Learn With Less

Did you ever think that simply playing music or singing a song to your young child would be beneficial for cognitive development?

In this episode, Ayelet explores the idea that when your baby listens to patterns in music (and when you do things to play with those patterns), it helps set the foundation for early math and reading skills.

Below is the transcript of this episode’s “Developmental Thought,” an excerpt from the full episode.

For additional information, music, play ideas and the complete interactive family experience, please listen to the entire episode.

We’ve talked a lot in past episodes about the fact that when you sing a song, you need not be afraid to change the lyrics to apply them to your own surroundings.

In addition to the reasons I discussed in my episode, “Play With Words,” this allows your child to become familiar with the tune and rhythm, and also highlights the difference when you sing with different vocabulary!

When we alternate singing and speaking on a rhythm, humming a tune but taking out the words, adding and taking away hand motions or other movements… we play with similarities and differences, comparing and contrasting, and focus on various elements, helping our young children make sense of and enjoy different elements of the interactive experience.

We can also play with the rhythm of otherwise familiar songs – changing the rhythm or meter of a song (not just the speed, but the feel of the beat), we give a different flavor to the music. Listen to what my friend Lily does with one of my favorites, the ABC song. [Listen to full podcast episode for Lily’s ABC’s]

What a cool, swingin’ beat, Lily! Thanks for that. When we add these variations to familiar songs, we teach our children about discrimination, and to observe differences.

Almost every song has a pattern built into its melody, as we saw with the last song we sang together. We see toddlers listening to the pattern of a song when they request to hear the same song over. And over. And over again. Before we think to ourselves, “oh my gosh I can’t take it anymore,” remember – this is how our children learn. Through repetition. By listening. By discriminating.

My 2-year old son recently got to this stage, requesting a particular song on repeat. What I find interesting is that sometimes, he’ll ask for another particular song to be played directly after the first one, and then want to listen to both of those on repeat. This tells me that he is most likely actually comparing and contrasting the structural, rhythmic and linguistic elements of both songs!

When we actively play with the content, and pause to wait for a young infant to make a choice with his hands or body (as we did in our “Routines & Rituals” episode with the DIY animal images), or pause to wait for a verbal child to offer a word (with or without a visual aid), we help them learn to anticipate those patterns, as we are directly placing the words within a sequence – which will help form critical early math and early reading skills!

In addition, there is research suggesting that a small child’s ability to feel and express a steady beat or rhythm is correlated with academic achievement scores in elementary school. I don’t want to focus too much on the idea of getting one’s child into the best schools, I simply mean to reinforce that this play and interaction and silly time you spend with your tiny person is shaping his entire experience – social/emotional, cognitive, communicative, and even motor development. These things are all connected to the way our children process and, in time, perform.

Ayelet: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest

The post Can Infants & Toddlers Learn About Music and Math? appeared first on Learn With Less.

We’re used to thinking of the term “literacy” as a word to describe people who can read. What about the term “early literacy?” Does it simply refer to teaching young children how to read?

In this episode of Learn With Less, Ayelet discusses a few more ways to use books with infants and toddlers than simply reading the text on the page – and the benefits of exposure to early literacy experiences (hint: the term refers to much, much more than simply learning how to read)!

Below is a transcript of this episode’s “Developmental Thought,” an excerpt from the full episode.

For additional information, music, play ideas and the complete interactive family experience, please listen to the entire episode.

I have heard parents say, “oh, I think that book is a bit too advanced for my infant…” It is never too early to expose your child to early literacy skills! Here’s the biggest misnomer:

There are many different early skills and supportive activities you can do that are involved in building literacy, including (but not limited to):

Simply exposing your baby to text and symbols (think about some of the activities we discussed in another podcast episode, “Visual Supports: An Intro”).

Handling books (whether that means your baby is quietly holding a book in her hands, wildly removing each one from the shelf, chewing on the board book, or turning a page).

Looking at pictures (and watching you point to those pictures as you speak about the words they represent, or starting to engage themselves in recognizing pictures).

More quote-unquote “early literacy behaviors” can be found on the Zero to Three website (link here) or in the book So Much More Than The ABCs, by Judith Shickendanz, published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (an Amazon affiliate link can be found below).

In a recent episode, “Visual Supports, An Introduction,” I gave some examples about how to use visuals in a more naturalistic, communicative way than simply labeling. It is very easy to us as adults to become “drill sergeants” when our intention is to help our young children learn.

