The Speechie Corner

✨MY TOP BOOKS FOR PROMOTING GESTURES✨⁣
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These are some of my favorite books for promoting early language skills—especially gestures!! ⁣
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Gestures are SO important. They signal that a child can convey what they want by DOING something. Children NEED these skills before words emerge. Vvvv important if you ask me 🙂. ⁣
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🌈These books are great for all prelinguistic skills—turn taking, joint attention, vocalizing purposefully, understanding words and following directions, imitating, & MORE!!⁣
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All of these books are especially great for encouraging gestures & imitating actions.⁣
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•Llama Llama Hoppity-Hop by Anna Dewdney⁣
•From Head to Toe by Eric Carle ⁣
•Up, Up, Up, Down! By Kimberly Gee⁣
•Peekaboo Morning by Rachel Isadora ⁣
•Night Night Farm by Roger Priddy ⁣
•Poke-a-Dot-Melissa and Doug⁣
•Press Here by Herve Tullet ⁣
•Clap Hands by Helen Oxenbury⁣
•Where's Spot? by Eric Hill⁣
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📚 Have any questions how I use them?? Are any of these on your bookshelf?⁣
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SAVE this post for future reference!⁣
🔗all these books are linked in my bio under recommended products

✨LANGUAGE TIPS✨⁣
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These are my go-to to strategies that I always find myself using or teaching. BUT REMEMBER—every child is unique and it’s important to meet hem where they are! Do you use any of these at home? Any questions on HOW or WHEN to use any of them?

✨How many words should my child say? ✨

I get asked this question ALL👏🏻THE👏🏻TIME!!
🦋This post is intended to answer that question and also help you understand and make the most educated, informed decision for your child.

Seriously, why is this answer so hard to find!? You can do a google search and get many different answers. WHY??

✨Like all development there is a RANGE!!✨

🦋SLPs tend to look at the average, whereas a lot of searches or information you may see gives the milestone. Wait, aren’t those the same? NOPE!

⭐️Average: what approximately 50% of children are able to do at a certain age
⭐️Milestone: what MOST children are able to do at a certain age (approximately 90%)

🌈Milestones:
12 months: 1 word (vs. 2-6)
18 months: 10 words (vs. 50)
24 months: 50 words (vs. 200-300)
36 months: 250 words (vs. 1,000)

🌈 Average:
12 months: 2-6 words
15 months: 10 words
18 months: 50 words
24 months: 200-300 words
30 months: 450 words
3 years: 1,000 words

So, why is it important to know the difference between average and milestones? 👇🏻👇🏻
✨If your child is 18 months old and saying 8 words you may think to yourself, “Oh he’s not far off.” However, the average number of words is 50! See the difference??

💥It’s so important as PARENTS and PROFESSIONALS (SLPs, pediatricians, teachers, etc.) to understand and know the difference so we can make informed decisions.

📚 Sources: LinguiSystems Guide to Communication Milestone

💓SHARE & SAVE to get the info out there!
Did you know about this difference or did you learn something new? Any questions, please feel free to ask! 👇🏼

✨BOOK REC: YUMMY YUCKY✨
By: Leslie Patricelli

I love this book! It’s great for those prelinguistic skills I’ve been talking about the past couple weeks!
I specifically LOVE using it to promote imitation 👇🏼👇🏼
👶🏻 gestures/actions
👶🏽facial expressions
👶🏼play sounds
👶🏾words❣️❣️

🌈Have you read this book with you LO or in therapy?! It’s such a good one! What are some of you other go-to books? 👇🏼

✨I love using classic songs and switching them up a little!✨⁣

🌈Singing will go A LONG WAY with progressing your child’s language development. It is MOTIVATING, repetitive, and helps gain your child’s attention. ⁣
In this song, you can work on imitating actions and words! ⁣
👏🏻 DANCE & use action/gestures (turn around, touch the ground) so your child can IMITATE and follow the simple directions! ⁣
✋🏻 PAUSE and have your child fill in the blank on some repetitive words or phrases!⁣
🔁REPEAT the song again and again so your child can learn the words and their meaning ⁣
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🍁 🎃 I LOVE FALL so this is one of my favorites!! Does your little one enjoy songs? What are some favorites? I love making up my own throughout the day! I even do it when I’m not doing therapy 😏🤪

