]I am three months into this mom gig and already can appreciate that the hours in the day get magically swallowed up, and sometimes you have nothing to show for it (not even a shower). I have always been a big proponent of making practical suggestions to families to work on targeted skills at home. The best way to make these suggestions manageable is to embed them into routines. I am hoping to give you some ideas of speech, language, social and/or feeding skills that you can target during your daily routines with your child to avoid adding “one more thing” to the never ending to-do list. I will call this series “5 Targets when…” I hope that it sparks some ideas for you, and perhaps takes one extra thing off your plate. Maybe you’ll even have time for a shower or a bath- gasp!
First off…. 5 targets when loading and unloading the dishwasher. (Side note- I loathe, LOATHE emptying the dishwasher. Who is with me on that one?)
- Target categories. “Can you unload what you use to eat soup?” “Can you unload everything with a pattern?” The list of “categories” are endless.
- Target directions receptively. Single step: “Can you put the fork in the dishwasher?” and multi-step: “First clear the food into the garbage, then put it in the dishwasher.”
- Target directions expressively. Give your child a turn to tell you which item to load or unload. Purposefully misunderstand if their directions aren’t specific or clear.
- Target descriptive concepts. Ideas of adjectives to model include clean/dirty, wet/dry, etc.
- Target vocabulary. Practice labeling all of the objects you are loading/unloading. Don’t forget to use specific labels for kids that are ready for it. For example, don’t just use the label “cup,” but also include glass, mug, teacup, etc.
I bet you can think of more!
-Carmen
Engaged Speech Therapy 