Talking Toddlers

What's Normal? Can YOU Support Your Late Talker at Home?

April 16, 2024 Erin Hyer Season 2 Episode 80
What's Normal? Can YOU Support Your Late Talker at Home?
Talking Toddlers
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Talking Toddlers
What's Normal? Can YOU Support Your Late Talker at Home?
Apr 16, 2024 Season 2 Episode 80
Erin Hyer

CLICK HERE - JOIN THE WAITLIST

In this episode, we're thrilled to introduce a new resource by Laura Mize, a renowned speech pathologist and creator of "Teach Me To Talk."

Laura has just released her latest resource titled "The Late Talker Workbook," designed specifically to assist parents in nurturing language skills in their late-talking toddlers.

Laura Mize's expertise spans over years of dedicated practice, specializing in children from birth to three years old.

Her workbook, the ninth in her career, is a comprehensive guide that equips parents with practical strategies and insights tailored for late talkers.

One of the highlights of this workbook is Laura's unique approach known as "The 6 C's of Communication," a framework that simplifies language development into key components essential for progress.

In this episode, I delve into the features of "The Late Talker Workbook," exploring how it can empower parents to become effective advocates and teachers for their children's speech development.

I discuss Laura Mize's valuable contributions to the field and encourage listeners to explore her website and YouTube channel for further resources and guidance.

CLICK HERE FOR THE WORKBOOK INFORMATION / WEBSITE

CLICK HERE FOR 'TEACH ME TO TALK' YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Join us as we unlock the potential of late talkers and provide parents with actionable steps to foster language growth at home.

Visit Laura Mize's website CLICK HERE to learn more about her work and access invaluable tools that can transform your journey with your late-talking toddler.

Let's embark on this journey together and empower our children to communicate with confidence.

===============================
CLICK HERE - JOIN THE WAITLIST

CLICK HERE - Building Vocabulary: Single Words to 2-Word Phrases Guide

Email: contact@HyerLearning.com

Show Notes Transcript

CLICK HERE - JOIN THE WAITLIST

In this episode, we're thrilled to introduce a new resource by Laura Mize, a renowned speech pathologist and creator of "Teach Me To Talk."

Laura has just released her latest resource titled "The Late Talker Workbook," designed specifically to assist parents in nurturing language skills in their late-talking toddlers.

Laura Mize's expertise spans over years of dedicated practice, specializing in children from birth to three years old.

Her workbook, the ninth in her career, is a comprehensive guide that equips parents with practical strategies and insights tailored for late talkers.

One of the highlights of this workbook is Laura's unique approach known as "The 6 C's of Communication," a framework that simplifies language development into key components essential for progress.

In this episode, I delve into the features of "The Late Talker Workbook," exploring how it can empower parents to become effective advocates and teachers for their children's speech development.

I discuss Laura Mize's valuable contributions to the field and encourage listeners to explore her website and YouTube channel for further resources and guidance.

CLICK HERE FOR THE WORKBOOK INFORMATION / WEBSITE

CLICK HERE FOR 'TEACH ME TO TALK' YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Join us as we unlock the potential of late talkers and provide parents with actionable steps to foster language growth at home.

Visit Laura Mize's website CLICK HERE to learn more about her work and access invaluable tools that can transform your journey with your late-talking toddler.

Let's embark on this journey together and empower our children to communicate with confidence.

===============================
CLICK HERE - JOIN THE WAITLIST

CLICK HERE - Building Vocabulary: Single Words to 2-Word Phrases Guide

Email: contact@HyerLearning.com

Erin:

