1
Introducing Food to Baby Solid Food
Introducing Food to Baby: Solid Food and Beyond!
Great Baby Feeding Equipment is Vital when Introducing Food to Baby: Particularly Purees & Solid Food
As a Speech Pathologist with a particular focus on babies, infants and children that have feeding difficulties when foods are introduced to them, I am aware that good "feeding equipment" can go a long way to making introducing solids SO much easier in the long run. Our Infant and Child Feeding Clinic supports babies and children with all kinds of feeding difficulties from problems with breast and/or bottle feeding, to difficulties when children are transiting to the introduction of solids; through to fussy eating older children. Feeding skills grow as children grow and they typically hit different feeding milestones as they get older. The chairs, bowls, cups, spoons & utensils and types of food all change as the baby's needs change as you introduce different food to them.
The following are some Feeding Equipment that I have found useful for different children - from typically developing children through to those with notable feeding difficulties. It is always advisable to talk to your Medical Practitioner and a Speech Pathologist with experience in feeding development if you are concerned about your child's nutrition, growth or feeding skills. One recommendation of feeding equipment does not fit all. The following discusses some equipment in order to highlight the factors you may need to considered when deciding on the feeding equipment you will provide to your child.
Of course the best "equipment" a baby can have when you are introducing food are their HANDS!
It is important, particularly when you are first introducing solid food, to let the baby "experience" the food BEFORE you it goes in their mouths. This includes putting a blob of puree, yogurt or baby porridge onto their high chair table top for them to touch.
Messy play is a must 🙂
Encourage them to put their fingers in the solid food. See if they bring their fingers/hands to their mouths to get a taste of the food. If you playfully touch some of the food to their outer lips, do they smile, lip smack, lick it or wipe off with the back of their hands. All of this is experiencing food. They get a feel of it's texture and can can smell the foods! Take you time when introducing foods. Babies and children often have to "experience foods" many times (15-20) before it becomes familiar to them. Of course some babies will LOVE food and scoop it by the hand fulls or happily open their mouths wide to any food offered. Remember learning to eat is a skill and all babies will be different in their approach and oral skills. Again, if you have concerns please seek help or ask questions early. When introducing food to a child negative patterns or rejection can set in very quickly. GO slow when introducing food and give them time to build up a love for the food.
Equipment is key for setting up good feeding routines and this may include: High chairs, children table & chairs, spoons & other utensilts, bottles & teats, sensory toys.
Feeding Environment when Introducing Food to babies and Children
The feeding environment is SO important. Infants and babies thrive on routines. Setting up excellent feeding routines, particularly when introducing baby to foods that are solid foods (puree, spoon foods, thicker drinks), is key for learning new oral and eating skills. While we need to look out for hunger signs in the infants, ultimately adults are the ones that decided WHAT, WHERE and WHEN babies and children eat. The where is key when you are first establishing solid food eating routines.
Children ideal should be in a stable upright sitting position when solid food is introduced to the baby. This is why choosing a highchair right for your baby is important. If a infant or child has to do lots of work to stay sitting upright, are slipping out of the chair or falling to one side, while you are offering new foods, the likelihood of success mealtimes are reduced. The big body and head muscles need to be secure so that the little mouth and tongue movements can work well. Supported seating positions also allows the child to more easily use their arms and pincer grips to pick up food & bring it to their mouths.
High chairs should ideally have tall backs that provided head support. High chairs that only come up half way to their back is not going to give as good a feeding positions as is ideal. Ideally the feed are supported and not swinging madly. I will often place towel rolls or cushions down the sides between the infant and the chair if I feel they need more stability when they are sitting up. Make going in the high chair fun! This might mean play and talking time in the high chairs when food is not even offered,
High Back High Chairs are key!
Feeding Chairs should have High Backs and supportive sides. Make feeding comfortable and fun. Hard low back chairs can make eating more difficult.
Adjustable feet position can be important
High chairs that have feet rest & side adjustments can add postural stability for children with eating concerns.
Portable Chair: on dining chairs.
Not as ideal as a highback chair. However also having a portable chair means you can take your feeding routines where every you go.
Eating Environments for Older Children:
As babies and toddlers get too big or are ready to be out of a high chair it is important to transition them to new feeding environments to re-establish routines. Many families find this hard, as children now can exert their independence by getting down from their chairs and leaving the table. Having boundaries and expectations from the beginning is important to establish successful mealtime routines. Children eating as they walk around is not the best way to establish good food exploration and mealtime effectiveness.
