One thing I have noticed working with parents of toddlers, is that I am often giving seemingly conflicting advice. One week I advise that a parent should practice narration- or "thinking out loud" about everything that is happening while they are with their toddler. The next week, I turn around and advise wait time, which is often described by using silence after a prompt. The two are sometimes in conflict- the more you wait for a response from the child, the less you can narrate and model; the more you model, the less wait time and therefore fewer opportunities there are for the child to verbally participate.
It's a balance.
And in all honesty, there is no perfect balance of the two strategies. As a pediatric speech language pathologist, I have definitely reflected on sessions and realized I talked way too much- as that is the tendency for those who end up in our field- and wished I had given more wait time or offered more silence during the play in order to offer the child an opportunity to comment, request, or get my attention.
Are you a parent wondering what your tendencies are and if you should aim to wait more or narrate more? Here are some ideas:
Record yourself playing with your child. Perhaps use to audio notes on your iPhone or another device. (I'm not kidding when I say us SLPs were required to watch sessions back in grad school to evaluate ourselves- its totally weird! But worth it!) Listen back to your interaction with your child. Did it sound natural? How many opportunities were there for your child to comment on something exciting? Were the wait times long enough for your child to participate?
Ask your SLP to spend a session observing you play and interact with your child and ask for feedback to be provided at the end. (This is a big part of the coaching model available conveniently on teletherapy)
Consider providing extra wait time and opportunities to contribute verbally in familiar activities that are exciting for your child, while newer activities may benefit from a bit more narrating.
Consider your child's sensory needs and follow their cues: Some of my clients cover their ears or vocalize over my own speech in order to avoid the cognitive load of processing all that stimuli. If this sounds like your child, they likely would benefit from alternative and augmented communication strategies, but in the meantime, let's be sensitive to their needs and consider verbalizing the concepts that we think are most salient to them.
I hope these suggestions help! Are you a parent or an SLP who struggles to find a balance between these strategies? What has helped you the most?
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