Happy New Year and welcome to our site! We are so happy to be able to continue sharing great Early Intervention tips, resources, and ideas with you on this platform. Shout out to all our Instagram followers! We will definitely keep posting there as well.
As we join with others to set goals for the new year, we came up with 5 new year’s resolutions related to early intervention that when implemented with consistency, can be mutually beneficial to the child/caregiver relationship.
1. Tune into your child's interests
Many of us approach play in a very planned manner and as a result try to push our own interests onto the child (eg: I want her to play with this puzzle not the ball). This year set a goal to try to observe what your child is drawn to and join them! You will find that your little one will have a greater attention span for the activity because it's meaningful to them. This sets the stage for communication, as they are more likely to listen to, retain, and even imitate things that you say during this time. Give it a try!
2. Celebrate every victory
We have a tendency to compare ourselves to others and take this as a measurement of who we are as a parent, professional, spouse, student, etc. This oftentimes leaves us feeling inadequate or like we’re doing something wrong.
Comparing children to each other works just the same, and can cause us to miss out on some of the amazing achievements our little ones are making. Remember it’s not a race, it’s a journey, so celebrate the wins along the way.
Make it a point this year to look at your child’s personal milestones and progress. This can be done via journaling or social media (I just love when those Facebook flashbacks show up in our feed!). Each child truly is different and learns at their own pace.
3. Seek support from others
Speech therapy via early intervention is a wonderful program that provides families with support to help children acquire skills necessary for success as a communicator (or eater). Use the therapists who make it their mission to get your child to the next level! Join the therapist as they work with your child, ask questions, recreate what they do when they aren't around. Conversely, as therapists we must collaborate with others to help hone our skills and improve our clinical practice. It really does "take a village!"
4. Make language learning fun
Teaching your little one to speak doesn't have to be a chore! We want our little ones to learn that communicating and interacting with others is fun. We also want to motivate them to have the desire to initiate, and continue these interactions throughout their day.
Playtime is one of the best times to encourage communication as well as back and forth fun interactions, and it’s an enjoyable learning experience for little ones. Remember, strategies such as using excited affect, a playful tone of voice, exaggerated facial expressions, and exclamatory words (eg: wow!, weeeee!, hooray!, etc.) work to keep your child engaged and enjoying the interaction.
5. Do More With Less
You don't need fancy or high-tech toys to work on communication. Routines are a great way to naturally expose your child to new vocabulary. Can you guess how many words you could expose your child to if you talked about what you or her are doing while it's happening (narrating) or expanded on the child's gestures or comments...45 billion words by the age of 4! Make a goal that the next time you catch your child watching you unpack the groceries, talk about it!
What goal are you going to start with this year?