Some of the high chairs and booster high chairs can adapt to work with dining tables. Alternatively you can obtain stable booster cushions that can be used with any dining room chairs. I strongly recommend that the children furniture is characterised by chairs with backs and that are stable (i.e, stools & benches can make it hard for the child to sit comfortable and may result in them wanting to leave the table interrupting meal times).
Booster Cushions for Dining Chairs
Added high offered by the cushion means toddlers & young children can join you at the table.
Kids Tables and Chairs
Multi purpose kids size tables and chairs. Use for meals and encouraging table top games. Small feet on the ground is key.
Add an outdoor eating environment too.
Keep the eating routines the same if your indoor or outdoor!
Spoons & Utensils when Introducing Baby to Food
As a Speech Pathologist that works A LOT with babies and children that find the introduction of solid foods challenging, I am often asked what spoons I would recommend. While I have my "go to" spoons and utensils I think the features of the spoon is more important. When introducing solids it is important not to just "shove" the spoon into a baby's face and expect them to eat. It is important to let them look and hold the spoons, so have a few spoons so that if the baby reaches for the spoon wanting to hold it, you can use another one. It is expected that the baby will be interested in spoon.
Spoons when first introducing solids to a baby should have a very shallow bowl. This makes it easier for the baby to take the food off the spoon with their lips. As they mature you can increase the size and how the deep the bowl of the spoon gets. There are so many different spoons out on the market. At times I may recommend particular features of spoons depending on the baby's oral & physical skills and their sensory reaction to goods. I particularly like the baby "dip feeding spoons" that do not look like spoons at all. These can be good if children are developing an aversion to the spoon. The "stick" like spoon is easily coated with food, but the baby is less likely to feel overwhelmed by the food as small amounts enter their mouths at time. Plastic spoon and plastic coated spoons feel less cold and gentler on their mouths than metal spoons. Spoons such as the Maroon spoons are strong and can be good for children with bite reflexes. Young babies and those that find bringing the spoon to their mouths may benefit with the bendable spoons. You can bend the spoon to an angle that assists the child. Spoons with wide handles or looped handles can also make it easier for the young child to grasp the spoons.
Dipper Spoon
A great first "spoon" to encourage tastes! No up or down for food loss!
Bendable Spoons
Help babies get the food to their mouths!
Squirt Spoon
Feeding babies from the commercial tubes is not great for early development of their mouth and tongue muscles. This can be an alternative.
Is the food too hot?
Soft tip shallow bowl spoons with the added bonus that the spoon tip turns white when baby's food is too hot.
Larger handle = Easy Grip
Large handles and tilted spoon presentation assists self feeding.
Novel Utensils can inspire reluctant eaters.
As children get older novel utensil sets can be fun!
Character Sets make eating fun.
Spoons and utensils with know characters can link fun with meal times -> meal times need to be fun for fussy eaters
Bowls for Introducing Solid food to Baby
There are SO many bowls for babies when introducing solid foods to babies and children. From the practical to the too cute to be true. Again, it is more about matching the features of the bowls to the needs of the individual child - their physical capabilities (e.g., easy scoop bowls), sensory preferences (e.g., needing to keep foods separate from each other) or simply linking a high interest to meal-times. Novel plates that match a child's high interest, whether's that is dinosaurs, super heroes or princesses, can keep them engaged while consuming enough food for their nutritional needs. Of course we should also consider mum when deciding on plates and bowls: are they microwaveable, dishwasher safe, can the stick to the table top so they don't go flying?
Stay PUT bowls
Bowls that stay put with suctions provides stability for children learning to self feed - AND reduces the mess from tipping bowls
Fussy Eaters often don't like foods mixing or even touching!
These suction plates allows foods to be separated for convenience & for building sensory acceptance of foods.
Bowls that don't Break make meal-times relaxing
Unbreakable & Stackable! So versatile & they come in a container to take anywhere!
Non-slip+divided options
A lovely versatile set with non-slip+ bowls and divided plate + soft coated spoons!
Novel Plates add to the fun!
Bring them to the table with a Brmmm, Brmmm!
Games to introduce new foods - Spinner Plate!
Can help children try new foods when mixed with favourites and New foods - or just add some fun to Afternoon tea!
Dinner Winner Plates
A visual prompt to show there is a start and an end to the tastings/meal. Can be good for Picky Eaters. Put easy foods at the start and end and trickier ones in the middle!