Communicating always involves at least two people. If a child doesn't routinely respond and interact. When you try to talk with him or play with him or engage with him. He's not connecting with you. And it's highly unlikely. He's learning. So talking begins with connecting. Hello and welcome to Talking Toddlers, where I share more than just tips and tricks on how to reduce tantrums or build your toddler's vocabulary. We're going to cover all of that, but here, our goal is to develop clarity, because in this modern world, it's truly overwhelming. This podcast is about empowering moms to know the difference between fact and fiction, to never give up, to tap into everyday activities so your child stays on track. He's not falling behind. He's thriving through your guidance. We know that true learning starts at home. So let's get started. Welcome everyone. This episode, I'd like to share a new and remarkable workbook. By another speech language pathologist. named Laura Mize, M I Z E. And Laura has taught me so much over the past 15 years or so. She's a pediatric speech language pathologist who specializes and has always specialized in the birth to three population. Laura founded and authors, a website called teach me to talk. She's the host of a very popular weekly podcast called teach me to talk the podcast and has authored a number of training materials for both parents and professionals. Here in the United States and then across internationally, she's been doing this for a number of years. And it's interesting because I first, started learning through her when we had these things called DVDs. And I'm sure most of you, new moms who are in those thirties may not even remember what a DVD is. But, her treatment manuals are used by early intervention, professional speech, language pathologists in graduate training programs and continuing ed conferences across the United States and many, many countries. at this point, I give Laura full credit for really helping me become a better and better and better therapist with the very, very early intervention kids. That birth to three. And I've shared here on this podcast before that I never thought I would end up. Working and loving to work with the very, very young children in graduate school. To me, they were messy and unpredictable. So I took the medical route. Right. We had two tracks that you could take in graduate school, the public school. Program or the medical where I dove into neuro rehab. including brain injury, stroke, near drowning trauma, all of that. And then I moved. into the psychiatric hospitals, it was pretty popular to look at how social and behavioral problems were secondary to. Language processing problems and therefore the teens and young adults. Who couldn't keep up socially and or academically. Because the language demands were too demanding. They fell through the cracks. They got missed diagnosed. They certainly were misunderstood often, miss and over-medicated and for years they ended up feeling lost, depressed, and suicidal. So unfortunately, Many of them ended up in the psychiatric hospitals as well. Our job at that time, just as a side note was to do differential diagnosing and as a team, every single Teenager and, Every single young adult was evaluated and screened. And so it was a pretty remarkable several years where I, learned a lot about testing, but that's a whole nother, nother conversation. Sorry to get sidetracked. But I wanted to share how I do have a number of mentors and colleagues and instructors. Who I continue to study under because even after 35 years, we should never stop learning, hopefully research and clinical. Okay. Impressions and outcomes and our clinical opinions change over time. Especially anyone in the health field. I think. Need to continue to study. But the purpose today is to really share her Laura Mises podcast or videos or workbooks because they're designed for yes, people like me licensed therapists because we get. Continuing ed credits. But she also writes them for you, the parents. And I have sent dozens and dozens of families to her videos and her website over the years. And I have all of her links down below in the description box. So you two can go there and learn. and expand your comfort zone. But I do preface every time I send someone to her website or her videos. That she's a fast talker. And I, I don't think I'm a fast talker, but she's from the south. She really knows her stuff. She shares a lot of detail. So I often encourage parents to go and listen. Be open to learning, be open to listening to new stuff, take notes, and don't be afraid to rewind. so, today my purpose is to really share and introduce her latest publication, which is called the late talker workbook. Three plans to support early language development for toddlers and preschoolers who are late talkers. And as always, it's a wealth of information. but I think this is one of her best, and this is her ninth workbook. I think this is the most parent-friendly again, in my opinion, don't get me wrong hundreds. And probably thousands of parents have truly benefited from her work over the years, videos and, and work Bach or workbooks and everything. But. This one, I think perhaps you could pick up right away and use it. Start to implement. Right off the bat. And it could be simply because this one focuses on late talkers and overall, I think they're a little less complicated than say a child with autism or a child with a proxy of speech, which are the other two areas that she really hones in on. I do think that Laura is