Tuesday Talks!

Don't Wait Until Kindergarten: How Early Intervention Changes Lives

• Dr. Tiffany • Season 3 • Episode 3

Share episode

Send us your thoughts about this week's episode!

Early intervention can change the trajectory of a child's life by addressing developmental concerns before they compound and affect a child's academic, social, and emotional wellbeing.

• Developmental milestones serve as guideposts for tracking a child's progress from ages 2-5
• By age 2, children should use simple two-word phrases and be understood about 50% of the time
• Age 3 milestones include longer sentences, group play, and blossoming imagination
• By age 4, children typically recognize colors and numbers and tell simple stories
• Age 5 milestones include clear speech, counting objects, and following multi-step directions
• If concerns arise, parents should trust their instincts and seek free evaluations through early intervention programs
• Children who receive speech therapy before age 3 are twice as likely to reach age-level skills by kindergarten
• Waiting until kindergarten often means more intensive, longer-lasting services and potential academic struggles
• Parents can support development through daily reading, narrating activities, and maintaining routines
• Teachers should use visual schedules, model behaviors, and maintain open communication with families

Every small step forward is a really big step for a child. Be sure to share this episode and join me next week for a brand new Tuesday Talks.


Tuesday Talks—Real conversations sparking real change in education.

New episodes every Tuesday!

Links to all episodes ➡️ https://linktr.ee/drtiffanyslp
Like, comment, subscribe & share!

Connect with us via email at info@ourwordsmatterllc.com!

Tuesday Talks is hosted by Dr. Tiffany. She has been a Speech/Language Pathologist for 20 years. She's also a speaker and educational consultant. Dr. Tiffany hosts webinars and in-person workshops for teachers and parents.

Book Dr. Tiffany as a speaker for your teachers, parent groups and professional development sessions! Our Words Matter Consulting

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Tuesday Talks, your educational podcast, helping parents become strong advocates for their kids and teachers to make big impacts in the classroom. Here we go. Hey, welcome back. Welcome back for another Tuesday Talks. I hope that you have been hitting subscribe, setting your notifications, downloading episodes, sharing episodes, all the things, because in my personal opinion, I think we have set a tone for this third season of Tuesday Talks and I've had some amazing episodes. So be sure to go ahead, share, like, subscribe all that fun social media stuff and then let's dive right in.

Speaker 1:

So today I want to talk about a topic that truly can change the course of a child's life. You know, tuesday Talks was created out of my passion for education, for parent engagement, for building up teacher confidence and just enhancing all the things that go into the child's success. Because that's why anyone is interested in education is because we want to see kids make successful choices, decisions, and if we're able to do things that can enhance their success, why not? So early intervention is an area that's very much a passion for me. You might be thinking early intervention, what is that? We're talking about? Schooling that happens before a kid becomes late, which is age five in most states, where they start kindergarten. So early intervention would be daycare centers, head Start programs, in-home daycare, state-funded evaluations and therapies and services, district-level services. So all of those things are under that umbrella of early intervention, and I've worked with so many toddlers over my career and seen a tremendous amount of growth when early intervention is put in place. The difference between, you know, just keeping a kid looking at TV all day versus giving them something to spark their mind, things that they can touch, can feel, other kids they can play with to build up social skills, all of those things that prep them to get ready for the first day of kindergarten, which we know has changed dramatically since maybe, if you're my age, we're in kindergarten and no longer going there to learn shapes and colors. They need to come in with a solid level of not only academic skills but also social, emotional skills, attention skills. All of those things help build a more successful start to school, and early intervention is the place where all of that can happen, and so the growth that I've seen has just been mind blowing, and I don't know if a lot of people realize but the earlier a child receives support for developmental either challenges or delays that they might have, the stronger their long-term outcomes are. So when we think about waiting and hoping that a kid will catch up, often that means that we're missing that window where progress can come more naturally.

