Explore every episode of the podcast Play Teach Talk

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

Just a little reminder for you about the end goal, the skill, the celebration not reflecting the process that got a person to that skill.

Ms Rachel has become every child's favorite YouTube star! Her videos are educational and animated and fun for our kids. However, watching Ms Rachel or any other educational video may not give you the "results" you are looking for in building language. I talk about why in this episode.

You ask your child to do something. You get a resounding "no"! You push. they push back. Now you're in a power struggle. What can you do? I offer 5 ways to interrupt the dreaded power struggle.

How to End Power Struggles with Toddlers - Kars4Kids ParentingHow to Avoid Power Struggles with Children (verywellfamily.com)

Cooking with your Toddler (meal prep, food assembly, putting a plate together) teaches many different language concepts, independence, and can also help a picky eater with their sensitivity to new foods.

In this episode, I describe targeting skills in a child's "Zone of Proximal Development" to ensure that a child is being challenged, but just enough.

Have a great August-see you after Labor Day!

How Vygotsky Defined the Zone of Proximal Development (verywellmind.com)

I've worked mostly with kiddos under 3 throughout my career, but in recent years I've seen kids up 6 and 7 years old- and I have great news! Even if your child is not using words at 3, that does not mean in all cases that they won't use words.

Just like kiddos who get stuck using the sign for "more" to ask for anything, I have kiddos who get stuck using "help me" for all of their needs. I discuss how to move past using a single phrase as a catch-all.

I love talking about helping our visual learners with speech! Language is primarily an auditory channel skill for most learners, but visual learners may need you to break down language in a way that supports their learning style. I cover ways to support this learning style and give a boost to your visual learner's understanding.

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

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great holiday. This episode talks about one of my favorite types of books- those with busy backgrounds that can help children use more complex vocabulary as they read! I talk about one brand of books in particular, but there are lots of books out there with complex backgrounds. You and your child can spend a long time together noticing the different characters in the book, talking about what they are doing, and solving problems you see in the books.

Wimmelbook Publishing – We open seemingly endless worlds

Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go: Scarry, Richard: 8601420760561: Amazon.com: Books

This is a topic that I teased out from an earlier episode, and something I bring up with parents when their child is tantruming because they've been asked to use a word and do not want to. "Why do you want me to use a word, when pointing and grunting has worked pretty well for me so far?".

I'm passing on the newest research about language development in infants! How many books per day do you think you need to read to your child to help them develop their expressive and receptive language skills?

bit.ly/daily-book

This is a short one! I cover a recent research study that looks at whether children's cognitive skills are affected by playing video games.

https://econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/10.1027/1864-1105/a000364

Ah, Time Out. It's supposed to be a great technique for helping kids understand rules without having to resort to more strict forms of punishment- but how do we do it? How long should it be, how to we make it helpful, and how do we keep those kids in their spot? I combed the internet for the experts on this technique, ways to carry them out, and what to do if the techniques don't seem to work.

How to Do an Effective Time-Out | Psychology Today6 Successful Time-Out Tactics (parents.com)

What to do when time-outs don't work (ages 3 to 4) | BabyCenter (This is a great resource if you've tried the techniques and they just don't seem to work)

I'm no behavior expert, but I've seen kids and parents who struggle with hitting and biting behaviors throughout my years as an in-home speech therapist. I did a lot of research to find out the main reasons why children hit and bite, and what the experts suggest you do- as well as one big thing a parent or caregiver should NOT do- in helping reduce or eliminate these behaviors.

Toddler Biting: How To Stop a Toddler From Biting – Cleveland ClinicUnderstanding and Responding to Children Who Bite | NAEYC

Anger, Irritability and Aggression in Kids > Fact Sheets > Yale Medicine

Toddler aggression: When to worry and how to stop your toddler from hitting | BabyCenter

When children seem to "lash out" or have more tantrums than expected, I typically try to look at the rules that are being set and if there are differences in how parents and caregivers are implementing and reinforcing the rules in the home. Looking at how rules and boundaries are being communicated and follow through in goals occurs in a child's different environments can sometimes explain why there is confusion in a young child.