✨YAY! Your baby is 9 months!⁣✨
Here are some things to look for! Pay attention to your baby’s nonverbal cues (eye contact, gestures)!! Your baby wants to interact with you!🥰⁣
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How can you support?⁣
⚡️Sing songs and play interactive games⁣
⚡️Talk about your actions and your baby’s actions⁣
⚡️Use Infant Directed Speech aka “baby talk”⁣
⚡️Get down on the floor and follow their lead⁣
⚡️Read to your baby—sit face to face when possible!⁣
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Causes for concern:⁣
🦋Does not have any consonant sounds (m, b, d, p, g, etc.)⁣
🦋Does not play any games involving back and forth (e.g. Patty Cake, peek-a-boo)⁣
🦋Does not recognize familiar people ⁣
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🌈 How is your baby communicating with your now?!

✨IMITATION IS A PROCESS✨⁣
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🌈MEET YOUR CHILD WHERE THEY ARE. If they are not able to imitate gestures, they will not be able to imitate words. Imitation of actions with objects starts at ~ 6 months BUT meet your child where they are!! Are the able to imitate my actions? No? Let’s start there! ⁣
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☀️This list is modified from Laura Mize’s Teach Me Talk. If you’re a EI SLP, I highly recommend her podcast and books. Full of tons of amazing info. ⁣
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I’ll talk about different ways to promote imitation later this week! ⁣
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🌈How is your little one imitating now?!

✨I M I T A T I O N✨⁣
👉🏼a child copies what they see & hear other people do & say. ⁣
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🌈We learn just about everything from watching and then doing. Language is no different! ⁣
✨Imitation is a PROCESS and a critical component of learning to talk. Toddlers don’t start imitating words without a foundation. Imitation begins VERY early with newborns imitating facial expressions, infants “cooing” back when parents talk to them, and so on! It’s honestly so amazing how it progresses 😍! ⁣
I’ll talk about building verbal imitation skills tomorrow!

✨GESTURES✨⁣
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🌈What are gestures?⁣
Gestures are body/hand movements or actions that we use to intentionally share a message to others. ⁣
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🌈Why are the important? ⁣
Gestures are SO important because it signals that a child understands that he can convey what he wants by DOING something. For example, when a child reach up his arms, it means, “Pick me up!” ⁣
📖 Research has shown that the use of gestures is a good indicator of later language skills. ⁣
Typically developing toddlers begin to use gestures just BEFORE they learn to talk. This begins ~9-10 months. Gestures let us know that a child’s language skills are progressing🦋!! ⁣
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🤩Dr. Amy Wetherby directed the Firsts Words Project which tells us that a child should be using at least 16 gestures by 16 months. It would worth speaking to your pediatrician if your child is 12 months and not using a couple of gestures (e.g. waving, clapping). ⁣
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🌈What’s your child’s favorite gesture? I absolutely die when a little one “tells me” stop ✋🏻🤣!! I’ll share tomorrow different ways to promote!

✨PAUSE✨⁣
It’s natural to want to try and fill in the silence! I even find myself doing this sometimes! Instead try and P A U S E! Wait at least 5 seconds (it may feel TOO LONG🤪) and then model the language for your child. Use pausing to entice your toddler to communicate! Pausing also gives your child time to express themselves without feeling rushed! ⁣
Use pausing while...⁣
💥Babbling back and forth⁣
💥Singing songs⁣
💥Using verbal routines⁣
💥Asking questions ⁣
💥Commenting throughout the day⁣
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Pausing is so often overlooked but it 👏🏻 works 👏🏻. ⁣
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🌈Do you pause and wait?! Any questions?!

