Beneficial Thinking

Mr. Potato Head by Playskool

Don't underestimate the power of learning through play. I bought Mr. Potato Head two weeks ago for my son, who has speech problems. Although he knew the body parts, he was only saying a few of them. Since we have started "playing" with Mr. Potato Head, he has started saying mouth, feet, arm, nose, ear, and eyes. It's amazing the new things kids can learn with new toys!

Fridge Phonics: Magnet Alphabet Set from LeapFrog

Every Thursday my son goes to speech therapy (we think he has Apraxia). This week the therapist had the Fridge Phonics: Magnet Alphabet Set in her office and Ben showed interest in it, so she gave it a shot. While he drew, the therapist would put in a letter (B, for example), the toy would play a little tune (such as, "every letter makes a sound, b says buh") and he'd actually say the sound, no teeth pulling necessary. He did SO well, our BEST therapy session yet! So I broke down and bought one for home today so that we could do some work at home. Hopefully he'll work with it at home too, I'll keep you posted. Of course we are still practicing all the words he's already saying, focusing on trying to improve the two-syllable words like bubble (we blow lots of bubbles) and balloon (The Yellow Balloon by Charlotte Dematons). But every new word he says, my heart does a little pitter-patter.