Communication Partners In Play
5129 48th street T4N 1T1 Red Deer, AB, Canada

To all our wonderful families following Partners in Play - we are currently on "pause" for our groups due to COVID restrictions. If you are interested in joining one of our parent-child groups for speech or language, send a message with your name and we will add you to our list! In the meantime, follow along Communication Options Facebook Page for continued posts for everyday tips and tricks to support your child's development at home!

A great reminder from The SLT Scrapbook: Functional language over academic language, every time. . When it comes to playing with dough, you *could* name the colours.... OR you could talk about... What it feels like... What it smells like What you're building What tools you're using What you're doing with the dough and where you put it plus lots of other useful core words! You can model SO many different verbs, prepositions, and descriptive words while playing with the dough. AND, you can target a range of core words while playing too. . Not forgetting to mention the range of actions you can model and encourage the child to imitate while playing with the dough as well! ...Now, doesn't that sound better than just labelling the colours? .

Partners in Play will now be opening sessions to families in the community (vs previous years having to qualify through school) The form is ready for download on our website https://communicationoptionsinc.ca/parents-corner

Families - especially those who attended *EXPAND class* this year. See below for a link to the "WE THINKERS" social thinking program, the books we discussed and used language from all year are now available free for families to continue learning at home. The "we thinkers" books are a great resource and universal language for all kids - but especially for those who need more direct teaching for awareness of social situations and the "unwritten rules" in our community and soci...Continue reading

Hello wonderful friends and families of Partners in Play, Communication Options now has it's own facebook page - please follow at https://www.facebook.com/Communication-Options-100828121676667 for regular posts on speech and language norms, tips and activities. Partners in play will be back this fall with expansion for community programs. If you are interested attending a group with your child, message us here to see what options are available for fall.

I love singing about daily routines to the catchy tunes of familiar songs. Check out these ideas for familiar Christmas tunes!

A little video reminder for our Explore group about offering kids choices all day long to increase language opportunities! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bq0JdK8i5YE

We need kids ATTENTION before we can teach! If your child moves quickly from activity to activity then see below for my favourite SLP, Laura Mize from teach me to talk’s, therapy tip of the week... Laura has wonderful Podcasts and you tube videos with great information for parents.... In this BRAND NEW Therapy Tip of the Week, join me as I share my #1 strategy for teaching parents how to help a young child extend a super short attention span and learn to stay with you for longer periods of time to complete therapy or play activities and even everyday activities. This strategy is EASY and EFFECTIVE. It's the #1 thing I teach parents ON DAY ONE to do ALL DAY LONG at home with toddlers who go - go - go. Over time, this strategy works better than anything else I've ever tried to improve a young child's attention span, especially when parents help me implement this technique. When we get everyone on the same page and are all consistent, kids make faster progress that s..t..i..c..k..s beyond therapy sessions. Laura teachmetotalk.com How to Extend a Toddler's Attention Span... The "One More" Rule...Laura Mize...teachmetotalk.com Video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NehWQdYSVyg Click link above for you tube video. Link below shows longer podcast on attention

We are 2 weeks in to our Sound Advice group and talking today about bombarding our kiddos with their speech sounds...a time when parents do the work, and the kids only job is to listen. A great way to do this is through books with frequent use of the target sounds. Check out mommyspeechtherapy.com for a quick read story with target sound, or leadersproject.org - go to cleft palate directory and practise books to find the the book with your child’s target sound. Print or read on your iPad as bed time stories! https://www.leadersproject.org/english-cleft-palate-direc/

Welcome back to school everyone! We are back and ready for another great year coaching caregivers to be awesome communication partners for their kids! Schedules for this years sessions are out, check with your school and SLP if you haven’t received it. Will post here as well. Until then, check out this great article about the importance of teaching our children functional words first and saving the academic language for school! ... https://www.mommyandmemilestones.com//teach-words-that-mat

https://www.becauseisaidsobaby.com//09/boost-toddlers-spe/

One more great read. Tips to naturally increase eye contact ...without look at me Written for children with ASD , but great strategies for parents working with any child! ... Check out other articles on Hanen website for evidence based ideas to interact with your child. http://www.hanen.org//Four-Tips-for-Helping-Children-with-

