Be the Model

I'm always telling parents about modeling the speech they want their child to use. When the child is hungry, model those words for them like "eat, hungry, I'm hungry, I want food." Give choices, model the names of those options, and do a lot of repetition. I'm always saying to use siblings as models but some kids don't have siblings or really other similar-aged peers to model other things for them so adults need to.

I was cotreating with a DT and the DT asked if the child did any pretend play and Mom said "no." So I asked if Mom had modeled for them how to do any pretend play and Mom said "no." I guess for me play skills are just second nature and I need to remember it's not natural for all parents. This particular child also has an autism diagnosis, nonverbal, but they pick up on things so quickly. DT shows them once and they can do many activities with just that single model. This child was able to do the actions for pretend play by the next session.

I saw another family and the child didn't play with toys, so they got put away. So the child only played on a tablet. This is a common thing with families, especially during Covid. I'm always encouraging them to take out the toys and model how to play with them. Stack the blocks into a tower, put the shapes in the sorter, and complete the puzzles. Some parents aren't comfortable being silly or playing in front of the camera, like I'm going to judge their play or something. This was something that was easier to model when I did in-person. I had to model for the parents so they could learn how to model for their child. Now I will try to model over video and I also refer to Miss Rachel often. The phrase I usually use is "Use your best Miss Rachel voice." You need to be silly and overexaggerate your words and how you move your mouth. That's being engaging and modeling how to move their mouths to make those sounds.

Modeling during play is the best way for kids to learn and playing doesn't have to be expensive. You can use things you have at home.

Take care of baby

You can use a baby doll or stuffed animal to take care of. You can use some type of small blanket, whether a little blanket, a burp cloth, a kitchen towel, or anything you have. Put the baby to sleep, cover the baby, "shhh, nigh-night baby, baby's sleeping, wake up." You can use household things like a baby spoon and bowl to feed the baby pretend food. You can pretend to feed the baby real food at snack time, make eating sounds, and name foods. It's a good way for kids to learn to be gentle.

Animal play

There are a lot of different animal toys. There are little farms, you can pretend to feed the animals, make them walk, and put them in bed. You can play vet with a stuffed animal and Dr set (which is also good for playing Dr with a baby). I guess a Dinosaur is an animal, you can make them walk, roar, and smash block towers. You can also use animal puzzles or a farm puzzle and still make the pieces walk or eat.

Dress up

A lot of kids this age like to dress up as their favorite characters or just in one of Dad's old button shirts and hats. Many girls might like to wear princess dresses and heels like mommy. It helps work on skills like dressing and undressing. You can add in colors, matching socks, and counting. Sometimes it's fun to pretend to be someone else.

Kitchen

With some simple things you have in the kitchen, you can have a great pretend play kitchen area. You can use Tupperware, wooden spoons, empty spice containers, and empty food boxes like pasta or cereals. You can let them help with real food too. A toddler helping tower and kid-safe knives can be amazing to get them involved. There can be so much they can learn in the kitchen. They'll learn the names of foods and will be more likely to try new foods if they get to explore them first. They can learn to follow directions and count.

Read a book

I'm always recommending simple picture books. You can model reading the book and foster a love of reading. You can also model the items in the books. My favorite books especially for those kids that "won't sit for a book" are Touch and Feel books. The sensory part of each page is engaging to toddlers. If you have an Animal book you can work on naming animals and their sounds. I prefer board books and a little trick for those destructive kids, clear packing tape along the spine and in between each page. It keeps them from ripping it apart or popping the spine.

All of these activities require you to model for them to learn. You may be taking care of a real baby and modeling with a real live baby. It may require you to model making the animals walk with the toys they have. You are modeling in the kitchen every day when you cook for them. Some things parents don't think about as much is modeling the language while doing everyday tasks. It's modeling new words and narrating their everyday life. It takes nothing new and only requires you to use your voice. Tell them what you're doing while you change them or while you make them lunch.

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