Cuddle, Talk, and Read with Your Child PART 2: TALKING, LISTENING, IMITATING, AND SINGING

Transcription

1 Teaching Outline for KEY #2 Cuddle, Talk, and Read with Your Child PART 2: TALKING, LISTENING, IMITATING, AND SINGING Learning Objectives # Parents will be able to discuss how talking, listening, imitating, and singing helps their babies and toddlers learn to communicate. # Parents will practice the skills of talking, listening, imitating, and singing with their baby or toddler. Recommended Supplies Copies of Key #2 for all participants. Copies of the Developmental Growth Chart for all participants, inserted in Key #3 Know How Your Child Develops. One copy of Developmental Profiles: Pre-Birth Through Age Eight (3 rd Ed.), 1999, by Allen and Marotz, suggested for the leader. Delmar Publishers, ISBN: Phone: , or Three copies are available for check out from the CYFAR Resource Library. Phone: , in Lexington, Kentucky. This book supplements the Developmental Growth Chart with more detailed developmental information, activity suggestions, and guidance ideas. Copies of handout Communication with Nursery Rhymes. Cassette tape or CD of nursery rhymes and simple songs (optional; can be purchased in bookstores). Cassette tape or CD player (optional). Flip chart and easel. Felt tip markers Masking tape. VCR/TV. The First Years Last Forever video produced by I am Your Child Campaign (running time: 29 minutes). Available also on CD-ROM and with accompanying booklet by calling or by visiting Five copies available for checkout to Extension professionals from the CYFAR Resource Library. Phone: , in

2 Talking, Listening, Imitating, and Singing Page 2 Lexington, Kentucky. Before this session begins, cue the video to begin right after the communication experiment presented in the previous session. (Please refer to Key #2, Part 1 for the experiment s cuing instructions.) The main goal for this session is to listen for examples of parentese or baby talk that parents commonly use with younger babies. Stop the video when the heading Health and Nutrition is shown on the screen. The excerpt will last approximately 4 minutes. Ready to Learn video produced by the I am Your Child Campaign (running time: 24 minutes). Contact information is the same as above. Six copies are available for checkout. Start the video at the beginning and run it approximately 15 minutes until the narrators begin discussing the preschool period. Copies of the half-page Skill Builder action plan form, enough for all participants. Pencils, enough for all participants. Participants Skill Builder Log Sheets. Bring a few extra new log sheets for newcomers. Be sure to read Using the Skill Builder Log Sheet: A Guide for Program Evaluation before beginning the session if necessary for your full understanding of the evaluation process. SHARING TIME (about 30 minutes) Group Building (about 15 minutes) A. Invite your group to stand up and take a big stretch. Then lead them in one or two easy-to-do physical exercises. You may also want to lead them in a relaxation exercise such as one of the following: 1. Relax the various parts of your body by tensing the muscles in one area. You or the participants may have fun calling out a part of the body for attention, such as the face, neck, back, arms, hands, or legs. After tensing one part of the body while counting slowly to four, completely relax that area. Then tense another body part for a count of four and relax. Many people find this exercise helpful for relaxing the whole body. 2. Practice belly breathing. (Most babies are experts at this.) As you slowly breathe in, let your belly expand like a balloon. As you slowly breathe out, let your belly slowly sink in. Belly breathing is calming and energizing. B. Ask participants to find a comfortable spot to sit down. Ask for volunteers to share incidents of mutual respect and affection that they experienced with their babies or toddlers since the previous meeting. Suggest that a participant explain the effect on the brain of the experiences shared. Review with the group the scientific terms used in the brain cell diagram if appropriate. C. After each person has had an opportunity to tell about an incident if she or he wishes to do so, invite other contributions related to participants= attempts to care for themselves and to their babies, toddlers, and families. The support parents may receive during this open-ended sharing is important to group building and learning. However, do be aware of time constraints. Make sure participants have adequate time to complete the remaining parts of the learning session without rushing. Adventures in Skill Building (about 15 minutes) The primary goal of the Keys to Great Parenting Program is to help parents of babies and toddlers build and strengthen their positive parenting skills. Your role in this part of the session

