As we enter a second year of navigating the Covid-19 pandemic, all of us feel a desire to get back to normal. The virus has been devastating especially to our elders. However, we should not lose sight of the importance of protecting our children. Currently, emerging variants appear to be affecting younger people more virulently than the original virus. Teaching your children to consistently and properly wear a mask is important in helping to ensure their health. It has been proven that wearing a mask can greatly diminish the possibility of contracting the Covid-19 virus. Additionally, it is important to know that the incidence of strep throat and the flu have dramatically dropped since we began wearing masks. We know that it will be some time before we reach herd immunity and for a vaccine to be approved for young children. In the meantime, we need to do everything within our power to keep our children safe. The following video will provide you a behavioral strategy for teaching your young children to wear and tolerate a mask.​

Spring classes start the week of 2/22/2021. Classes are free and offered virtually. Free internet help is also available. Register for classes today.
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Visit: https://www.lenastartmc.org/lena-start-program to learn more about the program.

Please share to help spread the word about this incredible program!

The Achieve Center has been approved to accept vouchers from the Wisconsin Farm Center. To support our farming community the State has created a voucher program for farmers and their families to receive counseling sessions. For more information see the website below or call the phone number listed below.

https://datcp.wi.gov/.../Growing_WI/FarmCenterOverview.aspx

These vouchers are available to farmers and their families and can be obtained by contacting the Wisconsin Farm Center at 800-942-2474 or farmcenter@wisconsin.gov.

Posted by Jocelyn Mayer, MS, BCBA, LBA 

Every year we say it, and every year we mean it – can you believe it’s almost Christmas once again?! Lately, I’ve had a lot of parents ask me for recommendations on some of the best toys for their growing children that will help them learn. Although there are so many cool tech toys these days with lights and (often annoying) sounds, I have found that the simpler toys without all the bells and whistles are some of the very best for learning opportunities.

Here at The Achieve Center, there is a large focus on parent involvement across all therapies offered. Parent involvement in therapy and implementing therapy strategies at home can be pivotal to the success of many children. Although I can offer plenty of toy recommendations, there’s something you should know: In order for a toy to become a learning tool, our children need to be shown how to play with them, and how to learn from them. Demonstrating how to play with toys functionally (the way they are designed to be played with) can model appropriate play skills for your child which they can then do themselves. Here are some easy ways to improve your play sessions:

1. Sit across or next to your child, not behind them.a. Sitting across or next to them make you a play partner instead of a play observer. Your child has more opportunities to make eye contact, read and show facial expressions, provides easier access to asking for help, taking turns, and much more!
2. Narrate your play.
   

• This one is especially good to implement if your child is non-vocal. Narrating play is the action of talking through what you’re doing - your movements (“Here my car goes around and up, up, up to the top!”), involving colors (“The blue block is going on the bottom”), numbers (“I have 1.. 2.. 3 blocks!”), sounds (“BEEP BEEP!”), giving life to characters when possible (while holding a baby doll, say, “Wah! My baby is hungry.”), etc.
• Although it’s true that the more language a child hears, the more likely they are to use it, you do not need to narrate every moment and flood the child with language. Make sure not to overwhelm or over-stimulate during play. I recommend engaging in narration every 30 seconds or so as a general rule of thumb, but every child is different.
  
• 3. Take turns.