Thanks to all our amazing families who participated in our last sessions of this school year. Our team is now busy starting year end assessments. We will return to Communication Partners in Play next fall to offer more opportunities to learn how to be the best at home speech and language partner with your child! Stay tuned for an upcoming schedule for the next school year. Until then, a nice link from the Hanen website regarding self-regulation and what this term we use so often actually means: http://www.hanen.org//Why-Self-regulation-Is-Important-for

Amazing free APP alert!!! Parents please download and try it out. Beginning with Babble is a free app for parents of children birth to 4 years old. It provides a daily reminder of the activities and interactions that parents can use to improve their interactions and language. With written tips, audio prompts, and demonstrative videos, Beginning with Babble coaches caregivers to facilitate language-rich, back and forth interactions with their children.... Throughout the day, the Beginning with Babble mobile app will chime, sending notifications to the app’s user. Each notification will consist of a short, effective tip that shares a language activity. By entering the child’s birthday into the app, Beginning with Babble knows the approximate developmental stage of the child. As a child grows, the app will self-calculate the child’s age and adjust the tips accordingly! ***go ahead and put a few ages in, or lower your child’s age to see some adapted ideas!

I love all of "learn with Adrienne" videos, so if you are a parent looking for new ideas over the break, check out her Facebook and YouTube pages for fun videos for engaging your little one. Here is one showing a free resource for building your own visual schedules at home... see how its done and what kids benefit from these visuals. Enjoy! https://www.facebook.com/learnwithadrienne/videos/1757622821170878/?hc_location=ufi

I talk a lot to parents in our groups about the importance and impact of verbal routines. Check out this video link from SLP "Learn with Adrienne" for a fun verbal routine. Kids love this. Both my 1.5 and 4 year old think it is hilarious, and add their own ideas to the routine. Such a fun way to add layer in language to fun play. https://www.facebook.com/learnwithadrienne/videos/1747559198843907/

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that kids are enjoying the school break! We wrapped up another great 6 weeks with our explore and express classes right before Christmas, and will be adding our anticipated "expand" class in January sessions. March will bring our final addition for this year "Sound advice" for those needing specific work on speech sounds and motor planning. Explore and Express classes will continue to run throughout the new year as well. Please message for more specific information regarding each class type :)

This snow finally has me thinking about Christmas! As an SLP, I get asked the questions about toy ideas...I typically guide parents towards simple toys ( no batteries ) so kids can put their imaginations and language skills to work in their play. Simple toys can be played with in many different ways and be used for different things (versus toys that talk doing the work for you!) This year I have a link to share to help with toy ideas. For maximum engagement, it is impor...tant to select and use toys at the appropriate play level for your child. This link I will share describes 4 levels of play (think about your child and put them into one of these levels - you may see their skills across a few levels!) then, click on the toy or household item for how to play with that toy at your child’s level...you can also introduce ideas from the next level to expand on your child’s skills. https://ei.northwestern.edu/ click on resources, and then toy recommendations. Enjoy!

Wow! It’s been a awesome start. We are half way through our first 6 week session and having a great time coaching these amazing parents to support their child’s speech and language skills at home. Registration for our next sessions (starting the week of November 13th) is now open. We can’t wait to meet the next group of families joining us at Communication Partners in Play! Thanks everyone. Have a wonderful week.

Reminder to register ASAP for EXPLORE group (2.5-3year olds) to ensure your spot for Sept 20 start date.

Hello again! Hope everyone is having a great summer. We are excited to be back and gearing up for... Our EXPLORE group (2.5yrs-3yrs of age). This group will run on Thursdays from 9:30-11:00am for 6 weeks. September 20 - October 25