My child isn't talking, should I be concerned?

After nearly 3 months off from posting on my speech pathology blog I am finally back.  The official website is till underway, and by underway I really mean it's an item on my very long to do list.  We will get there eventually.  For now I will provide all my language development posts on my personal blog.  As for the long blog absence... Well our little family is growing from 3 to 4.  We are expecting a beautiful baby girl in May.  Some how napping, or cleaning my messy house has taken precedence over blogging lately, but now that I'm well into my second trimester the energy and motivation is slowly returning.

I have had a lot of time to ponder over this post, and am really excited to be sharing it with you.  I have had quite a few friends come to me with this question, so I hope this will be helpful to all my fellow mommies out there with toddlers. This post will answer the question...

"My child isn't talking, should I be concerned?" 

Brief overview

This post is specifically for children 1-2 years old.  For some parents this can be a scary topic, and you may begin to worry about your child's development.  Other parents may assume he/she will grow out of it, and start talking on their own time. Let's hit this question full force...  "why isn't my child talking, and should I be concerned?" As a parent I know it's easy to worry, to over analyze things, and to also (here's the biggie...) compare you child with his or her peers. So before you start panicking let's go over some quick yes or no questions to evaluate your child's current language development, and some developmental norms.   I will then briefly discus the difference between delayed language development, and language difference among children.  Following this entry I will make a post covering "what to do if my child isn't talking: strategies to use at home," so stay tunes. In the future I will also be providing more in depth developmental milestones for ages 0-4 years old.

girls, girls, girls 

Things to keep in mind

Please keep in mind that each child is different, and since I am not able to personally assess your child, the information I have provided is generalized based on normative data for typically developing toddlers.  With that being said If you are still concerned after reading this post I encourage you to seek out additional resources and speak with your pediatrician, or even go the extra step and make an appointment with a speech pathologist in your area.  For toddlers who have delays in cognition, motor and other areas besides language, and/or any identified syndromes, it is also suggested that you speak with your health care professional.   Please feel free to leave a comment, and I will try to address some of your concerns in my following post. 

• Hearing loss and Otitis Media (chronic ear infections) 
• If your child has a history of ear infections, and/or has had tubes put in, and appears to have a delay in their language development I would suggest speaking with your pediatrician, or seeking an evaluation from a speech pathologist.  It is common (however not always the case) for children with chronic ear infections (otitis media), to miss out on language stimulation so it is a good idea to address this with your health care professional.     

Language development questions: 

•  Did your child babble as a baby? (eg baba, mama, dada) (eg ma-moo-me, ba-do)
•  Does your child use gestures and/or any type of non verbal communication (eg point at something, use sign language, pull on your clothes to get attention, reach for items and make vocalizations, shake head for no etc)?
• Does your child make eye contact?
• Does your child look at an item if you point at it?
• Does your child mimic (facial expressions, actions, sounds, or words)?
• Does your child participate in interactive play that requires turn taking (such as peek a boo or taking turns rolling a ball back and forth)?  
• Does your child babble, make a facial expression, and/or do an action, then look for your response?
• Does your child laugh and smile during social interaction? 
• Does your child respond to their name?
• Does your child look at objects mentioned?

Developmental norms

• At 1 year old
•  have a handful of words (these are typically familiar words such as "mama," "dada," "blankie," "baba"-bottle etc).
• At 18 months old
• have around 10-50 words 
• make requests- eg"more", protests-"no"
• mimc/imitate words spoken to him/her
• follow one step instructions (eg give mommy the cup)
• able to point to body parts and familiar items when named (eg where is your nose)
• At 2 years old
• have around 200-300 words, and use new words regularly (their vocabulary should be expanding rapidly at this stage).
• use two word phrases (eg "more milk"), and occasionally 3 word phrases ("daddy throw ball") 
• beginning to ask questions  
• follow more complex instructions
• At 2 1/2 years old
• use 3-4 word phrases regularly using simple noun verb phrases
• vocabulary is around 200-600 words, average of 450 words
• responds to simple questions (yes/no, who, what, why, how many)
• able to describe items (color, size, category)
• understands prepositions (in, on, under, next to, behind, in front of)

Language delay and language differences

If you answered yes to the majority of the questions listed above, and your child seems to be following the developmental norms provided for his/her age, then it is likely your child's language is developing right in the middle of the pack.  Now, what if there were some areas you felt your child was behind in?  Let's discuss the difference between language differences and language delay.