Scooper Bowls - help your toddler to scoop food onto their spoon.
"Gives an edge" for baby eating solids ie., they can learn to scoop food themselves as the curved side helps food load onto the spoon.
Transitioning from Breast/ Bottle to Straw & Cup Drinking.
Whether you are breast or bottle feeding, offering babies from 6-7 months of age sips of water from your open cup is a great way to being the transition from bottle to cup drinking. While there is no age limit for breast feeding, it is often a good idea to transition bottle feeding to cup options at about 12 months of age. Breast fed children should also be offered a range of cup options.
Why is it important to move to cup drinking?
Children use different tongue, lip and sucking motions when breast/ bottle drinking to cup and straw use. Sucking needs to transition to controlled drinking skills. Transitioning from bottle to cup (for all liquids other than directly from the breast) will allow your baby to exercise face muscles (lips and jaw), tongue, and soft palate, all of which are connected to speech and feeding. Oral skills built during cup drinking are important for effective chewing and for speech production.
You will notice I will not put in examples of spout cups. Why? Spout cups encourages the tongue to move forward into the mouth and sit on or near the spout; in a similar position as to sucking or suckling on a breast or bottle. The ongoing forward tongue position is thought to encourage tongue thrust and even possibly "lisping" (eg The /s/ sound is said with the tongue coming between the teeth).
Going from bottle to straw drinking can be a good option. Children often can instinctively use a straw from 12 months, while other may need a lot of "practise" mastering it more at the 18 months age. Children with some oro-motor difficulties may need some assistance with straw drinking options with valves the hold the liquid up so that they do not have to suck the liquid up as much. Below I have put in links to some of example of these. These can be great for children struggling to breast or bottle feed. They can be used for all types of liquids from expressed milk to formulas. Remember you need to expose a child to these new drinking techniques before they can master them. SO offering just 10-20 mls then finishing with their "old" way (bottle/breast) can help them transition without the stress of worrying if the are "getting enough"
Using both straw and open cups at similar times is OK for a lot of babies from 6-7 months. Some children will show early preferences, while others will take whatever is offered. There are a number of cups shown below that can assist children to successfully learn to drink from cups (easy to hold, cut away cups, large handled cups, stable cups). If spillage is a real issue, the 360 cups are good non-spill options without the spout. They may be more likely to encourage the tongue to say in the back of the mouth for drinking as you want to see with on open cup.
Open cup drinking is messy at first!
When you first offer cups to young babies or those with oral motor difficulties, expect a mess. At first they try to suck at it like a breast or bottle. The tongue may dart into the cup, they might try to bite down on the edge to stabilise their jaws. Continue to offer, tilting the cup to encourage good drinking oral postures.
360 Cup
NO SPOUT spill proof cup for baby! Teach better tongue positioning from the start!
Cut Away Translucent Cups
Great early cup! No need to tilt head back as cut away allows you to tilt to the drink touches their lips. Translucent so you can see the fluid for safety!
Honey Bear Straw Cup
Great early straw cup that allows control of fluid amount. Straws encourage a back positioned tongue -> thought to reduce speech and oral issues.
Weighted Straw Cup
Easy holding handles. Weighted straw allows toddler to hold the cup at any angle. Flip-tip lid is great for when you are on the go!
Oral Sensory Issues and introducing solids to Baby
Even new borns will often suck on their fingers. Babies typically are born with a suck reflex. They need this reflex to to feed from day one. Babies however do not only suck to fill their tummies. Babies also do what is called “non-nutritive” sucking; this kind that rhythmic suck acts to soothe them. This is why many young babies will suck on their fingers or a dummy! If you introduce a dummy it is important to considered the type of dummy and deciding on a dummy that suits your baby - size, shape, length of teat so not to trigger gags if you have an oral sensitive child. If a child is tube fed, a dummy or mouthing toys may be recommended as they receive a feed. This can allow the child to make a connection between oral feelings and the sensation of their tummies being filled. All children with tube feeding should be linked to a feeding clinic or health professional team for a Tube Feeding plan in order to reduce tube feeding dependency issues.
As Babies get more hand control they begin putting things in their mouths, otherwise known as mouthing. This is typical behavour and signals a growing interest in the world around them. In fact if a baby between 6 & 9 month that is NOT mouthing things may need to be monitored. It can be a red flag to take a closer look at their development!