Speaker 1:

And what I've learned over the years is that most parents just aren't aware of what we call, in education and in pediatric medicine, developmental milestones. This term refers to markers throughout development that your child should be hitting at different ages. These milestones start at birth, and you might be thinking what milestones can a baby meet? There are so many. What milestones can a baby meet? There are so many, from when a baby starts to look at objects that are held in front of them and tracking it with their eyes, to when they start to babble. All the goo-goo-ga-ga sounds cute, but that's a milestone that is indicative of future communication and talking skills. Those milestones also look at when they can hold up their head on their own during tummy time on the floor, to when they can use a little chubby fingers to pick up small objects like a little Cheerio to put into their mouth, to when they start crawling and walking.

Speaker 1:

So each time you take your child to the pediatrician for their well, baby visits is sometimes what they're referred to You're likely given some paperwork to fill out. It might be digital on the iPad now, but while you're waiting in the waiting room, before you go back to see the pediatrician, you're being asked a bunch of questions about things your baby can do, and those well, baby visits go through toddler age. So all of those questions that they're asking you on the form or the iPad, those are all tied to developmental milestones. All of them and what you mark on those documents gives your pediatrician an idea of whether your kid is behind. I'm using air quotes here because there's always that range. It's not some magical thing that happens when a child turns two and on their second birthday they start doing those two-year-old milestones. It doesn't work that way. So there's a range. So those forms tell your doctor whether your child's behind, they're on track or if they're ahead.

Speaker 1:

So today we're going to talk about developmental milestones between ages two and five, what parents should do if they're concerned, what daycare centers and preschools can do if they're noticing something, because a lot of times teachers don't know. Sometimes a child's challenges can be very subtle and they get overlooked even by the teacher at the daycare, in the preschool classroom. We're also gonna talk about how early intervention services get started, the types of services that are available, what happens if support comes too late, and what are some practical strategies for both parents and teachers. So let's go ahead and jump right in. So, when it comes to developmental milestones, think of them as guideposts. Right, these aren't strict deadlines. Like I said, when your child hits a certain age, it's not this magic thing that happens. And now they have met all of the milestones for that age. Each child is going to develop at their own pace and these markers help us notice when more support might be needed. So this is especially important. When more support might be needed. So this is especially important If you only have one kid.

Speaker 1:

If it's your first child, you don't really have anything to compare it to, right? So many times I have worked in schools and seen parents bring their five-year-olds in for their first day of kindergarten. The child isn't talking. The child doesn't have joint attention, which is something that refers to being able to attend, focus their attention on something with a peer or another adult. They aren't engaging with auditory input, which means when the teacher's talking to them, they're not able to focus and listen and engage. And by that point, at age five, we are way behind where we should be. So now they're responsible your child's responsible for learning kindergarten content but also building up all these skills that they should have been developing along the way.

Speaker 1:

And for every form you fill out at the pediatrician's office, maybe they pick up on it, maybe they don't. Some parents are I've seen it and experienced it they're ashamed, so they mark whatever they want on those forms. Go back to the doctor's office like, oh, he's just shy, you know he doesn't really like to talk to strangers. Oh, yeah, he's doing all the things and you're hoping that it's going to get better and it doesn't. And then you think that the kindergarten teacher is going to be able to miraculously make things come to life and we've missed a significant chunk of time to be able to get your kid caught up. So when we talk about these guideposts or these developmental milestones, they're markers. They're not definitive lines in the sand, but it does give us a moment to fine tune our spidey senses, as they call it. Like, okay, this isn't developing yet, let me see if it comes. And if it doesn't, then we'll talk about what to do then.

Speaker 1:

But at two years of age so if you have a two-year-old, these kids are usually able to put together simple two-word phrases like more cookies, want juice simple two-word phrases. You should be able to understand about 50% of what they're saying. As a speech therapist, that is such an important milestone that I give to parents that by age two you should be able to understand 50 percent of what your kid is saying, and not you putting it together in your mind like, oh, their sounds and what they were saying wasn't correct, but I figured out what they were saying. No, no, no. You should be able to clearly understand at least 50 percent of what your kid should be saying at age two. Understand at least 50% of what your kid should be saying at age two.

