Key to Language Success

By Lisa Kovacs, H&V Headquarters, FL3 Center Director

Parents are a child’s first teacher and children learn the most from the people who know them best. The interactions parents have with their children every day offer frequent learning opportunities. Children generalize learned skills when they are embedded into everyday routines, such as mealtime, bath time, bedtime, and play. Parent involvement is truly the key to language success.

In 2020, Hands & Voices, through the Family Leadership in Language and Learning Center (FL3) Scientific Language and Literacy Advisory Board, created a library of Parent Tip Sheets for parents and caretakers of children who are deaf or hard of hearing (d/hh). Each Tip Sheet briefly describes the developmental process of infants and toddlers post-identified hearing condition for cognitive, social, emotional, language (semantics, syntax-morphology, pragmatics, phonology –auditory and visual), pre-literacy and literacy development.

The Tip Sheets provide suggestions for parents and caretakers, for fun, everyday activities to enhance their child’s development. Hands & Voices is a parent-led organization that understands firsthand that today more than ever, families lead remarkably busy lives. Families benefit from tools to assist them with how to embed language development activities in their normal daily routines as a family.

Hands & Voices FL3 Center has developed a Family Activity Plan to accompany the Parent Tip Sheets. This Activity Plan has been added to the back of each Tip Sheet. We encourage families to look for language opportunities during everyday moments:  morning wake-up, mealtimes, story time, playing outside, getting ready for bed, bath-time, and all kinds of play. Considering every day moments helps parents think of their role in supporting their child’s language development in a more holistic and manageable context.

Parents can also use the Tip Sheets and the new Family Activity Plan to write notes and jot down questions for their Early Intervention provider and other professionals on their team. Parents, hang these on your refrigerator to remind you to include learning in your child’s day. Have fun!

Parents, you’ve got this!   ~

Ed.Note: The Tips Sheets with the new Family Activity Guide on the back are free to download here: https://handsandvoices.org/fl3/topics/tipsheets.html or use the QR code below.