In the first year, children explore their surroundings through their senses -- seeing, touching, hearing, smelling, and tasting. The more they explore, the more they learn how things can vary - soft vs hard? Yummy vs yukky? Food or not food? What shape is it? What texture is it? Can I eat it? Does it make a sound or does it light up?. To get all of this information a baby is going to want to put the object /food in their mouth. Mouthing helps babies learn all about different shapes and textures. Their lips and tongues are the most sensitive parts of their bodies! It is a key way children learn about the world....so if a baby is not mouthing or is not allowed to mouth things, learning can be impacted upon. Children with physical difficulties that reduce their ability to get their hands or objects to their mouths, often are placed on an oral sensory programmes.
Mouthing is also important for introducing baby to solid foods. Mouthing toys and objects with different shapes and textures encourages children to move their lips round the shapes and their tongues move and prod the shapes and textures. This oral "exercising" gets baby ready for when foods are introduced. Early solid foods introduced to children will have varying flavours, smooth textures, grainy textures, lumps of various firmness and shapes. Mouthing before and during the introduction of solid foods helps the child to cope with the bombardment of sensations that occurs when new foods are offered. Some "fussy eaters" find the sensations of foods overwhelming and need support at feeding and /or developmental clinics to help them process sensory inputs.
Allowing and encouraging oral mouthing of safe toys is vital to reduce this risk.
Oral Sensory Exploration - Safety is KEY
Infants may typically continue to mouth things even up to 2 years of age. The mouthing phase will vary for different children. It can be a dangerous phase! If something is in reach of your baby or toddler it is likely to go their mouths! We must be on constant watch about what is in our children's reach to keep them safe. It is natural for them to put ANYTHING in their mouths. Offering a range of mouthing and teething toys can help children to engage in oral exploration safely. These oral sensory toys have all different shapes and have lots of different textures for little tongues and lips to explore (bumps, ridges, raised circles). For older children that continue to show oral sensory seeking behaviours, there are options like chewy tubes and chew necklaces.
Dummy ->
Match Child's oral and sensory needs
Orthodontic dummies vary in size and teat shape - they can provided good oral positioning.
A Teething Dummy!
For front molars & the textured surfaces can massage sore gums. Water filled chambers can be cooled in the fridge.
Sensory Teething Mitten.
the variation of shapes & ridges allows their tongue & lips to explore new sensations. Strap means baby can't drop the teething toy.
Make teething toys varied for new shapes & texture exploration.
Mouthing toys of all shapes & sizes.
Other Potentially Useful Food & Sensory Items to help the introduction of solids to baby easier
Add fruit, ice chips, & more to the pacifier teat section
Good for encouraging mouthing, can help soothe sore gums & can help introduce tastes for children that find lumps in their mouths difficult.
Fresh Food Feeders
The fresh food feeders can also act as a teething ring. Won't matter which end goes in their mouths - new sensations ++
A First Toothbrush can help with sensory acceptance.
Fun toothbrush that is great to encourage new sensations with the baby's mouth + introduce tooth brushing early!
Chewy Tube Oral Motor Stix - Chocolate Flavour!
Good for older children - oral sensations but without the food - good for fussy and fearful eaters.
while Items shown have affiliate links the main purpose is to demonstrated examples discussed.
Speech Therapy Recommended Toys
Speech Therapy Recommended Toys For Children of All Ages and Needs.
Learning for children and adults occurs best when you are interested and having FUN! Speech therapist tools are TOYS! Speech therapist use toys in their speech therapy sessions and Speech Therapists recommend specific toys depending on the interest of the child and skills they are helping children to boost! Here are lots of links to toys frequently used and recommended by speech therapists to boost babbling, speech clarity, first words, language, cognition and reading/spelling skills.
Speech Therapy Toy Recommendations for Toddlers, Preschoolers and Children Late to Talk
Skittles
Great for active kids - action words - rolling, falling, standing up. Colours and Names - the yellow one, the one with red stripes, the cow one! Grab this toy and then download our Free Toy Tip Download for skittles - Great Speech Therapy recommended toy tips!
Farm Magnets
Any toys that involve Farms are frequently recommended by Speech Therapists - sound play, animal noises, make up stories of animals eating, and going to sleep & more! Magnets add a new dimension.
Farm House with a Difference
This farm house has latches on the doors! Great for fine motor skills + encourages speech as they might need to ask for "help", "open", "close" + bonus animals for noises and FUN!
Farm House with Tractor
Great concept development as this farm house has "front" & "back" doors, "up" and "down" stairs, the fence can go "next to" the barn & the tractor can go "all around"!