Ella and her buddy Olivia 

Language differences
Since there are no two children in the world that develop and perform exactly the same, no not even twins (and I can safely say this since I am one).  There are going to be what we call "language differences" among children.  These are based on many factors such as a child's:

• Environment
• Home life
• Exposure to different experiences
• Personality
• Interests 

As mentioned in earlier posts a huge factor in language development is experience and exposure.  The variety of experiences they have, and the level of exposure to different experiences will greatly impact a child's language.  We must first "learn" something before we are able to "demonstrate" it.  For example, I have a daughter that is 18 months old and she loves animals.  She loves to name all the different animals and tell me the sounds they make.  We read book and watch movies about animals, we visit the zoo, and we play with toy animals.  Her experience and exposure to animals is quite high.  This is likely due to the fact that a) she is interested in animals and b) we just so happen to do lots of activities involving animals.  You may take another category for instance, types of transportation.  My daughters experience and exposure level to types of transportation is probably quite low, therefore her comprehension and vocabulary for types of transportation is also quite low.  I have met children her age that can tell you the different types of cars (ie tractor, dump truck, bus, train, plane etc).

Another thing to consider is personality.  Is your child a social butterfly, or more reserved and quiet?  Some children may get overwhelmed in large groups, and prefer to sit and observe.  What type of communication style does your child have?  You have some toddlers that are the "labelers" and some toddlers that are "social talkers."  The "labelers" motivation for communicating is to tell you about their surroundings.  These toddlers like to point and name items.  They can go around the house pointing and saying "dog" "plant" "cup" to their hearts content.  Then there are the "social talkers" where it may sound like 90% jibber jabber and 10% words.  Their main motivation for communicating is to be social.  They see people talk on the phone and family members talking at the dinner table, and they want to join in.  Then there are children that are a mixture of both.  One communication style is not necessarily better than the other.  They are simply different ways of interacting and making sense of the word around them.  

My daughter the little introvert.  In new environments and large social groups she likes to sit and observe.  

A couple other things to keep in mind.  It is completely normal for child to mispronounce words.  Their speech should be no where near perfect, in fact even at 2 1/2 years old your child should only be 65% intelligible to an unfamiliar listener.  This means that a person who has never met the child should only be able to understand about 65% of what the child is saying.  So go easy on your child.  They are still trying to figure out the motor control and coordination required for speech, and a good portion of their sounds are still developing.  In fact you may be surprised to learn that some sounds in the English language aren't even mastered until 7 years old!   You may find that a variety of words sound similar, and that is perfectly fine.  So if your child says "tat" for "cat," that still means cat, and is considered a word. Also it is normal for children under 2 years old to use overextension and underextension. For example all animals with four legs and a tail are "dogs" (overextenion), or the child only identifies "dog" as his/her dog rather than other dogs he/she encounters.   Go easy on your child, and remember that they are learning everything for the first time.  There is going to be a learning curve, and at this stage we are striving for practice not perfection.
 
Language delay
Most professionals will refrain from "diagnosing" a child with a language delay until two years or older.  This is because often there is some variability among language development up until 2 years old.  Some children may be slow talkers at the beginning, but then catch up with their peers.  This variability can be due to factors such as:

• Word retention (some children retain words at a slower rate, so it takes longer for them to use words expressively)
• Personality (child is shy/reserved)
• Motivation (child is not motivated to communicate)
• Opportunity (child is not given enough opportunities to communicate)
• Gender (language development in boys tends to be slower than in girls)

Once the child reaches two years old you will start to notice a burst of language.  The child should have a large vocabulary, communicate using two word phrases, be able to follow more complex instructions and identify objects.  There is a possibility of a language delay if your child's vocabulary is less than 50 words, and they are not using two word phrases (eg phrases containing two words- "bath hot", "mommy more") by the age of two.  In some cases a child may have normal comprehension (ie is able to follow instructions, and understands a large variety of words), but has difficulty "using" words expressively. Again, since I am not able to personally asses your child I will not be able to tell you specifically if a language delay is present or not.  A good portion of children will actually catch up without requiring intervention, they just need a little push to get the language flowing. The great news is a lot of the language therapy you would receive from early intervention you can actually do at home.... and that's where I come in.  :)    

