Play Teach Talk – Details, episodes & analysis

Season 5, Episode 6

Children need to hear lots of language in the first 2-3 years of their life. I talk about ways that you can purposefully choose how you use language so that it has the most benefit for your child.

https://www.amazon.com/Thirty-Million-Words-Building-Childs/dp/0525954872

This is an expansion on the past episode I did as a general play skill review; I delve deeper into the stages of pretend play and why a child may not be engaging in skills as would be expected.

The 5 Stages of Pretend Play in Early Childhood - Empowered Parents 'Pretend play' is important to kids’ development - Sanford Health News

This was an interesting newer article about behaviors within pretend play:

A New Theory of the Progression of Pretend Play Development | Psychology Today

I offer ways to "mix up" language teaching to help get a child out of a single-word rut.

This is just the basics! I go over the use of No-tech, Lite and Mid-Tech, and High-Tech supports for language comprehension and expression and why they can be helpful for children who are not yet using words as their primary communication. I also touch on use of apps for high tech AAC versus "dedicated devices" and why there is a difference.

I detail reasons why young children may be drooling, what age to look for it to stop, and resources you can access to help with drooling in your toddler.

I talk about the pros and cons of both screen-based play and play with toys without bells and whistles. 

Turn-taking is a social skill that needs to be built as a foundation for more purposeful interaction and language skills. I discuss ways to set up play to encourage turn-taking and how to do this with a few common "favorite" toys.

Do you have a kiddo who just can't sit down for more than a few seconds to play? Are you wondering how to help them pay attention to toys and activities to help them learn words and sounds? I give you several strategies to try, from the least to the most supportive, to help your child increase their attention span in play, which can assist in building language comprehension and encourage first words.

Visit my website at PlayTeachTalk for journal entries, YouTube videos, and short courses offered twice monthly to enhance language skills in young children.

An encouragement episode for parents: Even if it seems like you've tried everything to help build language skills and it's not working, you are not doing anything wrong. We are an individualistic society, but there are professionals and resources out there that can give you help and strategies to try with your child. You're not alone!  

I go over stages of play in which children engage over their development. Exploratory play is the most basic stage, and it is where many of the push-button sound and light toys are, even if they are marketed as "educational" toys.