Pop Up Pirate
A classic game enjoyed by all! Great interactive toy that boost attention - waiting, waiting for Pirate to POP UP. (Pop - such an fun easy word to say for little people!).
Fishing for Colours & Numbers
Fun Game that not only encourages colours & numbers but also turn-taking, practising the /f/ sound and the "sh" sound - common sounds children need help with.
Realistic Real Pictures of Fruit Magnets
Lovely real fruit pictures to build vocabulary! Pop them on the fridge and match them to the real thing! Speech Therapy Recommended Toys frequently include toys that represent "real things" children see everyday.
Animal Magnets
20+ beautiful animal magnets. Sort them into zoo and farm, make up stories as the animals play and move around!
Vehicle Magnets
Grab animals and the vehicle sets to work on grouping skills. This is an important pre-maths skill. Take the animals for a ride - The horse is riding on the plane; The lion is driving the car.
Phlat Ball
A fun pop up ball. Encourage cause and effect, waiting, early words (push, pop, up, put things on). Hours of fun!
Other Items:
Air Diffuser
Create an atmosphere of calm!
Vanilla Essence
Calming & Refreshing!
Bendable Spoons
Great for early self feeding. Self exploratory feeding leads to feeding success.
Spoutless Training Cup
These cups build the ideal tongue, lip, jaw and teeth involvement for cup drinking. Spouted cups require a sucking, rounded lips and often biting occurs on the spout. And BONUS, it is non-spill!
These links will direct you to Amazon. While they are affiliate links the main goal is to provide examples of the toys and materials recommended.
Play & Learn Educational Toys: Walkie Talkie
Play & Learn Educational Toys: Walkie Talkie
Let's Talk Walkie Talkies
FOCUS: Walkie Talkies
If you are wanting children to talk then a toy that is ALL about TALKING has to be a winner. Kids love the mystery and feeling like they have a secret way to talk. This is a great indoor and outdoor toy. Play hide and seek around the house or at the park. They can copy their super heroes, pretend to be police, fireman or the mysterious voice heard in shopping centres! They often have interesting buttons too! Nowadays they come in all different versions – old fashion Walkie Talkies, pretend watch Walkie Talkies or toy mobile phones.
oBSERVE
With new toys it is always great
to watch what children do without any directions or suggestions! (if safe of
course). What do they do? What sounds, exclamations or words to they make? Do
they recognise it? Do they just listen or to they make sounds/ say words too.
Communicating with others
Learning social interactional
skills can take time. Modelling, what to do and saying things they can copy, is
a great way to build game resilience. Walkie Talkies are great to encourage the following skills:
Building Early
Conversational Skills
My turn to speak / your turn to speak or listen. This is the foundation of conversations. This is how Walkie Talkies work! Many late talkers do not respond when asked a question. They may show you things with pointing or their bodies but do not always start a "conversation".
If you are in one
room with your child and maybe Daddy is in another room – then pointing isn’t going
to work! You can say “but Daddy can’t see you! Let’s say Hi! etc.). Some
children might make lots of noises and words that don’t always make sense –
encouraging them to stop and listen encourages then to particulate in both
sides of a conversation.
Turn - Taking Skills
As noted the whole concept of Walkie Talkies is that
people take turns to listen and talk. They are not fun if you want to do all the talking or nobody is waiting to hear you.
understanding of language comes before talking
If you want to encourage talking skills one of the
foundation pre-speech skills is “auditory attention”. Children’s hearing might
be fine but it doesn’t mean they are good at “listening”. Our
FREE AUDITORY ATTENTION ONLINE SCREEN looks at whether children are building auditory
attention skills. "Really listening" is important for learning.
By the nature of Walkie talkies, if you are not in the room, children cannot “guess” what you are asking them. Often parents accidentally give clues by looking or pointing at things rather than encouraging toddlers to use their “listening skills” (e.g. asking them to give you the book – when it’s bed time and you’re also reaching for the book doesn’t mean they are listening to your request for the book – they could be just “guessing” what you want).
If you are in another room and ask “bring me a book” – there are no clues. This can be a fun game. One adult is in a room and says can you bring me a “pencil” and the child can excitedly run it to them then back to see what they will ask for next. Have another adult with younger children or those that may need help to “listen” to the request. This adult can encourage them to listen to the request and follow through with the instruction. Start with really easy requests– just call their name through the Walkie talkie and encourage them to make some kind of vocal response (an exclamation! Oh! a laugh, a Hi). Reward them by getting excited ("wow I can hear you! You laughed!!!). The requests or instructions can also get more and more complex (e.g. “Can you bring me something you cuddle at night”, Find a ball and superman”).