Summary

I hope this has answered some of your questions, and that you now have a better understanding of language differences and language delay.  Keep in mind that your child is not going to walk, talk, and think the same as the child next door, so moms stop comparing!  This is why we have normative data based on children all over the world.  These norms are based on the average performance, keeping in mind that their are plenty of children above and below what is considered "average."  Although it is important to consider normative data, please do not be consumed by it.  If you're still concerned and/or there is a possibility of a language delay, don't hesitate to get more information.  There is plenty of resources, and guidance out there to give you the support you need.
My next post will be on ways to encourage your child to start talking, and techniques you can do at home during your day to day life.  These tips are beneficial for children on all ends of the scale, so even if your child is talking these tips will still help to expand their language. Before my next post I encourage all you parents out there to really hone in on and evaluate your child's personality, what motivates them, as well as their interests and communication style.  Rather than taking your child and trying to shove them into a predesignated box of language perfection, let's focus on each child's own personal attributes to help their language blossom.

X Lisa, your SLP go to mom. It's good to be back! :) 

        

Happy Halloween 2013

Happy Halloween! 

our lil pumpkin due May 2014

We sent out this picture to family and friends to announce our "lil pumpkin" due May 21, 2014 (which just so happens to be Ella's birthday. haha.  No we did not plan it that way, but I guess if I can't have twins i'll settle for 2 lil May babes. :) 

This was Ella's first year carving pumpkins.  She didn't do any of the actual carving (safety first), but she did enjoy helping us scoop out all the slimy pumpkin guts and seeds.  To say she enjoyed herself would be an understatement... She LOVED it!  For the first 10 minutes she did a great job of scooping out that guts and putting them in a bowl.  After that she decided it was way more fun to fling pumpkin everywhere.  It was all over the table, floor and walls.  After failing to listen to our warnings, she got put in timeout (which was actually the bathtub because she was covered in slime). That little stinker!

Ella was a strawberry for Halloween.  So adorable! The night before Halloween we went to the convention center in Elko, and Ella got to go trick or treating around to the different businesses.  Two nights of trick or treating. Awesome.  She was a little timid, and hid behind my legs for most of it.

Heather and Jordan (my sister and brother in law) had a little Halloween party the weekend before.  We made mini pizza's, had homemade rootbeer and strawberry rhubarb pie.  Yum!  It was a really fun time.  Here is a picture of Ella snuggling her cousin Beckham.  She sure loves her cousin! 

On the afternoon of Halloween we went to the Family Resource Center for a Halloween party for one year olds.  Every Thursday at the Family Resource Center they have a "wonderful ones" group, which is a play group for one year olds.  Since we live in a small town with not a lot to do this play group has saved my life!  Ella and I have made so many close friends from this play group, and we look forward to it every week.  The kiddos got to dress up for the Halloween party.  They all looked so cute!!!

Ready to go trick or treating

Halloween night we had white chicken chili and rolls for dinner, then we headed out trick or treating.  Brandon and Jordan stayed at the house to pass out candy and Heather, Beckham, Ella, and I went trick or treating around the neighborhood.  Beckham is almost 4 years old, so he had the whole trick or treating thing down to a fine art.  Ella would toddle after him and hold out her bag as Beckham rang the doorbell and said "trick or treat."  Ella insisted on walking pretty much the whole way, and didn't want any help from her mama.  Little miss independent. Oh, and did I mention that the best part of trick or treating with a one year old was that Brandon and I got to eat all her Halloween candy?!? Not sure we will be able to get away with that again in the future.    

We had such a fun night.  Our neighborhood was filled with trick or treaters, and it reminded me of my childhood.  I hope that trick or treating still exists in the next 5-10 years.  It seems like each year it shifts more towards trunk or treats because of safety concerns.  This makes me sad, because trick or treating door to door is such an awesome childhood memory for me.  Let's hope it sticks around! 

It's fall ya'll!

