Get Your Child Playing!!!
One day, a little boy came to see me for speech. At age two, he barely had 5 words in his vocabulary. His receptive skills and understanding of language was fantastic, but he was not speaking! What did I do? I PLAYED with him, and guess what happened...he started talking!
Play skills are so important and are necessary skills for speech and language development.
Most people don’t realize it, but there are actually four main types of play: Exploratory, Functional, Constructive, and Pretend.
Exploratory
This is just what it sounds like, exploring!! This involves your child using their senses, such as, touch, smell, taste, and sound to study a variety of toys and other objects. When does this stage of play begin?…Usually when your child has better control over his/her body movements. When you see your child putting objects in their mouths, smelling objects, or shaking objects, they are in this stage of play.
Functional
Do you think of using objects for their intended purpose when you think of “functional” play? If yes, you are exactly right! This stage of play involves a child using toys and objects for the use they were originally created for. For example, racing toys cars, using a spoon to eat or stir, or using a hairbrush on their hair.
Constructive
Think of block play! In this stage, your child will manipulate objects and toys more to put something together or “construct” something! Your child will be attempting to figure out how the different pieces fit together in order to attain an end goal. For example, building train tracks or assembling blocks.
Pretend
This where your child’s imagination comes out! During this stage of play, your child should begin using objects for a “pretend” purpose. For example, using a banana or block as a phone, making a blanket for a baby with a tissue or towel, playing dress up and acting like another person, or feeding a puppet with a Lego.
Why are these play stages so important??
Functional play lets you know that your children is beginning to understand the “function” or “use” of a particular object. Pretend play shows you that your child understands the “symbolic” meaning of one object for another object (banana is now a telephone). When your child reaches this stage they are displaying that they understand not only the symbolic meaning of words, but also how to use these words meaningfully! Children should be using pretend play by age two.
Did you know that if your child is struggling to functionally play with objects or use them in a symbolic way that this could mean that they do not have good knowledge or understanding of the meaning of words?
How do you help your child?
Model! Model! Model!! Teach your child by showing them constructive and functional play! Once your child is able to display some of these early play skills, start adding more modeling and prompts to elicit or encourage other ways of playing!!
Need some help or think your child could benefit from speech therapy? Contact me here today!
