December 1, 2008

Prof: Give infants, toddlers the gift of language this holiday season WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The holidays offer many opportunities to share the gift of language with infants and toddlers, says a Purdue University language development expert.

"Holiday decorating and family stories lend themselves to conversations that provide rich context to a child's developing language skills," says George Hollich, an associate professor of psychological sciences. "Most parents talk business with their children, with instructions like, 'Put on your coat' or 'Eat your peas,' but parents who keep a constant running commentary - 'Look at the tree with lights' or 'What color is that present?' - tend to have children with larger vocabularies."

Parents also should engage more with their child when talking, especially by making eye contact, says Hollich, who is director of Purdue's Infant Language Laboratory. "Not only does this help the child hear better, but it strengthens the social connection which is at the heart of communication."

Look for activities that are imaginative, such as playing dress-up, as well as reading storybooks and even telling stories.

"Children like order, so tell a narrative. First, we're going to drive to grandma's house. Then, we're going to eat dinner, and then open presents."

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no television for children younger than 2, but when older children watch holiday movies, their parents should use the shows as a springboard to talk about a theme or activity, he says. If the cartoon characters decorate cookies or play in the snow, then the parents and child also can do the same.

Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, (765) 494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Source: George Hollich, (765) 494-2224, ghollich@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; mailto:purduenews@purdue.edu

See the Fall Newsletter of the Indiana Association for Infant and Toddler Mental Health. The lead article is “Infants and Toddlers in the Child Welfare System,” by Sally Reed Crawford... [Link]

Two week intensive RIE (Resources for Infant Educarers) training course scheduled in Los Angeles in January 2009. RIE is based on the teachings of Emmi Pikler and Magda Gerber in Budapest, Hungary and California. Gerber's philosophy is a foundation of the popular Program for Infant Toddler Caregivers (PITC) training program. This RIE Training course begins January 18, 2009 at the Los Angeles RIE Center. The course will be of interest to all those who would like to deepen their knowledge of the RIE Approach and infant development and care. See the flyer for further details. [Link]

For further information and to register, call the RIE Office at (323) 663-5330 or email Deborah Solomon at educarer@rie.org.

Infants and Toddlers in Child Care. A new policy brief from Zero to Three and the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). A Summary of recent research about infants and toddlers in child care, along with practice and policy recommendations.

Read the brief here. [Link]

The National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NECTAC) has compiled comprehensive information about early childhood (birth through age five) developmental screening and assessment instruments, with a focus on social and emotional development. Almost 40 instruments are categorized by whether they address multiple domains of development or whether they focus on social emotional development. Each instrument comes with a description and information about the age range for which it is appropriate, the time needed to administer the instrument, how scoring works, and who should conduct the screening.

This tool is available here. [Link]

Click here to view the Autism Screening and Early Intervention discussion paper. [pdf]

New National and State Links

A new Indiana Resource Link and several National Links have been posted in the resources section.

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