✨BOOKS✨⁣
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Reading with your LO doesn’t have to be onlyyy reading the words on the page! Point to the pictures and talk about what you see. ⁣
“Look it’s a dog! The dog is running! Woof woof dog!” ⁣
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🌈Do you do this already?!? ⁣ I have more book reading tips for early literacy saved in my book highlights
What are some of your little one’s favorite books for fall! I could use some therapy inspo 📚 🦋

MY MOST FAQ—“HOW CAN I GET MY BABY TO BABBLE MORE?”⁣
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🌈First, make sure your child is responding to environmental noises! If not, start there! Get hearing checked if needed!⁣
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NOW, TIME TO BABBLE 👇🏼⁣
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☀️Get face-to-face and make sure baby can SEE your mouth!⁣
☀️Use play sounds (i.e. yummy, uh-oh, boo) and early developing sounds (p, p, m, d, n) to babble to your baby—they learn through imitation❣️❣️⁣
☀️Put your baby’s hand on your mouth while babbling so they can also FEEL the sounds!⁣
☀️PAUSE! Wait 5-10 seconds after you babble to see if your baby babbles back! ⁣
☀️Draw attention to yourself by using Infant Direct Speech (IDS) aka “baby talk” —> a “sing song” intonation, simple words, slower rate, and exaggerated facial expression!⁣
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💥LAST, Repeat and expand—repeat their babbles and add to it (e.g. baby says “baba” you say “bottle! Yay, drink the bottle!”)⁣
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🌈Is your baby babbling now? If so, when did they start babbling?!⁣
Did you use any of these tips?

✨R A N G E S✨⁣
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All children will develop at their own rate. AT THEIR OWN RATE. I know it’s super easy but it does no good to compare your child to your friend’s child or some child on the internet who is the same age. For example, some babies will say their first word at 10 months, others at 14 months. This is a range and they are both OK!! The key is knowing when it becomes a cause for CONCERN (past the range). That was one of my goals for starting this page. I know there’s a lot of information out there and it can be hard knowing or remembering it all. I address “causes for concern” on my milestones post. I do this to INFORM you, not to worry you. I’m a firm believer in knowledge is power. I hate hearing from parents, “I wish I knew….” ⁣
🦋Last but not least, I’m ALLLL about the earlier the better. In my opinion, no harm can come from getting an evaluation or seeking help if needed! ⁣
👶🏻 I have birth-3 milestones available—saved in story highlights. ⁣
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🌈You got this mama!!

✨STUTTERING✨⁣
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I’ve gotten several questions lately about stuttering in young children and when to be “concerned.”⁣
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I hope this post helps! Source:
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Everyone is disfluent at times. So, when your child is learning language, it can be especially difficult knowing when to seek speech therapy. ⁣
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🧐Differential diagnosis can be TRICKY!! If you are concerned with your child’s fluency AND 1.) there is family history of stuttering and/or 2.) your child has been stuttering for more than 6 months—it would be worth getting a speech and language evaluation. ⁣
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🤷🏼‍♀️WHAT CAN YOU DO AT HOME?⁣
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😌TRY THIS: Speaking calmly and slowly ⁣
❌NOT THIS: telling your child to “slow down,” “relax”⁣
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⏰ 👂 TRY THIS: Reducing time constrains and listen through entire message ⁣
❌NOT THIS: finishing their sentences for them ⁣
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🤩TRY THIS: giving them your full attention ⁣
❌NOT THIS: looking away when they are talking ⁣
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👦🏻 TRY THIS: following .stephen
❌NOT THIS: not following .stephen
But seriously, he is a wealth of knowledge for therapists and parents!
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🌈LIKE& SHARE so it can get to more parents who may also find it helpful!❤️ Any questions or comments?!

