Louisville, KY

“Thank you so much for allowing me to preview your DVD! I will put these techniques into practice myself on Monday morning with my clients! They’re not going to recognize me anymore! I learned so much from watching you provide therapy, and I will never use those same approaches again. This DVD has rekindled my excitement for pediatric speech therapy. I can?t wait for next week to come so I can try them out! One more thing – Why didn’t they teach me this in grad school? Thanks again!” Penelope, Speech-Language Pathologist, Kansas

Another Mom’s Testimonial

Even experienced therapists struggle with the challenge of providing therapy that’s developmentally-appropriate for toddlers.

One on hand, it needs to be entertaining enough to hold their attention. But on the other hand, it needs to provide real growth and learning opportunities in order to be “therapeutic.” Teach Me To Talk effortlessly combines the two, illustrating WHAT to do and HOW to do it in a wide range of situations.

“What I especially loved was that it wasn’t just clips of the PERFECT session; you showed us what to do when a kid turned away, or lost interest, or was more difficult to engage (for instance, touching the child or changing their position). Let’s face it, sometimes kids have their own agenda!” Kristyn, mother of a child with apraxia, New Hampshire

The 1 hour Teach Me To Talk DVD is packed with plenty of “HOW TO” examples you can begin using right away with clients in your practice. Learn how to make therapy FUN, how to keep a busy toddler’s attention, and how to select successful and age-appropriate techniques that will lead to SUCCESS for you and your clients.

You’ll see toys that are “winners” with children at various developmental levels from 12-36 months old, watching the kids in action and seeing how the toys work.

“Just watching how my son interacted with the DVD made me a believer in how engaged he will become once it stops being ‘work’ and begins being fun.” Robyn, mother of a 3 year old with a language delay and apraxia, Wyoming

You’ll learn how to use play and food as THE focus for therapy — not just the reward at the end of the session!

“The whole idea of using food during speech is awesome. I will usually reward him with something after therapy especially if his self esteem is a little low that day or he’s just having an off day, but I never thought of buying something to use when working with him, nor have any of his therapists used food .” Holly, mother of a 3 year old with apraxia, New Hampshire

Teach Me To Talk is packed with essential, must-have tips to make your sessions more natural, more kid-friendly, and most importantly, more effective.

“If you are the parent of a young child who has been in speech therapy, you may have already learned the hard way that children don’t necessarily respond to all speech therapists efforts to ‘teach them to talk.’ Despite being well intentioned, far too many speech therapists attempt to implement the same strategies that they use with school- age children or mistakenly believe that young children ‘choose’ not to talk. As a result, young children are frequently frustrated by inappropriate techniques or by speech therapists who aren’t using developmentally appropriate techniques.” Kate, Developmental Interventionist, Kentucky

Of course, there are plenty of things that just DON’T work with toddlers, and you’ll learn what those are too! Watch here as Teach Me To Talk illustrates a classic example of one of the most common mistakes parents and professionals make when trying to teach a toddler to communicate:

Teach Me To Talk the DVD is now available for an introductory offer of $39.99 plus shipping and handling. This is for a limited time only! Click here to order.

More feedback….

“I also liked the tips in the ‘withholding’ section. A lot of times, we Moms are instructed to do so (by putting toys out of reach and such), but sometimes it is difficult to judge just how much is too much or how long is too long. You gave easy to understand tip to follow. How to push just far enough to elicit a response, but not so far as to discourage language, or cause too much frustration.” Kristyn, mom from New Hampshire

“I love the part about not ruining the interaction and to keep it going with humor, this is SO important. I can’t tell you how many times I probably lost Gabe in the process of working with him because it was too drill like. The withholding concept is explained perfectly. It was never explained to me as well as you did, I failed to keep it playful and as a result totally killed the communication with Gabe. As you say in the DVD, you will miss the effectiveness and the child won’t learn anything! I plan on trying to keep things much more playful with him from now on when it comes to withholding.” Julie, Mom from Illinois

If you’ve been struggling to help a late talker learn to communicate, there’s no need to wait another day to hear those precious words. Order Teach Me To Talk today, and you’ll be on your way to a healthier, happier relationship with your child tomorrow.

Teach Me To Talk the DVD is available NOW for an introductory offer of $39.99 plus shipping. This is for a limited time only! Order yours now! Click here.

Read more feedback from parents and SLPs alike –

“As members of the medical community and parents of two toddlers who experienced speech delay, we can personally attest to the value and effectiveness of Laura’s instructional video, Teach Me to Talk.The teaching points reinforced throughout the DVD are parent friendly, reproducible, and easy to follow.Laura repeatedly demonstrates simple and effective techniques that promote language skills, while at the same time emphasizing a fun and engaging environment for both parent and child.Jane Rice, RN and Michael Rice, MD

“Hi Laura. I just finished watching your DVD and am so impressed You really did a terrific job putting everything into “parent-friendly” language, and your examples are super. Thanks so much for doing this. I look forward to sharing it with the parents in our practice. By the way, I am working on a 3rd edition for my “Childhood Speech, Language & Listening Problems: What Every Parent Should Know” book, and I will definitely include your DVD and website. You have so much great information on there.” Patti Hamaguchi, Speech-Language Pathologist and Director, Hamaguchi & Associates, Cupertino, CA 

