Have you ever had the experience of chasing a young child around the room trying to get some kind of interaction going? The child flits from one toy to the next and never really engages. At the end of the session you are exhausted, frustrated and totally lost as to what to do the next session. I like to develop play routines with these children. I get their attention with a very fun toy and then develop steps within the play to give the child more to talk about and increase their engagement. Examples of steps include:
putting the desired toy in a clear container that is hard to open
adding a magic button (push it and the container magically opens)
hanging the finished product on the wall to admire or showing it to someone
Once the routine is understood, the child uses language to continue the routine and make choices. You no longer have to struggle with planning your therapy sessions. Keep expanding and disrupting basic play routines and watch your child's attention and language grow!
Learning Language through Play Routines consists of 8 routines using the following toys: bubbles, balloons, puzzles, Potato Head, Humpty Dumpty, a coloring book, a mailbox and objects, and Play Dough. The play has been expanded into 6 steps (e.g., you don't just blow up a balloon, you first take a balloon out of a jar, attempt to blow it up, blow it up with a balloon pump, tie it, tap it in the air, then draw a face on it). Visual supports, ways to expand and disrupt each step, and suggestions for mapping language on top of the routine are provided. Check it out on
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