Fall is my favorite season of all. I love watching the leaves change and seeing all the beautiful vibrant colors, the crisp air, warm sweaters, apple cider, corn mazes, pumpkin patches, chili (white chicken chili is my favorite), caramel apples, pumpkin pie, carving pumpkins, trick or treating, and being surrounded by family on Thanksgiving.  I love to go up into the mountains, and soak in all the beauty that autumn brings. Here are some pictures of us enjoying the fall this year in Elko.  

Ella's room

I thought I would post some pictures of Ella's room.  I was so excited to move into our own home, so that I could paint and decorate exactly how I wanted.  Ella's room was the only one we ended up painting.  For the most part we like the rest of the paint in the house, but who knows maybe down the road we will change it up.  The previous owners had this room as their little boys room, and it was a very bright blue.  It took us three coats of primer, and three coats of paint to cover it up!  I picked out the paint and Brandon did all the hard work, which I am grateful for.

Before

After 

I did all the decorating and wall stencils.  It was my first attempt at stenciling so I was a little nervous, but I love the way it turned out.

Soon we will be decorating another nursery.  :)  More to come on that later! 

Language development activity: Jello fun

I'm back with another language development activity! My goal is to post one activity a week, but with a sweet 15 month old, and summer coming to a close... life has been pretty busy lately!  I will do my best though to keep this blog updated!  Thank you to all my wonderful readers.  This blog had over 500 page views since my first language development post.  That's pretty awesome! :)  I hope the activities and tips are helpful, and I hope you are all enjoying spending some quality time with your little ones.  Please feel free to leave comments, and spread the word to your friends. 

Our activity for today (which I actually did over a month ago, and am just barely getting around to writing about) is.... 

"Jello fun"

My mom taught my sister and I the jello song when we were little.  I remember singing it in the car on road trips. Now I get to sing it with Ella... so to get you in the mood for some Jello fun here is the jello song (feel free to sing along, and teach it to your little one). ;)

J E L L O
Oh, the big red letters stand for the Jell-O family.
Oh, the big red letters stand for the Jell-O family.
It's Jell-O yum yum yum! Jell-O pudding yum yum yum! Jell-O tapioca pudding, try all three!

Upon searching lyrics for the Jello song, I discovered that there are quite a few different versions of the Jello song, and aeroplane jelly song for my lovely Australian readers.  Get in the jello spirit, and if you don't know the song already, you tube it! 

Supplies needed:

3 packs of jello (any color)... although WARNING: Red jello will stain clothing (found this out the hard way).  

Large glass baking dish

An assortment of toys or interesting objects (please wash them before putting them in the jello, as it is likely your little one will be eating the jello)

Instructions:

Place all of your clean toys into the empty baking dish

Follow the instructions on the jello box

Pour the liquid over the toys and place in the refrigerator (You will probably need a minimum of 3 hours for the jello to set) 

Once the jello has set you can play with it in the bathtub, outside in a plastic swimming pool, or if you are brave and don't mind a mess you can always play with it on your kitchen floor.  

Brief overview

During this activity we will again be reviewing self talk, parallel talk and expansion.  If you have read the previous posts hopefully you are starting to become a little more familiar with these strategies.  Remember it is all about providing a rich environment for language. It's all about experience and exposure.    I am not going to spend as much detail on these three strategies, so make sure to look at my previous posts if you are needing more of a review.  

I will also be adding a couple new therapy strategies: sing songy voice and buildups and break downs. In addition, I will be adding some tips for receptive language (comprehension).  Let's get started!  

1. Introduce the activity:

Hopefully by now you are getting more comfortable with introducing the activity to your child.  Get down on their level, explain what they will be doing and show them.  The reason why I always suggest introducing the activity is because you are providing information on the materials you will be using, and telling them what is expected.  If you hand them a bowl of jello and sit back some children will dig right in, while others may be more unsure of what to do.  By providing explanations, and instructions you are aiding in their comprehension, and assisting in their ability to provide instructions and explain items in the future.  Think about when they go to school and will need to follow instructions from the teacher, or during show and tell when they need to get up, and describe a favorite toy, or talk about a picture they drew.  These are all small building blocks that you are forming to help assist your child in the future.   