“I have been a Speech and Language Pathologist for 12 years, and I have worked in the early intervention for the last 2 years.In my quest to provide the best services I could for the children I worked with, I scoured the internet looking for therapy tips.I hit a gold mine when I found Laura Mize’s Teach Me to Talk website.Her website has wonderfully informative articles, but being the visual person that I am, it was even more helpful to see her therapy techniques in action.The Teach Me to Talk DVD is a valuable tool for anyone looking for hands on ideas to help develop speech and language skills for toddlers, and it is an especially valuable tool for those in the profession. No matter if you are a seasoned pro or a grad student; you will surely find many helpful tips and ideas to make the most of your therapy sessions with toddlers. he DVD does a great job of putting the information into very simple and easy to understand steps.I also found it helpful that Laura did not just show the sessions where ‘everything’ goes perfect, because in the real therapy world it often does not.Her DVD includes several clips that show you how to playfully re-direct those ‘little angels’ when they might not be at their ‘toddler best.’This is really a wonderful tool, and I will be recommending the DVD not only to my early intervention parents, but also to the other early intervention speech therapist I know.” —Yvonne Smith, Speech and Language Pathologist MS, CCC-SLP, Sacramento, California

To order and see other products from teachmetotalk.com, click here.

This DVD is now available for ASHA CEUs for SLPs! Order the DVD and then click here for CEU information and to purchase!

The post “Discover The Best Approach To Teach Your Toddler To Talk” appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

I’m so excited to share this darling idea for making ribbon toys. Beyond being fun for toddlers, this homemade activity targets fine motor, cognitive, sensory, and visual processing skills. If you’re wondering WHY this is important for speech-language development, then watch the video!

)

For additional ideas to work on important prerequisites for language, check out my book Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual!

The post Ideas for Fine Motor and Cognitive Skills – Therapy Tip of the Week for 3.12.14 appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

Before I list links to some of my favorites, I want to share with you WHY these games are excellent additions to your early intervention strategies.

1. These kinds of simple games play to many toddlers’ strengths.

So many of our little friends who struggle to learn language exhibit excellent visual skill strengths. This means they learn more by seeing than by hearing words. A toddler may not understand play routines that are heavily language dependent, but he may thrive when given an opportunity to complete a visual task he enjoys and understands. Don’t you like to do things you’re good at? Me too!

Because this is a learning strength for a child, these games can be used as a “break” between other language activities that may be much more difficult. When you’re sensing that a child is becoming too frustrated during a session or even at home, switching gears to this kind of task will reset the child’s mood and motivation.

Most toddlers and even preschoolers with delays understand and enjoy any activity when “put it in, take it out” is the primary focus. All of these tasks are based on this kind of container play and will be easy enough for most young children. When anything is easy for a child, it’s a strength. Use it in your therapy plan!

2. SLPs and other therapists can use these games for structured teaching tasks to help a toddler learn important prerequisites required for participation in play.

I think about these games as helping a toddler learn to initiate, participate, and maintain attention to task, and finally, to teach task completion. Many of our little clients can be described as “busy.” Completing a 9 piece puzzle, sitting quietly through an entire book, or even playing with a traditional toys like a Mr. Potato Head or a pretend kitchen may be immensely difficult due to the level of attention required. Some of our little guys can’t sit for more than a couple of minutes (or less!)

The time to complete these games can be adjusted as a child progresses. Initially one of these activities may be completed, start to finish, in under a minute or two. Over time the adult can easily increase the length of time a child participates by adding a few more pieces to a favorite activity or introducing a similar activity that’s just a little more difficult, which requires more time and concentration.

These activities can be designed with a distinct beginning, middle, and end so toddlers learn how to complete an entire task. This is a huge step in helping many young children learn to stick with a play routine rather than quickly moving on to the next “new” thing.

3. These games can teach cognitive skills to serve as foundation for language.

Some toddlers with speech-language delays also exhibit global developmental challenges. These young children need focused teaching with extended practice in order to learn important cognitive skills such as discriminating, matching, and sorting objects by features like size and color.

4. These games are perfect diversions in therapy sessions or at home.

Sometimes these activities become such favorites that I can extend a session when a child otherwise seems “done.” When these activities are firmly established, I can pull them out for the child to complete when I need to discuss something with a parent.

At home a mom can use these games when she needs to make a phone call, take a quick shower, or do anything else for a few minutes while her child is busy completing his game.

5. These are also great ideas for “no toy bag” programs since families have many of these materials available at home.

Many state early intervention programs discourage providers from taking toys to therapy visits in a child’s home. (Boo! Don’t get me started…)

If this is your situation, these kinds of activities are perfect for providing a little bit of structure and specific suggestions for moms who seem to need more ideas. Even if families don’t have an inventory on hand of these kinds of supplies, they’re cheap and easy to find.

I’d suggest that you set up several of these activities to teach parents how to make these games. I keep mine in (you guessed it!) 2.5 gallon Ziploc bags so they’re ready anytime I need one and can easily reuse the bags from child to child and from year to year. Because these games are so inexpensive to make, I routinely give these away to moms who may not have enough time, money, or follow-through to make them themselves. If your game stays intact, you can rotate the bag to another family. If it doesn’t (and it probably won’t!), you’ve not lost a lot of money.

