preschool Archives - BDI Playhouse Children's Therapy

The Power of Pragmatic Language

Written by J Keenan on October 17, 2022. Posted in Infants, Language Development, Preschoolers, School Aged Children.

Social Language Milestones

Pragmatics is the way we use our language in social settings. For example, how to start a conversation, interpreting body language, understanding different perspectives, and using sarcasm. Pragmatic language is typically learned incidentally (learned through experience) but with some children, it may need to be directly taught. Pragmatic language begins to develop as an infant and continues to grow and form until the high school years. Below is a list of “milestones” to expect along with activities/strategies to enhance social language.

Infant (3-12 months)

Starts making eye contact

Reaching

Participates in parallel play (playing next to caregiver, sibling)

Participates vocal turn taking

Uses vocalizations to request, protest, express feelings

Activities: Peek-a-boo, stacking blocks, waving, songs, nursery rhymes

Toddler (12-36 months)

Imitates routines

Imitates other children

Uses words (12 months)/phrases (18 months)/sentences (30 months) to request, protest, express feelings

Asks questions

Begins at 18 months

Initiates pretend play (ex: playing in toy kitchen, pushing trucks/cars, playing with baby doll)

Begins at 18 months

Takes two turns in conversation

Begins to describe/retell events

Begins to return/initiate greetings by waving

Activities: Ask questions during pretend play (“What’s baby doing? Where are they going?”), “sabotage” by putting toys out of reach, shared reading activities, scrapbooks to encourage retelling

Preschool (3-5 years)

Uses language for teasing, joking, fantasies

Starts to share with others

Joint play with peers (participating in others play schemes, including self in play)

Theory of Mind: Understanding that others have different beliefs

Begins at 4 years

Produces narratives as “chain”

Takes 4-5 conversational turns

Improves describing skills to repair communication breakdowns

Begins to inference/predict

Participates in turn-taking games

Activities: Sequence 3-4 pictures and retell story, give simple riddles (i.e., “This is an animal that lives on the farm and says ‘Moo’”), play “Go Fish” or “Bingo”

School age (5-11 years)

Invites others to play

Initiates conversations with familiar topics (ex: school, weather, weekend)

Problem solving (individually and in a group)

Begins 6-8 years old

Gives and responds to compliments

Tells and understands jokes of greater complexity

Politely interrupts

Responds to and uses facial expressions (ex: smiles, frowns, looks of surprise)

Recognizes spatial boundaries

Activities: Practice multiple meaning words, Apples to Apples, Emotion charades, Red Light Green Light

Middle/High School (11-18 years)

Recognizes if listener is interested or bored

Shifts topics during lulls in conversation

Understands difference between friends/acquaintances

Engages in collaborative discussions

Activities: Would You Rather questions, book club, Let’s Talk Conversation Starters

If you notice delays in the way your child is using social language such as having difficulty making friends, understanding body language, or maintaining age-appropriate conversations, schedule a screening with an SLP at BDI Playhouse today!

Preschool: Top 5 Reasons Why Preschool is Important

Written by J Keenan on October 6, 2022. Posted in Preschoolers, school, toddlers.

Questioning whether or not to send your child to preschool? From a therapist perspective, preschool is such an important piece to practicing skills required later down the road. It facilitates structure, independence, social-emotional learning, and the foundation for higher level skills.

1. PLAY AT PRESCHOOL

Play is how kids learn! They learn to use their imagination, be creative, socialize with others their age, share, and problem solve when an obstacle arises. It also provides various play experiences through structured and unstructured activities, all of which allow children to build confidence, a sense of self, and critical thinking skills.

2. STRUCTURE

Preschool is where children start to participate in more structured routines like stations, lining up, singing a morning song, or learning the days of the week. Consistent routines are important for understanding expectations, predictability, and at the same time adapt to any changes that may arise.

3. FOUNDATIONAL SKILLS

Preschool helps you develop:

- - Fine motor skills (pre-writing strokes, grasp, stringing beads, scissor skills)
  - Visual motor skills (building block structures, coloring)
  - Gross motor skills (catching, jumping, playing on the playground)
  - Communication skills (having conversations with others, identifying colors, asking questions)

4. INDEPENDENCE

Preschool instills independence and provides an opportunity for children to develop self advocacy skills and personal interests. Within preschool, children start learning how to take responsibility for their actions and provide numerous occasions to complete simple tasks on their own.

5. SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING

The preschool environment gives children the chance to engage with others, navigate conflict, understand their own emotions, and learn about empathy. Building on these skills at a young age provides children opportunities to grow and reach their full potential and beyond.

If you find that your child may have trouble in one or more of these areas, reach out to the BDI Playhouse office to schedule a free OT, ST, or PT screen.

Written By: Kiersten Robertson, MOT, OTR/L

Back to School Transition Strategies

Written by J Keenan on July 27, 2022. Posted in Preschoolers, school, School Aged Children, Uncategorized.