just a few years older than me. But she recalls just like I do that. We didn't study autism in the 1980s. When we went to graduate school, we didn't have the children on our case loads. And just as a side note, I confirmed this recently because I went back to Southern California and I had a luncheon with several of my college. colleagues and friends and buddies over the years. And we spoke at length about how there was absolutely no autism in the 1980s. There were no children with those needs on our case loads. And we had to learn each and every one of us in real time. One friend in particular just recently retired and she spent her whole career in the school systems and she said, I really was kind of set up. For struggle and failure. I had to figure it out. We all were kind of. scrambling to, to put these pieces together. And then my other dear, dear friend, I won't name names, but, um, She was a clinical director of a very prestigious rehab clinic in Southern California for maybe. 1314 years. And then for the past six or seven years, she's been teaching at a private Christian university there in Southern California. And we all agree. Autism has exponentially grown over the last 30 years. And the challenges that children face now are so much more complex. And I've shared a lot of this. And you can go back to episode number 60, where I talk about. Yes, there are genetic predispositions for all of these conditions, autism ADHD. Dyslexia. Anxiety, all of these things, language processing problems. But of course there's another component to it that we've recently learned about epigenetics and how our lifestyle choices. Actually permit those genes. That's part of the DNA to express themselves or not. And I talk a lot about this in episode 60. in other words, Our modern day lifestyle is definitely exacerbating early development across the board, not just speech and language. But sensory processing, anxiety, social anxiety, all of that. So go back and listen, I think it was date. September 21st of last year, 2023. and the title was, can you prevent the risk factors that lead to autism? Or language delay. The reason why I share this is because Laura mys, who, who just published her latest workbook that I'm sharing today. And going back, to Southern California and chatting. With my dearest friends and colleagues, We've all been in the field for 30, 35 years. And we see the same perspective, right? We have. That. Data across the board to share with you to inspire new moms and new dads to really. Step into this parenthood And do it differently. To make better, healthier, wiser choices. So Laura mys just like us, she had to figure it out on her own too. But the fortunate thing for us was that she wrote it all out. She had been, she's been writing. These materials and putting together workshops. And as I said, continuing ed programs for us. most of her career, at least the last 15, 20 years. I think she also has the biggest online continuing ed course list available to us. And all of these courses have to be approved by our national organization, which is Asher American speech and hearing association. That's how we get our licensure while we do have state license. So that's separate, but our national organization, The bottom line is that the gold standard research is minimal in our field. Because it's really hard to get funding. It takes a years and most of the time children and moms can't wait that long. You guys need help ASAP. And that's the way it's always been. And the truth is, you know, my field is simply not profitable to researchers. Yes. The institutions or the colleges will do research. But. There's not a lot of people who invest. Because there's no. Nor should there be a drug to market, right? That the profit is minimal. And so we look at therapy tools. And it's kind of muddy waters. I'm just telling you the truth. I mean, yes, there's research, but a lot of our work is anecdotal. Just like Laura Mises work, just like mine and my colleagues back in Southern California. We're collecting this information. And the other complicating factor is, and you know, this, the children are also unique. The families and lifestyles are always moving. And so what's hard to nail down this one-to-one correlation. Oh, X caused Y that's just not how early child development works. it's kind of always in motion, always. In flow. And yes, we have all gotten better at diagnosing. Yes, that's true. Because as I said, we didn't get a lot of practice in graduate school in the eighties and. In the 1990s, when these kids started showing up at our door and our offices in our schools and our clinics. We had to get better. We got better at treating and supporting these kids on the autism spectrum because we had to, I mean, when I started and I just shared this, cause I ran down some numbers, but It was perhaps 10% of my caseload. And. then it ended up being 75% of my caseload on the autism spectrum. And here's another point and then I'll get onto today's subject. But. No, we did not overlook them. And I'm sorry to say this, but that's just impossible if that were true. Where are those thousands of people in the thirties and forties? They should. Be autistic adults, right? If we miss them in the 1980s and 1990s, or even the 1970s, where the heck are they, they would be 30, 40, 50 years old. And they simply aren't living among us. Yes. There were a bunch of 20 year old autistic individuals, but that's because they were born. In there. late 1990s, early two thousands. But as I said, that's another conversation. The