Three Concepts Mr. Potato Head can Teach Your Child!

Children should demonstrate their understanding of body part and clothing vocabulary, by approximately two years of age. Between 2-2.5 yrs, children should master various spatial terms including ‘in,’ ‘off,’ ‘on’ and ‘under.’ Create a language learning opportunity with your child, by focusing on the below three concepts with them, the next time you play with your “Mr. Potato Head!”

1) Clothing Vocabulary

Have Mr. Potato Head try on various clothing items, e.g., ‘hat,’ ‘shoes,’ ‘shirt,’ etc. Point out those clothing items on yourself and on your baby, e.g., “Mommy’s shoes!”

2) Body Part Vocabulary

As you build your very own creative “Mr. Potato Head,” you will add various body parts, e.g., ‘feet,’ ‘eyes,’ ‘nose,’ ‘ears,’ ‘mouth,’ ‘arms,’ and ‘legs.’ Talk about these body parts as you add them to Mr. Potato head, and identify them on yourself and your baby, e.g., “Where’s your nose? There’s your nose!”

3) Spatial Terms

As you add to and change your “Mr. Potato Head,” emphasize the spatial terms that you naturally use, while commenting on your play, e.g., “Hat on!”

Next, ask your child to follow various directions involving these spatial terms, e.g., “Hide the hat, ‘under’ Mr. Potato Head,” or “Take his shoes ‘off’ of his feet.”

Strategies for Improving your Child's Articulation Abilities:​

-Create a positive, supportive communication environment that prevents communication breakdown and fosters confidence with speaking.  Try only asking your child to repeat themselves when it is essential for you to have understood what they have said or when what they have said is a sound, word, or phrase that they are capable of correcting.

-Repeatedly model sounds and words and encourage your child to imitate.  You may think that you are sounding repetitive, but children benefit greatly from repeated models.

-Hold objects closer to your face so your child is able to see proper sound production (i.e., mouth, tongue and lip placement for sounds).

-Try practicing target sounds within the context of games.  For example, while working on /d/ at the sound level, say “d..” each time before you take a turn in a board game. 

-Use multimodal cues to facilitate accurate sound production, including specific instructions, facilitation techniques, and auditory-visual cues. 

 -Consistent home practice is important.  It is recommended to practice for 5-10 minutes for 3-5 days per week.  Try working practice into your weekday routine.  For example, try practicing each weekday night before or after dinner or before bedtime. 

Cast a Sparkle on "Time Out!"

Transform your child’s next “Time Out” into a time where they can calm themselves and reflect on a recent incident. You might work together to create a “Calming Jar” and talk about how each of the sparkles can represent our thoughts. When we are feeling upset, or overwhelmed, our thoughts can rapidly swirl around our mind much like a blizzard; The Calming Jar helps us to settle our thoughts, as the glitter slowly and quietly comes to rest on the base of the jar. 

Calming Jar Directions:

2 tablespoons of glitter glue

2 cups of warm water (to dissolve the glue),

food coloring

Mix all above together in a mason jar

Then, during your child's next “Time Out” shake up your Calming Jar and ask your child to take a deep breath and sit watching the sparkles inside until the jar settles and all the sparkles fall to the bottom.  This may visually calm your child and allow them to be ready for conversation.

The Top 10 Characteristics of Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)

Childhood Apraxia of Speech is a complex disorder that is often misdiagnosed. A definitive diagnosis of CAS is typically not made until a child has a repertoire of at least 100 words and/or following a diagnostic period of 3-6 months of therapy.

The American Speech Language and Hearing Association’s definition is as follows: “Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a neurological childhood (pediatric) speech sound disorder in which the precision and consistency of movements for speech are impaired. CAS may occur as a result of known neurological impairment, in association with complex neurobehavioral disorders of known or unknown origin, or as an idiopathic neurogenic speech sound disorder.”

Although there are not any formal guidelines for diagnosing CAS, (as it is a variable disorder and features change over time). The following features are considered to be hallmark characteristics of Childhood Apraxia of Speech and aid in the identification of a disruption in a child’s motor planning. 

These hallmark characteristics include:

1)  Inconsistent speech sound errors on consonants and vowels, in repeated productions of syllables and words.

2)  Disrupted and/or lengthened co-articulatory transitions between sounds and syllables

3) Impaired prosody (or rhythm of speech)

4)  Inconsistent errors in repetition of the same target, e.g., “bop” and “ba” for ‘pop’

5) Omission of initial consonants, e.g., “at” for ‘hat’ (indicating difficulty initiating speech)

6) Vowel distortion, e.g., “dug” for ‘dog’

7) Groping, or struggle, while attempting to find the appropriate articulatory positioning (of lips, tongue and jaw)  for certain sounds or words

8) A child’s ability to understand language (receptive language)  is much greater than his/her ability to express

language (expressive language)

9) Inventing signs/gestures and using nonverbal means of communication to compensate for difficulty using words

10) Speech that is imitated (following a model) is much clearer (easier to understand) than spontaneous speech (speech produced independently), although imitating speech is difficult.

For more information on Childhood Apraxia, please visit: http://www.apraxia-kids.org/