Why Does Consistency Matter in Parenting? (verywellfamily.com)

Why Consistent Parenting Is So Important, and So Hard | Psychology Today

I recently completed the most basic PROMPT training to learn a touch-based system to help children access speech sounds more easily and across words. I explain reasons why this might be helpful to use and also touch on another system that has been used as well to help with speech sounds (DTTC).

What Is the PROMPT Method? (therapyworks.com)

Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing (DTTC) – Child Apraxia Treatment

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

Everything old is new again! Back in the 70s/80s, there was a debate about which was the best way to teach reading to young children. Is it better to teach sight words, or is it better to teach decoding skills through phonics drills? That debate has been picked up anew in the last decade. I go over the types of learning each entail, and what is the "best way" to help kids learn better reading skills.

Whole Word vs Phonics - Reading Wars! - Understanding the Differences between these 2 Approaches - Learning Reading HubPhonics vs. Whole Language | Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D. (institute4learning.com)

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

It is very important to build a child's repertoire of names of their favorite objects, but how do we move them on to longer phrases and sentences when they are ready to combine words? "Core" vocabulary is a list of the most commonly used words in child language, and they have the power to boost use of phrases significantly.

100highfrequencycorewords21.pdf (aaclanguagelab.com)

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

In this episode, I talk about developmental milestones and variability in children's development. Because every child has their own path, a chart or a video of your friend's child showing a skill gives little information about when your child will have that skill.

I mentioned this briefly in S4 Ep 12- but we want to make sure that we are looking a few steps ahead in situations with our young kiddos so that we can problem-solve for any issues that can be avoided in play and in routines. Making a few small changes to how you approach an activity with your child, or how you work with them to learn a new skill, can be the difference between having a great experience and one where there are lots of "no"s.

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

Consider learning styles when you are looking for ways to help your child learn any new concept. The "Verbal" channel might not be their strongest way to access information. I describe the styles and how you can teach common concepts in each style.

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

As an EI therapist, I tend to work along with the discipline styles my parents use. There are alternatives to time out or other discipline when you can see that a behavior or situation could become dangerous but has not yet, during "power struggles", if your child gets upset during transitions, or when they are stuck emotionally and you are unable to help them calm easily. Consider using some of these strategies rather than using "no" or putting a child in time out. 

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

Taking turns with your eye contact, smile, voice, and body movements are all precursors to learning to interact with a communication partner. Taking turns in play is also essential as a part of participatory play. I share a strategy from a recent therapy session that might help your child to learn how to move a ball back and forth between you. 

Visit my website at PlayTeachTalk for journal entries, YouTube videos, and short courses offered twice monthly to enhance language skills in young children-or visit my YouTube Channel Tiffany Thompson - YouTube

It's wonderful to be here! Creating a resource for families to learn about speech and language development and all of the developmental skills that evolve in conjunction with them has been a pleasure. I'm looking forward to feedback and ways to add more value to this podcast as it grows more in 2023. 

Visit my website at PlayTeachTalk for journal entries, YouTube videos, and short courses offered twice monthly to enhance language skills in young children-or visit my YouTube Channel Tiffany Thompson - YouTube

I offer a few suggestions to help reduce visual distractions as your child is learning about play and language through their toys.

Visit my website at PlayTeachTalk for journal entries, YouTube videos, and short courses offered twice monthly to enhance language skills in young children-or visit my YouTube Channel Tiffany Thompson - YouTube

I update parents on a recent article that discusses use of AI to help teach language to children who are bilingual or multilingual in a language that is not mastered by their available SLPs. 

Visit my website at PlayTeachTalk for journal entries, YouTube videos, and short courses offered twice monthly to enhance language skills in young children-or visit my YouTube Channel Tiffany Thompson - YouTube

During my time in the homes, I have seen a few concepts go out of style for teaching kids under 3. Educational toys are not being geared towards these concepts, and that can make teaching them a little tricky. Listen for the ones that need extra supervision from an adult.