Getting creative and asking different questions, creating playful experiences rather than pointing and naming, linking objects and people to previous experiences, are all great ways to provide a “language-rich” interaction. Let’s talk today a little more about how to integrate early literacy experiences into this idea of “language-rich” interactions.

Book reading is wonderful example of an activity that promotes joint attention, which I spoke about in Episode 1:“Why Sing?” When you sit and read to your baby, you’re not only exposing her to text and pictures, you’re also highlighting the idea that these things are important!

As adults, I think it can be difficult for us to instinctively know what on earth to say to these tiny people all day long, especially in those early days when there’s not a whole lot of reciprocation. By creating shared experiences, especially interactive ones, you are teaching your little one so much.

For those of you who are listening with newborns or young infants – or even those of you who are still pregnant – you can even hold your newspaper up and read it aloud!

In those early days and months, it isn’t about them needing to understand the content – it’s about them hearing your voice, being close to you, and watching (and being part of) what you’re doing and how you interact with the world. It’s also about you getting used to talking to your tiny baby.

Within the first year of life, the way babies interact with books changes quite dramatically. Your baby may go from engaging more with the physical properties of a book (mouthing, shaking, crumpling, or waving it) to focusing on pictures (looking at, or even pointing to them).

By the end of the first year, babies often show more “enjoyment” of books, spending less time manipulating them and more time engaging with the pictures and listening to words.

Your older baby may hand a book to you or point to the one she wants when given a choice, and may help you turn the page.

But even very young babies can be encouraged to “turn the page” (even if this simply means that you’re reacting to her impulse to touch the book by offering and moving the page toward her outstretched hand). Young babies can be given opportunities to engage with the pictures in the story, as well, when engaged.

Your efforts as “the reader” will really pay off if you engage that silly side of you we spoke about last week. For instance, using lots of animated voices for your characters will not only heighten the likelihood that you can keep her attention, it also allows her to hear you play with your voice – and she’ll do the same in the form of cooing, shrieking, blowing raspberries, and babbling!

We know that, as opposed to forcing a child to sit through an entire book whether or not she is enjoying it, allowing and supporting young children to engage with books at their own developmental level is a more compelling approach to encourage early literacy.

So if your baby wants to simply turn the pages of the book, remove the books from the shelf one at a time (or all at once), then don’t be afraid to allow this to be the activity!

Talk about what she’s doing, or try to talk about one thing on the page or cover of the book she’s looking at (before she moves on), or read another book aloud as she busies herself with other books. Try different approaches to see what works – and remember that something might work one day, and not so well the next (or the other way around!)

Another thing to remember about book reading activities is that they are activities, like any other, and the object in front of you just happens to be a book. We tend to get boxed in by our adult understanding of book reading, but remember: reading the words on the page is not actually the only way to read a book!

It may actually help to find a book with no words, to create a book with pictures from magazines (like we did earlier), or to find a picture book in another language. Instead of reading the story as it appears on the page, simply point out what you see or make the sounds of the items that appear on the page.

I want to encourage you to “think outside the text.” Wordless picture books can very often provide more natural opportunities for adults to sit back and remember that shared reading is about noticing new things, making observations, creating solutions, predicting what’s coming next, attending to details, and listening to each other.

Even if your “co-reader” is not yet able to read or speak! (Check out our guest interview with Chickadee Lit, and our downloadable DIY Wordless Picture Book!)

I recommend going through the “wh-questions” in your head to help guide you in getting creative with what to say, so, “who” is in the picture or “who” has one of these / “what” do we see or what do you think will happen / “when” have we been there before or when do we regularly do this activity / “where” have we been where this happens / “why” do we do this activity?

Many of these will end up being questions you answer yourself (depending on the age and stage of your young child), but getting into the habit of asking questions or making predictions from a very early age is a wonderful thing to do with your child.

I find it also helps us as adults get out of the cycle of asking our children to simply label “what’s this?” “what’s that?” – as I mentioned in my episode “Visual Supports: An Intro“ as well.

Ayelet: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest

The post A Surprising Way To Build Early Literacy Skills appeared first on Learn With Less.

This episode of Learn With Less focuses on the use of visual supports (pictures, photographs, text – in the environment) to assist in early development.

Below is a transcript of this episode’s “Developmental Thought,” an excerpt from the full episode. 

For an interactive musical family experience, please listen to the entire episode.

I mentioned last week in our episode, and in weeks past, that language learning happens through exposure, and through interaction.

Infants and toddlers who are learning to understand and express themselves through gestures and words are learning, essentially, about a system of symbols: that each object, person, action, idea, etc, has a specific set of sounds associated with it.

