Nurture Speech and Feeding Therapy

These past four days were a very special experience at the Boot Camp. It is hard to put into words all of the information I learned there, but the meaningful conversations, thought-provoking questions, connections with experts in our field, and new SLP friendships are truly incredible! I feel confident, inspired, and motivated & must thank our incredible mentors for the work they put into this week: thank you Sue, Sarah, Brooke, Lisa, Lynn, & Megan. And thank you for bringing all of these brilliant minds together. This quote from Dr. Megan Overby will certainly stick with us! An SLP mantra to live by.

Ever heard the saying “Food before one is just for fun”? While it’s catchy, it’s not really true. Although your baby will continue to meet most of his or her nutritional needs from breast milk or formula, there are a lot of reasons why introducing solid foods is vital for your baby’s development!

Learning to eat solid foods helps your baby develop:
~ Oral motor skills
~ Fine motor skills
~ Sensory skills
~ Communication skills
~ Mealtime routines

And exposure to ‘lumpy’ solid foods by 9 months has been correlated with reduced chance of picky eating later in childhood (Coulthard et al, 2009).

In addition, solids provide key nutrients for your baby between 6 and 12 months, specifically iron and zinc.

Introducing your baby to solids right around 6 months of age is clearly important for all of these reasons, but that doesn’t mean food can’t be fun too! Food should be fun at this age and getting messy is encouraged too! 😁

Starting solids with your baby…the first question is “When?”
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends introducing solids around 6 months of age. There may be some reasons why your pediatrician may advise starting a little earlier (between 4-6m), so consult with them, but typically starting right at 6 months is preferred!
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Look for the signs of readiness in your baby. Baby should:
- Be able to sit upright with minimal support in their high chair
- Have good head & neck control
- Reach for objects and bring them to their mouth to explore. This is the stage when babies typically put anything/everything in their mouths.
- Show interest in food- this could be staring intently at food when you are eating, reaching for food, opening their mouth when food approaches, etc.
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if you’re seeing these signs and your baby is just about 6 months of age, try introducing solids at 1 meal per day. Remember to go slow and read baby’s cues!

Continuing on the theme of “Be The Toy!” People games are one of my favorite tools to teach parents of young children who are learning to communicate. People games (sometimes called "social games") are simple, repetitive games that are played without toys and focus on the interaction between you and your child. They help children learn to imitate actions/gestures/words, initiate interactions, take turns, and attend to others.

These games should be played the same way each time so your child learns what to expect. Once you have played it MANY times, you can then pause during the game to see if your child will fill in the next step with an action, sound, or word.

The game I use daily with the children I work with is a variation of “Up-Down!”. To play this game:
1) Lift your child up overhead while saying “up…up…up” with an animated voice
2) Hold them up for a second
3) Then bring them down quickly and say “down!”

You can also add a spin or do several up-down’s in a row. Then put your child down and WAIT to see if they will initiate it again (they might raise their arms up, they might look at you and move towards you, or they may attempt to say “up”). But remember, play the game MANY times all the way through before waiting so your child has a chance to learn the routine first.

Need help incorporating these strategies into your daily routine? Have questions about your child’s language development? Reach out to us at 917-719-0424.

Nurture Speech and Feeding Therapy updated their info in the about section.

This is a tip I picked up from Laura Mize (check out her wealth of information here: ). BE THE TOY!

What does that mean?
It means you, as the parent or therapist, find ways to be the most fun and interesting thing in the room. You want your child to realize it’s more fun to play WITH you than to do anything else.

Why?
Because teaching your child how to play with you is an important first step toward learning to communicate. Communication begins with social interactions and a child who is truly engaged in 1:1 playtime with you will have many opportunities to learn new words. If your little one doesn’t show much interest in other people, these tips can help.

How?
~ Put away most of the toys & focus on people games like chase or peekaboo
~ Get on your child's level (you want to be face-to-face)
~ Follow their lead- figure out what interests them and use that in your play
~ Copy them – imitate what your child does, any noises they make, and any words they say!
~ Be FUN – be playful, silly, dramatic, and animated to the best of your ability. This doesn’t always come naturally but it gets easier with practice and will help capture your little one's attention!

Look out for further posts elaborating on these tips and feel free to reach out if you could use more help!

               

Here’s a quick tip you can start using today to help your toddler say more words: Ask fewer questions!

❌ Instead of: Ohhh who did you find? What animal is that? It’s a pig. What does the pig say? What color is he?

✅ Try this:
Ohhh a pig! (point to the pig)
Pig! Oink Oink (make this funny sound a few times)
Hi pig! (model waving)

When children are first learning to talk, asking too many questions can be overwhelming. Some little ones don’t like feeling “pressured” to talk and will be silent in response.

So, what should we do instead? Model just a few words at a time and turn those questions into comments. Think about modeling a target word many times... repetition is key for learning. In this example, I said “pig” 3x to give the child an opportunity to imitate me. I took the pressure off of them by not asking any questions.

BONUS tip: use an *animated* voice, BIG facial expressions, and gestures too! 😁These grab your little one’s attention and make the interaction more fun.

A late talker is a child with fewer than 50 words and no spontaneous two-word combinations by 2 years old.

The 50-word mark is really important! Research shows children start to spontaneously combine words once they have at least 50 single words. They then start putting novel phrases together like “more juice,” “car go,” or “mommy shoe.” Holistic phrases and word combinations that are usually said as one unit like “thank you,” “all done” or “what’s that?” don’t count as novel phrases since toddlers learn to say these as one unit or “word.”

Identifying late talkers early and providing intervention at a young age is critical. Children who have no other delays aside from late talking are likely to catch up to their peers by the time they enter school if provided with the appropriate support.

Historically, pediatricians recommended a “wait-and-see” approach for children who were late talkers and appeared to have no other delays. This is outdated and referral to speech therapy should be encouraged. Research has shown that waiting can do more harm than good. Early identification and intervention can mitigate the long-term effects of a language delay.

Have concerns about your child’s language development? Reach out to us at 425-477-9252.