Visit my website at PlayTeachTalk for journal entries, YouTube videos, and short courses offered twice monthly to enhance language skills in young children-or visit my YouTube Channel Tiffany Thompson - YouTube

It can sometimes throw us off as parents and caregivers when our child plays with a toy in a different way it was intended- what are we supposed to do? Follow their lead? Correct them? Show them how to play with the toys in the way they are intended? And how do we use language related to the toys to help build their language?

Visit my website at PlayTeachTalk for journal entries, YouTube videos, and short courses offered twice monthly to enhance language skills in young children-or visit my YouTube Channel Tiffany Thompson - YouTube

In speaking with one of my families, I thought it might help to distinguish the difference between an infant playing with sounds and an older child imitating sounds and words. I hope this sheds some light for why some children seem to make lots of sounds as babies, but when it's time to build their own sound or word vocabulary, there seems to be a lag in skills (which we sometimes think is regression, or losing skills).

Visit my website at PlayTeachTalk for journal entries, YouTube videos, and short courses offered twice monthly to enhance language skills in young children-or visit my YouTube Channel Tiffany Thompson - YouTube

If your child has a hoarse voice, even if they are 3 or 4 years old, they can be successful in therapy to treat their voice. I go over ways to help your child use their voice in a healthy way and some of the options for therapy and treatment for voice disorders in young children. 

Visit my website at PlayTeachTalk for journal entries, YouTube videos, and short courses offered twice monthly to enhance language skills in young children-or visit my YouTube Channel Tiffany Thompson - YouTube

Pediatric Voice Disorders | Durham, Raleigh, North Carolina | Duke Health

Pediatric Voice Disorders: Evaluation and Treatment | The ASHA Leader

It is common to see kiddos who previously did not communicate or follow directions, but were laid-back, to start to make refusals and protest when they have been through a few months of speech therapy. I explain why and ways to help your child work through their frustration. 

Visit my website at PlayTeachTalk for journal entries, YouTube videos, and short courses offered twice monthly to enhance language skills in young children-or visit my YouTube Channel Tiffany Thompson - YouTube

Do you have a child who doesn't let you know until the verylastminute that they have to use the bathroom? Does your child not ask for food and then seem to get really hangry? Does your child not seem to have awareness of when they have gotten too hot or too cold, and you're putting a blanket on a child with a blue nose? They may have an issue with interoception. I go over what this means and the types of activities that can help children tune into their inner states more readily. To see if your child could benefit from these activities, consult with an Occupational Therapist with training in this area of development.

Visit my website at PlayTeachTalk for journal entries, YouTube videos, and short courses offered twice monthly to enhance language skills in young children-or visit my YouTube Channel Tiffany Thompson - YouTube

 The 8th Sense Explained: 7 Interoception Activities for Kids (merakilane.com)

Interoception: The Secret Ingredient | Dana Foundation

ARFID as a diagnosis has only been around for about 10 years. It is one of the more severe issues with "picky eating" where a child eats very few foods, which can cause significant gaps in nutrition. Leaving out critical vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients can affect how a young child's brain and body develop. I cover a few signs of the disorder and how it impacts the child and their family. 

A team approach is crucial to make progress in helping a child learn to explore and accept new foods, which will not only broaden their food repertoire, but opens up social events for which they had typically sat out because of their limited foods.

Visit my website at PlayTeachTalk for journal entries, YouTube videos, and short courses offered twice monthly to enhance language skills in young children-or visit my YouTube Channel Tiffany Thompson - YouTube

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) | National Eating Disorders Association

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) - Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital - vD (hopkinsallchildrens.org)

What Is ARFID? - Child Mind Institute

In this episode, I describe how you can enhance your child's ability to build phrases, sentences, and recall stories better using the novel decorations, events, and routines that happen around the holidays. Any event that is interesting to your child is a great opportunity for learning. Model the language around the objects and activity that is interesting to them. 

This is the final episode of Season 3! See you in January 2023.