If you’re a visual learner and need some specific ideas to get started, here are some links to examples of these kinds of activities/games:

Mess for Less

Happy Hooligans

If you want tons and tons of ideas, check out Pinterest! Here’s a link to one of my boards with fantastic examples:

teachmetotalk.com’s Pinterest Boards

I also made a Therapy Tip of the Week video in 2012 with directions for making a few of these activities and tips for using these games in therapy:

Easy First Games

If you’ve not included these games routinely for therapy, I hope this post changed your mind! Go dig around in your cabinets for materials and make something FUN!

Have you heard my podcast on this topic??? It’s show # 226 5 Reasons to Include Simple Homemade Activities for Toddlers. Listen here!

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That kind of perseverative play is often seen in toddlers with developmental delays. We need to break this pattern so that a child can move on to do (and learn) something new.

Many times this can be accomplished by adding another component to a favorite play routine.

For example, if a child loves to hold on to Thomas or only gets down on his belly to watch Thomas’ wheels spin, try something new.

Add some new pieces. Find Thomas some tracks to roll on rather than the floor. Pick up a station where Thomas can go in and out the doors. Or really splurge and buy a few more trains to play with Thomas. In case you haven’t been toy shopping lately… there are about a gazzilion Thomas accessories available to expand a child’s options.

New trains can be hooked together, can crash into each other or the wall, or can roll down an improvised ramp by slanting a large hardcover book or the back of a wooden puzzle on a block, a stack of books, or even your leg.

Try adding a tunnel. If you can’t purchase one, use what you already have which could be as simple as placing a cardboard book on its ends over the track. If you’re crafty, cut holes in both ends of a shoe box. (Resist the urge to over do it here! Don’t bother painting the box to resemble an actual tunnel. Use that time to actually “play” with your little one who probably couldn’t care less if your box “looks” like a real tunnel…)

Another cheap idea is using a blue sheet of construction paper and calling it “water” so that Thomas can drink, take a bath, or swim. If you’re up for it, use a small bowl or shallow container with real water to wash Thomas!

For more sensory play opportunities, roll Thomas in play doh to make tracks. On that note, it’s also fun to roll Thomas through washable paint and “paint” tracks on a large sheet of paper. For more sensory play, hide Thomas in a plastic bin filled with dried rice, pasta or beans.

Don’t just tell a child how to play with Thomas in a new way. Show him! Hold Thomas yourself and make him perform the new action. If a child becomes upset when you want to handle his beloved Thomas, show him with another train.

One more piece of advice… keep your language very simple while you’re playing together. A child who struggles to play often doesn’t understand words as well as other toddlers his age. Instead of talking in long sentences, speak in 2 to 3 word short phrases. Many times I limit myself to single words and play sounds. This means you’ll say something like, “Thomas! Choo choo! Woo woo!” rather than saying, “I know you like to roll your train back and forth on the floor, but we’re going to do something different today. Watch me as I hook these two trains together to make one long train. Then we’re going to roll the trains through your new station….”

UGH!

Too many words can sometimes drive a child away from you during play. Keep it short and FUN!

Don’t let a child get stuck with repetitive patterns in play. Our job as adults is to help young children move on to more mature actions that begin to resemble “pretending.” Many friends need this extra support by seeing you model new ways they can play with toys.

If you need more specific ideas and need additional ways to connect play to a child’s speech-language goals, check out my book Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual at this link.

Until then, happy playing!

The post Add Novelty to Expand Play and Reduce Boredom! appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

This can break a mom’s heart, particularly if she likes reading or if she feels unsuccessful trying to “teach” her child.

This may also frustrate a therapist who thinks, “How am I ever going to get this kid to sit through an entire book?”

Disinterest may occur because the words aren’t meaningful to the child yet. All the toddler with difficulty understanding words hears when someone reads to him is “blah blah blah.”

So what does a very young child in this predicament do?

She moves on to something that makes more sense to her.

Or he might try to grab the book himself to quickly flip the pages and a wrestling match ensues as the adult fights for control.

Here’s a better way to capture a young child’s attention and promote initial interest in books.

Use props to make the story come to life.

For example, when reading a book like Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, grab yourself a stuffed monkey and act out the words to the story. Read the story while sitting beside the bed and make the monkey jump as you enthusiastically read, or better yet, sing, “One little monkey jumping on the bed…” Make the monkey fall to the floor as you chant, “He fell off and bumped his head.”

If you don’t have a stuffed monkey, no problem. Raid your stash of toy zoo animals and use a plastic monkey.

Still no luck? Find a monkey puzzle piece. Any representation of a monkey will work to make the word “monkey” meaningful for a young child.

I discussed TONS of other ideas to make books better for toddlers with language delays in a 3 part podcast series last year.

Like every project I tackle, the ideas are arranged in a hierarchy, or by skill level, from simple to more complex. Ideas for younger toddlers or those with significant delays are provided in Part 1. This show also includes ideas for adapting and modifying books for young children with motor challenges. Recommendations increase in difficulty with higher developmental skills through Parts 2 and 3. I shared my favorite books for toddlers and CUTE therapy ideas I’ve used effectively in therapy sessions with very young children.

Grab a pen before you listen so you can jot down notes as you plan super FUN therapy sessions for your little friends or your own baby this year!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

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Are you frustrated when your own toddler would rather play with the box than with the $30 toy you just bought?

Have I got some great new ideas for you!!

Last month I did two entire podcasts full of fabulous ideas for toddlers who aren’t in to traditional toys.

I started with an article from Karen Wang from www.friendshipcircle.org and expanded her list by providing specific therapy ideas for targeting language goals using these “non” toy items.