✨Talking Tip: REPEAT & ADD ON to your child’s words and phrases✨⁣
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🌈Help your child develop their expressive language skills by repeating what they already said and ADDING more words. ⁣
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🤷🏼‍♀️WHY SHOULD YOU DO THIS?⁣
This helps the child learn new vocabulary, grammar, and inflection. Also, they can hear how to make their sentences LONGER.⁣
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👏🏻The great thing—YOU can do this ANYTIME throughout the day!⁣
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❤️Share or send to someone who may find this helpful! Do you already do this at home??

✨UNDERSTANDING WORDS✨⁣
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Understanding words and simple directions is an important prelinguistic skill and beyond. I know we want to hear our little ones talk, BUT we also need to encourage that receptive (understanding) language! ⁣
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🤷🏼‍♀️How do you know your little one understands you?⁣
👉🏼Completes many different request consistently (“give me ball,” “bring me cup”)⁣
👉🏾Points to things you name (body parts, common objects) ⁣
👉🏼Looks towards something you name (“where’s mommy?” “Look at the dog”)⁣
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🌈 How does you little one let you know he/she understands you?⁣
Any questions? 👇🏼

✨TIP: TEMPT✨⁣
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I know I say this all the time 🤪 buutttt this is one of my favorite language strategies. ⁣
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Parents are great at anticipating their children’s wants 💕 Instead of always doing this, try to give them a reason to communicate and make them “work” to get what they want. Some little ones need this extra nudge more than others. ⁣⁣
What does this look like? ⁣⁣
👉🏻This means putting items in sight but out of reach, playing with toys that are more difficult for them to operate without help (i.e. wind up toys, anything with a lid, & bubbles are a favorite), and creating other opportunities that require your child to request. ⁣⁣
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Examples: ⁣⁣
Snack ⏰: Old scenario 👇🏼⁣
Child: walks to kitchen ⁣⁣
Mom: 💭 oh he must want something to eat (hands him snack)⁣ no communication 🤐⁣
New scenario👉🏼Put the snack on the counter so it is seen but can’t be reached. This makes children have to point to the 🍪 or say “cookie.” If words are emerging but not spontaneously produced, model it 1-2 times to see if the word is imitated and then give your child the snack. You could also give them a little bit at once so they have to point/ask for more when they are finished. Remember to keep the pressure off so try to avoid things like “what’s this?” or “say__.”⁣⁣
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Play ⏰ : Old scenario 👉🏻walk into the playroom, open the lid containing your child’s favorite blocks, dump them on the floor (no communication needed 🤐)⁣⁣
New Scenario👉🏻Your child sees his favorite blocks and points/asks for them. If he points, model “open” and then shake out the blocks together “shake, shake, shake” 😃⁣⁣
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YOU understand your child the most so anticipating your child’s wants is an amazing part of parenthood ❣️However, when we tempt them a little we create even more opportunities to communicate 💪🏻⁣⁣
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🌈 Do you need to do this allllll day long?! NO WAY! Just try it out a handful of times and take the pressure off of communication 🤗⁣⁣
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✨Have you done this before?? If not, try it out! ⁣

✨ALL ABOUT CUPS✨⁣⁣
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Y’all there are soooo many options out there for cups!! 😱I’ve received these question several times so wanted to give a quick run down! I KNOW it can be confusing and overwhelming picking the best one! I hope this helps! ⁣⁣
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FAST FACTS:⁣⁣
👶🏻 You can introduce open cup at 6 months. Start with small amount & help guide baby’s mouth by placing your hands over baby’s hands. Starting with a smaller size cup is typically easier. has some great posts about this! ⁣
👋🏻 Lose the bottle at 18 months. The swallow patterns babies use to drink from a bottle and cup are very different. ⁣⁣
🥤To teach straw drinking check out . Link in bio & more information on her IG or blog.⁣⁣
❌Just say no to sippy cups. They promote an immature swallow so best to AVOID when possible. ⁣⁣
🚫Muchkin 360 also does not support typical feeding development. AH I know. BUT WAIT I HAVE ONE? 👇🏼👇🏼⁣⁣
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QUICK Q & A:⁣⁣
🤔Q: But I already have the Munchkin 360. Do I have to throw it out? ⁣⁣
🥰A: You don’t need to toss them out, but I would recommend using sparingly. Try to drink from them! They require over-activation of the top lip and over-use of the jaw to support the pressure.⁣⁣
💥💥Focus on using open cups and straw cups whenever possible. ⁣⁣
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🥤🥛I have some cup options I recommend in my amazon store 🔗link in bio. Highly recommend following both and for more feeding tips! ⁣