3 Talking, Listening, Imitating, and Singing Page 3 is to lead participants in sharing their successes and challenges in following through on their Skill Builder action plans that they completed at the end of the previous session. This is one of the most important learning times of the entire session. Be as supportive and encouraging as you can. Move participants from general sharing to focused thinking by saying something like, ALet=s look for a few minutes at our Skill Builder action plans that we wrote for ourselves at the last session. Who would like to share with us about putting your previous Skill Builder into action?@ Stress that it takes courage to make out a personal action plan. As long as the individual has sincerely tried to follow throughceven though he or she had only good intentionscit=s a positive step in the right direction. The person didn=t fail; he or she just went through a learning adventure that is a stepping-stone towards success. As time allows, refer participants to the following questions (written on the flip chart) and permit free discussion on any of them: What did you learn about yourself and your management abilities? How did your actions affect your child? How did your actions affect the general atmosphere of your home? Which values do you share with other family members? Which values differ? Hand out participants Skill Builder Log Sheets and pencils. Hand out new log sheets to newcomers and briefly explain the purpose and procedure of the sheet. Ask participants to reread the words they wrote at the previous meeting. Encourage them to make a check in the box that best describes the degree of success they experienced with their action plan between meetings. When everyone has finished marking, collect the log sheets and set them aside until the skill builders time later in the session. TO THE LEADER: As always, encourage participation among group members, but preserve the right of anyone to remain silent. ADVENTURES IN LEARNING (about 45 minutes) A. How Do Babies Learn Language? By Listening to Adults Talk (about 10 minutes) 1. Hand out copies of Key #2 to participants who need them. Call the attention of the group to the major headings on pages Tell participants that this session and the next one will be discussing and demonstrating the ideas on those pages. Encourage them to read the various sections between meetings. 2. Ask the group what kind of language young babies hear. Permit one or two responses. Point out that one good answer is that they hear their parents using a special kind of talking called parentese. Parentese is not only fun and natural for parents, but it is also a primary way to teach babies their family=s language. 3. Explain that there are examples of parentese used in the video excerpt from AThe First Years Last Forever@ that they will see now. Ask them to notice at least one example to demonstrate to the group when the excerpt has ended. Then the group will point out what is special about parentese that babies hear and imitate.

4 Talking, Listening, Imitating, and Singing Page 4 4. Show the video excerpt, cued as directed in the list of recommended supplies (about 4 minutes). 5. Ask the group to list examples of parentese that they heard in the video. Ask them if they have used similar sounds and phrases with their babies. Characteristics of parentese are: a. The parent focuses the baby=s eyes on himself or herself. b. The parent talks softly but clearly, in a higher voice tone than usually used with adults. The parent uses nonsense syllables, narrates the baby=s movements, describes things happening in the room, carries the baby to the window and talks about the scene outside, etc. c. It is important to note that parentese is not baby talk. The parent should use correct language forms; for example, parentese does not mean saying, wa-wa for water. d. The parent talks for a short time, then pauses and watches for the baby=s responses. e. The parent imitates the baby=s sounds with smiles and cuddles, then pauses again to listen. This conversation can be an intensely exciting experience! B. Babies Come Into the World Ready to Learn Language. (about 30 minutes) 1. Tell the group that they will now view about 15 minutes of the video AReady to Learn.@ Information contained in the video excerpt includes: a. Ages and stages of early language learning. b. The importance of communicating feelings and being understood. c. Turn taking and imitating, the beginnings of language and relationships. d. Reading and using books right from the start. e. Learning through language throughout the day, in play and in care routines. f. The beginning of writing. g. Babies and toddlers can learn two languages at the same time. h. Singing and rhyming with babies and toddlers i. Using language on trips outside the home. j. Don=t push babies and toddlers to learn. They=ll do it at their own pace. 2. Start the video. Stop it at places where you decide to emphasize an idea or technique. 3. When the video excerpt is finished, ask participants to volunteer their reactions on the above points (section B1, a-j). Point out that the video did not discuss parentese in detail. The previous short segment from AThe First Years Last Forever@ helped to fill that gap. 4. The sequence of babies= language development to emphasize: a. Babies vary widely in the ages that they develop various forms of language. Young babies have different cries early in life. By approximately 3 months, babies may be cooing. Coos are mostly vowels. Babbling, which begins around 4-5 months, adds consonants, the beginnings of language inflections, and then word-like sounds. Close to the baby=s first birthday (on the average) parents may hear indistinct words. During the second year, language progresses to single words meaning whole ideas, two-word sentences, and usually during the third year, multi-word sentences develop. Deaf babies have difficulties after about 6 months because they can=t hear themselves make sounds, nor can they hear language sounds. Early hearing screening is very important for

