Teach Me To Play WITH You

Description

Teach Me To Play WITH You: Easy Games, Songs, and Play Activities to Teach Social Interaction to Toddlers and Young Preschoolers with Language Delays is a therapy guide for parents and professionals who work with young children with social and communication delays.

This 190-page manual is filled with simple routines, songs, and games designed to inspire adults to interact with children in ways to motivate them to play WITH you. It’s a book of ideas to get you started so that you’ll know what to do when you play with a child who has difficulty staying with you and paying attention or with a child who seems bored and aloof most of the time.

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This is a highly successful beginning treatment approach for toddlers who are at risk for or who have already been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders.

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Chapter 1

An introduction for parents explaining why social interaction is the foundation for language development. A child who isn’t interested in being with or communicating with other people for most of any given day isn’t developmentally ready to understand and use words. All communication begins with being social. Once a child learns to love being with you, he forms the foundation necessary to help him understand and use language. You’ll learn how to interact with him so that he’ll learn to interact with you. 

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Chapter 2

The Easiest Beginner Routines and includes step-by-step instructions for 22 fun play routines. Young children with social and language delays best learn how to interact with others during the structure of a game. On each page you’ll find:

• The name of the game
  
• Materials required (if any)
  
• Description of a child’s preferences to help you decide if this game is a good match for your child
  
• Detailed instructions on How to Play
  
• Keywords and sounds YOU should say when playing to elicit a child’s first word attempts
  
• List of child’s goals so that you’ll know what responses to shoot for, how to help your child move to a more advanced response, and how to measure progress
  
• Problem-solving tips specific to each game
  
• Ideas for expanding the game and new games to try when he’s mastered the first one

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Chapter 3

Early Toys you’ll find ideas for play with children who may not be interested in toys. Most of these games are with toys you probably have at home. Some aren’t toys at all, but household items you likely already own. These are my go-to games when I need to get a child’s attention in the beginning sessions when he’s not with me yet. At the end of the chapter, I list toys I use every day in speech therapy. 

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Chapter 4

It contains words and instructions for 33 Fingerplays and Songs I use in play with toddlers and young children. As in the previous chapters, you’ll find a section for Child’s Goals and ways to expand the game into your daily lives.

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Chapter 5

Solutions for Problems during Play, you’ll find suggestions for new things to try when what you’re doing isn’t working. Problems include:

• Places toys in mouth
• Avoids interaction with people
• Doesn’t like toys
• Lines up toys rather than playing
• Holds toys instead of playing
• Repeatedly pushes buttons
• Prefers TV/videos to people and toys
• Sensitive to touch and sound
• Uses parent’s hands to operate toys
• Odd, repetitive, or self-stimulatory behavior
• Throws toys
• Constant motion
• Short attention span
• Aggressive
• Tantrums and meltdowns
• Difficulty with transitions
• Doesn’t like to share or take turns
• Lost in own words instead of playing or listening (using jargon or echolalia)

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Chapter 6

Includes my list of references and recommended reading for parents.

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This is a great parent training tool! SLPs and other therapists in early intervention programs will love how this book is organized in a format with activity pages that can be easily copied for distribution to parents.