reason why I'm connecting all these dots I wanted to know how Laura Mises. Come through. Real life as a remarkable clinician has shared her knowledge and her information and her tenacity about really diving deep into these birth to three-year-olds. So, as I mentioned earlier, you may benefit from taking notes whenever you listen or watch any of Laura's videos. And all of this is free online for you guys. We pay for it because we want continuing ed credits. Right. But you can also purchase the workbooks, this particular one that I'm going to focus in today. Is$80. And to me, in my opinion is well worth it, but you don't have to buy the workbook right now. I'm just going to give you some teasers and we will continue to talk about some of the things that she has put together. So nicely. And no, I don't get any affiliate fees for recommending her work. It's just because I think it's incredible material. Yes. Sometimes it's a lot and can be overwhelming. And so I'm trying to share it with you piece by piece. But my purpose is to share, as I said, the highlights. Hopefully entice you to watch some of her videos take notes. You know, download her PDFs because she has a ton available to you, moms. And dads. Um, but the, the workbook is called the late talker and here she covers. Six C's of communication and I'll review only the first one today. And most likely some other of the CS. In future episodes. I have touched upon all of these in previous episodes and I'll make reference. Where it's appropriate. But again, she's pulled it all together. This is her newest workbook and it's so nicely organized and good to kind of read through and pick apart what's clickable to you and perhaps. Share it with, with your family and or if you're in therapy now I'm not quite sure, but you can always share it with them. first, let me kind of walk through The six. And then we'll highlight number one. So the first one is called connecting. And we're going to talk about that in a couple of minutes. Number two. Is referred to as conveying. So we therapists will often call this communicative intent. And what it basically means is that your child initially uses gestures. Facial expressions, body language, and verbalization to convey a message. And that's number two. Number three is comprehending. And so somewhere around his first birthday, give or take, he begins to link meaning to the words he hears. And in toddlers, receptive language is virtually inseparable from cognition. And I talk a lot about what cognitive skills are here. Cause I think it's really important. We used to believe in the sixties and seventies, and even in the eighties that cognitive abilities were kind of hardwired, but now we know that that's not true. So cognitive skills are how your child. Thinks learns remembers, pays attention. Focus. When a child struggles with cognitive development. Then understanding spoken language will also be challenging. So keep in mind that a toddler who doesn't say much. I E a late talker may not understand much either. And so we need to be really, really sensitive. In separating that out. Understanding words and phrases. I need to be. Established. Before they can really use words to talk and express themselves. And in another episode, I actually just, in a few weeks I have scheduled. Uh, topic called auditory processing, also known as receptive language or understanding. So all of these terms are the same, but it's how. The brain. Takes in language through the auditory canal, the ears, right. And the right and left ears are different. But how they take in. So they perceive the language, then they have to interpret the language. Then they can respond to the language. So it's often overlooked by therapists, doctors, teachers, and parents. And so I think. You know, many parents will say, oh, she understands everything I say, but. Until we kind of sit down on the floor and play and engage and connect the words with her actions. Can we really identify whether her understanding is on track? But that's number three. Number four in this list of six CS for communication is called copying. And this is what you and I have referred to over the last couple of years as imitation. So a toddler needs to imitate gestures and words. And I've talked about this in previous episodes, too, that babies must imitate gestures before. They can imitate words, 16 gestures by 16 months. I'll have that reference down below as well. And then number five, is she. Laura mys refers to it as communicating. And this is when your toddler begins to use words spontaneously. And purposefully. To share his or her messages with others. And that's the key that this spontaneous and purposeful. So there's a difference between spontaneous. And imitation. And in another episode, we'll dive into that. But for now, when you go about your day and you're engaging with your little one, try to differentiate. When they do express themselves, whether it's through gestures or through speech, is it spontaneous? Or is it imitative? Is he copying you? Or is he trying to really express and share something independently? Right? So that's a different thing. And then the sixth and final C in this list is called, combining. And when toddlers combined words to make phrases and an episode 69 and 70, they were, published December 5th and December 12th just of last year. Called, how to truly help your toddler use two word phrases. I dive deep into this because it's really, really, really important. Um, but there's a lot of nuance. And so I want you all to understand, and I, I