5 Talking, Listening, Imitating, and Singing Page 5 diagnosis and treatment of hearing disorders. Contact your local department of public health for information on obtaining screening for hearing problems. b. Babies must hear language to learn it. The first 3 years are the language window of opportunity. As a general rule, 90% of language development has occurred by age 3. c. Parents provide the basis for spoken language! It is important to read out loud, talk, sing, recite rhymes, and imitate babies= sounds throughout the day and before bedtime. It=s important to do so especially if child is not yet talking. 5. Summarize babies= and toddlers= language learning by mentioning the following points: a. Babies begin learning the sounds of their family s language before birth by listening to their mothers and after birth to their parents and other family members. b. Communication is a primary way to establish a trusting, loving relationship. It is a primary factor in forming the bond that gives a child a sense of self-worth. That sense of value leads to motivation to explore and learn, stimulating brain development. c. Babies have a natural habit of making sounds and pausing to see if there is a response. It is the beginning of conversation and of the give-and-take of harmonious relationships. d. Summarize by saying that we all learned language by hearing it by being Abathed@ in it! D. Songs, Fingerplays, and Rhymes. (about 5 minutes) 1. Hand out copies of ACommunication with Nursery Rhymes.@ 2. Practice several examples with participants. Ask participants, before the next session, to think about how songs and rhymes that are so much fun also advance language development. 3. Tell participants that the next meeting will focus on reading and books, music, and scribbling for babies and toddlers. There will also be discussion on the value of television for young children. SKILL BUILDERS (about 15 minutes) As an educator, one of your important goals is to help members of your group apply what they have learned. Your tool for accomplishing this is the half-page action plan form called Skill Builders. # Pass out copies of the half-page form and guide participants in creating their personal Skill Builders. You might begin the process by saying something like, AThink about what we=ve been learning today, and pick out a specific parenting skill you would like to improve. Exactly how do you want to strengthen this skill? Choose one small but important change you really want to make in the next few days. Write your action plan in the space provided.@ # Ask the members of your group to choose a reasonably small commitment for their Skill Builder action plans. Biting off too much at one time only sets a person up for frustration or failure. The action plans should be specific and measurable. Having a definite game plan will help the participant follow through, and it will be much easier to measure the degree of success. # Once everybody has had an opportunity to complete the Skill Builders, go around the group, allowing each person to share his or her action plan. As you listen, freely give compliments and encouragement. If another learning session will follow this one, remind participants to bring their Skill Builder forms with them next time. Knowing that they will have an

6 Talking, Listening, Imitating, and Singing Page 6 opportunity to report on their action plans will be an added incentive for following through. # Hand out the participants Skill Builder Log Sheets. Briefly explain the purpose of the log sheet to newcomers at this session (see Key #1, Part #1, page 5, for introductory words). Encourage participants to write a few words that describe their Skill Builder action plan on the next line. Newcomers should write their words on the top line. Again assure participants that you will keep their log sheets confidential between meetings. Be sure to collect their log sheets and place them in a folder. # After participants have completed their half-page Skill Builders and their log sheets, invite them to close their eyes, take several deep breaths, and relax. Then ask them to imagine that they are successfully carrying out their Skill Builder action plans just the way they want to. Lead them in visualizing the positive results and in experiencing how good it feels. Without rushing, you may want to guide them in going over these images a second time. Explain that mental pictures can be a very effective way of learning. Many athletes, for example, use visualization as an essential technique for improving their skills. If you have a children=s program that runs along with the parent meeting, you may say, AIn a few minutes we will go to the children=s room. As you play, you will probably observe how your child responds and will likely think about the many brain connections taking place every time you smile, talk, and cuddle with him or her.@ WRAP UP Ask participants to prepare for the next session in the following ways: A. Notice how you use language with your baby or toddler (or with other very young children) and how you listen to their responses. Write several examples down on your Skill Builders sheet. B. Try out the songs and rhymes on the handout, or use others that you know. Have fun!! Think about how they help your child=s language ability. C. Bring examples of favorite books, songbooks, and fingerplays to share at the next meeting. Ask them also to bring examples of scribbling from their own or others= children.