Education

One of our core competencies is educating parents, therapists and early interventionists. We do this as we provide therapy and one-on-one training but also by sharing useful handouts. Take a minute to check out all the resources listed below. Feel free to share!

Actions, Movements and Gestures to Imitate:

Children need to IMITATE what we do in order to teach them how to talk.

Early on, the focus is on the actions. Use gentle hand-over-hand assistance to help the child be successful with their actions. Preferred songs and finger plays can be highly motivating for young children. Promotes fun adult-child interactions and encourages imitation skills.

Here is a link for a free handout with suggestions of ideas to boost motor imitation:  Motor Imitation Skills

Vehicle Sounds and Animal Noises to Encourage Toddlers to Use!

Did you know that sounds and noises are important skills for babies and toddlers to not only hear but try and imitate! As they play and begin imitating sounds they hear in their world, they build confidence! Parents hear their attempts at animal noises or people sounds and reinforce those attempts by saying “yay! I hear you saying wuff, wuff just like the dog!” Or perhaps they say “uh-oh!” when they drop a toy off their high chair. This means they are listening and are attempting to use language. The more these sounds are encouraged and reinforced, the more they learn language is useful and meaningful.

Here is a link to a handout created for parents and early interventionists to use while they play with little ones. Sounds and noises are super-important to language development, so use this as a reminder and keep moooing and oooing!  Free Handout of Sounds and Noises to Encourage in Toddlers

Stuttering

Many parents struggle when they begin hearing their child repeat sounds, syllables or words. Stuttering is difficult as a listener and even worse to listen to as a parent! While heredity and stress can play a part in this speech impediment, often times toddlers experience developmental stuttering. Print out the handout below for strategies to help your child be a fluent speaker! Stuttering Tips