encouraging development in your infant and toddler

when we first got our parent information packet from early intervention I found a gem of a handout entitled "20 Ways to Encourage Development in Your Infant or Toddler"  I liked it so much, I taped it up on my fridge as a quick reference and to remind me some of the best things to do with my kids.  Nothing on the handout was revolutionary-in fact, I felt like it was a "back to basics" parenting handout.  So, without any more explanation, here we go!

20 Ways to Encourage Development in Your Infant or Toddler

1. give your infant tummy time
2. listen to music
3. let your toddler try new and different foods
4. give your toddler textures to feel
5. read to your child
6. put your infant in front of a mirror
7. talk to your infant/toddler using one or two words
8. draw with your toddler
9. play with play-doh
10. put together puzzles
11. give your toddler choices between two items
12. play with a ball
13. use rhymes and songs
14. play the "what is that" game
15. finger paint with whipped cream or pudding
16. cut up safe finger foods in small pieces
17. play pretend with dolls
18. dance or clap to music
19. play chase
20. give your infant or toddler lots of different things to roll, push, pull, hug, shake, poke, stack, turn, spin and stir

most of these are pretty instinctual things that most people do with babies, and most do not need any explanation, but let me give a few suggestions and reasoning for a few of these things.

#7.  Talking to your infant/toddler using one or two words
     Language development is such a huge, HUGE, topic.  (There will be more posts to come, I am sure) but the reason why talking to your infant/toddler using one or two words is important is because it increases their receptive language, or the language that they understand.  One of my biggest problems with Whitaker was that I talked TOO much and I said TOO many words.  I would tell him, "you take the ball in your hand.  your hand is small, Whitaker.  Then you put the ball in this thing and it will roll down the ramp that is made of wood.....ect, ect, ect."  The only words he understood out of that entire speech I gave him were probably, "ball," and "Whitaker."  The better way to talk with him was and still is, "Ball.  Ball in."  If you are going to use one or two words to talk with your infant or toddler, focus on using nouns and verbs.  For example, if I am trying to tell Whitaker to go and get his shoes I need to say, "Get shoes." Not, "Whitaker, buddy, will you please go and get your shoes?"  That sentence will come as his receptive language develops, but right now, the words are just gibberish and I need to help him understand the two most important parts of that sentence which are the noun and the verb. 

#11. Give your toddler choices between two items.
      This is a great way to learn about what your child wants and enables your child to feel some sense of control in their life.  To be perfectly honest, because Whitaker can't communicate typically, I am guessing a lot of the time about what he wants.  That is frustrating for HIM and for me.  What is great about the choices is that it helped me learn that he liked this type of pajamas over this one and it has been such a sweet way to get to know my little guy.  Giving him an element of control in our daily routines has also been a great way to help him feel involved and help him realize that he has control over his environment.  So here are some easy ways to give your child a choice.  Let them pick their clothes.  I let Whitaker pick out which pants he wants to wear between the two choices I give him.  I let him pick out a shirt between the two shirts I offer him.  And so on and so forth....every time I can give him a choice, I give him a choice.  What's nice about forced choices is that it helps them feel control over their environment and it also helps develop children's receptive language and expressive language (the language they can say).  Other helpful guides to make this even more powerful for your child are to put the items by your face and encourage eye contact.  At our house our themes are positive interactions, functional interactions and that all behavior is communication.  A distal point to an object or an attempt to say a word are all acceptable ways to request an object at our house.  Depending on your child and their developmental level, you can expect more or less.

Overall-

• be persistent and be patient. 
• Nothing in your child's development is going to happen overnight, especially if there may be something going on. 
• Mimic and Engage.
• Some children are difficult to engage.  Whitaker can be when we are doing something that he does not want to.  The best way to engage a child is to mimic them.  If they are dropping toys on the ground, drop toys on the ground too.  Then, once you have their attention, make the activity functional.  So rather than dropping the toys on the ground, drop them in a container and say, "in.  Ball in." 
• Keep it simple. 
• Doing arts and crafts with the kids doesn't have to mean an hour of prep-grab some canned whipped cream at the store, take off their shirts and let them sit in their highchair and experiment with whipped cream.  Don't make it more complicated than it needs to be.  If it's too complicated, then you won't do it, bottom line. 
• Keep it positive.
• We always try to end whatever activity we are doing positively.  This is imperative for kids with social-communication issues.  If you end on a positive note, they will want to keep interacting and the next time you try, it hopefully goes a little smoother.  With Whitaker, I always push him to the point of being upset and then I back off and help him do what I know he can do.  Then once he has participated in a positive fashion and he tells me he's all done, I push him one more time to try again.  I keep doing this until he is absolutely all done and tells me appropriately.  If he throws a tantrum, I hold him, give him deep pressure and once he calms down, we finish the activity and as positively as we can.  After that, we reward him.  Rewards can be either a hug, or bubbles, or going outside, or watching a show.  Make sure that they know that interacting with others is fun and rewarding.  Now, again, this is the developmental stage that we are on, and it may be different for your child and how old they are and where they are.  The biggest thing is to make it positive and fun! 

and last but not least, a plea for all of you.  Two pleas actually- one-if any of you have any graphic or web designer friends who could help me with the blog layout, that would be great.  I don't have much to spend, but I would love to get the blog more esthetically pleasing if anyone wants to help a technology-challenged individual.  I also have a few "printables" that I want to make.  Two-if any of you have questions or issues you want to see a post about, I would love to know what issues or questions that you would like addressed. 

hope this helps!  good luck!