Pretend Play teaches kids how to cooperate better with their peers. Dramatic play, whether it’s pirates, house, school or super-heros actually refines children’s social and communication skills. This summer, consider putting together a dress up treasure box filled with creative castoffs, set your kids loose and let their social communication skills blossom!
Worried about your son or daughter’s nutritional needs? At this age, your child should be taking some responsibility for establishing healthy eating habits. Eating a wide range of fruits, vegetables, complex carbohydrates and lean protein is essential to brain devleopment and body growth.
Try out these fun apps to teach healthy eating concepts in a way that kids ages 9-12 like to learn: on the iPad or iPhone!
This is something that I am frequqently asked by parents, “Am I doing too much? Am I not helping enough? How much should I be doing?” I like to follow the guidelines that Ellyn Satter outlines in her book, Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Grace.
First and foremost, it is really important for parents to understand that no matter what the age of their child, there really is a feeding role that both parents and child play. For babies, the parent decides what the baby will eat; formula or breast milk? The baby then eats as much as he or she wants. Parents help the baby eat their fill by providing warmth, comfort, security and being sensitive to their baby’s signals.
During the toddler stage, once again, the parents are responsible for what is presented to the child for meals, when the child eats and where the child eats- in the car on the way to older sister’s ballet class? At preschool snack time? At dinner time with her sibblings? The toddler will decide on how much of what he wants to eat, and may even appear to be a bit “picky” at this age. Parents should continue to present to their toddler the same foods that they are eating for meals while allowing their toddler to consume as much of it as he desires.
In later childhood, the parent continues to decide what, when and where the child will eat, as long as the child is at home. The child will decide what and where he will eat while at school, friends’ houses and in the community. If parents discourage grazing and snacking, chances are that the children will eat what is prepared for them at the parent’s prescribed meal times.
Remember to do what you can to make meal time an enjoyable, relaxing, social time between your and your child. Expose them to new foods in fun ways and speak positively about eating. Chances are, your child will grow into an adventurous and healthy eater!
SUPPORTING COMMUNICATION & SOCIAL SUCCESS WITH VISUAL SUPPORTS
Visual supports are tools that increase a person’s ability to understand language, clarify the expectations in a given setting and/or to provide reassuring structure to the lives of individuals who have stronger visual skills than language or auditory skills. (Quill, 1995, 1998) Since visual images, in this case visual supports, are static and constant across time, they are easier to process and understand that fleeting verbal information. Visual supports are helpful in increasing positive behaviors and reducing frustration because they are concrete, provide a point of reference to support linguistic memory and illustrate vocabulary. For some individuals, visual supports make the difference between success and failure in acquiring and using critical social, behavioral and communication skills.
Some of the many effective visual supports are described below in alphabetical order:
For examples of these different supports, please visit our website at www.classinc.net
Comic Strip Conversations help children who have challenges with interpreting social situations, understanding speech as quickly as produced in social situations or reading non-verbal cues. (Gray, 1994; Rogers & Myles, 2001) They can also be used from problem solving and conflict resolution and communicating perspectives or feelings.
Conversation Cue Cards or Conversational Starters list a series of phrases or questions that can be used during conversations to assist in reciprocal dialogue.
Daily Schedules take the abstract concepts of events occurring in the future and represent the chain of events in a concrete way. This increases one’s ability to predict what will be upcoming, thus reducing anxiety, increasing flexibility, improving adaptability, teaches an understanding of time and the ability to predict changes. (Myles, 2005)
Graphic Organizers enhance learning by organizing material into ways that make it easier to understand and remember. They visually illustrate abstract concepts and relationships.