Here is an example of an introduction,  "Today we are going to be playing with jello.  Look at all the toys in the jello.  Do you see the car?  We are going to dig through the jello and find the toys (dig through the jello to find a toy, then encourage your child to do the same)." 

2. Language therapy:

A quick review.  Check out the previous posts if you need more examples. Remember that these strategies are useful for children 0-3.  Even if your child is using full sentences this is a great way to expand their language.  

Self talk= talking about what YOU are doing (eg "I found a blue spoon")   

Parallel Talk= talking about what THEY are doing (eg "you are digging through the jello.  You found a yellow bouncy ball." 

Expansion= taking their word or phrase and putting it into a grammatically correct sentence, and then expanding on it with some descriptive language. 

Use descriptive language to talk about what the items look like, how they feel and taste (eg "The jello is red.  It feels squishy and slimy!  The jello tastes like strawberries.  yummy!")

Remember to follow your child's lead.  Don't try to control the activity too much.  Let your child explore, and comment on what they are doing (parallel talk), as well as what you are doing (self talk).  Also, pay attention to body language, vocalizations, gestures etc and respond to them through expansion.  Last but not least, provide a vocabulary rich environment by using lots of descriptive language. 

Buildups and breakdowns

Initially children will start with one word utterances.  For example "milk" could mean "I want milk", or "I'm drinking milk", or "my milk".  This is why paying attention to body language and gestures is so important.  If they are pointing and saying "milk," this means "I want milk". Around two years old your child will be combining two words to form sentences, for example "more milk." Once they reach the stage where they are producing two word phrases or more (2 years +) you don't have to do as much detective work to figure out what they are saying, but you still need to encourage your child to produce meaningful, grammatically correct sentences.  This is a great strategy for children 0-3, when they are producing short words or phrases.        

Buildups and breakdowns is a therapy strategy used to teach your child how sentences are put together.  First you will want to build up the utterance, and form it into a grammatically correct sentence (similar to expansion how you provide a grammatically correct sentence, but with this strategy you do not need to provide additional descriptive language).  For the break down part you will break down the full sentence into smaller units. Here is an example.. if your child says "car" and points to the car in the jello.  They are meaning "look there is a car in the jello." To build up and breakdown this utterance you might say "Yes, there is a car in the jello. Car. Jello.  It's in the Jello.  In the Jello.  The car is in the jello."  So to simplify it for you, you first provide the grammatically correct sentence, then stress individual words/phrases, and then finish again with the correct form.  You are basically building up a sentence, and then breaking it down so that the child understands how the words are used to form a sentence.  This strategy may take a little practice to get use to.  You may feel silly at first, but be assured you are helping your child, so there is no shame in that!    

Here is another example from a phrase my daughter likes to use, "doggy woof woof."  Anytime she hears a dog she says this.  What she is meaning is the doggy is saying woof woof (or the doggy is barking).    Here is an example of something you might say. "That's right, the doggy is barking.  Doggy.  Barking. woof woof.  The doggy is barking. "  **Note if your child is 3 years or older they should not be adding "y" (eg doggy) to the end of words, so you will want to use dog instead of doggy.   

This can also be used during self talk and parallel talk.  For example for parallel talk "You are digging in the jello.  Jello.  Digging.  You are digging.  In the Jello.  You are digging in the jello."  For self talk "I'm bouncing the ball. Ball.  It's bouncing.  The ball.  I'm bouncing it.  I'm bouncing the ball."  The other major benefit to using this therapy strategy is that you are providing your child with lots of exposure to certain words, which will help them to store new vocabulary words. Hopefully by adding this therapy strategy you don't feel overwhelmed.  You may be wondering when do I use build up and break downs, and when do I use expansion?!?! That is totally up to you!  Both have been shown to promote language development. If you feel as though all these strategies are too much to tackle for one activity try focusing on one or two.  Once you become more comfortable using the different strategies they will flow naturally during your activity.  

Sing songy voice (as I like to call it)

 I also like to use what I call a "sing songy voice" when doing buildups and break downs, self talk and parallel talk.  What I mean by this is I alter the tone/pitch of my voice, and make the phrases or words sound almost melodic.  I also put stress on certain words.  Children respond really well to this.  Basically it will get their attention, and help them tune in to what you are saying.  I will try my best to portray this in writing.... I usually start with a higher pitch and then gradually lower my pitch towards the end of the phrase.  For example "pushing the car"  I would say "pushing" with a higher pitch, and then gradually lower my pitch and emphasize "car".  Remember to make it sound almost melodic. Hence why I call it the "sing songy voice."  I hope that makes sense.  If there is some confusion I will try posting a video of this later on.