Back to School Emotions

August means back to school is right around the corner! Back to school means transitioning to new schools, new teachers, new peers, new expectations and new routines! Many kids are excited about the anticipation of a new school year, but for many kiddos “new” can be scary and worrisome.

Children can communicate their emotions through a variety of behaviors. It’s important as parents and caregivers to be aware of these behaviors to help our kiddos manage their emotions and provide opportunity for a successful transition back to school!

The best way to help our kiddos with new tasks is by creating predictability and maintaining consistency in their routines. This will help ease their worry and fear while building their confidence for success.

Simple Strategies to Help Back to School Transition:

Waking and Bedtime Schedule

We all fall into the summer slump of less structure and organization in the routine of our days. Beginning at least a month prior to the first day of school, begin implementing a waking and bedtime schedule that will mirror your child’s school time routine.

Visual calendar count down

Time is a vague concept for young kids, so counting the “number of sleeps” until school starts is a meaningful way to incorporate how many days until the first day of school.

Social Stories

Read social stories and talk about expectations for the new school year. Don’t forget to highlight important details that you know they are looking forward to (including a favorite teacher, familiar classmates, exciting activities they are looking forward to that year), but also recognize and discuss novel tasks that may cause stress (such as attending at a new building, bus rides, lunchtime, whatever it may be).

New Peer Playdates

Reach out to local parent/community groups to set-up park meet-ups/ playdates to become familiar with new peers.

Trial Run

Do a trial run before school starts. Drive by your child’s school to create familiarity. Is there a park accessible to play at? Go play to create positive experiences associated with the school. This will help to see where you might have some bumps getting on the road and need to tweek parts of your morning routine.

Label feelings

Validate their feelings. Use visuals when you can. Provide your child with a ‘toolbox” of calming strategies to attain/maintain a feeling of calmness throughout their day.

Model Confidence

Model your confidence to make them feel confident (even if you have to fake it); kids feed off of our emotions. This includes talk enthusiastically about what a positive experience this will be, avoid lingering at drop-offs and encourage participation in new activities.

Back to School Mantra

Create a mantra to repeat out loud. “I am safe” is one of my favorites!

List of Resources

Below are a list of resourceful links to provide more information about typical/atypical behaviors, countdown calendars, addressing feelings and visuals for calming strategies:

Don’t forget, what may seem like a minor problem to us as adults, feels like a BIG problem to our kiddos, especially when they are learning to recognize and handle their big emotions. Make the experience easier for them by remaining calm if things do not go as planned, or their reactions don’t meet our expectations. Don’t forget to model flexibility to bumps in routines. Also, remember that changes don’t happen overnight and give your child time to settle into their new routines! If things don’t get easier and you would like some additional strategies, please schedule a screening with one of our therapists to help find individualized strategies for you and your child.

Written by Jamie Blough

My Kid Keeps Hitting

Written by J Keenan on August 11, 2021. Posted in Preschoolers, School Aged Children, toddlers.

Does your child keep hitting others when he wants what they are playing with? Grab toys away from other children? Kick over other’s toys? These are all considered undesirable behaviors and can be frustrating to watch your child do at home, in their community, or at school. Here are some strategies to help your child with undesired behaviors.

Step 1- Hands are not for hitting

Remind your child what their hands are for. Hands are for waving, washing, clapping, counting, drawing, doodling, holding, hugging and eating. Hands are not for hitting. Hitting hurts!

Step 2- Use these words

Teach your child the words to use when wanting something from someone else. Can I please have a turn? Could I see that toy? Let your child know they have to wait for the answer. This may be the hardest part. If a child will not share a toy provide suggestions for another toy to play with.

Step 3- Hitting hurts

If a child does hit, have the injured child tell that child,” I don’t like that, that hurts!”

Step 4- Don’t force apologies

Do not make your child apologize for undesired behaviors. Making a child apologize has no meaning behind it if they are just saying it because you told them too. Some children may use this to their advantage and think, “It’s OK to hit if I apologize afterwards.” Remind your child that it hurts others and our hands are not for hitting. We must use our words to ask for what we want.

If hitting persists or your child is unable to utilize the strategies, call to schedule a free screening with one of our pediatric therapists. Sometimes, hitting occurs when a child does not have an ample vocabulary or language to make requests or negotiate. It can also occur when a child excites easily or seeks input. Our trained therapists will be able to give additional recommendations unique to your child’s needs!

Written by: Jessica Frederick, COTA/L

Tag: preschool

Back to School Transition Strategies

Back to School Emotions

Simple Strategies to Help Back to School Transition:

Waking and Bedtime Schedule

Visual calendar count down

Social Stories

New Peer Playdates

Trial Run

Label feelings

Model Confidence

Back to School Mantra

List of Resources

Learn More

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Naperville - Aurora

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