If you haven’t listened yet, what are you waiting for?? : )

Links are below…

Part One

Part Two

The post Play Ideas for Kids Who Don’t Like Toys appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

Are you frustrated when your child has a room full of toys but doesn’t seem to want to play with anything?

As a therapist, are your little clients bored when you present the same activities session after session?

I have an idea for you that may reduce your struggle…

TOY ROTATION

This means simply changing out what’s available for a child to play with, whether it’s at home with his own toys or during a therapy session.

Regularly changing materials is critical for keeping a young child’s attention.

While some of our little friends need the repetition of play routines in order to learn how to play and what to say, many times we can promote disengagement (otherwise known as a child bolting away from you!) when we don’t provide enough novelty in therapy.

Kim Rowe, SLP and founder of www.thelittlestories.com, has devoted most of her blog to helping you learn to organize toys so that toys provide richer play experiences for young children. She was recently a guest on my podcast and we had a blast discussing all kinds of tips for rotating toys. Listen to that great show by clicking the link below.

While you’re listening, ROTATE YOUR TOYS : )

The post Toy Rotation appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

I hope you’ll take a few minutes (or HOURS!) to browse the wealth of information Sherry shares on her blog!

Listen for yourself at this link: #207 Great Toys from Play On Words!

The post Great Toys and Games from Play On Words! appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

I’m re-publishing a list of toys I LOVE and use in my practice as a speech-language pathologist with babies and toddlers during speech therapy.

I also have a whole series of short 10 to 15 minute FREE videos with FANTASTIC ideas for using many of these toys. Check them out on my Videos Page or directly on my YouTube channel.

Before you run out and buy toys listed below, remember that no toy can substitute for an engaged, nurturing, responsive, and FUN adult as a play partner for a language delayed toddler!

I have picked from this list of toys everyday and have great luck with them in eliciting sounds, words, signs, and social interaction. Probably the main reason they’re successful is because I am PLAYING (not observing) WITH a little friend! Don’t neglect that as a common denominator when you’re deciding what makes a good toy for your child!

You’ll find a list of categories with the best toys for speech therapy, a general description for how I use the toy, and also a suggested list of early words to teach.

MOVEMENT TOYS/GAMES

The following are the toys and games I use during movement parts of the session to get a kid going at the beginning when he’s not attending to me OR when I feel like I am “losing” him, especially between sit-down activities. I believe that ALL of us need to move, especially when we’re learning something brand new like talking, so that we stay regulated, focused, and on alert. A lethargic, inattentive, BORED child is not in an optimal state for interacting or communicating. GET UP AND MOVE!

Bubbles

No-spill bubble containers changed my life! I love the smaller ones with characters on the sticks that kids recognize. You can find them at major retailers (WalMart, Target, Meijer, Toys R Us, etc…) – especially when the spring/summer toys start coming out. I do not use the automatic blower types because I want kids to learn to blow. Imitating blowing is a great way to get toddlers to start to imitate any kind of mouth movement.

Target words – bubbles, pop, more, mine, please, blow, all gone, wet, yucky, in, out, plus character names. Right now I’m using a Dora set with Dora, Boots, and Diego. It’ s been a big hit!

Balloons

The most cautious mothers on my caseload nearly have a heart attack when I bring these out, but with adult supervision, balloons are always fun and a GREAT movement activity. Several years ago we did discover that one of my little clients had a severe latex allergy when her face began to swell right before our very eyes, so be careful and attentive! I never let toddlers blow up the balloons because of the choking hazard, but some adventurous mothers do let them try (especially those with several older children!).

Target words – balloon, blow, more, mine, please, up, down, throw, catch, hit, kick, color words (If a kid is really into colors.)

Phlat Ball

This is a newer toy for older children, but I use it with toddlers everyday.  It’s a ball that can be pushed flat and then pops open. You can find it at most major retailers, and it’s usually on the aisle with the Nerf toys. Toddlers need help to learn to push the ball flat, and their little fingers can get caught in the edges, so save this toy for play with a parent or older child.

The directions talk about throwing the ball and letting it pop open in the air, but I use it on the floor. It’s a great toy for sensory-seekers and kids who crave deep pressure. I also use it for turn-taking practice since the turns are fast and fun, even if you’re not the one who gets to push the ball.

Target Words – ball, push, pop, mine, more, please, roll, kick, surprise, scary (“not scary”)

Bowling Sets

I love this game for 2 1/2 year olds and up. You can practice turn taking, do LOTS of running/moving, and it’s also great for learning to WAIT until something is ready to play. For kids who can’t wait, you can start by having them knock down one pin, then run get the ball while you set up two pins, and then gradually increase the time they wait for the pins. It’s a good verb & preposition game – roll, catch, fix, throw, stand up, knock down, etc… It also lends itself to lots of cheering – good for kids who are still non-verbal at this age who need to practice learning to use their voices. Try the standard, “Yay,” but also “ooh” and “aah” and even, “Oh man!” when you miss the pins completely.

Inflatable Bouncer Toys

If you have the room in your basement or another larger room, a good investment is one of the blow up bouncy sets. Kids can jump, and jump, and jump. If the set is durable enough and I don’t exceed the weight limit, I jump too. (Or I get skinnier Mommy to jump). When I ran a playgroup program in my clinic, this was a standard warm-up activity. Once kids are regulated, they are more likely to attend and learn. Great target word too – JUMP! Also fall, crash, down, up, in, out, stop, go, etc….

