Communication Bridges

There are many toys and games available at your local toys store. For some parents the choices and variety can be overwhelming. Parents often ask me “Which toys should I purchase?” “Which toys will help my child develop speech and language skills?” The important thing to remember with regards to developing speech and language skills with toys is that the adult model and the actual interaction are more critical than the toy you use. Fancy toys can never replace an interactive, engaged and responsive adult partner. Having said that, some toys and books lend themselves to building specific speech and language skills.

1. Developing basic joint attention skills in young children or children with moderate to severe cognitive delays.
   • Bubbles – Most children love to watch, pop and blow bubbles. Bubbles are perfect to draw a child’s attention. They also help with building oral motor skills, and sensory awareness when popped on their bodies. I often use bubbles to teach body parts. I will pop bubbles on a child’s nose, ears, mouth, cheeks, fingers and toes while labeling the body parts.
   • Wind-up toys – These are wonderful attention grabbers because of the movement and noise. They can be used as reinforcements. I will often use the wind-up toys to teach basic speech imitation skills such as animal sounds. Children will often imitate sound effects before real words.
   • Pop-up toys – Toys that open when buttons are pressed or dials are turned not only teach joint attention, but also develop cause and effect relationships. Certain cognitive theories state the development of cause-effect and object permanence as a precursor to language development.
2. Developing vocabulary skills in children.
   • Mr. Potato Head – I especially love this toy for building basic vocabulary skills such as body parts and clothing. However, you can also use it to teach verbs such as walking, sleeping, eating, jumping and running. In addition, since there are a wide variety of accessories, you can also use the pieces to teach describing words such as big, small, long and short.
   • Puzzles – Some of the new wooden puzzles are wonderful in terms of quality and durability. They also make a wide variety of puzzles ranging from animals to vehicles. Most of their pieces are chunky and ideal for little hands. Some puzzles also include sound effects and are interactive.
3. Developing pretend play skills and social interaction.
   • Tea set – A tea set works well to teach turn taking, pretend play, and pronouns (e.g., I, you, my, your).
   • Little People farm/ zoo – I like using these toys for younger children. Pretending to make the animals walk, run, jump, eat, and sleep are early pretend play skills. You can also teach simple sentence formation (e.g Here is the cow; The horse in eating). In addition, they can be used to build prepositions such as “in,” “out,” and “next to.”
   • Doll house/ Kitchen set – A doll house or kitchen set can be used to teach more elaborate play sequences such as “First the doll wakes up, then gets dressed, then eats breakfast and then goes to school.” These interactions not only teach pretend play, but are also rich in language and provide lots of language stimulation.
4. Children’s books that build language and speech skills.
   While there are a plethora of children’s books at your local book store, I wanted to list some of my favorites. I especially like books that are repetitive in nature and therefore are predictable. Children love the repetitions and will quickly learn to imitate the familiar words and phrases.
   • The Very Hungry Caterpillar
   • Brown Bear, Brown Bear
   • Polar Bear, Polar Bear
   • The Very Busy Spider
   • Go Away Big, Green Monster
   • Glad Monster, Sad Monster
   • Seals on the Bus
   • It looked like Spilled Milk.
   • If you give a Mouse a Cookie
   • If you give a Moose a Muffin
   • We’re Going on A Bear Hunt
   • Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
   • The Three Little Pigs
   • There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Shell

   Parents and caregivers can also find pictures and activities online that are based on the books. A website I often use is www.makinglearningfun.com .

Remember to keep your interactions fun and animated. The key to using these books and toys effectively is “Repetition! Repetition! Repetition!”