The use of Walkie Talkies can also help with Cause & Effect skills. This is another pre-speech foundation skill. This refers to building an understanding that “what I say and do will impact on things or people”. Playing the hide and seek by using the age old game “hot” and “cold” can help the child learn to infer if they are close or not by the “clue” given through the Walkie talkie. You could be hiding or you could hide a treat or snack. The child has to listen to see if they are “hot “or “cold” depending on where they go.
spoken Speech & Language
Toys like the walkie talkie are great for encouraging vocalisations – sometimes it might just be a grunt as they experiment
with talking “into” the device. A giggle or a silly noise. All should be encourage as once vocalisations are made you can shape them into words.
For Children not really saying words, imitation is an important real key skill to develop. Some children might imitate physical actions but just not spoken words. Our FREE IMITATION SKILLS ONLINE SCREEN can indicate what imitation skills your child is using. This can inform you how to adapt your walkie talkie game to get the most out of the toy.
*Encourage them imitate your actions Pushing buttons, listen then talk
*Encourage them to copy Exclamations: OOH (when they hear a noise), beeeep when device indicates there is someone talking
*Imitating funny noises – aarrrh (like a pirate), blowing into the device
*Imitating animal noises – you could incorporate this into the finding gain describe above – you could have a box of toy animals and say “get the Mooooo” –What are you looking for ..is it a baa or a mooo?
Building new words & Sentences
Take a look in the “understanding section” and encourage the
child to repeat back the instruction before they do it. Incorporate into the
game that they “check” they heard by saying it too. Where did I say I was? “you
tell me ‘in kitchen’).
For children using
little sentences you can encourage early questions in the above hide and seek
games (e.g., Are you in the ____; Is it big? Where is the ball?). Learning to
use questions can really reduce that whinging and tantrums. If they can “ask
for what they want” the whinging can really go down (even if it’s a simple form
e.g. Where Teddy?).
Walkie
Talkies are great for early narrative or story telling too. You can encourage
them to give a blow by blow description of what they can see or are doing e.g.,
Tell me what you can see in the park/ in your room/ etc.).
Pretend play can build talking skills. Let’s pretend there
is a fire. You sit here with the fire engine. Wait to see where the fire is.
You can then call the “fireman” to tell them the fire is in the TV room – they
can ask some questions e.g. is it a big fire, is the TV on fire or the lounge?)
and come with their toy fire engine to “put out the fire”. If you swap roles
you can model good examples of language. Even if their talking is limited
reduce to down to “go, go truckie” or even just the “fire engine sound” as
their way of telling you the fire engine is coming.
And let’s not forget vocabulary – all the in, on, under,
"next to" kinds of words can be incorporated into walkie talkie play. As you can’t use
pointing as much the importance of these words are exaggerated! It is "under the couch, next to the tap" etc.
Online Program
See how Focus on Toddler Talk can Start Boosting your child's Speech and Language today!
Contact Us
Contact us and an experienced Speech Pathologist will answer. We are here to help!
Ideas for Home
Early Intervention Activities, Resources & Ideas for home.
Checklists
Developmental Milestones & Online Checklists
Games & Toys
Educational Games and Toys. With Printables!
Books
Educational Book resources with Printables
SHARE THIS BLOG
With other Parents & Educators.
Tell us in the Comments your ideas for Walkie Talkies.
1
Speech Therapist Dr Sandra McMahon PhD
Phlat Ball – Speech Therapy Toys & How To Use Them
Phlat Ball - Speech Therapy Toys & How To Use Them!
Let's Talk
Phlat Ball
Focus: Phlat ball
Phlat balls are flat discs that pop up into a ball shape. They are made of soft plastic and the “pop” time is random which adds to the fun of the game. Can be used as a Frisbee with a twist or just a fun ball. I like to place light soft toys or picture/ letter/ sight word cards on top so that the toy flies into the air when the toy pops – it encourage fun anticipation waiting for it to pop! If you put a couple of toys or cards on you can see who can catch one and they can tell you what the toy/letter/word is that they caught. If a child hasn’t seen one before you may need to demonstrate the toy as they often want to grab disc while it is flat and do not realise it will pop up.Main themes – waiting, changing shapes, motor skills (catching & throwing action words)
observe
Observe what they do with the toy when first given to them and before you start to play. It may not be obvious how “to play with them” at first. Do they notice they attach? Do they look at why it attached?