will link again, cause I have descriptions of this and, and. outline. But usually linking two words together that two word phrases begins to appear between 18 and 24 months. And there seems to be a magic number or a sweet spot between minimum of 35 to 50 words. So your toddler needs. Uh, enough words. That they have something to talk about. And, and I dive into this. Explain it further, but. They also, these words, these 35 to 50 words need to come from a variety of grammatical categories. So they can't all be nouns. Otherwise he's going to have a limited pool. To talk about, he can talk about. Daddy's coat. Those are two nouns, but he needs descriptive words. He needs verbs. He needs prepositions. So he can talk about the big ball or the blue truck. Or she can speak about. Sit under the table. So those kinds of things. They need a broad, you know, grammatical categories to pull from. And as I said, I review and talk pretty deeply in both episode 69 and 70 of last year. And we will definitely discuss this in the near future because it's such an important milestone. And as I said, teachers and doctors can measure it. So they talk about it quite often, but I don't think they understand the subtle nuances. Of how to support them or how to gauge where your child is on the hierarchy. But as us working therapists, the Lauria Mises of the world, me, my colleagues. we've learned throughout the years in real time on the floor. How, how to navigate this? How do identify it? Laura has spent so much time. recording and writing these workbooks. And as I said, I think this is one of her best, or at least the best. for parents to easily navigate the other ones are great too. Don't get me wrong. They're just pretty dense. Um, and, but I think having the workbook. Watching her videos can really help any parent if they step into this role. So just to outline those are the six CS of communication. And so she's really focusing on birth to three years of age. So they, once again are connecting and we're going to walk through that gently today or make, give you some highlights, conveying, comprehending, copying, communicating, and combining. And here's the cool part. Laura has always given us the other speech pathologists. Given us permission to share her handouts. So I have included a link down below and made a small bundle of a couple of different handouts at least to get you guys started where you can kind of analyze. Where is your little boy, your little girl today? Where are they in this kind of developmental hierarchy? And how can you support him at home through every day experiences, right? Everyday activities. So this workbook also lays out three plans that apparent. I can choose from, or a speech pathologist like myself, you could bring it to the school, what whomever is helping you. Right. But today I'm not going to walk through those plans. I just want to. Let you know that they're there and that's really the bulk of the workbook, but the six CS of communication are how you work through each plan. And the plans can also be a hybrid too. So it's not necessarily. That you pick one over the other, but you can see by the outline. How this will help certain kids at certain time. So know that. If you do end up finding yourself, working with someone. Whether that's by someone through the state or private setting or a school setting, don't be shy and share this information. And if they're getting, if they're a little uncomfortable with it, Then, you know, give them a heart to heart and say, Hey, this is, I know it's tough to find good programs or good outlines or. I have a procedure that we can follow and measure. And that's the tricky part about therapy, about measuring progress? A lot of it is subjective. And that's many, many other ways that I have shared Laura's work over the years. When I took in interns that worked with me. That I coached schools that I consulted with trainings that I've led. And unfortunately. School people tend to be a little bit more quote in the dark. Again, just my opinion. But they're in the dark when it comes to. The work in the therapy sessions. So yes, they do a lot of play-based therapy and we all should and do right. I don't believe in flashcards with a two year old, maybe a seven year old, but not a two year old. so it has to come through therapy, but you have to have, or I'm sorry, it has to come through play, but you have to have purpose and intention in that plate. What am I working on? Am I. Trying to get them to imitate my gestures. My actions, my single words. You know, we don't want to jump ahead or get the cart before the horse, because that's just going to make your child frustrated. I want you mom and dad to feel empowered, to stay ahead of it. To prevent some of these issues. So these types of workbooks help inform you and empower you with knowledge. And then you can build a language rich learning environment at home. So today. He's real goal is just to look at the first C in the list of those six CS of communication. I hope you're following this. List, but, it's really just to touch upon how Laura introduces what is connecting and that, that is the first step with all children. And so I'd like to just read directly from Laura's workbook of how she defines this and how we both the therapist and the family. Can hone in on helping kids if they're not fully connected yet. So this is in Laura's words, connecting is the real reason any of us learned to talk. And yes, of course we talked to ask for things. We talk to interject our own wishes, our preferences. And