You say a word or a phrase, and as soon as it’s uttered – poof, it disappears! That’s why adding a visual – whether it’s an object you can touch, a photograph or a drawing – helps your young language learners. It adds a more concrete symbol of that “word” or of the experience of a word.

As humans, we are multi-sensory learners. Some of us learn best when we are aided by lots of visuals, more tactile experiences, etc. But giving your child the benefit of multiple ways to learn and understand can be very helpful.

Using visuals also supports language learning because it allows you, the caregiver, to highlight the concept that each word is representative of a thing, a person, a concept, a social norm or an idea.

Language is a set of symbols, and we find symbols everywhere in our lives – out in our communities when we see the “green man” who tells us to walk across the street, the “woman” who informs us which of us should enter the door to that toilet, or the “stop sign,” which tells us what to do in our cars.

Highlighting these symbols when we’re out and about is not only great for language learning, but also for the development of early literacy! On that note, highlighting letters by going on a letter hunt, reading alphabet books, or stacking (or destroying) alphabet block towers are great ways to engage with your young child when highlighting print.

You can see why visual supports can be helpful for young babies, as well as for older toddlers (or for that matter, adults!). They are helpful for pre-verbal or non-verbal children, as well as those who are starting to really acquire language.

All of us can benefit from visuals to help guide us through our daily life, both within routines at home or daycare or pre-school or work, and out in our communities. Sometimes visual aids can be helpful for rehearsing what will happen next, especially if they are new or less familiar experiences, or for helping to represent a transition that will soon be coming.

This practice has been used in the autism and other special needs communities for many years, and is a wonderful tool to help feisty toddlers of any developmental level with “self-regulation,” or that ability to manage impulses or emotions – which we all know is a struggle for any small child who is starting to learn that he can enact change on his world, and that he has his own opinions.

So let’s give our little ones lots of opportunities to succeed, by presenting information to them in lots of ways.

Ayelet: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest

The post Using Visual Supports For Early Learning appeared first on Learn With Less.

This is the introduction episode, so here, I’d like to tell you a bit about the origins of Learn With Less, and talk a bit about my mission.

In all future episodes, we get together to sing a few songs, discuss some ideas for play, and outline some insight about early development.

Whether you’re a parent or caregiver, you spend most time at work or at home, whether your baby is following a typical progression of development or not, this series is time for you to be together and to feel like you’re doing something good for and with your baby.

Each week you are encouraged and reminded to please follow your baby’s lead. The whole idea is to promote shared interactive experiences – so if you can’t get through the entirety of an episode while sitting in one place, that’s perfectly fine! You can always come back another time or another week!

I am a speech-language pathologist and I specialize in work with very young children, but this is not to be confused with “speech therapy.” This is, what I call, “family enrichment!” All suggested activities are meant to be enjoyed by your baby under close adult supervision.

There are some experiences in life that sort of “defy” language, that we think of as “larger” or “fuller” than what words can express. In Norwegian, there is a word, “koselig,” that is more like a concept. There is no direct translation – it’s been described to me as… a feeling. I asked a Norwegian friend of mine what her koselig is. She described it in the following way:

“Eating tacos on a Friday night in sweat pants with a glass of wine… Making cinnamon rolls… decorating for Christmas… Picking up coffee and taking a walk with a friend I haven’t seen for a long time.”

I asked her how family related to her concept of koselig, and she said,

“My son is not koselig. But it could be koselig to read a book to him. Or give him a bath, or have some quiet time with him in the morning.”

I think these days there is some kind of bizarre societal pressure to find this experience of parenthood to be a world of koselig, all the time… and there are moments when we succeed in creating this, but we know that the reality – for all of us, even those who heavily curate their social media profiles – is much different!

In this age of “over-information” and over-filled schedules, we have such limited time to devote to our families. Our time to learn how to even begin to become parents is almost as short as the time between our baby’s birth and the day we realize that little infant gets a lot more than we were giving him or her credit for.

There are only 18 summers between the beginning and end of childhood. There are a ton of books, a ton of websites, and most of us feel this enormous pressure to “get it right” and that we’re “doing it wrong.”

Not your mom, not your partner, not your neighbor, not the book that purports to. That is something that you and your child are going to have to figure out, again and again… pretty much every day – if you’re lucky, for the rest of your life! 

That is the enormous responsibility that we have as parents and caregivers. And those early experiences that we give our infants and toddlers are the ones that shape their experience of life, and of how they define closeness, comfort, and koselig.