Speaker 1:

At age two, they should also be able to follow some simple two-step directions like get your jacket and come to the couch or get your shoes and sit down just a simple two-step direction. Physically speaking, they should be able to walk up and down stairs with little to some support and they should really be engaging in some of that imitative play. So when you take a car or a truck and you, you know, push it across the floor and make it fly into the air and it becomes magical, you know, you should see your kids start to do some of those types of things. It's abstract, it's imaginative and it just is giving you a glimpse into you know how they're interacting with their world. Okay, so by age three your child should start hearing and speaking longer sentences now, maybe three to four words at a time. So those two word phrases should be growing into longer sentences. They should begin engaging in group play with other peers, maybe climbing on things whether it's the couch, outdoor equipment more confidently, meaning they're not so wobbly. Now they should have been walking for a good period of time and so now they should feel more confident in their standing, climbing those gross motor abilities. And this is when you really see their imaginations blossom. This is when they're putting on the costumes and pretending to be a superhero or a princess or a doctor, whatever they're watching on TV or seeing at home with family members. So that's all.

Speaker 1:

By age three, by age four, kids should be able to tell you a simple story, recognize colors and numbers, should be able to point to something and say what color is that, and they should be able to tell you. Should be able to point to a number and then be able to tell you that's the number two. Now we're not talking about you know 127. That's something that's way more advanced. But numbers one through 10, your child should be able to recognize those when you point to them. Or if you point to a color, you say you know, this is purple, this is blue, now tell me what this one is. Or you ask them to, you know, identify a number on a billboard or something on a screen in the car, different things that you can try to incorporate to see if they're able to recognize those things. Also, they should be able to start hop on one foot. Now we're seeing like the shifting, the balancing. Also, they should be able to do a little bit more pretend play. We should see it elevate. Maybe now they are stacking up their little figurines and creating some small, simple scene with them, based on something that they watched on TV or something that they've heard in a book. So all those things.

Speaker 1:

By age four, by age five, most children can speak clearly enough for strangers to understand them. They can count 10 or more items. They can follow multi-step directions, even start to grasp some time concepts, simple ones. Like you know, tomorrow we're going to do this and them understanding that activity you're saying is not going to happen right now and stay, but it's going to happen tomorrow, in the future, or to talk about yesterday, yesterday we went here and then understand that that's referring to the past, because by age five, where we talked about that school age, and so now they're about to start kindergarten, where a lot of what I just named is going to be where the rubber meets the road. Can strangers understand them when they speak? Are they counting multiple items? Are they following multi-step directions? Are they gras multiple items? Are they following multi-step directions? Are they grasping concepts so that they understand that classroom schedule? All those things come into place. You can see how it builds on each other.

Speaker 1:

So if your child or a child in your care, if your daycare teacher or preschool teacher isn't meeting these milestones, it doesn't automatically mean something's wrong, remember. It just means we need to start paying a little bit more attention to see if things improve, because some kids take a little bit more time developing and that's totally fine. So if you're a parent and you're concerned, you're hearing those milestones, you're like, okay, my kid isn't doing those things. Let me say this clearly Trust your gut. You are the expert of your child. If something feels off, maybe your child just isn't talking as much as they should be, maybe they're not responding to their name, maybe they're struggling with play.

Speaker 1:

It's okay to ask questions. Go to your child's daycare teacher, to their preschool teacher, ask questions, write down what you're noticing. Write down specific examples. He talks and I can't understand what he's saying a lot of the time. Go to the park. He doesn't want to play with other kids. Noting some things down, that doesn't automatically mean oh goodness, there's something wrong and now we need to. You know, sound off all the alarms. It's just your observations. You share them with your child's teacher, share them with their pediatrician, get some insight. What do other patients that you see around the same age, what are they doing To the teacher? What are some other kids in the class doing that are around my kid's same age? And here's the good news Evaluations, if the concerns are valid, are free through your local early intervention program. So under federal law, every child under the age of three can be referred and for children age three to five, your local school district can provide the evaluation. So we're going to talk a little bit more about that coming up.