opinions. We talked to ask questions and give answers. We talked to complain or protest for lots of other purposes. Talking is the natural extension of what comes before words. Connecting. Before a child begins to use words. He establishes a consistent connection with other people. He makes eye contact and everything about him says he's listening to you and sharing that experience with you. He looks at things. You try to show him. And he even brings things to show you. She says. Here's why connecting is so important. Communicating always involves at least two people. If a child doesn't routinely respond and interact. When you try to talk with him or play with him or engage with him. He's not connecting with you. And it's highly unlikely. He's learning. So talking begins with connecting. It's the essential first piece. And some of you might be thinking, oh, my child connects just fine. The key here is that he does it consistently. Or she does it consistently. The key here is that he gives you eye contact as a form of connecting and a form of communicating. So in this fabulous workbook, um, Laura shares a lot of good examples and strategies. Here. I'm just going to touch upon a couple. I think there's like seven or eight, but I'm just going to touch upon the three that spoke to me. And she defines it as a practical ways to strengthen connecting. So the first one is stay connected. So you can talk with your child all day long. Don't let her check out or be alone for long periods of time. And I assure you, this is not taught in graduate schools, but it needs to be. Because for too long, we've let kids. Oh, he's happy in the corner. You know, Plain with one truck or spinning the wheels or looking at the reflection in the light. And when they zone out. They go deeper and deeper inside. And the whole idea about these first three years. Is to build that relationship with other human beings. So to learn language, a child has to hear language. So stay together and talk about everything. And one of the things, and I think Laura. taught us this a long time ago, or maybe she learned it from somebody else, but is, it was always like, stay in play. Write that. That parents are grownups that are in charge. Stay in play. Don't just put the toys out there and say here. I have stuff to do. Over here. You just play by yourself. Not with a one or two or even a three-year-old. Not 24 7 and we can talk about what realistic expectations are. But the important part is. Talk about what your child is paying attention to. So she's more inclined to listen. And then link, meaning with your words. And I know this is hard to hear. I get it. But if you have a late talker or even if you think you have a late talker, Your daily routines and engagement. Are not enough. If they were. She wouldn't be a late talker. So you need to decide to change it up a bit. You need to give her more, but not just. Overwhelm her, it needs to be purposeful, intentional. Systematic. And that's where this particular workbook. Highlights. Every situation is different and I totally respect that. But my role. As your coach, as your guide, as a. A therapist who's been in the thick of it for 35 years is just to share what I've learned. By working with thousands of children for over 35 years, me, Laura mys, my colleagues and others. To share, put it all on the table. And one piece of very strong research. And that's been replicated. Indicates that children who are significantly behind with speech and language. Need. 20 to 25 hours of quote therapy a week. And you're thinking what. Yeah, I know that's a big number, but that's where we saw the needle move forward. And the truth is that's impossible with an outside service with a person like me or anybody else. There are programs called ABA. And I'm certainly not going to get into that, but that's where some of the research came from. And then we looked at other programs too. I was involved with a program called fast forward. The point of all of this is it is nearly impossible with an outside service. But it can and does happen over and over and over again with the family. And as I've shared before, Both for years in my practice and then here, online, whatever we do as therapists in our therapy sessions. You mom, you dad, you grandparent. You can do all of that at home. There's nothing magical. We just know some of the developmental milestones better than you. But I'm trying to give you work books and, notes and data points that you can shine a light on that too. And Laura Mises work, agrees. That's why she wrote this particular workbook for therapists to up their game. And honestly, I think a lot of us can be a little lame at that. I'm sorry. But moms and dads and grandparents, like I just said, You all can hone your play skills. Be intentional with everyday I stay present. And include them during meal prep and household chores. Right. If you're doing laundry, give them a few things to sort. If you're washing dishes, give them a damp rag to wash and talk about what you're doing. If you're gonna, Do some bills or right. Hopefully it's not on a screen. Right. You can't do that with them. but give them some writing tools to mess around with the paper and the, Utensils. But it all adds up to these 20 to 25 hours. Yes. You still need individual playtime. Yes. You need one to one. Quote, unquote therapy sessions at home. But you can snatch those periods too. Let's share a meal and make it language based. Another practical way to strengthen connecting this first. C, and this comes from the workbook. And, you