“Home Base” Cards illustrate designated safe places for an individual to go to when they are in need of regulating their own behavior and gain control over their emotional state. (Myles & Simpson, 2003) These places are useful for planning what to do next, reviewing information/rules, coping with stress, de-escalating, and reorganizing when the child is feeling overwhelmed by events, sounds, lights, smells and other sensory experiences. (Faherty, 2000)
Labels increase functional independence and participation by reducing the demands of the brain from having to visually scan an entire area while keeping the target item or location in mind, to just focusing on searching for a specific word or image
Lists greatly assist personal organization and retention visually organizing information. (Myles, 2005)
Option Cards provide the child with choices of language or behaviors for specific situations. This decreases reliance on others to verbally prompt choices. (Moore, 2000)
People Locators decrease anxiety by providing information about:
Reminder Cards give direction in order to increase understanding, independence and appropriate social behaviors.
Reminder Signs are used when several children benefit from the same cue. Teachers can hold or point to a visual symbol instead of having to verbally redirect children to behave more appropriately.
Routine Schedules break larger tasks or activities into their components, much like creating a recipe. This makes the routine easier to follow and independently complete with success, thus improving self-management skills.
Social Stories are concrete word and/or picture stories visually describe the steps and implications of a specific social situation. They clarify concepts that might be confusing and thus aid the comprehension of, and guide the use of a specific social situation. (Quill 1995)
Task Cards are recipes for improving social skills because they increase the accuracy of recalling concepts and rules in the presence of social distractions. Task cards outline the steps that needs to be followed and are written as directives.
Token Economies expand attention spans to tasks, increase the amount of work that is accomplished at a single time and improve one’s ability to delay gratification thus enabling them to more readily participate in social, educational and work settings.
Thought Cues help people understand what others might be thinking during social situations.
Travel Cards briefly lists academic, behavior, dietary, sensory and communication strategies that support the child’s success so that unfamiliar individuals have a recipe for successful interactions.
Within Activity Schedules effectively increase independent completion or work and daily life skills. (Hall et al, 1995)
Why Lists are useful to post in a classroom or at the dinner table to remind children why certain rules are important. (Quill, 1995)
For examples of these different supports, please visit our website at www.classinc.net
Something that we don’t always think about and take into consideration is how our children are positioned when we are feeding them. For children who are having difficulties eating a variety of foods, how they are sitting can make the difference between success and failure, (i.e. aspirating food into their lungs, choking, gagging, vomiting). There are three basic positions that I like to use. The first one is illustrated below. Pay attention to the ANGLES of the body; the hips and knees are at 90 degree angles, the back is straight, the feet are firmly planted on the floor and the hands rest upon the table. The feeder is presenting the food at the lower lip, so that the child does not have to look up,which creates a bad angle that is condusive to improper swallowing patterns.
Perfect Feeding Position #1
I remember vividly all of the times that I neglected to turn my children’s socks inside out and the tantrums that ensued….stumbled across this site and thought you might take advantage of their products:
http://www.smartknitkids.com/
SUPPORTING COMMUNICATION & SOCIAL SUCCESS
WITH VISUAL SUPPORTS
Visual supports are tools that increase a person’s ability to understand language, clarify the expectations in a given setting and/or to provide reassuring structure to the lives of individuals who have stronger visual skills than language or auditory skills. (Quill, 1995, 1998) Since visual images, in this case visual supports, are static and constant across time, they are easier to process and understand that fleeting verbal information. Visual supports are helpful in increasing positive behaviors and reducing frustration because they are concrete, provide a point of reference to support linguistic memory and illustrate vocabulary. For some individuals, visual supports make the difference between success and failure in acquiring and using critical social, behavioral and communication skills.
Some of the many effective visual supports are described below in alphabetical order:
Boundary Settings are physical environmental visual changes that support appropriate behavior by eliminating visual clutter and clearly delineating visual spaces. Clearly established boundaries help teach the child to set their own physical boundaries.
Comic Strip Conversations help children who have challenges with interpreting social situations, understanding speech as quickly as produced in social situations or reading non-verbal cues. (Gray, 1994; Rogers & Myles, 2001) They can also be used from problem solving and conflict resolution and communicating perspectives or feelings.
Conversation Cue Cards or Conversational Starters list a series of phrases or questions that can be used during conversations to assist in reciprocal dialogue.