3. Receptive language (comprehension)

Provide questions and instructions throughout the activity to evaluate comprehension.
Here are some examples:

• "where's the banana?"
• (hold out hand) "Can you give me the car?"  
• "Put the cow in the jello." 
• For children 3-4 (some instructions 2 year olds may be able to follow) make your instructions more complex:  "Can you give me all the red toys?"  Can you give me something that is small?"  "Can you give me something that is round?"  "Can you give me all the animals?"  
• Children 2-4 Start with two step instructions eg "Give me the car, then put the ball in the jello." if they are able to do this easily you can try more complex instructions such as 3 step instruction, eg "Give me the car, put the ball in the jello, then point to the dog."  

That's all for now!  As always, I hope these tips helped!  Thanks for reading, and stay tuned... more language development activities and tips to come!  If you have any questions, comments or would like more examples on anything I've covered please leave a comment, and I will try to provide an answer section at the start of my next post.  Also, I would love to hear from my readers if there is anything in particular you would like me to cover.  :)

X Lisa, Your SLP go to mom  

Language development activity: Sensory box

Thank you for all the positive feedback on my previous post Language Activity: Digging for Dinosaurs and Cloud Dough .  I hope it was helpful!  First off, I just wanted to clarify that I am not claiming to have invented these activities.  Most of these activities you can find via pinterest or some web search engine.  I am taking basic activities, adapting them into activities that will encourage language development, and then providing language tips... So to the inventor of cloud dough, or any other activity... our children thank you! :) 

My goal is to post 1-2 activities a week, so make sure to check back frequently for new activities/tips.  There are so many directions I want to take this blog (soon to be website).  In addition to lots of language activities/tips, here are a few entries I have planned for the future: 

• Language developmental milestones from birth to four years old
• How to promote language development during your regular day to day routine
• When to be concerned, and when to seek out a speech language pathologist (SLP)
• Benefits of sign language, and how to teach basic signs (sorry to all my aussie mates this will be in American Sign Language, however the tips still apply to everyone)
• What if my child isn't talking yet? How to teach new words to your child
• The power of reading to your child

Moving on to today's activity:  

"Sensory box" 

brief overview: 

  You will notice as time goes on that I love sensory activities.  For those of you who don't know much about sensory activities, they are basically activities that incorporate our different senses (eg touch, taste, sight, hearing, smell etc).  My love for sensory activities could partially be due to the fact that my twin sister is an occupational therapist (OT), and raves about it's many benefits.  Here are some things I love about sensory activities:  1. Your child is able to incorporate all of their senses to examine the properties of objects.  What greater way to learn about something then to touch, smell, feel, even taste(?) it! 2. It involves hands on learning (in my opinion one of the best ways for a child to learn) .  Activities that are hands on, in addition to providing lots of language (of course!!!), will do wonders for your child's language development.  

During this activity we will review the three language strategies used in the previous post: 1. Self Talk, 2. Parallel Talk, 3. Expansion.  As last weeks post was primarily centered around tips for children 1-2 years old, I will also be providing tips for children that are 3-4 years old.  So, with that being said let's get started!  

Supplies needed: 

Box

Different sensory items* 

* Now, for the sensory items these can be anything, and I mean anything.  I went around the house and collected different items for Ella to explore.  Try to collect items that vary in shape, color, texture, size etc.  The more diverse your items are, the more you will have to talk about!     

My box consisted of: colored popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners (made into different shapes), feathers, pom poms, plastic Easter egg, magnet, flower lay, sea shells, pieces of fabric, toy animals, paint brush, bow, magnet, paper clip, eraser, glue stick, crochet hook, and a rock.   

1. Introduce the activity: 

Children 1-2: Here is an example of something you might say "Look what I have (show your child the box).  I have a box full of different items.  Let's have a look inside, and see all the different things we can find."  