✨PSA: FIRST WORDS DON’T NEED TO BE PRONOUNCED PERFECTLY✨⁣
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👶🏼 First words may not be crystal clear when your child is learning language and that’s ok! It’s common to leave off sounds when babies are just starting to talk. If the sounds mean the same thing each time then that can be considered a word. ⁣
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⁣👉🏼”mi” for “milk” ⁣⁣⁣
👉🏾”nana” for “banana”⁣
👉🏽”uh” for “up”⁣
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⁣⁣🤷🏼‍♀️What to you do next? ⁣⁣⁣
Model the correct production: “Oh you want milk ! Here is your milk. Milk is good!”⁣⁣⁣
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🙅🏼‍♀️What you should try to avoid:⁣⁣⁣
Modeling the incorrect production: “You want mimi.” ⁣⁣⁣
Putting pressure on correct production: “Nooo, it’s MILK. MILK not mi.”⁣⁣⁣
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❣️Keep communication positive❣️⁣⁣⁣
Try to avoid correcting and just model the correct production.⁣⁣⁣
Keep sentences simple but grammatically correct!!⁣
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More about first words and speech saved in my story highlights. ⁣
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🌈What were some of your babies first words??

✨WHEN TO GIVE CHOICES✨⁣
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🌈Giving choices is probably one of my FAVORITE language strategies. It’s something you can easily implement throughout the day! Offering choices encourages communication when otherwise your child may not know how to respond OR only answers yes/no. ⁣⁣
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Example: snack time 👇🏻⁣
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Instead of👉🏻”Do you want cookies?”—“yes/no” OR “What do you want?” —no response ⁣
TRY 👉🏻 ”Do you want crackers OR cookies?”⁣⁣
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👀Show your child the items when possible and label them so they can learn the words and build up to say independently. ⁣⁣
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Children can respond by:⁣⁣
👉🏻Pointing (to the cookie)⁣⁣
👄Saying or using sounds (“cookie,” “co”)⁣⁣
🍪 Using gestures (signing cookie)⁣⁣
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After they make their choice, model the word for them if they didn’t say it.⁣⁣
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🌈You can give choices ALL. DAY. LONG.⁣
Mealtime⁣
Playing with toys⁣
While reading⁣
Getting dressed ⁣
Bathtime⁣
Watching T.V⁣
Snacktime ⁣
Playing games ⁣⁣
Cooking⁣
Arts and crafts ⁣
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Choices are also a great way to help your child feel in control but really you are 🙃. ⁣⁣
⏰ Give choices between time constraints, “Do you want to play for two or three more minutes?” Giving choices in this way can help with negative behaviors that come from cleaning up or transitioning from a preferred activity. ⁣⁣
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💕Do you give choices at home?