Launchers – (Hot Wheels Motorcycle Set, Wind Up Cars, etc.).

Another kind of “movement” activity is to use a set that launches vehicles so kids have to go retrieve them. You can find toy launchers for planes, cars, motorcycles, etc… I use wind up cars/trucks for this same kind of task.

The girl version of this toy is Sky Dancer, a Barbie-like princess that “flies”off a launcher. This is an older toy that’s no longer available due to a recall, but if you’d still like to try it, please use it only with careful adult supervision.

Target words – Ready, Set, Go!, wind, car/truck/plane/bike (motorcycle is usually too difficult for the kids I see to say), crash, roll, fly, etc… This is a great one to practice the directions, “Go get the _____,” “Bring it back,” and “Come here,” since the child is going to return to you anyway for another turn. Don’t forget to practice “help” since the toddler will likely not be able to operate this toy on his own.

Elefun

This is a cute game with an elephant that blows butterflies out of his trunk. You stand up and use nets to catch the butterflies as they blow all over the place. This is a great early game to use with peers and siblings since a kid doesn’t have to take turns or share per se. You can gets lots of language too talking about the butterflies and the whole reloading process. I use this game often to target “ing” verbs when a child is ready- flying, catching, blowing, holding, running, walking, dropping, etc…

Musical Instruments

When I use these at all, I get up and have a parade. It’s a great social activity too since kids don’t have to take lots of turns, but are playing “with” other kids. Other therapists may recommend sitting in a circle?and trading instruments to play, but I love to MARCH!

CAUSE AND EFFECT TOYS

This is a huge cognitive concept to master. Most typically developing children master this concept at/near 1 year of age. Some kids who have sensory issues, especially those with autism spectrum disorders, may even get “stuck” in this kind of play.

If I am seeing a child and they haven’t mastered this kind of play yet, this is where we start. Kids have to learn that they can have control/power in their worlds. If a kid doesn’t get this, he’s not going to be ready to talk yet since requesting with language is an extension of this concept. They have to learn, “I have to DO something to GET something.”

I like lots of these kinds of toys and all for the same reasons.  I start with toys that are appealing, but have only one kind of movement to make something happen. I like the Fisher Price spiral race track, and there’s a newer cooler one with the “Cars” movie theme. All a kid has to do is push the lever, and the cars slide down swirly lanes to the bottom. Kids will try to imitate the car noise, “Vroom, vroom.” It’s a little tricky to get the cars put back in the top to get ready to race again, but you can work on the word/sign for “help,” since it does require adult assistance.

I love Jack in the Boxes that operate with one push of the button. (Save the wind up kind for later.) My favorite one is from Discovery Toys, and it has a clown that’s removable. I always start with words like more, push, open, close, in, out, bye-bye, and my favorite,”Boo,” when the clown pops up.

Fisher Price has many toys geared to the concept of cause and effect. There’s a turtle that you place the balls in his open shell, and the child can push his head down to make the balls spin. Their Gumball Machine is also similar since you push the lever and the balls fall down. Other ball toys are listed in the next section down under “balls.”

Any Poppin’ Pals toy is also good for cause and effect, but sometimes frustrating because some of the switches are too hard to master without adult help. I like to practice saying, “bye” to all the animals/characters as you close the doors. Other vocabulary – push, turn, open, close, animal/character name. Good for working on receptive vocabulary too for these concepts, way before a kid can say these words.

Other toys that fall into this category are the bells/whistles/lights toys.  For some kids, this is a place to start if you can’t get them interested in playing with any other toy in any other way. However, I don’t stay here long, and I beg parents not to let their children play only with this toy to the exclusion of others, especially if their child is struggling with social interaction. Read the article titled, “Ditch the Bells and Whistles” if you’re haven’t yet, or are still not sure why I feel this way.

SIT DOWN ACTIVITIES

Ball and Hammer Toys

This is a standard toy with lots of versions available. The one I’m using now is made by the Parents line from Target. I like it because the hammer squeaks, and it has a clear front so kids can watch the ball fall into the hole, slide over a wheel, into a tunnel, and out the door.

Target words – ball, hammer, in, hole, out, door, hit (it), bang, boom, mine, more, please, down, I got it (When the ball comes out of the door, I grab it away before the child can get it and say, “I got it!” I can’t tell you how many kids have started to try to imitate and say a 2-3 word phrase using this “game.”)

Other Ball Toys

Balls are a big hit with the toddler set. Sometimes it’s the only word I can get spontaneously for a while, so I try to rotate several different ball toys to keep it fresh and fun.  Here’s a description of the other ball toys I use (You’ll have to wait for the final version of this article for the exact names. These toys are so old that I don’t remember the real names.)

• Tomy has one that looks like a gumball machine. The kid pulls the lever and the balls come out. Different Target word – pull
• Fisher Price has a cute one that looks like a bug. There’s a hole for the ball that looks like its mouth is open. It plays cute music while the balls fall, so we can work on “dancing” to the music in imitation.

Blocks

My favorite blocks are an OLD set from Tupperware. They are plastic, and they open so you can hide small animals/characters in them.

