One of the first ways our children learn new skills is through imitation.

Did you know children usually learn how to copy large body movements before imitating small movements such as those required for speaking? That’s why we have our students try to imitate big motor movements during circle time activities at school. Students try to copy things like shaking hands, clapping, waving arms, swaying, jumping, and shaking instruments and scarves. 

If you’d like to try some motor imitation at home, grab a scarf, long sock, or extra pillowcase (1 for you and 1 for your child), and play this video. Try to have your student copy your movements with the scarf. If your child is not copying yet, no worries! You can gently help them with a few of the movements, and hopefully over time they will start to try more on their own. The most important thing to remember is have fun! If you child sees you enjoying the activity, they will be more likely to join in.

In addition to copying movements during songs, you can also practice imitation lots of different ways during play with most any toy at home. They key is to choose a toy your child likes, show him/her what to do with the toy, then give them a turn (wait 10 seconds and see if they will try to copy you), if they don’t imitate after 10 seconds, provide hand over hand support and then model the movement again to see if they will imitate.  

Here are some ideas to try at home: 

-Tap blocks on the floor making noises on various surfaces around the house. Will your child join in the fun?

-Have toy cars or trucks lying around? Try having your child imitate pushing them around or racing them down homemade ramps made of pillows or cardboard.

-Roll or bounce a ball with your child, see if they will roll it back to you.

-Piano play. Try making exaggerated movements tapping on a toy piano.  See if your child will try and do the same.

-Put sticky notes on a cabinet, see if your child will help you stick them on or imitate you pulling them off of the cabinet.

-Pretend to hop like a bunny or stomp like an elephant. See if your child will join in with the silly movements.

Remember, laugh and have fun with these activities and don’t be afraid to move on to a different toy if your child seems to lose interest. Happy imitating!

Is your child starting to make babbling sounds or engaging in vocal play? This is an early sign your child might be ready to start trying to say some real words too. How do we work on encouraging verbalization at Walton? Here are a few of my tips.

1)      Play next to your child and be at eye level so they can see your mouth movements. 

2)      Trying to have your child imitate a word? Put the object right by your mouth. Then say the word. Example: Put your child’s milk cup by your mouth then say “Milk!”

3)      Say words in a slow, exaggerated way.

4)      Repeat the word several times during the interaction. “Milk, drink milk, yummy milk, milk, more milk, your milk”

5)      After saying the key word, pause for several seconds…see if they try it.

6)      Praise and acknowledge any attempt at talking!! Even if your child’s attempt doesn’t sound like the true word, repeat what you think they tried to say. Ex: If your child says “muh” while drinking milk, you could say, “milk, I like milk” in response.

7)      Finally, if your child is babbling or making sounds and you really have no idea what they might be attempting to say, just join in and imitate what he/she is “saying”. By imitating your child’s speech you are letting them know that what they are saying is important and encourages them to keep trying.