I have had a lot of requests to talk more about bilingualism and how it impacts language development. Here are 4 facts that every parents who is raising a bilingual child should know.⁣
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1️⃣Exposing your child to two or more languages does NOT cause a language delay. This is a myth. NOTE: This does not mean that a bilingual child CAN NOT have a language delay. This means that raising your child bilingual is in NO WAY the cause of the language delay. So, if your bilingual child has delayed language development, seek the appropriate help! ⁣
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2️⃣Milestones should be consistent across all languages. Both bilingual and monolingual children can develop their first words with the normal “range” or they can be delayed. It is important to note that you would could the number of words children have in BOTH languages. For example— Baby Jane speaks both Spanish and English. Jane has 5 words in Spanish and 10 words in English. Baby Jane has a total of 15 words and that’s what we would look at when discussing total number of words. Also, it’s completely normal when bilingual children use two languages in one sentence. This is known as “code switching.” This does not mean that they are confused and you should stop speaking both languages. ⁣
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3️⃣Speak to your child in the language you are most comfortable using. There is no evidence that using one approach to bilingualism is better than the other. The only thing that research shows is that it is important to speak to your child in the language you are most comfortable using. ⁣
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4️⃣Your child needs a lot of exposure in each language. How you do this is completely up to you and your family! ⁣
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🔗I have linked two articles in my bio for more information on the topic!⁣
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🌈SHARE this post to anyone and everyone who may find it helpful. ⁣
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❤️ I am not bilingual, but I work with many bilingual families and debunking the myth of “Bilingualism causes language delays” is extremely important to me because it’s just NOT 👏🏻TRUE👏🏻.⁣
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I tagged some bilingual accounts that I think would be helpful❤️⁣
If you are a parent or a therapist, what are some bilingual accounts or things you have found helpful? 👇🏻👇🏻

✨Just your daily reminder to meet your child where they are and celebrate all their success!!✨⁣
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This is super important to remember as parents and as therapists. All aspects of development require some sort of building blocks. For example, in order for a child to say a word, they have to have prelinguistic skills. Do they have those prelinguistic skills? If so, great! If not, MEET them where they are developmentally! ⁣
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And remember….you got this!💥

✨TOY REC: SPIKE THE HEDGEHOG✨⁣
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🌈I absolutely LOVE this toy. It promotes so many developmental skills!⁣
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🦔 You can work on color recognition, sorting, and counting skills all while working on fine motor skills. Practice and introduce these academic skills in a fun/non-pressure way. ⁣
🌈Label the colors and count with your little one. “This is the green quill.” Try to avoid 1,000 “What color is this?” You can certainly ASK questions once they have an understanding, but try COMMENT and MODEL MORE.⁣
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LET’S TALK more LANGUAGE 👇🏻⁣
🦔 I love using Spike to work on so many language skills both receptive and expressive. ⁣
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☀️ Following directions: “Give me the purple quill/spike.” “Put in.” “Show me all the red quills.”⁣
☀️ Spatial and quantitative concepts: IN/OUT, ON/OFF, MORE/LESS, ALL/NONE ⁣
“Take out,” “Put on,” “Give me all.” “There are none left.”⁣
☀️ Turn taking: take turns placing the quills in: “my turn/your turn”⁣
☀️ Requesting: Wait for you child to ask you for another one. This can look like reaching, signing “more,” or asking for “more.” You can model for them, “I want X.”⁣
☀️ Give Choices: “Do you want the orange or the green spike?”⁣
☀️ Comment: “Look we have one more. It’s your turn. Put the green quill in! YAY it’s all done.”⁣
☀️ Add on: If your child says “on” you say “put on” OR if your child says, “give me” you say, “give me the blue.” Try to add on and expand their already existing utterances increase their expressive language! ⁣
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🌈Do you have Spike at home?? He’s one of my therapy MUST HAVES. ⁣
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🔗linked in my amazon store under “toddler toys”

✨ALL ABOUT BABY SIGNS✨⁣
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🌈THE WHY, THE WHEN, & THE HOW⁣
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THE WHY 🤷🏼‍♀️⁣
🔅baby signs gives your child a way to communicate before words emerge⁣
🔅baby sign is not meant to replace verbal communication ⁣
🔅it decrease frustration & replace less desirable behaviors (i.e. yelling, throwing food)⁣
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THE WHEN 🤷🏼‍♀️⁣
🔅you can start signing to your baby at 6 months—your baby will understand signs before they can use them (just like verbal language)!! 🤯⁣
🔅babies typical start signing back between 9-12 months ⁣
🔅beneficial at any age if your child is not yet talking--meet your child where they are! 👏🏻👏🏻Baby sign is not just for “babies.” If your child is 24 months and still not talking, use baby signs to encourage communication. I promise this does NOT delay verbal language!⁣
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THE HOW 🤷🏼‍♀️⁣
🔅always pair sign with spoken word ⁣
🔅model, model, model many times in context—daily routines are great way to incorporate them (I.e. mealtime, bath time)⁣
🔅accept sign even if it's not perfect—The way you sign “more” may look a little different than how your baby does and that’s ok! You can lightly encourage by doing some hand-over-hand but never force. MODEL!!⁣
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🤟🏻✋🏻Do you or have you used baby signs with your children?