I also like a new set of graduated-sized stacking blocks that a mom just gave me as a gift. They’re cardboard, so they won’t last forever with the kind of abuse my toys get, but they have darling artwork with great vocabulary choices (plus ABC’s, but that’s not important). They are from Walmart, and I think it’s from their cheaper, in-house line of toys. Most of the kids I see like to stack them up high and (you guessed it), knock them over, but they are having fun putting them back in the larger one. You can target size words with these, “Get the big one,” or “That one is little.”  I love anything with “fall down” as the gag, because I can get kids to do it over and over again. I used to have a cute bucket set of graduated sizes so you could either stack or place them all in one. Same benefits.

Shape Sorters

As a rule I don’t like shape sorters for language because parents are always expecting their kids to say “circle” or “triangle,” when their kids can’t even say “milk” or “ball.” But I have found one that I like. It’s by Parents (I got it from Target), and it has an animal on top of the shape. The thing I love is that it makes a cool sound when the animal/shape goes in and down the chute. You can still practice the matching concept (a very important cognitive skill), but it’s an attention getter, and not as boring as the traditional shape sorter.

VOCABULARY BUILDING (more sit down activities)

Potato Heads

I have collected lots of these sets over the years as well. This is a basic vocabulary building activity since you can target body parts and basic clothing items such as hats and shoes. They even have sets now with purses and earrings and other “themed” sets related to holidays and children’s characters. Get the giant 2.5 size gallon ziplock bags so you can keep all of your accessories together. I would definitely use this during parent-child playtime only so your pieces don’t get lost.

Little Linguist

This is probably the only electronic toy I’ve ever loved. It’s made by Neurosmith and not in production anymore. You can still find used ones on e-bay occasionally. This comes with 15 or so familiar objects that are placed into the base, and the toy says the name or makes the sound when you push the appropriate button. This toy was originally made to teach other languages to children, and you could use the cartridge for English, French, Spanish, Japanese, etc… Since I see language delayed children, and they are struggling to learn one language, I never used or recommended the other cartridges. If you can track this one down, it’ll be worth your time and effort.

Puzzles

I own an embarrassing number of wooden, inset puzzles, but they are “gold” when it comes to targeting language. These are cheap ($3-$10) and most toddlers love to do them. You can find them now with any kind of theme – farm animals, zoo animals, transportation, food, bath time, toys, etc… Stay away from ABCs, colors, & numbers until your child is really talking. Stick to ones with words your kid needs to learn to expand his vocabulary.

Puzzles are also great for targeting receptive language. After you’ve had your child name the piece going in (or choosing from a choice of 2 is even better), you can have him, “Get the _____,” to clean up the pieces. You can expand receptive language more by asking him tougher questions, “Which one says moo?” “Which one flies?” Which one goes in the water?”  “Which one do you wear on your feet?”

EARLY PRETEND

Dolls

This is the very best and easiest early pretend activity you can do. For dads who are too macho to let their boys play with obviously girl dolls, try a boy doll, or a character doll, or stuffed animal. Get lots of accessories to use. My basic set includes cups, spoons, a fork, bowl/plate, bottles of milk and juice, blanket, carrier, brush, hats, shirts, diapers, wipes, socks or shoes, a few pieces of plastic food, and a “toy” for the baby. There are so many things you can use this for to target both receptive and expressive language.  You can give lots of directions, “Feed the baby.” You can expand to higher level receptive concepts, “She’s sleepy. What should she do?” You can have your child request for every single thing you’re going to do with the dolls. It’s endless and a must-have activity for every toddler.

Target Words – baby, (all of the nouns/names for all of the accessories you’re using), plus all of the verbs/action words you can do with dolls – wash, eat, sleep, drink, jump, walk, dance, swing, night-night, etc…, plus the prepositions/location words you can target – clothing items can be put on/off, baby can be put in/out of various things, baby can climb up, fall down, etc…. Descriptive Words – big, little, wet, dry, yucky, stinky, pretty, etc…

Plastic Food

My favorite plastic food sets are the ones that can be cut into pieces with the pretend knife. These usually come with Velcro to attach the halves back together. Many therapy catalogues sell them, but you can find them cheaper at major retailers too. I often play with this with dolls once a child can sequence lots of actions. I like to use plastic foods with a pretend kitchen or pretend microwave to “cook” the food too. The microwave is always a huge hit! Look for one of these too!

Target Words – cut, eat, cook, all done, plus all of the names/nouns of the foods

Pretend Playground, Farm, House

I use these kinds of toys often once a kid understands and gets past cause and effect/object permanence, and has started to do some early pretending with dolls. Fisher Price makes lots of good toys in this category. I use the barn quite a bit and the house occasionally. I use an older version of the Little People slide with attachable swing almost every day.

I play with the Little People, but I also collect other little plastic characters for kids preferences. McDonald’s used to offer lots of these kinds of toys with Happy Meals, so I have gathered quite of collection of lots of different people since the mid-90s. You can also buy other little characters solo in the giant retailers. Favorite ones for kids I see now are Dora, Diego, Swiper, Boots, Elmo, Mr. Noodle, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Teletubbies, Woody, Buzz, Jessie, etc…

My friend who is a Developmental Interventionist loves the Fisher Price Lovin’ Family sets & accessories. This is great for pretending with Mama, Dada, baby, sister, brother, and even grandma.

You can often find these toys at garage sales and tag sales to save a buck or two. Look in children’s consignment stores or second hand toy stores for these items as well.

Target words – endless depending on your activity. Try to get several of these kinds of sets. It’s a keeper!