a. This is a great time to practice with your child to help them learn how to play socially. Some ways you could do this is to take turns putting pieces into a puzzle, or with whose marble goes down the run next. Make sure to meet your child where they are at with this, meaning if sharing is hard, try not to take things away, but rather have your own item if possible (e.g. you each have a car and you just take turns going down a play ramp rather than having one car that you share).
Without further ado, here are some great toys and some ideas for what you can teach with them:
Toddler (ages 12 months-3 years)
Nesting Garages and Cars
https://www.amazon.com/.../dp/B00EX5J9DM/ref=pd_ybh_a_8...
These are great for matching colors and numbers, learning sizes (big vs. medium vs. small), and spatial skills by nesting through trial and error!
Toomies Egg Toy
https://www.amazon.com/.../dp/B073PW29V5/ref=pd_ybh_a_4...
I love these toys – and so do my clients! You can use these to teach your child common facial expressions associated with emotions, matching colors, matching shapes, and it makes a fun sound too!
Wooden Race Car Track
https://www.amazon.com/.../dp/B072X7CYH4/ref=pd_ybh_a_4...
This is a fun one. This race car track is great for increasing hand-eye coordination, dexterity, visual tracking – which can aid in increasing attending, and this is another awesome toy for turn taking.
Stack & Sort Board
https://www.amazon.com/.../dp/B000AS2AL4/ref=pd_ybh_a_7...
I think this one speaks for itself – there is so much for your child to learn with this one! Fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, matching colors, shapes, following instructions (“put this one on the red peg”). You can get pretty creative with this one.
Basic Puzzles
https://www.amazon.com/Etna.../dp/B00YVRR1TG/ref=sr_1_3...
A classic, but amazing gift. Again, so many things to teach, especially with this bundle pack. You can easily work on turn taking, matching, and fine motor, as well as colors, shapes, etc.
Play Kit Subscription
https://lovevery.com/products/the-play-kits
This is something that has come about in recent years that I really like. Lovevery (ages 0-36 months) offers age based play kits that come every few months as your little one grows. It’s filled with Montessori style toys that are designed to help your child explore, learn and grow through age specific toys. This would be a great gift for any little one in your life!
Children Ages 4+
More Complex Puzzles
https://www.melissaanddoug.com/train-sound.../729.html...
This type of puzzle is what we clinicians often call a juxtaposed puzzle. This means that multiple pieces fit together to make one image within a frame. This type of puzzle requires a bit more trial and error, visual mapping and planning, and this one also has sounds!
Legos/ Duplos
https://www.amazon.com/LEGO.../dp/B00NHQF6MG/ref=sr_1_5...
Legos also offer a lot of learning opportunities. Of course fine motor is a big one with this activity, but you can also work on visual skills such as matching patterns or sequences, etc. The best part about Legos is that it gives your child the opportunity to be as creative as they want!
Board Games
There are so many great board games for all ages! There’s the classics like Candy Land, Chutes & Ladders, and Hi-Ho Cherry-O for the little ones (bundle pack here), Guess Who, then there’s games like Sequence, Life, Scrabble, and many more that offer “junior” versions. Board games teach children so many concepts. This is where you can teach them (and model) how to win and lose appropriately, work together with teammates, work on counting, fine motor, forward planning and much more.
Marble Run (For a little older children)
https://www.amazon.com/NATION.../dp/B07R92KFZR/ref=sr_1_5...
I have yet to meet a child who doesn’t love a marble run. These challenge your child in terms of forward planning, trial and error, hand-eye coordination and dexterity, visual tracking, and more! This one also has glow-in-the-dark marbles which makes it even better.
Arts and Crafts Supplies (all ages)
Dot markers, stamp kits, mess free coloring markers and sheets, paint, Play-Doh, Floam, scissors, coloring books, and all the other arts and crafts supplies you can think of provide many opportunities for all types of skills!
My last tip is that when it comes to play, remember that that is what it should be – play. Although we might be discretely working on skills without your child knowing it, we still want to make sure that we are keeping play fun. Be silly, creative, and encouraging with your child, work on skills, but continue to keep your focus on building your relationship with them through play. Enjoy your time with them, and enjoy the holidays! I hope this list gives you a few ideas for better play, and for some Christmas gifts.
If you’re interested in more tips, tricks and resources for better play, please feel free to email me with any questions at jmayer@uachievecenter.com
 

The Achieve Center has been nominated for Non-Profit Small Business of the Year Award. Please watch our video celebrating the news.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95TxWQ1CuZw

Dear Common Sense community,

While we never thought we'd see a school year like this, we know that together, we can meet this moment. The pandemic has laid bare the learning loss, equity gaps, and other barriers to learning that millions of students are facing. But it has also highlighted the invaluable role that teachers and parents play in their kids' lives.