✨WHAT COUNTS AS A WORD?✨⁣
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“My child says “ba” for “ball” is that ok?”⁣
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YES!! When babies are first learning language they won’t say the word perfectly and that’s ok and expected! ⁣
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“Do animals sounds count?”⁣
Also, YES! ⁣
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🌈When your child is learning language you can COUNT all of these as words!⁣
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🔅exclamatory words (e.g. uh-oh, eww, yuck, yum, yay, ouch)⁣
🔅word approximations (e.g “ba” for “ball” or “tok” for “cookie”—aka “part” of the word said consistently and intentionally)⁣
👉🏻if “ba” is used for “ball” and “bottle” count as 2️⃣ words ⁣
🔅 baby sings ⁣
🔅symbolic sounds (e.g. beep, choo, pop, honk, knock—environmental and vehicle sounds)⁣
🔅animal noises (e.g. moo, neigh, buzz, meow)⁣
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Make sure the word is said…⁣
✔️Consistently (there’s no magic number just use your best judgment)⁣
✔️Intentionally in the correct context (I have an entire post explaining this)⁣
✔️Independently (While imitating is SUPER important, see if your child can also say the words spontaneously!)⁣
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💓Are you “counting” these already or do you have some words to add to your child’s first word list?!

✨BUBBLES✨⁣
It’s no secret that 99.9% of pediatric speech language pathologists always have bubbles within reach.⁣
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🌈They are so motivating, promote tons of language, and FUN. ⁣
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👶🏽👧🏻Children of all ages love bubbles, but I just loooove using bubbles to promote prelinguistic skills (skills that set up children to communicate and talk). ⁣
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🤷🏼‍♀️I often get asked, “What activities can I do for baby to reach baby milestones?”⁣
Answer👉🏻BUBBLES⁣
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While playing with bubbles you can work on SO many prelinguistic skills…⁣
✔️Responding to environment & people⁣
✔️Joint attention⁣
✔️Babbling⁣
✔️Vocalizing purposely ⁣
✔️Turn taking ⁣
✔️Imitating ⁣
✔️Using gestures⁣
✔️Initiating ⁣
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🌈I’ll share on stories how you can use bubbles to promote these skills. ⁣
💓Does your little one like bubbles?

✨How can I read to my toddler when he’s constantly wiggling or running away? ✨⁣
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📚 Has this ever happened to you? You try and read to your toddler and he/she has NO interest! ⁣
🤪If you’ve ever found yourself in this boat, here are some tips! ⁣
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1️⃣ Don’t “force” it. We want reading to be a positive experience and if your child feel like he HAS to read, it will seem more like a chore and less like a fun, engaging experience with you! ⁣
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2️⃣ Pick books that match their interests! ⁣
Does you child love cars? Animals? Dinosaurs? Sharks? Read books that feature things they LIKE!! ⁣
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3️⃣ Allow them to be “in control!”⁣
Let them choose between 2 books—“Do you want truck or dinosaur book?”⁣
Let them turn the pages! PSA: It’s OK if they turn more than one page 🙃⁣
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4️⃣ BE SILLY! ⁣
Reading doesn’t have to be so serious! While reading make funny/exaggerated faces, use exclamatory words (e.g. uh-oh, ahchoo, yum), use different voices, do different actions! Face your child so they can SEE all your expressions and grab their attention. ⁣
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5️⃣ Talk about the pictures! ⁣
It’s totally OK to not read every word on the page. Point and talk about the pictures to engage your little one. ⁣
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6️⃣ Let them move/hold a toy!⁣
Not all children are going to be able to sit perfectly still for book reading and that’s ok! Toddlers only have attention spans of about 2-6 minutes! Allow them to stand facing you or hold a toy car, etc. if they need.⁣
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7️⃣ Don’t be discouraged to read the same books again and again. Repetition is KEY!⁣
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8️⃣ Make it a routine and pick a time that works for you BOTH!⁣
Bedtime is a great time for reading but if your little one is not having it, try a different time! It can be in the morning or anytime throughout the day. ⁣
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9️⃣Have books within child’s reach! Let your child explore books on their own as well. The more exposure, the better!⁣
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🔟START SMALL! ⁣
Like everything, start small. One minute here and there and build your way up to an entire book! ⁣
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💥YOU GOT THIS MAMA!!💥⁣
💓Any other reading tips, I’d love to hear 👇🏻

