Toys for Visual Toddlers... Ferris Wheel...Therapy Tip of the Week 11.25.14

In this teachmetotalk.com Therapy Tip of the Week pediatric speech-language pathologist Laura Mize, M.S., CCC-SLP, ends her 3 part series with tips for using toys with kids who prefer visual input. These are kids who like items that spin or have blinking lights, who are attracted to visual information such as letters and numbers, and who opt to watch DVDs or play with apps on a device rather than play with toys. This week Laura shows you a Ferris Wheel and discusses how to "play" with this activity for kids who like a visual hook. The first goal is to target cause and effect - a child learns that he has to do something to get something. Pointing skills, or turning on the toy with an index finger, is another easy, early goal for this toy. Helping a child learn to complete an entire task or whole play routine is another fantastic early goal for toddlers with developmental delays. Teach new vocabulary with this toy. I pair Littlest Pet Shop toys with this My Little Pony Ferris Wheel. Laura models exactly how to simplify your language with exactly what to say to teach a child to understand new words (receptive language) and discusses how talking too much with a child who doesn't follow directions or understand very many words can overstimulate or overwhelm him. Giving choices is a great way to work on receptive language too. For expressive language goals, begin at the gestural imitation level with dancing to the music or pointing and using simple sign language to request or label. When a child is ready to vocalize, begin with helping a child start to imitate early play sounds like animal noises. This toy is great for teaching new prepositions and working on vowel sound intelligiblity at the same time with prepositions such as in, out, up, under and around. You can certainly teach new verbs. Laura also explains how to use "anchor" words for early phrase practice.If you choose your animals carefully, you can also target a variety of speech goals - changing the vowel from syllable to syllable like dino, bunny, turtle, or monkey. Another toy that's frequently used in this way is a pretend washing machine and a Therapy Tip of the Week video with this toy is found here: http://teachmetotalk.com/2012/03/09/therapy-tip-of-the-week-3912/ You can SEE therapy clips of Laura working with toddlers with receptive language delays using a play-based approach in her DVD Teach Me To Listen and Obey. That link is here: http://teachmetotalk.com/2008/12/26/teach-me-to-listen-and-obey-1-and-2-are-now-available/ Thanks so much for watching Therapy Tip of the Week from www.teachmetotalk.com!