What do they spontaneously “say” when they play with the toy? Do they have a “word” or way of describing how the ball changes (a surprised face, a wow, ooooh, look!, pop, ball now, flat now.
Do they think it’s funny or a bit scary when it pops?
Do they inspect it to try to see how it works?
Do they try different things with it? (sit on it, roll it like a wheel, try to bounce it, throw it up or forward)Can they push it hard enough to work or do they look puzzled if they don’t push it hard enough and it stays as a ball?
communicating with others
Communication: how the themes/ ideas of the toy encourages or give opportunities to practise social interactions
*Do they want you to look at the ball changing?
*Do they ask questions about how it works or ask for help? (hand it to you to make it pop again or uses words to ask for help)
*Do they communicate the emotions the ball evokes? (surprise, scare, delighted, excited)
*Can they wait patiently for the ball to pop or do they want to grab at it? This is a great game to encourage attention, waiting and turn taking skills. These are all skills we need to use when having a “conversation” with someone.
understanding of lanuage comes before talking
Understanding skills – words, sentences, ideas/themes/concepts, reading/literacy skills
Action words – suggest different things they can do with the ball and see if they change their actions accordingly eg push, roll, throw, kick, make it a wheel, waiting, tossing, releasing, changing
Similarities and differences of the ball as it changes (Does it change shape or colour?), it’s like a ball vs like a wheel
Gestures – do they show anticipation gestures – looking intently, jiggling or jumping as it gets more likely to pop, surprise gestures, pointing gestures to show they noticed the change or where it changed (eg pointing in the air)
Concepts: shapes flat vs round; time concepts: now, soon, later, nearly
Cognition: Count how long it takes to pop. Remember that number and see if the next one takes a longer or shorter time to pop.
Problem solving - Enocourages an understanding of “cause and effect” – if you push it goes flat, if you wait it pops; Can roll the ball easily because it is round but not so easy when it is flat.
Numbers: Time concepts and counting as wait for the ball to pop. See how many steps or how far it can roll before it pops.
spoken speech & language
Speech: saying sounds, exclamations, words, sentences, stories. Making gestures & facial expressions.
saying sounds
Pop, boom, wee, (as the Phlat ball pops up)
Speech Clarity
/p/ is an early developing sound and so words like “pop” are great first words to encourage. Encourage them to look at how your lips are squeezed together as you are “busting” to say “pop” as you are waiting for the ball to pop. /p/ is said with a build of air pressure behind the lips and so “holding” it back before popping out the /p/ sound encourages this sound pressure. Simliarly you can use a phrase “pop up” to encourage more /p/ sounds. Also early words like “go” are great as lots of children under three will say a /d/ for a /g/ sound – “go” -> “do”… You can model or practise the /g/ sound by repeating the/g/ sound as you are anticipating the ball to pop: “g,g,g,g,g,g,…GO”;
Saying words
Names of the things: ball, Frisbee, button
Names of action words: see above (rolling, tossing, flicking, exploding, changing, waiting)
Describing words: hard, flat, not bouncy, round, colours,
Other words: now, soon, going to, nearly, yet
- Saying Sentences: Encourage them to repeat sentences at a length that matches their ability after you say it – after a few times of reading the book can they say the words and sentences by themselves?
- By choosing words with different endings will help build spoken grammatical words eg popping, flatter, edges (word endings –ing, -er, plural ‘s’). These can then be put into sentences: rolling the ball (action word + a thing)The ball IS flat, The ball IS NOT popping (important little words – “is; pronouns – “he”)The ball popped in the air. The ball IS taking a long time. (encouraging longer sentences by adding a thing or a place)Sentences like "If I push it hard, it will take a long time", "It won’t roll because it is flat" helps develop the use of joining words ( e.g, “and”, “because”, “so”, If)
- Saying more: Explain why they think it stays flat. Explain why it takes sometimes a long time and sometimes a short time to pop. Predict what might happen if we put something on top of the flat ball. What might happen if we put our fingers in the spaces when it is flat? What things are round and what things are flat.
Toy Teaching & Talking Tips Downloads
EDUCATIONAL TEACHING & TALKING RESOURCES
Teaching & Talking Tips: Toys
$2
DEVELOPING SPEECH, LANGUAGE & LITERACY SKILLS WHILE PLAYING WITH A PHLAT BALL
An Educational Teaching & Talking Tips PDF jam packed full of ideas to help boost speech, language and literacy skills while playing with a Phlat Ball.
