Want to encourage language development? Don't buy toys that talk!

Want to encourage language development? Don't buy toys that talk this holiday season.

Instead, think blocks and puzzles, a chalkboard and colored chalk, a tea set for an imaginary tea party, or better yet, give your child a cardboard box! A clinical report published this month by the American Academy of Pediatrics tells parents that toys that incorporate imagination and social engagement are the ticket for language development. What is more social and language-rich than an imaginary tea party? Want cookie? Oh, thank you! Delicious! More tea? Oh, too hot! Better blow!

The best idea is the cardboard box. The possibilities are endless. A TV program written and acted by your child in your living room, perhaps? Adventures of Pocohantas?

Or you can give up some real estate your living room and build a box tunnel. There is a language opportunity while you build the tunnel "Cutting, tape, scissors, careful!" and a language opportunity when you play with it "Oh no! Where's Johnny! Is he inside? Is he outside!? Here is he? Shhhh! Let's hide!"

Here's a great video with ingenious and fun cardboard box projects. (You can turn off the music if it gets repetitive.)

Over to You

 

What low tech toy can you pick that you already have at home, or what can you find in your kitchen to play with? What kind of imaginary scenarios can you think of play with this toy or object? What words can you associate with the scenarios? Sit with your child and play. Have fun!

Or if you are buying a gift for a child you love, what can you buy that is low tech and interactive such as blocks or a puzzle or a tea set. Can you include different play scripts with the toy as suggestions for the parents?  It will be like a virtual play date!




Photo and video credit to Birute Efe of Playtivities 

Twelve encouraging phrases to build self-efficacy

What is self-efficacy? It is the little engine that could.

Stanford University psychologist Albert Bandura is famous for his research on the powerful idea of self-efficacy.  Bandura thought that individuals "avoided activities that they believe exceed their coping capabilities, but they under-take and perform assuredly those that they judge themselves capable of managing." In other words, individuals with a sense of self-efficacy take on greater challenges, because they judge themselves capable.  

More importantly, Albert Bandura observed that people with a strong sense of self-efficacy exert greater effort to master challenges.

Fostering self-efficacy is like creating an self-propelling internal engine ("I think I can, I think I can, I think I can) that encourages your child persist and keep going, even when you can't be there to help. Speech therapists try to tap into this determination when they work on communication challenges. 

Praise that builds self-efficacy focuses on effort ("I love how hard you are trying") more than ability ("You are really smart!"). Here are twelve encouraging phrases to foster self-efficacy in your children.

1. That grade reflects a lot of hard work.
2. You worked it out on your own!
3. That's an interesting observation.
4. That's what we call perseverance!
5. I trust your judgement.
6. What do you think about it?
7. That's a tough one, but you'll figure it out.
8. I can tell you spent a lot of time thinking this through.
9. I noticed you were really patient with your little sister.
10. You've really got the hang of it!
11. Thanks for helping set the table, it made a big difference.
12. You really seem to enjoy (science, math, language arts).

Over to you 

How can you build this idea into one of your family routines? 

Stuttering Therapy: Debunking Stuttering Myths

Stuttering is a complex, even mysterious disorder, and like all mysteries it is wrapped in myth. Certain myths recur.

Early in my career I worked with a 14-year old boy who was told by his family that he “caught” stuttering outside a store when he was three and a half, by imitating someone he heard who was stuttering. The stuttering went into him, took him over, and that was that. He was possessed.

Artist: Andy Warhol

That stuttering can be caught is a remarkably enduring myth, hobbling families and children alike. It takes away agency. It over simplifies. It is frightening. Myths can drive otherwise rational people to hold crazy thoughts in their heads.

An important part of stuttering therapy is debunking myths about stuttering. Here are some other common myths about stuttering (National Stuttering Association):

• People who stutter are shy and self-conscious.
• Stuttering is caused by emotional trauma.
• People who stutter are less intelligent or capable.
• Stuttering is caused by bad parenting.

Over to You

What do you think caused your stuttering or your child’s stuttering? How could your origin story could be holding you back?

Stuttering Therapy: Activity for the Busy Family!

Busy families are like busy, lively ant hills, bustling with industry and activity. Moms and Dads work. There is a lot of coming and going. Kids have outside activities such as sports and scouting. Life is hectic and fast-paced.

In busy families, communication is compressed and task-oriented. Siblings can compete for parental attention and talk time. Fast-paced conversation, interruptions, rapid-fire questions, and full schedules can put pressure on the child who stutters.

Pressure and stress aren't necessarily bad; after all you want to teach your children to cope with reality. But for the child who stutters it can helpful to raise awareness of the communication styles in your home, and  reduce the pressure where possible; e.g. take water out of the stuttering bucket.

Over to You

One fun family activity to support a child who stutters is to reduce pressure in a fun way, where everyone participates. Try setting a timer on your phone for five minutes and practicing just one of these rules while having dinner, or playing a game.

1.    Listen without interrupting or having side conversations.

2.    Pause after speaking, to give think time.

3.    Slow rate of speech (but not too slow).

4.    Listen with appreciation and respect.

Talk about it afterwards. Which one was hard?  Which one was easy?

What can you do to reduce some of the pressure in your home?

