December 2010

Hi Everyone,
Here I am, back after a very lengthy break. I needed to balance out my life with a new job and resolve a health issue but now I am back and committed to posting every month.

Since I have given you so many tools and strategies to stimulate your child's language and shared lots of information I am going to change my format a bit for the next 12 months. I am going to focus on specific suggestions you can use during each month as well as add ideas for books that might be helpful; music you might want to listen to or creative ideas of things to make and information that I find that will help you and your child improve their communication skills.

Also, I encourage you to email me with any specific questions that you might have. I would address them through the blog (because we all know that if one of us has a question there are many more people with the same question.) I will keep the questions anonymous so that you can ask me with no concerns about anyone knowing who you are. My email address is: jeremi_g@yahoo.com.

So here we are in the midst of holiday time. This is a fantastic time to pop language but it's also a time where it's hard to find time to focus on the children when you are busy with holiday planning. So remember the 5-10 minute suggestion: if you can take 5-10 minutes every day to slow down and focus on your child, progress will continue.

Words to focus on in December:
1. "Ho Ho" instead of Santa Claus....ho ho is much easier for a child to produce.
2. "Yum, Num" any easy word to express our delight with the holiday treats that we are bound to be eating.
3. "Lights", it might come out like "yites" but I bet your child like the lights on the tree and all the ones we see all around town.
4. "Hey" when you are singing Jingle Bells. The song will probably be too hard to sing all the words but when we take a pause and say "hey" your child will be able to join in.
5. "Cold" is a great word for you that live where it snows and is cold...even in the south we are having some weather that is "cold" :)


Songs that will be fun to try:
1. What does Santa say, "ho ho ho ho"
What does Santa say, "ho ho ho ho"
What does Santa say, "ho ho ho ho"
Santa says "ho ho" all the day.
(Those ho ho's should be pretty easy to say"

2. Jingle Bells (focus on the "hey!" part) and be sure to have actual jingle bells to ring.


Food/oral motor thoughts:

1. With so many different foods to try you should have no trouble finding new tastes and textures to sample or try on the electric toothbrush.

• I would encourage tasting these for sure: peppermint candy canes...messy, yes, but oh so yummy (and minty). Don't forget to stick them in some other flavor to make it even more fun, maybe Nutella, or peanut butter or chocolate frosting.
• Mashed or pureed veggies like squash; potatoes; carrots will stick on toothbrushes :) You can add some brown sugar to sweeten them if needed.
• Gravies and sauces
• Cheese spreads, dips, salsas.
• Don't forget about dipping :)

2. Things to try through a straw:

• Eggnog (non alcoholic of course)
• Fresh squeezed orange juice
• Warm apple cider with yummy spices like cinnamon
• Applesauce
• Peppermint milk shake

3. I would encourage you to do some baking with your child. Now you might not even really get many of the cookies or whatever you bake actually baked but the touching and tasting of ingredients as well as the mixing and squeezing and forming balls of dough can be so good for sensory issues, feeding issues AND it is a wonderful activity to pop some language.

4. If you are focusing on the religious part of Christmas you can bake baby Jesus a birthday cake, sing Happy Birthday and blow out the candles.

Creative Activities:

1. Making wrapping paper. Go to a newspaper company and buy an end roll of newsprint or use any other non printed paper and decorate it, let it dry and use it to wrap presents for friends and family.

• Finger paint with red and green or blue and white. Let your child explore the paint and model words like "go go go"(describing what your child is doing); "more paint" (requesting and commenting); "all done paint" (requesting and commenting); "up up up" (while describing what your child is doing), etc.
• Here's a more sensory based activity for wrapping paper. Put about a cup of sand in the bottom or a knee high nylon and make a knot above the ball of sand. Have your paper out on a plastic tablecloth on the floor to control mess. Have different colored paints in trays, let your child hold the nylon by the end, let them drop it in paint and then let them plop it on the paper. It makes a fireworks/star sort of shape and the heaviness of the sand in the nylon is a fun sensory activity.

