How to Increase Conversational Turns and Adult Words
Posted by Mia Moe on Fri, Feb 05, 2010 @ 09:41 AM
Dr. Khanh-Van Le-Bucklin is the Director of the Pediatric Residency Program at the University of California, Irvine. She received her medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco and completed her residency at Stanford University.
Q:
My daughter has shown a very unique interest in colors, more so than my other children. Would you suggest letting her use painting computer games or should I let her run loose with her own paints? She is young and I worry she will try to eat the paints!
A:
Painting provides a unique opportunity for children to develop their motor skills, creative abilities, and language capacity. Here are some tips for making the experience safe, fun, and educational:
1. Let your child actively paint with you rather than use a computer painting game. Computer games cannot offer the rich educational experience that you can provide.
2. Use nontoxic paints. I like to paint with nontoxic watercolors or water-based, non-toxic acrylic paints.
3. If your child is too young to use a brush, I recommend nontoxic finger paints.
To maximize Adult Word Counts, Conversational Turns and your child's language potential, here are some ideas:
1. Talk about objects with the same color as the paint being used. "I'm painting with green. Grass is green. Leaves are green. Your eyes are green."
2. Talk about what you and your child are painting. For example, "Right now, I'm painting a circle. I'm going to make this circle into a flower." "Can you tell me about your painting?" If your child is preverbal, you can say something like, "Wow! That's a lovely painting! I like the orange squiggle you made with your finger here."
3. You can share your feelings about the experience. "I love to paint flowers. Flowers are so pretty and full of life." "I'm having a great time painting with you. Let's do this again next week."
Now grab some paints, let your creative energy flow, and talk, talk, talk! These precious moments with your child will produce lasting developmental and bonding effects that will endure long after the activity is over and the paint on your canvas has dried.