Daily Schedules take the abstract concepts of events occurring in the future and represent the chain of events in a concrete way. This increases one’s ability to predict what will be upcoming, thus reducing anxiety, increasing flexibility, improving adaptability, teaches an understanding of time and the ability to predict changes. (Myles, 2005)
Graphic Organizers enhance learning by organizing material into ways that make it easier to understand and remember. They visually illustrate abstract concepts and relationships.
“Home Base” Cards illustrate designated safe places for an individual to go to when they are in need of regulating their own behavior and gain control over their emotional state. (Myles & Simpson, 2003) These places are useful for planning what to do next, reviewing information/rules, coping with stress, de-escalating, and reorganizing when the child is feeling overwhelmed by events, sounds, lights, smells and other sensory experiences. (Faherty, 2000)
Labels increase functional independence and participation by reducing the demands of the brain from having to visually scan an entire area while keeping the target item or location in mind, to just focusing on searching for a specific word or image
Lists greatly assist personal organization and retention visually organizing information. (Myles, 2005)
Option Cards provide the child with choices of language or behaviors for specific situations. This decreases reliance on others to verbally prompt choices. (Moore, 2000)
People Locators decrease anxiety by providing information about:
Reminder Cards give direction in order to increase understanding, independence and appropriate social behaviors.
Reminder Signs are used when several children benefit from the same cue. Teachers can hold or point to a visual symbol instead of having to verbally redirect children to behave more appropriately.
Routine Schedules break larger tasks or activities into their components, much like creating a recipe. This makes the routine easier to follow and independently complete with success, thus improving self-management skills.
Social Stories are concrete word and/or picture stories visually describe the steps and implications of a specific social situation. They clarify concepts that
might be confusing and thus aid the comprehension of, and guide the use of a specific social situation. (Quill 1995)
Task Cards are recipes for improving social skills because they increase the accuracy of recalling concepts and rules in the presence of social distractions. Task cards outline the steps that needs to be followed and are written as directives.
Token Economies expand attention spans to tasks, increase the amount of work that is accomplished at a single time and improve one’s ability to delay gratification thus enabling them to more readily participate in social, educational and work settings.
Thought Cues help people understand what others might be thinking during social situations.
Travel Cards briefly lists academic, behavior, dietary, sensory and communication strategies that support the child’s success so that unfamiliar individuals have a recipe for successful interactions.
Within Activity Schedules effectively increase independent completion or work and daily life skills. (Hall et al, 1995)
Why Lists are useful to post in a classroom or at the dinner table to remind children why certain rules are important. (Quill, 1995)
This is a nice little article from Parents Magazine this month about developmental milestones:
(Parenting.com) – Although your baby won’t say much during her first year of life (at least not in words you understand), her language skills begin to grow the minute she’s born. Here’s how the process unfolds:
Age: Birth to three months
What your baby does: Your little sweetie is learning about voices by listening to yours. The coos and gurgles that emerge at the end of this period are her first attempts at imitating the sounds you make.
How to help: Sing and talk to your baby often, but also keep other distracting background noises (the TV, radio) to a minimum so she can hear and focus on the sounds she’s working on.
Age: Three to six months
What your baby does: Your child is beginning to notice how people converse with each other, and wants to join in on the dialogue.
How to help: When you talk to him, pause after saying something (“Would you like to play with this pretty red rattle?”) so he has a chance to respond in his own language. If he tries to make the same sound as you, repeat the word for him.
Age: Six to nine months
What your baby does: The vocalizations your baby makes are be- ginning to sound more like words now — baba and dada, for instance. She’ll also express emotion in response to the tone of your voice, smiling if you are talking happily, showing distress if you are yelling or expressing anger.
How to help: Talk her through her days: “Where did the puppy go? Oh, look, here’s the puppy on the sofa,” labeling and showing her what you’re referring to as much as possible. Use a mirror to show her who she is: “Who’s that little girl? It’s Rachel!”