Zoo Animals, Farm Animals, Dinosaurs

I have many sets of these since they are so versatile and great for vocabulary building. Try to find big/little ones to work on size and pretend using the whole family concept.

For my zoo animals, I play zoo by putting the animals into their “cages” using a Chico shape sorter toy with colored keys to open the matching doors.

I use dinosaurs with sand in a small Rubbermaid container with a top so I can lug it in and out of my car and control spills. This is great alternative for a larger sandbox if you don’t have the space, or when it’s too cold. Toys R Us sells clean sand in small bags.

ThomasThe Train

I used several Thomas toys often before the whole lead scare, but I still have one set that I really love. It’s Carry Around Thomas, and it comes only with one small wind up Thomas, 2 horses, 2 trees, a bridge, and a clock that all conveniently fits inside a green case. I have been looking to buy a new one of these since my Thomas is getting old, and I’m not having much luck at the major retailers. For little boys (or girls!) who love trains, this is a winner.

Target words – nouns/names for items in set & train names, choo-choo, go, stop, crash, fix, tunnel (even if you have to make one by unfolding a cardboard book over the tracks).

I generally stay away from all of the Tickle Me toys because the use is usually so limited, but I LOVE one particular Cookie Monster toy. He can actually “eat” the plastic cookies you give him, and it goes into his backpack. I use this with any other plastic food that will fit in his mouth. It’s an older toy, but you still may be able to find it on e-bay. Search for “Puffalump Cookie Monster.”

EARLY GAMES

Candy Land Castle

This is the brand new toddler/preschool version, not the traditional board game.  It has a castle to hold colored, plastic shapes.  The shapes fall out of the castle’s door when you pull the candy cane lever. You match shapes to your gingerbread board. I don’t use this game with kids until they can sit through several turns, can match pretty well, and are talking using lots of functional words. At this point I do go ahead and talk about color and shape names, but ONLY if they have lots of other “real” language first. This is a good one to use with older siblings too so that your toddler can participate in a “game.” For kids who can’t/won’t take turns yet and get too upset when I try to force the issue, I set out several game boards and find the matching shape together. Again I focus on more functional?phrases – my turn, I got it, I pull, I need more, more please, etc…. rather than the shape’s name. Lots of kids I see are learning colors, so they may say, “red one,” or “I got/have blue,” rather than the shape’s name, and this?is fine with me.

Lucky Ducks

This is a cute matching game with a “pond” so that the baby ducks can swim and around in the water. The object of the game is to match the shape and color on the bottom of the duck to the one you have in front of you, or the older version, where you match the duck to the “lily pad” with the same color. For kids who can’t/won’t match yet, I have them ask me for “duck” to put in the water. This game “quacks” continuously when it’s on, so it’s also good for facilitating an animal sound. I also practice “on/off” for pushing the button to start and stop the game. Put your hand over the button until your child asks for “on,” or “go,” or “more.”

Fishin’ Around

This is another cute matching game. The fish swim around the water and swim under a “slide” or “bridge.” You turn it on by pressing a turtle’s shell. There are fishing poles and matching cards too when your child gets over the initial fascination of watching the fish go around and around. I use this one for lots of requesting practice at the phrase level – “More fish please,” “Give me fish,” “I need (a) fish.”

ARTS/ FINE MOTOR / SENSORY PLAY

Playdoh

I love playdoh for kids after 2 1/2 when they no longer want to eat it! I especially love the little sets. My favorite one is the Barber Shop set because you can make the man’s hair grow and then cut it with scissors. It’s very fun and can last a long time – good for kids who want to move on after only a few minutes. I also use cookie cutter shapes – those that come with the sets and then other real cookie cutters I’ve added. Add a rolling pin, plastic knife, and child scissors. This is especially good for kids with tactile defensiveness/sensory issues who want to play, but refuse to touch the playdoh.

Don’t forget to make your own playdoh creations too. Every kid loves to make snakes and balls. Try snowmen. My favorite is making a birthday cake complete with a little candle so you can sing, “Happy Birthday,” and pretend to blow out the candle.

This is another good activity for action words/verbs – push, pull, roll, cut, etc…

Markers

Some toddlers love to draw (My own daughter wanted to do this for hours from age 24 months on, but her brothers did not!), so I use washable markers and giant sheets of paper (or the backs of my progress notes).  Try to draw things to label instead of shapes and letters.

Threading/Stringing Sets

I lucked out several years ago and found plastic beads in the arts/crafts section at WalMart in the shape of farm animals and people complete with plastic strings for threading/stringing. Many 2 1/2 + year olds have loved this. You may also find sets with larger blocks and geometric patterns. My OT and DI friends love that I work on this too! I don’t like to do it unless I can get some “language” mileage too, so look for objects with different pictures or of different shapes of real things (not just a circle, bead, block, etc…).

Flashcards

I do not recommend or use these with kids unless they LOVE them. Otherwise, they will get plenty of this later in preschool/school-age speech therapy. IF I am working with a child who loves it, the way I make it more age-appropriate and fun is to do something with the cards vs. sitting at the table with them.  For example, this winter I found a cute plastic snowman bucket with a top. I cut a slit in the top so kids can drop the card in. You can make one using an ice cream bucket.

Other ideas – hide the cards around the room and let your child run around to find them. Or use them with a puppet or another toy that can “eat” the cards. When I use this activity at all, I only do it for the amount of time a child wants to. If that’s only 3 cards, so be it. BEG your SLP to move on to “play-based” therapy activities if your child hates these. It will take more work on your therapist’s part, and it’s not as efficient, but it’s not worth the fight if he doesn’t want to sit and do them.