✨VERBAL ROUTINES✨⁣
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🤷🏼‍♀️WHAT ARE THEY? ⁣
Verbal routines consist of words that are repeated at a predictable time during an activity. A verbal routine occurs any time a person says the SAME words, in the SAME way, for the SAME things, every time a specific activity or context occurs.⁣
🤷🏼‍♀️WHY? WHAT’S THE BENEFIT?⁣
Using verbal routines throughout your day is great way to promote language and help with transitioning. Verbal routines are repetitive and predictable. The more you use verbal routines, the easier your child can anticipate what’s coming next. Using verbal routines takes the guess work out so your child can easily “fill in the blank.” ⁣
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🌈Your child has to hear the routine often enough to recognize and remember it. So REPEAT. REPEAT. REPEAT.⁣
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🤷🏼‍♀️WHEN CAN YOU USE THEM?⁣
ANYTIME throughout the day. ⁣
Some examples:⁣
🔅Morning time: “Wake up!”⁣
🌙 Bedtime: “Time for bed!” “Night, night, sleep tight.”⁣
😬Brushing teeth: “Brush, brush, brush your teeth, now they’re all clean!”⁣
🙋🏼‍♀️Picking up: “up, up, up”⁣
🚪 Leaving the house: “open door/close door” ⁣
Playing with toys or outside (bubbles, cars, swing etc.): “Ready, set, go!” ⁣
🧼 Cleaning up: “clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere”⁣
🚽 Potty training: “flush the toilet”⁣
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🌈Verbal routines can be made up, common statements (“one, two, three”), or come from traditional songs/nursery rhymes. ⁣
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💓What verbal routines do you do at home? I’ll share one I use EVERYDAY later today in stories!

☕️ COFFEE TALK: Debunking myths and answering questions ☕️ ⁣
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👶🏼Myth: I should just wait and see if my child catches up. ⁣
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🌈You may have heard this from some pediatricians or family members or friends who knew someone who didn’t start talking until he was three and now he’s completely on track! Although that may be the case for some, that is not the approach I would recommend.⁣
🚨This approach has actually been labeled “outdated.” While it’s true that many late talkers seem to catch up with their peers by the time they start school, that is not the case for 20-30% of them. ⁣
🤷🏼‍♀️What is a late talker?⁣
“Late talkers” are children with early expressive language delay AND NO major areas of concern in other areas (e.g cognition, understanding, motor, play, social). Late talking is not a diagnostic category; it’s a situation that MAY or MAY NOT result in a language disorder. ⁣
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🌈So, truth is, we don’t know which ones might “catch up.” We can only tell which toddlers may be more likely to have continued difficulties. We DO know ✨the earlier intervention is started, the better likelihood your child will catch up.✨⁣
So if you have any concerns—DON’T WAIT, EVALUATE. Catchy huh? AGAIN—DON’T WAIT, EVALUATE. ⁣
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Sources: Hawa, V. V. & Spanoudis, G. (2014), Capone Singleton, N. (2018)⁣
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🔗 I also linked an amazing article by The Hanen Centre. A great resource for those wanting to learn more.