Speaker 1:

But if your child's at a preschool or a daycare center. If you're in that setting as the teacher, then there are things that you can do as well. So you are often the first to notice. Right, you might have a parent who this is their first kid they don't have anything to compare them to you being in the classroom with kids all the time, you can have that kind of comparison. So most times you're the first to notice a child's development looking different from their peers. So what can you do? Document what you see. Give some examples of what you're documenting. You know Derek doesn't use words when he's playing. Or you know Sophia has trouble climbing the stairs. Share those concerns with parents in a really supportive way. It's really important not to label the child. He's behind, he's slow, he's not doing. Base your comments on the observations and try to avoid labels. Provide the parent with resources like a phone number.

Speaker 1:

Every daycare, in my personal opinion, should have the number to the local early intervention office or information about child find programs. That's a term that you can Google right now or when you have a moment. Child find refers to those early intervention services that districts and schools can provide. And also, if you're in that daycare setting as a teacher partner with parents to monitor progress. Give some things for parents to be on the lookout for at home. Hey, see if he's able to do this. Give them some simple things to implement. Parents are busy. What we don't have time to do is to sit down and do this whole structured activity sometimes. But we can implement things. Hey, next time you're at the grocery store, point to a number and see if your kid can tell you what that number is. When you are going upstairs to either your apartment or inside your house, see how much support they need to go up the steps. Little things like that are good suggestions you can give to parents so that they can now start to observe outside of the educational setting. Sometimes just bringing it to the parents' attention is what helps them take any necessary next steps. And as the teacher, you are very much the authority figure for the parents. So giving your observations, it means a lot. So make sure that you're using the power that comes with the authority that you have as the daycare teacher, of the authority that you have as the daycare teacher.

Speaker 1:

So early interventions, early intervention services that process is not quick. It's not something that happens overnight. That's why I always say when you're concerned, mention the concerns Because by the time that you get to the point where you are convinced that there is an issue, there's a delay, there's a challenge. Where you are convinced that there is an issue, there's a delay, there's a challenge, the process to get early intervention services can take a span of a couple of months. Sometimes there's a waiting list because districts, counties, are so in need of evaluators, therapists, that they might not have somebody who can get out to you in your home or to that daycare for a while and you might end up on a waiting list and you might be there for a while. So when you notice something, say something. When you see a concern, mention it to someone the pediatrician, the teacher, maybe. You call the child find office, go ahead and get it on the radar of someone who can help you get intervention services up and started. So a lot of times parents can make the referrals themselves by contacting again the pediatrician or your local early intervention or child find program Teachers in daycares can provide that encouragement that parents need to ask for an evaluation.

Speaker 1:

Sometimes it can be intimidating to go into these spaces and not really know what you're talking about or feel that way, and it can feel like that's not something you should ask for unless they offer it. If they think something's wrong based on the concerns that you share, a lot of times the thought is they'll say okay, yeah, let's evaluate your kids Again, back to the amount of people that they have to provide the services that you know that they need. In these child find programs, sometimes decisions are made based off staff and staffing shortages, and so something may need to be glaringly wrong before a local district or a child find agency will say, yes, we need to evaluate those kids that are right on the borderline. Maybe, maybe not, and it really could be in their best interest if they had an evaluation to dig a little bit deeper. Those are the kids that usually are kind of pushed aside because there are kids out there with really complex needs, and if your kid isn't one of those, sometimes they can get bumped down into the line. But that's why it's important for you to use your advocacy skills as your child's first parent, your child's expert, your child's advocate to say, hey, I really want this to be looked at. Advocate to say, hey, I really want this to be looked at Through the public school system.

Speaker 1:

That child find program is what can identify kids who may need services starting at age three. So two to three, you're looking at those early intervention services. Three and up, you're looking for those child finding services. If the evaluation shows that there's a need, then you move into something called an individualized family service plan and that is for kids three and under and if your kid is three and up then they can qualify for an IEP, which we talked about in past episodes.