2. Gifts for grandparents, aunts and uncles:

• This will involve painting your child's hand and if they don't like that sensation I would prepare their hands first by clapping; rubbing; giving firm "high fives" to get their hands ready for the paint. Paint with green paint and arrange in a circle on a piece of paper (creating a wreath), add some red berries by painting a fingertip red and dotting on the wreath. It comes out very pretty. You could do this with fabric paint and put it on a sweatshirt or bag too.
• You could vary how you arrange the hand prints and make a tree shape, starting with 5 or so hand prints on the bottom and doing less every row to end up with 1 print for the top of the tree. Once again you can "decorate" the tree with fingerprint ornaments/lights by painting the fingertips with different colors.
• Have your child make a fist and paint the bottom edge of the fist brown. Place in the middle of a piece of paper. Then paint both hands brown (do one hand at a time to decrease mess) and place the right hand to the top right of the fist and the left to the left side, on the top. This will make a reindeer, the fist being the face and the hand prints being the antlers. If it's Rudolph you can use a red fingerprint to make his nose. You add the eyes and any other features you feel are needed.
• Cut or the shape of a star and let your child squeeze glue and shake glitter on it. Yes, it may have to dry awhile but it will be so pretty hung somewhere in your house or as a special gift.

Book Ideas for the Holidays:

• Find books that have few words. Remember, don't "read" the book but explore the book with your child, commenting on what you are seeing and pointing fun things out. Follow your child's lead when they point or vocalize.
• Books with favorite characters are fun (Dora; Diego) but this is also a fantastic time to add new vocabulary. I mentioned some easy Christmas words but also talk about all the fun things (Rudolph; reindeer; Santa; cookies; Christmas tree; ornaments; lights; stockings; baby Jesus; cow, angel, star, sheep, etc.)
• Remember if you can find little figures of the actual things in the book, it will make the activity even more fun for your child.

I focused mostly on the Santa part of Christmas but if your beliefs are different I am sure that you are doing some special baking or celebrating different traditions of some sort and think of words and experiences that you can focus on during those activities; the foods that you use; the drinks you have, etc.

Enjoy this holiday time with your family. I wish you all a Happy Holiday time!!

Week 28 Why Is My Child Not Talking??

"Why doesn't my child talk? Why can't I understand what my child says? Why doesn't my child talk like his sister/cousin/neighbor?" This question is one that I am asked many times and today I am going to give you some reasons why a child might be delayed in starting to talk.

Let's first look at your child's health. There are many health issues that children experience that can interfere with the development of communication. One of the most important is if they have ear infections. Does your child have an occasional ear infection or do they have ear infections that seem to last forever and don't resolve after one round of antibiotics? When I hear that a child has had many ear infections and especially the ones that are hard to get rid of, that raises a red flag in my mind. Having ear infections can really interfere with learning language. I want you to take a minute and put a finger in each of your ears, wiggle them around and try to listen to the TV or someone talking to you. How well did you understand what was being heard? How well did you hear the individual sounds that were being produced? That is pretty much what it sounds like when you have ear infections or fluid in your ears!!! Now imagine that you are trying to learn language but for several months out of the year you are hearing the world through muffled ears.....not an easy job at all.

So, I need you to keep an eye on your child's ear health. Look for your child rubbing or pulling on their ears; or ears that are red; of course be aware if there is a fever; or if you notice that your child doesn't seem to respond as well as they normally do. Some children can have an ear infection or fluid in their ear and have no pain or indication that there is a problem. These are the ones that are tricky to catch. But if your child's language isn't progressing well it never hurts to have their ears checked for infections or fluid.

Since we are talking about ears, if you have your child's hearing evaluated be sure to go to an audiologist that specializes in working with children. They will be more fun for your child and are used to working with children so should be able to get good results.

Another thing to be aware of is the size of your child's tonsils and adenoids. Children with large tonsils and adenoids can have trouble with eating, sleeping, saying sounds, and breathing. Does your child have their mouth open alot? Do they snore? These are some signs of large tonsils and adenoids. If the tonsils and adenoids are large enough they can almost close off the back of the child's throat. The child then protects that area by eating small bites and may struggle with coordinating breathing and swallowing. This can effect how well sounds are produced as well as the quality of their voices. Large tonsils and adenoids can also interfere with a child's quality of sleep which then affects the child's whole day.

We already talked about oral motor skills affecting language so I'm not going to go over that again, but just remember that it is important that your child is moving their tongue all over their mouth and all over their lips, up and down and back and forth. They need to pucker; they need to lift their tongue up to the top of their mouths, inside and be able to wiggle it all around.

