Child Speech Pathology: How to Make Play Time a Learning Experience for Your Kid

Did you know that play is a very important aspect of child speech pathology? Because it encourages the child with speech or language difficulties to communicate and interact with their environment naturally, many pathologists incorporate play in therapy sessions. For parents, play is a simple activity that they can do with their kids to help the latter overcome their condition.

If your child has been diagnosed with speech or language delay, you can make play time a learning experience and some sort of mini-therapy session for your kid. Believe it or not, there are toys recommend by speech language pathology experts that can help encourage your child to speak and communicate with you. Allowing your child to play with these toys can contribute to his or her development and help him cultivate his language skills, which is very important.

First stop, open ended toys. According to child speech pathology experts, these toys are those that don't have a beginning, middle, and an ending. They are a huge help to kids with speech delay because it gives them the freedom to manipulate and use such toys. In addition, it helps boost their creativity and imagination. Some good examples of open ended toys are Lego, wooden blocks, doll houses, play farm sets, and other traditional toys that don't require batteries.

Speaking of batteries, it isn't really a good idea to let a child with speech or language delay play with toys that have batteries, particularly those that create noises. According to speech language pathology experts, instead of encouraging them to speak, such toys might have the opposite effect on the children. You certainly don't want that to happen. As such, it's best to avoid such toys for the time being.

Meanwhile, many child speech pathology experts stress out the importance of physical activities for children with speech or language delay. As such, it is also a great idea to provide your child with toys that can get him moving, like balls and ride-on toys. Remember that you don't have to stay indoors all the time to let your kids enjoy play activities. You can also let your child experience the great outdoors. Take him or her to a park or other similar places.

While toys can indeed help your child overcome his condition, you don't have to shower your kids with lots of them. In fact, according to child speech pathology experts in a speech pathology Brisbane practice, sometimes, the best toys are not toys at all. Forts made of blankets and pillows, wooden spoons, and other ordinary household objects—these can make your kid's play time more fun, enjoyable, and educational. Just be creative and think of many ways your child can interact with his surroundings!