Speaker 1:

Either way it goes, I've talked to so many parents who say they don't want their kids to be labeled, and I understand that because a label can have a negative connotation. You can feel like it follows them. Someone's going to prejudge your kid just because they have received, you know, early intervention services in the past and maybe that's true. But then that's when you come in as the parent to say, hey, that was something we worked through. Parent, to say hey, that was something we worked through and now they're good to go, help dispel whatever you think that label is communicating to kids who, to parents who are just getting to know your child, but don't have your child go without services that they need just because you don't want a label. That's my personal stance. I know everybody has their own stance on that, but I'm more aligned with figure out what's wrong, do what you can to course correct and then see what comes of it. If the services were there and in place and everything's now on track, then no harm, no foul, everything's good and you can work to dispel whatever preconceived notions the next teacher has knowing that your kid got early intervention services. But a lot of times teachers see that as a positive, like okay, there have been people who have seen that there are challenges. Mom, dad, grandma, uncle were proactive in getting this kid the services they need, and now I know that they're a reliable second set of eyes for me because they recognize something was wrong in the past. And and now I know that they're a reliable second set of eyes for me because they recognize something was wrong in the past, and so now I know that they're in tune with what should be going on and I can freely have a conversation with maybe some areas of weakness that I'm noticing. That's how the teacher is usually feeling.

Speaker 1:

Early intervention services are wide ranging and really designed to meet the needs of the child where they are. So these types of services that you can get through early intervention, going to be speech therapy, like myself, for communication and language delays. Occupational therapy, which focuses on building up fine motor skills, self-help abilities, sensory regulation. Physical therapy is also a service, and that supports movement, balance coordination. Special instruction, which is early childhood education that's tailored to developmental needs, family training and counseling. So parents have tools to help at home. A lot of these early intervention programs have that family component built in. So if your child does qualify and that service provider comes to your home, they're going to be giving you resources to use with your child in between their visits, which is amazing, because everything's not going to fix itself in one session with a speech therapist, occupational therapist, a special instruction teacher. That just is not possible. There's going to have to be things that happen outside of the times with those professionals, and so embedded in these early intervention programs are family training and some counseling as well.

Speaker 1:

And even assistive technology can be a part of those early intervention services, like communication devices. So if you have a child that's not speaking and it's determined that at that point in time they just do not have the speaking skills, a device that looks like an iPad sometimes it looks like more of a chunkier device can be given to the child so that they can press buttons to speak for them, because maybe they have the cognitive skills there to put together a thought. They just don't have the communicative skills to actually get it out, and so assistive technology can also be a service that is offered and extended so that your child can have a means to communicate, because that is very important. These services are often provided right in your home the daycare setting or the preschool so you won't have to rearrange your whole schedule to get a child to an office that's a 20-minute drive away from your house. These services, since they're being evaluated through a local agency, a local in your district then these service providers are going to come into your home. They're going to come into your kid's daycare. They're going to come to their child's preschool. Maybe that daycare or that preschool already has those specialized services there, and they come once or twice a week and your kid is already there, so they're getting what they need during their day, and then you can extend what they've worked on at home afterwards.

Speaker 1:

It really does matter that you don't wait. The part that really drives it home for me is when intervention is delayed. Children often face bigger challenges later, so again it just starts stacking on each other. It does If they're delayed and they're not catching up, that compounds. And now they're supposed to be hitting the next milestones. They're not meeting those. It's just the problem is just getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and I know we all want our kids to thrive and be successful. I get it, but sometimes kids need intervention to be able to do that. And so when you wait, you can really impact the trajectory of your kids' academic, social, emotional, physical development. And so it really is on our part as parents to be that advocate for a kid versus holding them back from services that they might need. And same for teachers. We need to be on the front line saying hey, something isn't developing the way that it should be, we need to look into this, and if there's nothing there, then fine. But take your concerns to a person who has the expertise to make that decision. Don't sit back and rely on knowledge that you may or may not have to make that type of determination. There are professionals out there who have received the education that it takes to be able to say, yes, something is going on here and we should really look into it, or no, I think we're good. So when we are really talking about that early support, it is powerful support, and the reason why is because research shows that kids who receive, for example, speech therapy because that's my area of expertise before age three, they are twice as likely to reach age level communication skills by kindergarten, compared to children who didn't get the support until later.

