When children are just learning to read—and especially if they are struggling—a great strategy is to use a picture walk before you actually start to read the book. In the picture walk strategy (taught to me by one of my son Mark’s tutors), you...
It is never too early to start reading—we can begin the day the baby is born. Books should have bright, colorful pictures and not too much print on one page. Get sturdy books that babies can chew, handle, touch, and even throw. Children need to...
As caregivers, one of our deepest desires is for our children to have friends. Where do we begin? To build social skills, we can expose our preschoolers to as many new and different people as possible. Preschoolers enjoy guests such as neighbors...
An excellent way to start building your child’s vocabulary is by having her relate past experiences and discussing them with her. Research has shown that caregivers can build children’s narrative (storytelling and sequencing) skills by asking the...
GOING TO PRESCHOOL Many parents wonder if preschool is advisable and worth the inconvenience or expense. I highly recommend preschool for young children! It’s great if kids can even go for a few hours a day. I recommend that they go five days a...
Through the haze of my fatigue when Mark was a baby, I learned how to watch him carefully and respond immediately when he initiated communication—verbally or nonverbally. For example, he’d wake up in his basket and start waving his arms. I’d go...
Every parent looks forward to our babies’ first words. We can’t wait for them to talk! Mark played his cards right, and his first word was “mama” when he was 12 months old. We know that most babies say their first word around one year (12 months)...
So when Mark was little, he loved kinetic sand–it was so good for his sensory skills! Today as a practicing speech-language pathologist, I find that kinetic sand is very highly motivating for the kids on my caseload. “Is Miss Cewest...
As a first time mother, I remember being absolutely overwhelmed with how truly hard and time-consuming it was to take care of a baby! Though I have never loved anyone more than my precious son Mark, being a new mom was a major challenge for me...
My 6-foot tall 21-year old Mark snuggled up next to me. He had generously allowed me to read aloud to him one of his favorite childhood books, I Love You, Stinky Face. Yesterday I took Mark to the airport to go back to Washington, D.C. for spring...
Tears filled my eyes this morning as I watched the beautiful children of Mission Avenue Elementary sing Christmas songs with motions. I well remembered how my son Mark, now a successful 21-year old student at George Washington University in D.C....
An important concept in attachment theory is the idea of the secure base (Bowlby, 1988). According to Bowlby, when parents provide a secure base, their children have more confidence to explore the environment; they become more independent. The...