Our priority is to help families and teachers work together to keep kids engaged and learning. That's why we've updated all the free activities on Wide Open School and added a family and teacher center with all-new resources to make learning from home more effective.

Everything on Wide Open School is:

• Carefully curated for quality by the editors at Common Sense.
• Updated every day with easy-to-use Daily Plans and new resources as partner organizations raise their hands to help.
• Free and open to all. In addition to free learning activities, you'll also find tools for English-language learners, support for learning and thinking differences, resources for getting set up with low-cost internet and devices, and more.

We hope to make planning for tomorrow a little easier—and to continue to be there for you and your schools through challenging times. If you or someone you know could use this kind of support, please send them to wideopenschool.org.

Stay well, everyone.

 
Visit Wide Open School

 
 
In solidarity,
Jim Steyer
CEO and founder
Common Sense


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If you recall from our previous discussions, infants and mothers are uniquely predisposed to interact. A mother’s pattern of talking to her baby and the child’s response patterns reflect a unique developmental predisposition that is designed to initiate the process of acquiring the amazing gift of speech and language. We will now continue our exploration of how children learn to communicate, and in doing so let’s now turn our attention to the “conversational” side of communication.

I think you would agree that turn-taking is an integral part of having a conversation. As adults, when we engage in conversational interactions, we have learned to employ the social rules for conversational exchanges. These rules simply imply that one partner listens as the other speaks. When one is done speaking, it is then the turn of the other partner to interact. Thus a conversation is largely comprised of language-based turn-taking consisting, of back and forth exchanges on a single topic. Can you agree, in that light, that language-based turn-taking and topic maintenance are prerequisites for a meaningful conversation to take place? But, and this is important, children are not initially equipped to take turns, nor remain on a single topic. Turn-taking and topic maintenance is learned. Each is not a natural skill. With that in mind let’s consider how mothers can assist their infants in acquiring these basic skills.

As noted previously, babies are initially wired to gaze at faces, with their interest shifting to objects at 4-7 months of age. Thus when a baby initiates face to face joint focus, or later when he reaches and grasps for an object, it is helpful for the adult to do all that is possible to maintain joint interest as well as establish some form of turn-taking. This can be as simple as gently taking an object from the child and then handing it back repeatedly. During the early months, mothers can watch for their child’s responses to the adult’s vocal initiations and then determine how the child is indicating their desire to keep the turns going. One of the most important things for mothers to gauge is the number and variety of ways their child sends signals, indicating that they are seeking turn-taking, as well as how the child indicates that they want the turn-taking to continue. In this light, it barely matters what is said to the child. Remember, they are responding to the inflectional patterns and cadence of your speech. As noted previously, 4-7 word utterances, spoken with a wide inflectional pattern and an even cadence is best suited to catch and maintain your child’s interest. The easiest way to summarize these thoughts is in this manner; follow your child’s lead and do all that is possible to keep the turns going. These are the skills that translate into conversational ability as the child develops his vocabulary and begins to use words. In the 7-10 month range, typically developing children will display 2-4 turns on a single topic, before seeking something else or losing interest. When the child indicates a desire to transition to another “topic” follow their lead and repeat the process.

The suggestions provided above are important precursors to the development of a child becoming a conversational partner. Remember that topic maintenance and turn-taking lie at the core of social language. Before the acquisition of these two skills, learning words is secondary. For the most part, word usage will emerge as your child possesses the conversational skills described above.
Regardless of the age of your child, let me encourage you to frequently engage in “conversational exchanges”. Go slow, learn to “read” your child, take turns, stay on topic, and most importantly, enjoy every minute of it!