$2
BOOSTING SPEECH, LANGUAGE & LITERACY SKILLS WHILE BUILDING WITH A MAGNETIC CONSTRUCTION KIT.
An Educational Teaching & Talking Tips PDF jam packed full of ideas to help boost speech, language and literacy skills while building with a Magnetic Construction Kit.
3
Speech Therapy Teaching & Talking Tips, Activities + Printables
Speech Therapy Teaching & Talking Tips, Activities + Printables
SpeechNet has a growing number of Speech Therapy based Teaching & Talking Tips, Activities and Printables for parents and educators. The activities have an easy to follow printable to help guide the play to boost speech and language skills. If you are concerned or have a question about your child's speech and language development please feel free to send your question through our contact page and a speech therapist will answer.
FREE Educational Teaching & Talking Tips
FREE
Let's Focus On Bubbles
An action packed PDF showing how to use bubbles to build Social Communication Skills, Understanding of Language and Speech (sounds, words & sentences). FREE bubble recipes included! This FREE download is linked with our Bubbles Blog
FREE
Boosting Language with Skittles
An action packed PDF showing how to use SKITTLES to build Social Communication Skills, Understanding of Language and Speech (sounds, words & sentences). This FREE download is linked with our SKITTLES VIDEO BLOG
FREE
Encouraging Questions with Trains
An explanation and age appropriate examples of Encouraging Questions. Use this informative PDF to show you how to Encourage Questions while playing with TRAINS with your child. Take a look at the 4 levels of questions and how you can help encourage your child's question skills. This Free Printable is linked to our Encouraging Questions Train Blog
FREE
Developing Maths Vocabulary with Sand Toys
Maths has a very specific vocabulary! Use this printable to get a jump start on your toddler's later maths success. With this informative Printable and Maths Vocabulary Chart you can help develop your child's Maths Vocabulary while playing with Sand Toys. This Free Printable is linked to our Maths Vocabulary Sand Play Video Blog
Teaching & Talking Tips:
Hush Little Possum by P. Crumble
FREE
Teaching & Talking Tips:
If You're Happy and You Know It! by P. Crumble
FREE
Stay tuned!
More Free Printables to come!
Follow us on Facebook to see when they have arrived!
Keep reading for More Educational Teaching & Talking Resources
Educational Teaching & Talking Resources
$2
Developing Speech, Language & Literacy Skills: Phlat Ball
An Educational Teaching & Talking Tips PDF jam packed full of ideas to help boost speech, language and literacy skills while playing with a Phlat Ball.
$2
Developing Speech, Language & Literacy Skills: Magnetic Kit
An Educational Teaching & Talking Tips PDF jam packed full of ideas to help boost speech, language and literacy skills while building with a Magnetic Construction Kit.
$2
Developing Speech, Language & Literacy Skills: Where's My Teddy by Jex Smith
An Educational Teaching & Talking Tips PDF jam packed full of ideas to help boost speech, language and literacy skills while reading.
$2
Developing Speech, Language & Literacy Skills: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
An Educational Teaching & Talking Tips PDF jam packed full of ideas to help boost speech, language and literacy skills while reading.
At Home Everyday Routines: Video Blogs + FREE Printables
FREE
Building Language Moments At Home: Let's Talk Tooth Brushing
This VIDEO blog guides you through the everyday tooth brushing routine. It takes ONE simple MOMENT in that routine to boost speech and language development. Along with the video it has a FREE PRINTABLE that parents can use as a prompt. Visit the Tooth Brushing Video Blog
FREE
Building Language Moments At Home: Let's Talk Sunscreen
This VIDEO blog guides you through the everyday applying sunscreen routine. It takes ONE simple MOMENT in that routine to boost speech and language development. Along with the video it has a FREE PRINTABLE that parents can use as a prompt. Visit the Sunscreen Video Blog
FREE Spelling List Helper Package
FREE
How to HELP with Weekly Spelling Lists
ARRGHHHH!! Weekly Spelling Lists!!
A blog series + Helper Package on how to HELP with Spelling and NOT just memorising skills. Are you looking for a better way to REALLY help your child learn spelling. Something better than having the children memorize words for a Friday Spelling test only for them to forget them next week. They can write them in the list but can't seem to spell the very same words in a sentence! visit our spelling blog
