Singing bags

What's your favourite nursery rhyme? Do you remember one in particular from your childhood? 

Everybody loves music, right?

Babies and toddlers are no exception!  Nursery rhymes are fun and interactive and so many skills are learned and developed by singing them to, with, or at your little ones!  Go to any playgroup and there is usually a singing part.   It's important: music stimulates different neurones in the brain to speech alone.  It helps children tune in to the different pitches which relate to speech sounds and intonation of words.  It encourages your littlie to learn the important social skills, and listening skills they will later put into good use when they become competent communicators... Bet you didn't realise all of that... it's true, even if you are out of tune!!

Favourite songs

Some babies and special children may not have developed the shared attention skills they need to be able to follow what they can hear.  Maybe you've been working on listening (see my previous posts on tuning in for speech, Listen as you walk and Stop look listen) and are ready for the next stage.

Work out which songs your child likes and responds to; a smile, a pause, a stillness, or a laugh.  Those will be the ones to use to create a shared activity by then finding corresponding toys.

He's not interested

So, what can we do when the children do not seem to be listening and their attention leads them elsewhere? It may be that your special little one has a developmental delay, or a specific disorder.  In that case, how do you help them to understand that what you are singing is different from the song before, or that it has specific meaning and the words link to real life things?

Bag it up...

So, based on what my 19month old likes, I picked a monkey for "5 little monkeys jumping on the bed" a rabbit for "hop little bunnies", a fish for "1, 2, 3, 4, 5", a teapot for "I'm a little teapot", and a farmer for "Old Macdonald".  All very popular here in the UK!  I nearly ended up with half the toy box, but remembered my own advice and stuck to just a few (also I didn't have a big enough bag!).  

Next, find a bag, pop them in, and take turns pulling out the toy with your littlie. This will straight away turn the objects into a game, just with the anticipation of wondering what will be pulled out - amazing, no extra preparation needed! 

If your littlie starts to look at you, or the toy you're holding, then you've achieved 'shared attention', one of the very important pre-verbal skills, so well done!  

If your littlie grabs the bag from you and rummages for the toy representing their fave song, you have achieved communication, so doubly well done!!

I've used this activity with children who find it really difficult to do Makaton signing, or make a clear choice.  They very soon recognise the bag and that it means singing time, and can get quite excited! As the child recognises what each toy represents, we can move on to introducing pictures or symbols and ultimately set up choice boards.  You can also stick with one song and pull out e.g. different animals for each verse of "Old Macdonald".  

Have any of you used objects or toys in this way or similar? I'd love to hear from you! Please leave a comment below, join the discussions on my facebook page, or email me...

Thanks for stopping by!

Katie

Hey Baby - Pre-verbal and pre-intentional skills

When my eldest child was just a few weeks old, I had a call from a good speechy friend from uni who had also just had a baby. "What do I do with her?" We both asked. "How do you talk to a six week old baby?"

There was no social smile, no reciprocal interaction and no response to singing - yet.


                                


After lots of lullabies, cuddling, imitation of her coos and squeaks, there was suddenly a smile! Not wind - but a real social smile, showing she'd recognised her mummy!  Many of the families I work with are still looking for their equivalent of that social smile - 18 months on, or more.

How will I understand her?

Being a baby is stressful! They need to learn your touch, your voice, your breath, your smell. All of this is reassuring, and helps them learn.

As parents we also need to learn our baby's communication. Was that a hungry cry, a tired whimper, a strop (yes - I believe that my daughter had her first tantrum at around 12 weeks because she didn't want her nap!), or an 'I want to be left alone' cry?!

We need to be consistent.  If you think a sound or movement means something, trust your instinct.  Teach your child what he or she has just said by repeating the song or cuddles you were giving.  

Repetition, Repetition, Repetition

Children learn through repetition and reinforcement. They make a sound or cry, and as we respond to them, they learn they can have an impact on their environment. And so they do it again. And there you have your first communication! Ta dah!

Children with complex neurological conditions may not 'cry' in the same way.  They may respond to their environment more by stiffening or making a movement, or an involuntary noise.  Any of these reactions may become meaningful, if we can keep a log of what the child does to indicate likes and dislikes, and then try to repeat and reinforce their response to us.  This is also true for children with little or no language such as severe developmental and communication disorders.  

Don't give up

With normally developing babies, we see progress sometimes within a few days or less. With children with severe complex needs, these changes may take months. However, I believe that by tuning in to your child and understanding what each of their sounds or movements means, you can help them to become more interactive and transform those accidental interactions or noises into purposeful communications. All children have potential, if we can adjust our expectations, and set very tiny, but achievable aims.

Dear Zoo

We all have our favourite children's books, ones we remember being read to us, and the ones we could read for ourselves. Among my favourites were 'the Tiger Who Came to Tea' and 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'! 

One I have grown to love as an adult and read frequently to my own children is 'Dear Zoo'.  I love the repetition and predictability, and for this reason it is also a great therapy tool! 

The flaps make it perfect for anticipation as well as encouraging child participation.  Also, who hasn't made all the animal sounds? By the way, what is the sound a camel makes?!

So, how can we make it accessible to those children with communication difficulties?


PICTURE MATCHING


I have used picture matching along with a book, or a lesson in one of the severe learning difficulty special schools I worked in, it really helped to keep the child (who had severe autism) focused to the teacher, even where he had severely impaired auditory processing skills.  

With the children I work with, I would start with teaching the animal vocabulary and give them a choice of pictures to match up with the animal under the flap.  Start with showing two, and asking "where's the ...[animal]?" 

As you can see, I found some similar pictures from a Noah's ark story book I had at home to use for picture matching, and didn't need to use pre-prepared symbols or photos. 

RECORDED MESSAGES

Repetitive stories are great for children who use AAC devices, particularly when first introducing them.  Big mack switches are very simple to record with a single message e.g. "So they sent me a..."  

Other devices with more switches or buttons, or some of the iPad apps can be recorded with other phrases from the book so that you and your child can take it in turns to read together.  What a lovely way to be able to share a bedtime story with your 'non-verbal' child?!

What other books would you like to use, or do you use in therapy?  How else would you use my choice of book?  I would love to hear your thoughts below!