Sometimes I see a child that isn't talking yet and they are the youngest in a house of several or more children :) These children don't have a reason to use language, someone is always problem solving for them or talking for them. This can also happen in a house where the child is alone with mom and dad and they are anticipating the child's needs so they don't have to use their language.

And sometimes you have to look at what your child is very good at. Right at this moment, what does your child do best?? If they have just started walking or love the active, motor driven activities, they may not be interested in talking right now. They are focused on moving!!!! When a child learns to walk you often times will see language development slow down because they are so busy practicing walking and moving and are not practicing language. So look at the sister/cousins/neighbors that you are comparing your child to and see what your child does better than them. Is your child the one that can climb up anything? Is your child fantastic at fine motor activities like puzzles, play dough? Children develop at their own speed and so you normally see a difference in when different skills come in.

As always feel free to contact me with any comments or questions.

August

Hi Everyone,
I am going to be taking the month of August off...time to spend time with my family and do some travelling. I will be back posting in September.

Enjoy the rest of the summer.

Week 27 Communication and International Adoptions

Yes, I kind of switched gears today...not a summertime entry but an interesting one nonetheless :)

In our family, one of our children was born in Korea and joined our family at 5 1/2 months of age. Working in a birth to three environment I have worked with children born in many different countries and between work and my own family experience, there are some thoughts that I would like to share with you.

Once again, I put myself in the child's position when I think about interacting with a child. So, here is this child that is coming from a different country, a different culture. If the child is several months old, they were already familiar with their birth country.

1. Sounds: The baby/child is used to how the language of that country sounds. They are used to the music that might have played in the house and the sounds on the TV.

2. Smells: The baby/child is used to the smells of that country. They might be from cooking, they might be from soap, shampoo or cleaning supplies.

3. Routines: Some countries have everyone sleep on a big futon on the floor and sit, play and eat on the floor. Some families have all people share a bedroom.

4. Tastes: The baby/child is used to the formula and the water that it was mixed with. Babies in Russia drink tea from a cup. Other babies have tastes of food earlier than American babies do.

5. Touch: Based on the country the child is coming from will depend on if the child was swaddled or not. Maybe they were worn all day long in a sling sort of device. Or maybe they were not touched or held much. Some children are bathed often and some are oiled and bathed only occasionally.

And to top it all off, they are arriving in this country after a very long airplane ride!!! They arrive in a country where nothing sounds familiar, looks familiar (even the people), smell familiar, etc. WOW, what a hard experience for a baby or young child!!!

So what can we do to help this little person adjust? Think of how you would like to be treated after travelling many hours on a plane into a country that is foreign to you.

Remember when I chatted about sensory integration and issues?? Well this is where some of those things might help us.

Try to watch and see what soothes your child...does he like rocking or swaddling or certain music?

Try to let the child sleep when they are tired and slowly change that schedule to one that fits into your family better.

Don't change their food intake quickly if possible. Try to use the foods they are used to and slowly change it to what you would like them to eat and drink.

Try to limit the amount of new people and experiences they have at first. Let them get used to their new environment and the people in it before bombarding them with loving extended family and friends.

Try all the tricks that I have been sharing about language development. If you speak the language of the country that your child is from, then teaching them to speak both English and the other language. It might take them a bit longer to grasp the two languages but they will :)

If you have concerns about your child's development be sure to contact your local early intervention, or birth to three or Early Steps agency and ask for a developmental evaluation. They can give you lots of tips of how to help your child get to the next step. And if there is a delay they will provide educational specialists, occupational therapists, physical therapists and speech therapists.


And here is just something I really want people to think about before adopting from another country. Many parents go into an adoption thinking that with all the love they have they will be able to have a wonderful relationship with their child. Do your homework about the country you are adopting from and how they treat the children before you adopt them. Some children can be very deprived of touch and put in cribs for long periods of time. At times these children have trouble attaching to the families that love them and that is a very sad situation.

Obviously I totally believe in adopting children from other countries and it's one of the best things we ever did for our family. But we did lots of "homework" about all the different countries that were possible for us and decided on the one that worked best for us.

If anyone wants to chat more about this, just email me.

Week 26 Summer Treats

Let's chat about all the yummy foods and treats that we have during the summer time. Why???

Because we are going to look at the choices out there and see how they:

1. Will stimulate your child's oral area to produce clearer sounds.
2. Will stimulate your child's language development.
3. Will maybe even help your child try some new tastes and eat a wider variety of foods.