Visit my website at PlayTeachTalk for journal entries, YouTube videos, and short courses offered twice monthly to enhance language skills in young children-or visit my YouTube Channel Tiffany Thompson - YouTube

Having the bottom half of our faces covered throughout the past few years has had an effect on children's language development. I discuss how to help children attend better to language modeled by others.

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

The holidays are approaching! I provide a suggestion to help your child focus on play with you and on individual toys for longer periods of time. 

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

Co-Regulation is a term that emerged from the concept of self-regulation, or learning how to tune into one's emotions and feelings and engage in ways to calm and soothe the nervous system. Though it is used in different contexts, I discuss what co-regulation means as it applies to parents and caregivers and how they interact with children. How we approach and respond to children can greatly affect how they learn to interact with the world, and how they learn to check in with their own minds and bodies when they experience stress. 

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

 Co-Regulation From Birth Through Young Adulthood: A Practice Brief (unc.edu)

Using Co-Regulation To Help A Child Develop Self-Regulation - Havern School

How Co-regulation with Parents Develops into Self-Regulation in Children (parentingforbrain.com)

I recently attended a training that went further into depth about how motor planning skills can affect how children play with toys. Does your child move very quickly from one toy to another without really stopping to play with them? Do they seem to play with a preferred toy in the same way all of the time? While we sometimes look at these types of play as being characteristic of children on the Autism spectrum, the simple play and quick movement to new toys may have to do with a breakdown in motor planning skills, from having a concept of how they want to play with the toy, all the way to whether they can take the feedback they get when their intent goes wrong and adapt to it and change their approach. 

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

Motor Planning: Learning How to Use the Body – BabySparks

5 Therapist-Approved Motor Planning Activities | NAPA Center

Lying underneath many of the other developmental skills that a child learns is their executive function skills. I cover what that term means, and touch on how deficits in these skills can affect other areas of development. 

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

Executive Function Skills By Age: What To Look For | Life Skills Advocate

Strategies to Strengthen Executive Function | Psychology Today Canada

How to Boost Executive Function in Children & Why It's Important to Helping Them Thrive - Hey Sigmund

There are lots of options available to have child care in the US. I go over the most common options, the star rating system for daycares, and additional things to look for when you are doing a walk-through of a center. 

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

How Points are Earned - How Points are Earned (ncdhhs.gov)

In a recent article I read, a child psychologist referenced a 2005 study that showed that self-discipline and perseverance was a better predictor of how a child would succeed in school than their IQ.  I give some tips to help enhance both self-discipline and perseverance.

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

Self-Discipline Outdoes IQ in Predicting Academic Performance of Adolescents - Angela L. Duckworth, Martin E.P. Seligman, 2005 (sagepub.com)

EJ746291.pdf (ed.gov)

8 Ways to Teach Kids Self-Discipline Skills (verywellfamily.com)

I mentioned Coaching in a prior episode; Megan Hardisty and I go a little further into the meaning of parent coaching and touch on NLEP's. 

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

Megan Hardisty joins me for another episode to talk about the AT lending library and the "magic" that can be created by using assistive technology to support a variety of developmental skills, while allowing children to explore their world and have new experiences as they develop. 

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

I interview Megan Hardisty, PT, DPT, who gives us insight into what physical therapy is and how it is used for young children. 

Pathways.org | Tools to maximize child development

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

I interview Lisa Costa, MA, OTR/L, who is certified in Hippotherapy, to give us a peek into the therapy, who does it, what ages of children can be involved in the therapy, and the benefits it has. We also go into Therapeutic Riding and touch on other therapeutic benefits that riding and interacting with horses can have. 

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

Does it hurt or benefit a child to be exposed to two (or more) languages? I talk about the different types of language acquisition, the concept of a dominant language when children are exposed to more than one language, the "silent period", and how best to present languages to children to help them build strong skills in both languages.

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

Responsive Feeding is another buzzword going around the parenting and childhood development communities. I discuss what it entails. 

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

What is Responsive Feeding? | The Nourished Child

Responsive Feeding Infosheet - Baby Friendly Initiative (unicef.org.uk)