Children 3-4 years old:  For children 3-4 years old you may choose to focus on two features, for example color and size.  An example of an introduction might be.  "Look I have a box full of different items.  The items are all different colors and sizes.  Let's have a look inside, and see if we can name all the colors, and I want you to tell me if the items are big or small."  

Before beginning the activity you may need to have a discussion about the features you have decided to focus on.  If you want to focus on size the child may say small for everything (since most of the items will be small in order to fit in the box).  In this circumstance you will need to have a chat about comparing the size of the items in the box, for example a paper clip is small compared to an Easter egg).  If you choose to focus on texture (which this is a great activity for), you will need to have a chat about what texture is.  If you say how does the feather feel... you may get the response "happy."  When discussing how something "feels" provide your child with an example... "We are going to talk about how the items feel when you touch them (grab the feather and rub it on their arm), This feather "feels" soft.  Ooh it tickles. (put a rock in your hand) Now does this rock feel bumpy or smooth? etc."  This feature may require a lot of discussion, and you may need to keep providing lots of examples before it sinks in, but that's the great thing about a sensory box, it's full of items to compare! 

2. Language therapy

Children 1-2: As mentioned in the previous activity, children at this stage are primarily in the illocutionary stage and are beginning to enter the locutionary stage of communication.  This means the child will be communicating through gestures, signs, vocalizations etc, and will be beginning to use words.  This is a crucial stage for language storage.  Your child must store the words correctly before they are able to use them expressively.  Children at this stage are constantly soaking in new information, and after repeated exposure to a word they will eventually store it into their lexicon (think of it as a "mental dictionary of all the words you know").   +++ input (repetition and exposure)= output. What you put in, is what you get out.  Understand?  As your child matures they will begin storing words at a rapid pace, but in these first couple years of life it takes a lot of repetition to really sink in. Kind of like learning a second language. Once they have stored a sufficient amount of words (around two years old), this is when you will really see their language burst! 

Just a reminder on the therapy strategies you will be using. If you need more of a review, make sure to look at last weeks activity for examples.  

• Self talk= talking about what YOU are doing (eg "I found a pom pom.  I'm squishing the pom pom.  It feels soft."   
• Parallel talk= talking about what THEY are doing (eg "You are holding a blue Easter egg.  You opened the Easter egg.")
• Expansion= taking their word or phrase and putting it into a grammatically correct sentence, and then expanding on it with some descriptive language.  
• Use descriptive language to talk about what the items look like, how they feel, taste even(?)
• For familiar items you may ask the child to locate them.  (eg "Where's the chicken?") 

Children 3-4: 
Receptive language (understanding of words, concepts): For this portion of the activity you are evaluating what concepts they understand (for example, do they know their colors).  To test their understanding have them follow a direction,  such as "give me an item that is blue." "give me an item that feels soft." "give me something that is small." You get the idea..
Expressive language (words used expressively): Evaluate what words they are able to use expressively. "What is this?"  "What color is this?" "What does it feel like?"

You don't want the child to feel like you are constantly drilling them with questions so make it fun, follow the child's lead, and remember to still incorporate self talk, parallel talk and expansion.  Use these strategies to teach your child about the different features.  For example if you are focusing on color and size, make sure to talk lots about what the different items look like.  "You're holding a big black pom pom.  Oh look, I found a small white pom pom.  They feel soft."

Hope these tips helped!  Thanks for reading and stay tuned... more language development activities and tips to come!  If you have any questions or comments make sure to leave a comment  below with your email address so I can respond.  :)  

X Lisa, Your SLP go to mom 

Summer fun in Salt Lake City

Since we are now only a 3 hour drive from Salt Lake City, we get the opportunity to go home lots to visit.  Here are some of the things we've been up to in Salt Lake this summer.

Michelle's pinning ceremony 

Michelle's graduation

Hogel Zoo 

My sweet niece Reese Charolette Hart was born on May 06, 2013 :) 

My brother-in-law got hitched, and I got a new sis in law.  Congrats Ashely and Ryan! 

Wedding reception

Pool time with aunty Chell

Walks up City Creek 

Happy 4th of July!

Brandon came home from Greece 

I love my family

We celebrated my dads 60th birthday! Love you dad! 

More time at Hogel Zoo

Family time at the Ranch