Sing With Your Child

Early Intervention staff try to protect the health of all children involved in our program.  To help us do this, please reschedule your appointment if anyone in your home is ill.  Thank you for your help in keeping all kiddos healthy.

Tips for Singing with Your Child

Sing with your child often during the day.  Children do not care if you can carry a tune.  They just enjoy singing with you.  The main thing is that you make singing an enjoyable experience with your child. Singing activities can include: rhyming songs, silly songs, songs that repeat, made up songs, finger plays, nursery rhymes, poems, clapping for syllables, pattern books, and emphasis on words that begin the same.

Songs and rhymes provide comforting rhythms in children's early lives.  You can read, recite, chant or sing in a soft, low voice whenever a child is sleepy or fretful.  Songs are also fun to say and learn when children are wide awake and happy.

From songs, children learn words, sentences, rhythm, rhyme, and repetition, all of which they'll find later in books they read.  Kids who can't recognize the fact that two words such as bed and Fred rhyme - have a hard time learning to read, whereas those who can rhyme are able to make more inspired and more correct guesses about what a particular word might be when they are reading. - Purdue University Speech/Language Pathology Early Language Program

Rhymers will be readers: it's that simple.  Experts in literacy and child development have discovered that if children know eight nursery rhymes by heart by the time they're 4 years old, they're usually among the best readers by the time they're 8 years old. - Fox, Mem, Reading Magic Why Reading Aloud to our Children will Change their Lives Forever, Orlando: Harcourt, 2001

Talk About It!

Early Intervention staff try to protect the health of all children involved in our program.  To help us do this, please reschedule your appointment if anyone in your home is ill.  Thank you for your help in keeping all kiddos healthy.

With the focus in the media on talking to children to help them prepare for school, I thought re-posting this information would be helpful!

Infants, toddlers and preschoolers need to have parents and caregivers do three simple things to help them learn to read later in life.  If you use these three things throughout your daily routines, then they are "guaranteed" to help a child to grow ready to learn in school and to have a desire to read.  These three things are TALK, SING, and READ.

This post will focus on tips for talking with a child.
Tune in and talk slowly.  Tune in to your child's play, conversation and thoughts.  Listen to what your child says, look at him or her, and let them talk.  Often our rate of speech is too fast for a young child to follow easily, so SLOW DOWN.

Make talking fun and meaningful.  Praise your child for new words used or attempted.  If you can figure out what your child is trying to say, give them credit to motivate them to keep trying.  Repeat the words back to them so they can hear how they should sound.  Don't force your child to display their speech for friends and relatives.  Instead, bring up topics with a hint or two and let your child expand or participate if they choose.  For example: "We had fun today at the park."

Look at your child and stoop down to your child's eye level.  Adults frequently chat with children while completing tasks like dish washing or grocery shopping.  This is fine, but your talk will be most helpful if your child can see your face, particularly your mouth, while you speak.

Talk about the here and now.  Talk about things as they are taking place or just after they happen, getting your child involved whenever possible.  Events in the distant past or future may be more difficult for your child to discuss or understand.

Repeat words often.  Pleasant repetition of the same word gives your child many chances to listen, understand, and try to imitate.

Make your voice the center of attention by simplifying the environment.  Turn off the television, radio and stereo, and spend a few minutes alone with your young child, away from distractions of older children and other adults.  Fun activities include reading books, playing games, blowing bubbles, etc.

Clarify the meaning of your child's speech when it is unclear.  If your child says "Uh duh atdide?" while standing at the door pulling on the knob you can say "You want to go outside."  This provides a correct model of the intended meaning so your child has a chance to listen to and imitate the words.

Give feedback and expand.  Repeat what your child says, correcting incorrect sounds and words or adding new information.  For example:
Child: Kitty tree                   Adult: Yes, the kitty's in the tree.
Child: Come.                       Adult: OK.  I'll come and see.

Use self-talk.  Talk about what you are doing.  Describe every action, object, etc.  Leave some pauses so your child can participate if desired.

Use parallel talk.  This is the same thing as self-talk except you are describing and talking about what your child is doing.  For example: "Oh, you drew a circle.  It's a big, round, red circle.  It looks like a ball."

Name and point.  Name things for your child.  Don't be afraid to point out new words in your child's vocabulary.  Remember that children can usually understand more than they can say.  Children will choose to say words for things that interest them, so provide a lot of words for them to choose from.

Praise, praise, praise.  Make your child feel special!  This also means you should be careful not to say anything negative about your child when he is present.  Be positive and supportive.  This cannot be overdone.

Pick one or two of these tips to try over the next week and then come back for  tips for Singing with your child.

THANK YOU

The Index of Approved Funding Items from the Execute Appropriations Committee of the Utah State Legislature was released yesterday and we are number 221.  Baby Watch Early Intervention Programs received the $2.7 that was requested to compensate for increased caseloads state wide.  We would not have had this result without the efforts of parents who shared their stories with legislators.

We love getting to know you and your families and sharing the successes of your little ones.  Thank you for letting us come into your homes to answer your questions and help you come up with solutions to overcome challenges.  Thank your for letting us be a part of your lives.  And thank you for your support!

Need An Activity For Your Toddler?

Each library in the Davis County Library System has story times for children.  Some of the libraries have story times geared specifically to toddlers.  They plan age appropriate activities and coordinating stories that are fun and engaging.  If you and your little one are tired of being cooped up inside, then try a story time.  It may become a weekly favorite!

Here are the Preschool/Toddler Storytimes:

Bountiful - Wednesday and Thursday at 10:30 am
Centerville - Wednesday at 10:30 am
Clearfield - Wednesday at 10:30 am
Farmington - Thursday at 10:30 am
Kaysville - Wednesday at 10:30am