Books

I prefer to use books with one or only a few real photographs per page during therapy, but as parents, you do need begin reading very simple books as soon as your child can tolerate it. If he can sit and listen to a whole story, by all means, do this as often as he’ll let you. If not, try just pointing to the pictures, labeling the object, give a brief 2-3 word phrase about the objects’ function, and then move on. I use the Bright Baby books (almost) everyday. Other repetitive theme books by authors like Sandra Boynton , Good Night Moon, and Eric Carle’s Brown Bear and Polar Bear books are also hits with toddlers. I also like books that give you directions to follow, such as Barney Says or Elmo Says.

MUSIC

The only CD I recommend with any regularity is “Time To Sing.” It’s produced by a man whose son has apraxia because he was disheartened by the fast pace of most children’s CDs. His son wanted to sing, but couldn’t keep up. It has beautiful orchestral accompaniment for the slower tempos. Better yet – sing the songs yourself without the CD and keep it s-l-o-w!

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If you’re an SLP and need help choosing toys to address specific goals, need better “how to” directions, and want help organizing your goals and activities, take a look at my book Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual.

If you’re a parent and want to SEE play-based speech therapy with toddlers, check out my best-selling DVD Teach Me To Talk. Clips from the DVD are in the post!

The post Best Toys & Techniques for Targeting Language in Toddlers with Speech Delay appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

Teach Me To Play WITH You: Easy Games, Songs, and Play Activities to Teach Social Interaction to Toddlers and Young Preschoolers with Language Delays is a therapy guide for parents and professionals who work with young children with social and communication delays.

This 190-page manual is filled with simple routines, songs, and games designed to inspire adults to interact with children in ways to motivate them to play WITH you. It’s a book of ideas to get you started so that you’ll know what to do when you play with a child who has difficulty staying with you and paying attention or with a child who seems bored and aloof most of the time.

This is a highly successful beginning treatment approach for toddlers with who are at risk for or who have already been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders.

Chapter 1 is an introduction for parents explaining why social interaction is the foundation for language development. A child who isn’t interested in being with or communicating with other people for most of any given day isn’t developmentally ready to understand and use words. All communication begins with being social. Once a child learns to love being with you, he forms the foundation necessary to help him understand and use language. You’ll learn how to interact with him so that he’ll learn to interact with you.

Chapter 2 is the Easiest Beginner Routines and includes step-by-step instructions for 22 fun play routines. Young children with social and language delays best learn how to interact with others during the structure of a game. On each page you’ll find:

• The name of the game
  
• Materials required (if any)
  
• Description of a child’s preferences to help you decide if this game is a good match for your child
  
• Detailed instructions in How to Play
  
• Key words and sounds YOU should say when playing to elicit a child’s first word attempts
  
• List of child’s goals so that you’ll know what responses to shoot for, how to help your child move to a more advanced response, and how to measure progress
  
• Problem-solving tips specific to each game
  
• Ideas for expanding the game and new games to try when he’s mastered the first one

In Chapter 3 Early Toys you’ll find ideas for play with children who may not be interested in toys. Most of these games are with toys you probably have at home. Some aren’t toys at all, but household items you likely already own. These are my go-to-games when I need to get a child’s attention in the beginning sessions when he’s not with me yet. At the end of the chapter, I list toys I use every day in speech therapy.

Chapter 4 contains words and instructions for 33 Fingerplays and Songs I use in play with toddlers and young children. As in the previous chapters, you’ll find a section for Child’s Goals and ways to expand the game into your daily lives.

Finally, in chapter 5, Solutions for Problems during Play, you’ll find suggestions for new things to try when what you’re doing isn’t working. Problems include:

Places toys in mouth

Avoids interaction with people

Doesn’t like toys

Lines up toys rather than playing

Holds toys instead of playing

Repeatedly pushes buttons

Prefers TV/videos to people and toys

Sensitive to touch and sound

Uses parent’s hands to operate toys

Odd, repetitive, or self-stimulatory behavior

Throws toys

Constant motion

Short attention span

Aggressive

Tantrums and meltdowns

Difficulty with transitions

Doesn’t like to share or take turns

Lost in own words instead of playing or listening (using jargon or echolalia)

Chapter 6 includes my list of references and recommended reading for parents.

This is a great parent training tool! SLPs and other therapists in early intervention programs will love how this book is organized in a format with activity pages that can be easily copied for distribution to parents.

Regular price is $48.

Order here.

The post “Teach Me To Play WITH You” appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.

This week we’ll be talking about the BEST early pretend toys to use with young children, and better yet, tell you EXACTLY how we use these to elicit words and expand a child’s ability to understand language and use new ideas in his play.

Call us with your questions or comments. Our call-in number is 1-718-766-4332. We’d love to hear from you!

You can listen live by clicking this icon.

If you can’t join us live, you can always listen later anytime using the blogtalkradio icon in the right hand column or on the home page.

Our show is also available for FREE download on itunes. Visit the itunes store and search “Teach Me to Talk with Laura and Kate.” For you itunes novices, choose subscribe, and the show will download so you can listen later with your ipod.

Hope you’ll join us! Laura

The post Let’s Play – “Teach Me To Talk with Laura and Kate” for January 22, 2009 appeared first on teachmetotalk.com.