Have you noticed that mamas, grandmas, and even little siblings will talk differently to a toddler than an adult? We have a natural tendency to talk differently to babies and toddlers, it’s something instinctive that we do. The style of talking we use with little ones is called “Child-Directed” also known as “Motherese” or “Baby… Read More What’s Child-Directed Speech and Is It Effective?
It seems like I put a ton of time into researching, teaching, and writing goals for following directions and listening skills. Listening skills take time to develop and following directions is awesome practice for those auditory skills. So typically when you’re teaching skills for following directions, you focus on 1-step and 2-step directions. And while working… Read More How to Teach Critical Elements & Improve Listening Skills
Wondering how to help your child develop their play skills? Keep reading, you’re in the right place. Your child’s play development happens in specific, sequential stages and there are things that you can do in each stage to help them develop more advanced play skills. Keep in mind that there’s more to play than just… Read More The Nearly Comprehensive Guide to Teaching Your Child How to Play
Facebook groups are my way of staying up-to-date with parents’ concerns and questions for their children who are DHH. I’ve seen a lot of discussions on narrative skills and questions about how to help children develop their story-telling skills….. so, this post is all about answering those questions 🙂 To answer those questions, I want… Read More Narrative Skills of Children who are DHH
Your child’s vocabulary is really important because it affects more than just reading and writing. Vocabulary is a big factor in communication and social skills development. Now if your child is DHH and has cochlear implants, how do your child’s CIs affect their vocabulary development? How Vocabulary Typically Develops First, we need to look into… Read More Vocabulary Development for Children with Cochlear Implants
I’ve been doing a lot of research on language and Theory-of-Mind these last few weeks and after looking into all this research, the consensus is in….. Language is the key to developing Theory-of-Mind. Language isn’t only the key to Theory-of-Mind but it is”the only ability that has clearly been shown to be directly related to… Read More The Connection Between Language and Theory-of-Mind
Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to recognize others’ perspectives and how this affects their behavior. ToM is essentially ‘social understanding’ and is a skill that significantly develops between the ages of 3-5. Kiddos do learn a lot during the preschool years, but ToM is something you should pay extra special attention to because… Read More Why Theory of Mind Makes a Child Popular
When you’re working to help your child learn to talk and listen, you want to know that what you’re doing works. Your child’s language and auditory development is on a timeline and you don’t have the luxury to be using ineffective strategies. Let’s look into whether two common language development strategies are actually data-proven-effective. Sentence Recast… Read More Do Sentence Recast & Auditory Bombardment Work?
Is there a difference between the MLU of children who have Cochlear Implants (CIs) and children with typical hearing? My gut reaction would be ‘yes’ because MLU is something we intensely target in deaf education. But does research support that this intense focus on MLU is really needed? The answer is ‘yes.’ Research (unfortunately) reports there… Read More Is there an MLU Gap between Children with and without Cochlear Implants?
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I’m a big fan of data and am excited to share some blog stats with you! Language for the Playground has been live for just less than 2 months and is already getting a ton of traffic. Thank you for sharing this journey with us <3 …and on to the data! Countries with the Top… Read More Blog Stats!
When it comes to children not following directions, it typically boils down to one of two reasons: 1) I know you want me to do something but I don’t understand what it is. (discussed in this post) 2) I know what you want me to do but I’m not going to do… Read More 5 Tips to Get Your Child Following Directions
Snack is my favorite time to teach language because who doesn’t love to eat?! Kids also are quick to help out in the kitchen so it’s easy to get ’em talking during snack. Today’s post will be all about making your own snack but if you need a quicker and cleaner snack idea, check out… Read More Creating Language Opportunities: DIY Snack
Narration is my go-to strategy whether I’m with my big or little students. It can be tailored to fit teaching functional vocabulary, social skills, or the language used when problem solving. Narration is taking “talking to yourself” to a whole new level. Instead of talking out loud just to organizing your thoughts, you’re talking out loud… Read More Narration