Communication Bootcamp for Kids: Words your Kids Should Learn

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 05:10:13 GMT

Top Tips for Teaching Concepts: The Park Words are more exhilarating when you animate them! ~ Marnee Hi Everyone, Do you want to know a secret for helping your child excel when participating in the classroom? One trick is to ensure your child understands “concepts”. Concepts are words that provide key information that assist your [...]

TinyEYE: Play is the Beginning of Knowledge

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:52:46 GMT

“Play is the beginning of knowledge.”
– George Dorsey

Hi Everyone,

It is my joy to offer speech and language services through my on-line therapy office. What I tend to enjoy the most is the adventure I find myself on with my students. We float in the boat and catch fish, we visit a dinosaur and caveman, then we have just enough time to swim with the mermaids before the recess bell rings. For adults - this is called an escape from reality. For kids - this is called pretend play. I would like to share this article that I wrote when I was exploring the benefits of pretend play.
Read it if you would like - it is the first in a series of articles I will post about play and its relationship to communication development.

Benefits of Pretend Play

• Pretend play means “acting”. For example, acting out a trip to the store, acting out housekeeping, acting out a story, and acting out gas station are all examples of pretend play. Besides being fun, play encourages language ability, literacy development, thinking skills, and imagination.

• Copy Cat! Children are eager to do what grown-ups do. Pretend play, props, and materials can encourage children to imitate adult’s work and leisure activities. These activities help children to develop their language and interaction skills as they act out stories and activities of daily living. First, children need experiences with the real world to know how to imitate it.

• Many children create their first stories through pretend play as they involve characters, plots, problems, and solutions.

• Environments that simulate children’s natural environments, such as a play-house or a pretend post office, help them to more easily transfer their emerging language skills from the pretend play setting to the real life setting. The play experience gives them extra practice with the vocabulary and with using social and language skills to interact.

Pretend Play Develops Language and Literacy Skills

• Story-telling skills-creating a story-line and characters
• Sequencing-putting the events of the story in order (beginning, middle, end)
• Logical thinking-thinking through what each character would do or say in a particular situation
• Imagination - creating mental pictures without the use of real objects (pet pony)
• Comprehension-understanding the flow of the story, and the responses, motives and actions of the characters
• Communication Skills - listening, explaining, considering another person’s point of view…
Pretend Play Develops Social Skills

Quick Check: The following skills should be evident or developing in three year olds:

Sharing, cooperating, and co-creating
Leading an activity and imitating others
Resolving conflicts and problem solving
Following or declining a peer’s idea
Developing empathy and considering another person’s point of view
Getting a peer’s attention, showing affection or hostility towards the peer
Compromising, negotiating, controlling, and standing up for themselves
Integrating what the child has learned about objects and people
Taking Turns
Learning to use and read non-verbal language, such as eye contact, gestures, and facial expression.

Have a great day!

Marnee Brick, MSc
Speech-Language Pathologist and Director of of Speech Therapy
TinyEYE Therapy Services (Speech Therapy Telepractice)

http://www.TinyEYE.com-Online Speech Therapy Telepractice

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Communication Bootcamp for Kids: Words your Kids Should Learn

TinyEYE: Play is the Beginning of Knowledge