know, I strongly encourage all of you to do this. Is to limit screen time. And I know again, that's a hard thing to hear. It's a hard thing to swallow. A hard thing to live through. But a child who has problems connecting with other humans often prefers screens over those people because connecting with people is too hard. Looking at a screen is passive. It does not require them to do anything. You know that we've all sat in front of TV shows and just, you know, blown an hour or two or three. But little babies. They learn best from real people who love them. And are talking about real things going on in their immediate environment in real time. And Laura outlines this. On page 1 28. If you get the books, you can refer to it. But meanwhile, You know, I'm kind of getting some validation here and it's, you know, it's good. The goal is, is to do an interview with Laura later on this summer to get our schedules lined up. But for now, I really wanted to share what the excitement about this particular workbook. And then a third one that I thought would be a practical way to strengthen connecting. And I'm just highlighting these here. These, these three, she has, as I said, six or seven, but is to stop focusing on their bad behaviors. And we can all do that, especially with toddlers. Redirect, redirect. No, no, no stop, please. Go over here. Go over there. Right. But if we can learn or have, you can learn to read your child's cues. So that then you can avoid those power struggles, the meltdowns and hurt feelings, respond to your child's needs with love and support. Because the truth is not being able to talk is tough enough. And they can express themselves very well. So we have to, we have to be better detectives at reading their body language. And getting them on routines so that they begin to learn what to expect. So this third practical tip really supports the concept that a toddler would if he could. And I've heard parents over and over again. And. Is that, you know, they think their son is just stubborn or they think the daughter is shy. And, you know, one of my infamous words here is that's hogwash. Because when kids can talk. They do talk. And Laura says this over and over again as well, but. The bottom line is kids really? Don't quote, hold out on talking. They simply don't have that cognitive skill or that sophistication to be that clever. That's a myth. And I think it's important that once parents. Can shift that mindset. Then the power struggles meltdowns will begin to subside. And yes, you'll still going to have toddler behaviors. You're still going to have to redirect them and show them what to do instead of just telling them what not to do. But I assure you. It'll happen much less frequently and with much less intensity and drama. Our goal is to help your toddler understand the power of speech. And how a dialogue, a back and forth we'll get them so much more in this life. And that starts with connecting. Spending a lot of quality time together. Modeling. Talking about your day. Sharing tasks, reading, singing, getting dirty, and then getting clean. All of those things. Really, really build that foundation gives them opportunity. Everyday tasks. And I talk a lot about this everyday tasks. Are the, the cornerstone. To enhance communication, both nonverbal and verbal. You can play and just make animal sounds. You can play and just make environmental sounds. because of your goal is to get him to imitate you or for him to stay in play or for you to stay in play. And extend that two minute to five minute to seven minutes. And to share back and forth. Non-verbally that's cool. You're expanding his connection. And I will be sharing more of this fabulous workbook in the future episodes. today's intention was to first introduce Laura's website, her videos, and the materials for purchase. If you want. Otherwise, I'll continue to share with you. And then over time, if you want, you can. But the, all of the videos on her YouTube channel are free. And the handouts for you guys are free. It's called. Remember, teach me to talk. all of her business. Um, platforms are that. And on page 1 25, I just want to kind of. Wrap up this whole connecting. She highlights this, the bottom line for connecting is. A tuned out, disconnected child misses, vital opportunities to learn language. Relationships and fun, loving connections are the foundations for learning to talk. So as you can probably get through my repetitive. Excitement here. There's a lot of remarkable information on her website, like I said, but particularly in this workbook, especially if you think that your child is. Uh, quote unquote, a late talker. In this book. She also differentiates the two. Very different pillars or definitions of a late talker. And I've highlighted those in the past too. But for right now, let's just go with whatever you're imagining in your head. But I think, you know, any and all toddlers. Would benefit from their parents kind of gaining more knowledge, right? Gaining more information. The more you mama understand how kids develop. Then it's easier for you to support that healthy, natural development. It's a win-win right. You feel great and empowered and confident. Sure of your choices and then he or she, your beautiful child follows suit. So, thanks again for spending your precious time with me. I truly appreciate it. And if you would be so kind to look at all the links below, sign up for my email list, get the handouts, dive deep, listen to her videos. and I'll see you next week. Oh, great. Take care. Bye.