By: Gretchen Olson, Pediatric Speech and Language Pathologist at North Shore Pediatric Therapy
Language is essentially all about sharing; sharing ideas, thoughts, needs, etc. This sharing begins in infancy when a parent is the primary communication partner. Infants first share eye contact, but as a child grows, they will soon seek to share items of interest with their caregivers and communication partners. This is demonstrated through switching eye gaze, gestures, babbling and eventually vocal imitation.
5 Ways a Mom and Tot Class Will Benefit Your Child’s Language:
- Mom and Tot classes provide an opportunity to share a new experience. It can be seen as a conversation piece for parents and their littlest ones to share.
- New toys, ideas, people, and activities are introduced for young children to explore, and to share that experience with their parents.
- Songs and rhymes are often incorporated into these types of classes, providing an opportunity for children to imitate rhythm and pitch even before they’re able to imitate individual speech sounds.
- Since speech and language are learned largely through imitation, practice with imitating gross-motor (gestures or claps to go with songs) is also an important step to developing language.
- Exposure, repetition, and imitation are keys to early language development.
Take advantage of opportunities to foster these keys in your daily routine, and create new opportunities by participating in a class experience. Learn more on language development in children.
Bubble Music: Babies, Bubble Music: Crawlers and Bubble Music: Walkers are fun launching pads for speech.
NSPT specializes in Pediatric Occupational Therapy | Speech Therapy | Physical Therapy | Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) | Social Work | Behavior 911 | Executive Functioning | Nutritional Counseling | Tutoring | Reading and Neuropsychology Diagnostics and Support. They are dedicated to helping children blossom.
