Therapy Tip-Screen Time Picks

It's Thursday! Time for a therapy tip based upon my experience as a pediatric speech-language pathologist and a mother of a child with special needs.

Today's tip is:

Screen Time Picks

I-pads, Kindles, televisions, DVD players, and computers....There are no shortages of ways children can get screen time. There are strong recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics for screen time for toddlers and children. I agree that children at this age learn best from people, play, and social interaction.

That being said, I am a mom. I understand that your child might be interested in television. Your child might need to have some screen time so you can get a moment to do some housework. With that in mind, I would like to suggest my top three picks for shows that actually build language and speech development.

1. Signing Time: 
I love, love, love the Signing Time series! My daughter got hooked on these DVDs as a toddler and were instrumental in increasing her signing and overall vocabulary. These movies do aim to teach words in sign language. However, the movies are wonderful at teaching overall vocabulary. That is why I recommend these videos for those with language delays whether or not I am trying to teach them sign language in therapy. Each episode has a theme with vocabulary built around it, so you can choose vocabulary based on what your child's understanding is. Check it out on: www.signingtime.com

Here's a few from our collection

2. Leap Frog Letter Factory:
This movie is my pick for young children with speech and articulation errors. This movie is more appropriate for soon to be 3 year olds or pre-school age children. The earlier children can understand the connection between letters and sounds, the better off they will be for school. Children who make many speech sound errors need this type of teaching to help them understand what speech therapy is trying to achieve with speech sound treatment. This movie reinforces these concepts. For that reason, I love this movie, which is available online or in stores.

3. Mother Goose Club:
My daughter found this series on Netflix. I must admit that these videos drove me absolutely mad as a mother. As a speech-language pathologist though, I appreciated the simplicity of these videos. These are great for toddlers or children in the early stages of learning to use words to communicate. They are repetitive, which is great for building language. The songs held my daughter's attention and encouraged her to vocalize along to the songs. This video is still available on Netflix. You can also check them out at: http://www.mothergooseclub.com/




Note: These are really my personal picks. I am not being asked to promote any of these! Check them out!

Therapy Thursday is for educational purposes only and not intended as therapeutic advice.