Before I go on: NEVER GIVE YOUR CHILD ANYTHING THAT YOU WOULD WORRY THAT THEY WOULD CHOKE ON. You know your child best and I am speaking to parents from infants to young children, so please use your best judgement before giving your child any of these suggestions.

So, it's summer, a time full of yummy foods and drinks. When you think of summertime and food what do you think of? Grilled food (chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, ribs), salads, watermelon, popsicles, ice cream cones, corn on the cob, tomatoes, lots of garden veggies (I lived in the Midwest most of my life so I am basing my choices on our summers). I now live in Florida and so many of these choices are available year round...so think of what are your special foods during the summer time and add them to my list.

-Meat cooked on the grill. OK, I know that meat can be hard for children, especially if you have some low tone in your mouth. But what I want you to think of is the different tastes that grilled meat can give you. It's a more intense flavor from the grilling plus often times we add a marinade that intensifies the flavors. Plus, ribs can be cooked until they almost melt in your mouth so might work for the child that chewing is difficult. Hot dogs are yummy and can be diced up finely if need be. Add different toppings, pickle relish, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, salsa, horseradish!! Yes, I want you to make a party in your child's mouth. Often times parents think that young children cannot tolerate more intense flavors but you will be surprised once you play around with this. Some children crave those intense flavors and by letting them have them they will eat more quantity and different options.

-Encourage your child to "dip" their food into different flavors. This is a tricky way to get them to eat anything they don't like. By "dipping" it into a flavor they like they may eat more variety. They also may just lick off the dip, but that's OK too. So, think of all the different flavored salad dressings out there to use as a dip......now think of the actual dips (onion, ranch, salsa, guacamole, caramel).....now how about condiments that you can dip in (ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise) and of course I'm now going to push you out of your comfort level and think about other options like........yogurt, chocolate sauce, lemon juice, pickle juice, lemon curd, Nutella, peanut butter, jelly, pixie stick powder), yes, pretty much anything that will stick on food can be used as a dip.

OK, now take a breath and go with me on one more thought....(no I am not crazy, this really works!!!) Think of your child's favorite flavor and use that as the dip for anything else. Some examples: carrots dipped in chocolate sauce, apples dipped in salsa, chicken dipped in caramel sauce, are you seeing where I am going???? If you have a child that you would say is a "picky eater" then this tip is going to be the one for you. There is always one flavor that your child likes and by dipping new foods or foods we "don't like" into that food, they just might eat the food they didn't like. Do not make a face or comment how yucky that seems to you!! Your child will pick up on the fact that you think it's yucky and that will stop all new food exploration.

-Drinks and frozen treats: Experiment with flavor and thickness when it comes to drinks. Try different flavors of smoothies with all the fruit that is now in season and different sized straws. Try making very intense lemonade. Try tomato juice or spicy V-8. Popsicles are really just frozen juice, so play with those. There are popsicles that are very sour or extreme flavors, there are Italian ices that are sour. You can freeze applesauce in small dixie cups with a plastic spoon inside and you have made a healthy popsicle. Some kids don't like the texture of applesauce but will eat it when it's frozen. Freeze "Go Gurts" yogurt or just containers of yogurt...yum. Try eating frozen peas right from the bag, or frozen strawberries.

-Vegetables: There are children that will not eat vegetables but when the bean is picked from the garden in front of the child and just given to them to chew on or take bites, a magical thing might happen and they like them that way. Fresh picked fruit and vegetables taste sweeter and are warm and crunchy and very different from the foods that you get out of a can or from the freezer department. This is another time to try the dipping suggestion.

With all these suggestions try to include your child as much in the preparation as possible. Have the child help you make the smoothie and talk about it....there is your language opportunity. Have them pick which fruit or fruits to use; let them put the ingredients in the blender; let them push the button to make it "go"; "noisy"....so many words to model and opportunities for your child to imitate or use to request or comment.

Also, if you can eat these foods with your child, modelling how yummy you think they taste and modelling the language that your child can use, makes this a perfect activity for your child. If you are eating something they are much more apt that they will want to try it to.

If you are worried about your child choking there is an item in the stores that is like a little mesh bag with a handle that you can put food in and the child chews on the bag but no pieces get through the bag.

Relax and explore and enjoy this activity. I think I need to head for the kitchen, all this talk about food has made me hungry :)

Have a great week!!