Fun and Games

We started speech therapy for DJ a few weeks ago, and its been amazing for me to watch DJ interact with  our speech therapist ( a lovely lady called Amanda) and also to learn how I can help DJ on a daily basis.
I wasn't sure how speech therapy was going to work, especially with a 2 year old, so I was surprised to learn that its actually just a lot of fun and games.
So I thought  I would share some of the things we have been doing and why they are good and will help your child to communicate and eventually speak.

Blowing Bubbles

Amanda starts by showing DJ the bubble bottle and saying "Bubbles" 3 times, she then starts blowing until the bubbles start flowing out. DJ of course goes crazy and tries to pop them. Once all the bubbles have evaporated she waits for DJ to "ask " for more. So in our case DJ would jump up and down and flap his arms, Amanda would then say again " Bubbles" 3 times. Its important to say things 3 times and only 1 or 2 words at a time.  By the 5th time DJ was actually pursing his lips together and blowing to get Amanda to do it again. Each time she repeated the words "Bubbles" (after week 2 of 2 sessions a week DJ was starting to make the Bu Bu Bu sounds which is so encouraging) Also what is important is to know when something is going to end,as with all autistic  children DJ don't know when to stop. He would literally want you to keep going all night. So to stop repetitive behavior its important to but a time limit on things. After about 10 min we would count back saying "Ok 3 more times, 2 more times" and then finally" 1 more time" and say bye bye to that game / toy. Of course this is never easy with any child. Expect a few tears but have the next game ready to play.

Building Blocks

Building a tower is meant to help children with coordination and its oh so fun to knock down after counting to 3.
DJ loves building blocks up and then knocking them down again. We count as we stack them up and its a great way to interact with them, and to play along side them. I put the first one down DJ puts the next one down and so forth.

Singing Songs

Singing nursery rhymes that end in something fun are always a winner. Such as
" Zoom Zoom Zoom, were going to the Moom, Zoom Zoom Zoom, were going to go soon, 5,4,3,2,1, BLAST OFF " to which point you throw them in the air. ( I do this on my back with DJ on my legs like super man as he is a very heavy toddler now)
You pause after you have down the count down to give your child a chance to say blast off , or motion for you to throw them in the air. DJ just squeals but this is good enough for me, were getting there

Messy Play

Any messy play is great. DJ has a problem with getting his hands dirty, he doesn't like the feel of things. So getting him to play with sand or water or even dry rice in a pan is great. If you put an object that they really like, for DJ its his toy cars, in the sand or water or in the pan full of rice. It will encourage them to put there hands in to get out there favorite toy.

These are just some of games that work for DJ and I learning more every day so will post some more games when I learn them ;-)

xoxo