So my aim here, really, is to try to distill some of the information that’s out there, to take some of the pressure off of parenting and caregiving for you, even for only as long as it takes to sit through listening to my voice. To make this experience a bit less overwhelming. I have no intention of being prescriptive.

This is not about those divisive topics that we all feel strongly about and tend to stand vehemently behind one side or the other. This is about how our infants and toddlers develop. Those universal nuggets about when and how our kids might be working on certain aspects of development. The science bit – the developmental research.

And really this is about the art of it – how do we support that? How do we learn to get down to their level, to see like they do, to access the world like our brains are learning as much as theirs are? I do NOT claim to have all the answers, or even to have a complete picture.

But the aim of my time with you is two-fold: to support your family’s understanding of early child development; and, to support your family’s interaction – the quality of the precious time you have together. Let’s try to get to the heart of things, to give ourselves and our children that warm feeling inside, and to do it artfully – you know, having a little fun.

Oh yeah, and who am I? My name is Ayelet Marinovich, and I’m what you might call an “early communication” expert. I’m a pediatric speech-language pathologist, a singer, a parent educator, a theater person, a storyteller, and also, just a mom. When my husband and I moved to a new country, I was 10 weeks pregnant and very focused on creating connections.

When my baby was born, I decided to combine my skills and my desire to create a safe, social, learning space for myself and my baby, and other caregiver-baby pairs. I started to devise a curriculum that was based on my own developmental knowledge, that of my friends and colleagues in early learning, a ton of developmental research, as well as information and experiences I integrated as a mother along the way. The weekly time I spent with the families in my early days as a mother was incredibly special, and amounts to my own definition of koselig.

Let me try to take out the prescriptive nature of “parenting advice” and instead supplant it with knowledge and ideas – helping you create your own moments of koselig.

Ayelet: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest

The post An Introduction to Early Development and Developmental Activities appeared first on Learn With Less.

On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet discusses the fact that infants and toddlers are learning “all at once” – learning in one developmental domain cannot be separated from learning in another! 

Below is a transcript of this week’s “Developmental Thought,” an excerpt from the full episode.

For additional information, music, play ideas and the complete interactive family experience, please listen to the entire episode.

I want to talk about the fact that development of vocal play and movement and conceptual learning and emotional bonding are all sort of happening simultaneously in activities like the one we just did.

We know that infants and toddlers engage in what’s called, “holistic learning.”

This means that although there are various areas of learning and development as we understand them (terms like cognitive development, communicative development, motor development, social/emotional development), these are all very much connected in the first three years of life.

Throughout this period, your child may focus on a certain type of skill or interest in one domain, (as in, one of those areas I just mentioned), but she processes all kinds of information pretty simultaneously. Each influences the other.

If you, as the adult, structure an activity looking for a particular outcome, you may very well actually miss out on your child’s larger “learning experience” – and therefore lose out on opportunities to keep her engaged.

This is why I always say at the beginning of my show, “follow your baby’s lead.” Remaining flexible allows us as adults to naturally observe our child’s interests, and helps maintain attention and engagements on both sides.

Humans learn when provided with love and support, and through exposure to new experiences. The more we can support their experimentation, the more information we allow them to give themselves.

So any time they study something with their eyes or mouth, anytime they pause to look around at something, any time we ask them a question and they take a moment before responding – they are integrating information: THIS is learning!

As adults, we’re used to expecting “learning” to look a certain way; however, for young children, especially those under the age of three years, learning often takes the form of very small steps towards mastery.

We must appreciate that their brains and bodies are growing in a way that we cannot always anticipate – they are making connections and experimenting with the ways their bodies move, how sounds and words fit together, how objects feel and move in space, and how they relate to others socially.

When we think of early learning this way, it incites us to think of our role as caregivers more as guides and supporters of learning than as instructors.

I want to encourage you, as much as you can, to resist the urge you may have to take your baby’s hand and bang it on the drum for her, or to hold her hands and clap for her. Instead, demonstrate to her visually, tap the beat on your body (or on her body), let her hear the words and rhythms, and engage in these kinds of activities many times in different ways (again, there’s that phrase I love so much: repetition with variation!)

Remember, we know that young children learn primarily through imitation and interaction. It will be very rewarding for you and for your little one to allow that moment when she does it herself to come naturally. Absent of any motoric challenges, your baby will learn to move the way she sees you do in her own time.

When you allow her that freedom to move on her own volition, you allow her to make those connections herself. This is very powerful for you( and sometimes takes great forethought and restraint), and also very empowering for your baby!

Ayelet: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest

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