Age: Nine to twelve months
What your baby does: His receptive language skills are exploding now; that is, he knows what you’re referring to even though he can’t repeat the words himself. He may scamper to the high chair if you say it’s time to eat, or look around for a toy when you ask him where a favorite plaything is.
How to help: Begin to label body parts (“nose,” “eyes,” “tummy,” “toes”), spend more time reading books together and talking about the pictures, and teach interactions such as waving bye-bye and blowing kisses.
Age: Twelve to fifteen months
What your baby does: Here come the words. Though the number an individual baby can say varies greatly at this stage — from one or two to a dozen or more — you can expect your child’s spoken vocabulary to pick up speed during this period. Even when he can’t say something, he knows how to tell you what he wants through gestures.
How to help: Continue to label for your child, but also use more simple sentences so he can hear how to string words together. Respond enthusiastically at each new word development or attempt at communication.
please see parenting.com for more information
Just a crazy fun fact that I thought you might enjoy sharing with your children the next time you are out for a beach walk. Enjoy!
|
PICKY EATER |
PROBLEM OR RESISTENT EATER |
| Has a history of smoothly transitioning from pureed baby food to baby foods with texture | Has a history of difficulty in transitioning to different food textures as an infant or young child. |
| Easily transitioned to table foods and finger food | Has a history of not eating table solids by 12 months of age |
| Able to fully transition from baby foods to table foods by 167 months | Unable to transition from a diet composted of baby foods to one consisting of table foods by 16 months |
| Smoothly transitioned from breast and/or bottle to cup by 16 months (not sippy cup) | Unable to transition to open cup by 16 months and remains on bottle or breast for most liquids |
| Typically eats at least one food from every food group | Eliminates entire food groups and eats only one or two food groups, typically carbohydrates |
| Typically eats a variety of textures, (i.e. ice cream, hot dogs and cereal with milk) | Prefers a single texture, usually either crunchy, (i.e. crackers) or smooth, (i.e. applesauce) |
| Eats a variety of different flavor types, | Sticks to mainly one or two flavor families such as salty, (i.e. pretzels) sweet, (i.e. cookies) bland, (i.e. mac & cheese) or spicy, (i.e. ketchup) |
| Enjoys foods in a range of colors | May only eat certain colors of food, often white to brown colors |
| Appears to be able to drink, chew and swallow without difficulty | May have difficulty with the mechanics of eating and drinking; chokes, gags, coughs or looses food through nose while eating. |
| Feeds self at an appropriate age | Relies on adults to feed some, if not all meals at an age when most children are feeding themselves |
| Eats most meals in a reasonable amount of time | Takes an abnormally long amount of time to eat a meal (30 minutes or more) |
| Is able to sit and behave appropriately during meals as expected for a child of his or her age. | Frequently pouts, whines, cries, tantrums, refuses, distracts, gets up from table and other inappropriate behaviors |
| Is generally polite and happy at mealtimes | May demonstrate behavioral problems such as hitting, biting, kicking, and vomiting at mealtime as an attention-getting strategy. |
| Enjoys similar foods of different brands or from different restaurants, (i.e. frozen chicken nuggets, nuggets from MacDonald’s, Burger King & Red Robin) | Notices small differences in similar foods and accepts only specific brands or from a single restaurants. |
| Tolerates the presence of new and/or different foods on the table or plate | Displays anxiety in the presence of new and/or different foods. |
| Willing to touch and/or smell most new foods. | Finds the smell and or texture of new foods noxious. |
| Willing to taste most new foods. | May gag or vomit when tasting new foods |
| Preferences for different foods will wax and wane across time | Often starts with a variety of different foods and eliminates foods or entire food groups over time. |
| Will eat non-preferred foods at a later date | Once foods become non-preferred, they are not regained into the food repertoire |
| Usually eats more than 20 different foods | Typically eats fewer than 15 different foods |
| Will not make themselves ill | Restricted diet may negatively impact growth and development |
| Often no underlying medical conditions | Frequently has another underlying medical condition, (i.e. ADD, sensory integration disorder, low tone, history of tube feeding, etc.). |
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