Speaker 1:

So you're hearing your child speak and you're like I don't really know what they're saying. It's funny, y'all laugh. Did y'all hear what he said? No way I can understand. It's cute until it's not. It's cute until it's funny, y'all laugh. Did y'all hear what he said? Nobody can understand. It's cute until it's not. It's cute until it's not. So do something about it. I've seen it happen so many times I can't even count. But it's cute until it's not. It's cute until they get into kindergarten and now they're being asked to sound out words and they can't make those sounds or they make them incorrectly, and now they're learning to spell the way that they speak. Then it's not cute anymore. Now the laughing stops because now the rubber has met the road.

Speaker 1:

So if we can get ahead of it, why wouldn't we? Why wouldn't we? Why wouldn't we? Why wouldn't we? So, on the flip side, children who aren't identified until kindergarten or first grade. They may need more intensive, longer lasting services and they're also at risk for academic struggles, behavioral challenges and even some longer term issues like lower graduation rates. Because when you're playing catch up on these developmental milestones, all the things that we talked about our kids should be doing at age two, three, four and five. If they don't have those skills when they get into kindergarten classroom now, they're expected to learn and produce knowledge that they've gained, but they can't do that because they're still learning things that they should have learned earlier on in life. So now that academic struggle turns into a behavioral challenge, I don't know what Miss Jackson is talking about in front of the classroom. I'm not able to answer her questions. So I'm going to act out. I'm going to be distracted by all the colorful things on the walls. I'm going to tap my friend and try to play with them. I'm going to be wiggly all on the carpet and not be able to focus during, you know, book reading time. So it just it stacks. That's what one takeaway that I really want everybody to have is that it just compounds. It does not become this like thing that just magically goes away.

Speaker 1:

Some of the strategies at home that parents can do every day to help their kids. I'm a huge proponent of reading and talking to your child daily. Narrate their life, if you have a one, two, three-year-old. Narrate what you're doing every day. You do the same routine, probably. They get dressed in the morning, they eat breakfast, come home, take a shower those routine-based activities. Narrate what you're doing Now. We're putting your sock on. Let's get your shoes one foot, two feet, arms up. We're putting your shirt on. You are planting seeds of vocabulary. You are connecting meaning to what you're doing. So many skills are being built just in those everyday routines.

Speaker 1:

So narrating what you're doing and then questions instead of just talking at your kids stop doing that. Why would you do that? Talk to them them, ask them questions, ask them about their environment and encourage them to respond. If they're not able to respond, maybe you reword your question. Maybe ask a little more simply. Maybe you take what do you want for dinner to a yes no question. Do you want chicken, nuggets or meatballs for dinner? Maybe give it multiple choice. Maybe you ask do you want meatballs? And they tell you yes or no. So gauge what they're able to do and then make some of those adjustments.

Speaker 1:

Songs, rhyming they're fun, but they are so language rich and work on memory. So we're singing those nursery rhymes and it's cute and it's fun. Your child starts to say it back to you. They're storing that in long-term memory and that is an important skill, as we know, once they get into school to be able to store what they learned today and hold on to it so they can apply it tomorrow. Using play blocks, puzzles, outdoor activities those all build up motor skills, creativity, social skills. Take them to the library they have free book reading, play groups at the playground. Get them around kids that are about their same age as much as possible so that they can start to develop those social skills.

Speaker 1:

How do they resolve conflict? You've heard me talk about that many times on here. That's something that older kids work on. But the kid who decides to bite somebody because they didn't like what they were doing, that's not going to be appropriate conflicts resolution as they get older, the one who just hauls off and whacks the other kids because they don't like what they did, that's not appropriate conflict resolution. And if we don't get that in check when they're smaller, then once they get older it leads to. You know more severe consequences and you don't know how your kid is going to interact with other kids unless you ding, ding, get them around other kids.

Speaker 1:

So that's why that's very important keeping routines as predictable as possible so kids know what to expect. That's when they really thrive. I know when I get up in the morning I'm going to brush my teeth first and then I'm going to go eat breakfast. Whatever your routine is and I know day to day things can change, but keeping a routine helps kids know what to expect. That same routine is built in to kindergarten. So once they get started in kindergarten they're gonna have a classroom routine and if they already are in the groove of following a routine, learning a new one is not gonna be that challenging. But at home, if every day is completely different, they don't know what to expect, what time to go to bed, they don't know or expect what time they're gonna sit down and eat. Then, when they get into school and the teacher is trying to set a routine, it's going to be very hard for them to latch on to that because they're used to things changing every time, every day, modeling social interactions.