Stuttering Therapy: Making Friends with Speech Man

Sometimes stuttering just happens. You often hear that phrase in the stuttering community. One parent recently described a “puzzled look” that passes over her young daughter's face when she stutters. Stuttering seems to happen out of nowhere.

For many reasons, including demystifying stuttering, speech therapy encourages people who stutter to  become "experts in their own talking" as one of my teachers puts it. Speech therapists working with school-aged children use non-scary anatomical drawings and fun activities to teach a child about the speech mechanism, including:

• respiration
• phonation
• articulation

A child who is experiencing a "silent block" is unable to produce a sound. Mouth open, body straining, he or she seems to hang in the space between thought and speech. Learning that the vocal folds produce sound (phonation) with the help of air from the lungs (respiration) can empower the child and reduce feelings of helplessness. The child can begin to learn and apply strategies to deal with silent blocks. Knowledge is power.

A child who stutters on words beginning with /p/ might be experiencing tension in the lips. Learning that /p/ is produced with the lips can help that child get a handle on what is happening so he or she can learn to control it with a speech strategy. Knowledge is power.

I've used crafting with macaroni shapes, cut and paste activities, worksheets, and coloring activities to build models that help teach the anatomy and physiology of the speech mechanism. I also ask children to explain the process of respiration, phonation, and articulation to me, and to family members.

One of my typical fluency therapy goals is: "Will explain and model the process of respiration, articulation, and phonation with 3 or fewer cues, to two or more people, over five sessions."

The Bucket Analogy: What Causes Stuttering?

 I often get the question "what causes stuttering?" The current thinking is that stuttering is a multi-factorial disorder in which a number of different factors all contribute. My favorite way to describe this concept is use the bucket analogy developed by the Stuttering Center of Western Pennsylvania.

There are a number of risk factors which all contribute to the development of stuttering. No one factor causes stuttering. They do all, however, put water in the bucket. Risk factors that put water in the bucket include:

• genetics (approximately 60% of those who stutter have a family member who stutters)  
• gender (persistent stuttering affects four times as many males as females) 
• time post onset (how long has the child been stuttering)
• personality characteristics, such as perfectionism or a high degree of sensitivity
• the state of a child's language system; for example, a child with a fragile speech and language system, or a child with a highly developed speech and language system combined with less developed motor system
• family dynamics, including high expectations, competition for talk time, and fast-paced, unpredictable lifestyles
• communication style, for example, rapid rate of speech and interruptions
• situational stressors, such as a birth or a death in the family, a change of residence, or a job loss 

When you have enough water in the bucket, the bucket overflows.  Stuttering occurs.

Over to You  

If you have a child who stutters, can you identify the risk factors that put water in your child's bucket?

Fun Facts about School

1. Each year in the US, over 78.8 million kids, teens, and adults enroll in school.
2. High school was not officially a part of school until the 1930s. Before that, most Americans only completed eight years of school.
3. Dave Thomas (Wendy's) went back to high school in 1993 to get his GED, because he was worried that his success as a high school dropout might convince other teenagers to quit school.
4. Around 480,000 yellow school buses carry 25 million children to and from school every day in the US.

Source: American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA), August 2018

Dogs are Socially Gifted

Dogs can teach us how to socially connect. I didn’t realize the extent of their gifts until we started living with our dog Mac, who we got as a puppy. Before we realized it, my husband and I were figured out, bamboozled, manipulated into providing walks, treats, tummy rubs. Before we knew what had happened he had pushed his way out of his crate and was sleeping upstairs in our room every night. He brought the family together with his desire to connect and be connected. Even though the scientific jury is still out about whether dogs have theory of mind (the ability to recognize beliefs, desires, and intentions of others), the anecdotal evidence of dog owners is that they seem to read minds. How do they do this? They are exquisitely attuned to social cues, gestures, and body language. They can follow a pointing gesture, which is a cognitive skill related to language development. They also have social skills that bind them to others. One of the skills that holds the social world together for the dog is the greeting ritual. Our dog is an enthusiastic greeter. Mac’s greetings are whole body affairs involving grabbing a shoe or a toy in his mouth, wagging his tail and his head, wiggling his torso, going in circles, and making a racket. When you are greeted by Mac you feel like a king or a queen. This skill alone is instructive. When I get into the car and forget to greet the dog, and my husband will say “Did you forget someone?” I will turn and see Mac in the back seat, nose on the headrest, waiting to be acknowledged and brought into relationship. Teachable moment indeed.

Catching the Ball

I learned this group activity at a social thinking workshop sponsored by my school district. It is simple and profound.  It requires a group of children arranged in a circle, and a medium-sized soft ball that can be thrown and caught easily. The people in the circle look at the person holding the ball. The person holding the ball makes eye contact with someone in the circle, and says “I see (person’s name) is looking at me!” and tosses the ball to them. When the ball is caught, the communication loop is complete. A social interaction has occurred between the person who threw the ball and the person who caught the ball. Here are some of the skills that are taught: asking for someone’s attention, giving your attention, waiting until you have someone’s attention, turn taking. It teaches how the eyes initiate and power a social connection.  For little ones on the autism spectrum, this activity is a powerful way to experience the give and take of conversation and social reciprocity. Parents, you can do this as a family activity, or with a play group.

Photo: Creatista/Veer