Speaker 1:

I'm a big proponent of modeling, role playing. So if your child is struggling with something like sharing, then show them Want to share. Maybe you and your spouse, your partner, you model that oh I have something to drink, hey dad, would you like something too? Pour something in dad's cup. Let them share. Give half of your sandwich. Many different ways to show sharing, but modeling those types of social interactions and being intentional and mindful of it is really important.

Speaker 1:

Your kids are watching, you know. You've heard your kids say something that you mentioned many days ago and then all of a sudden they just blurt it out. They're always listening, even when it seems like they're not. So if they're going to be listening, have them absorb some good stuff too. Have them absorb some good stuff too. I want to just mention that consistency is the key. Perfection is not. If you can't get that routine down perfectly, just being consistent with just one or two things throughout the day will be impactful. If you can't get to the library play group every Saturday, that's fine. We're not looking for perfection, but consistency is the key.

Speaker 1:

For teachers and daycare providers, there are a lot of strategies that you all can use to make a difference as well. So visuals, a structured routine to help kids anticipate what's coming next If you go into a daycare or preschool and they don't have some type of visual schedule? Parents please ask questions because three four-year-olds, they're not reading, so they need pictures to show. A playground represents recess. Whatever they do for lunch, if it's a paper bag or a lunchbox or just a piece of fruit, that picture can symbolize lunch. They're not able to read a written schedule, so they need those visuals around the classroom. Teachers also, breaking up directions into simple, manageable steps not just standing at the front of the class blurting some two, three-step direction out to kids, but actually breaking it down into smaller steps, especially if you see them struggling be very helpful. Modeling those behaviors, whether it's language sharing or problem solving, being a good model for the kids in the classroom.

Speaker 1:

The daycare center is going to be very important. Repetition is your friend because we know kids learn through practice and repeated practice builds up skills. So that should be happening in the daycare or the preschool. And, most importantly, keep communication open with family. Collaboration really ensures that everybody's on the same page. Things should not happen in silos, meaning what's going on at home stays at home and what's going on at school daycare stays at daycare.

Speaker 1:

Get to know your daycare teacher. Get to know your kid's preschool teacher. Talk to them about youcare stays at daycare. Get to know your daycare teacher. Get to know your kid's preschool teacher. Talk to them about you know, last night at dinner was such a struggle because it's just when you anything just throw in a tantrum and maybe that teacher or that daycare teacher can provide you with some strategies to maybe help tomorrow night's dinner time not be as animated I'll use that word word. So talking to them about some of the things that are occurring at home gives them insight to home life and then it also opens up the opportunity for them to share some strategies with you.

Speaker 1:

Conversely, you wouldn't want your daycare teacher or your son's preschool teacher to not tell you anything that's happening at school. Right, you would feel some kind of way. So, the way that you want them to free flow information to you about what's happening throughout your child's day, you should be giving that same information back, because that collaboration it really does enhance everything that's going on in both places daycare, preschool and home. So today we covered a lot Miles Sonsuash for what to do if you're concerned, how daycare center and schools can help, how services can get't. Don't wait. If you're concerned, ask questions. If you're a teacher or a caregiver, start the conversation. You have some agency there. Use it. Early intervention doesn't just help kids, it empowers families, it confidence and it really does set kids up for success in school and beyond.

Speaker 1:

So I hope that you found this information tonight helpful. Share with a friend, a parent, a teacher, anyone who could use this information. If you have friends that have toddlers, if you have co-workers who have toddlers, share this episode with them. Be sure to spread the knowledge, because then that is how we impact change. So don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss next week's episode. And remember every small step forward is a really big step for a child. Remember, like, share, subscribe, follow all the things on social media. With that, I will see you next week. Be sure to share this episode and join me next week for a brand new tuesday talks, see ya.