What are your favorite, "must have" AVT toys for young children?

I recently responded to this question posed in the Hearing First Professional Learning Community and shared this reply.

I just opened a few of my therapy closets and here is what I saw in no particular order. I prefer traditional toys that are open-ended and use no batteries for young children. Preschool Toys and books for are often an easy find at a resale shop. Over the years many families have given me their must-have AVT toys that their child has outgrown and I passed them on to new Little Listeners.

• Buckets, cups, spoons for water or digging in styrofoam peanuts, colored rice…
• Early music instrument set - tambourine, drum…
• Jumbo cardboard blocks by Melissa and Doug
• Toys related to songs, nursery rhymes and storybooks
• Blankets for tents
• Tunnels or tents
• Beanie Babies and puppets
• Balls - all sizes
• Farm, zoo, pet shop toys 
• Wind Up toys
• Simple riding toys
• Wooden and cloth blocks
• Play food - play kitchen, store or restaurant
• Water play toys - from bath toys to  dishes for washing
• Fisher Price Little People Sets (vintage is best)
• Wooden beads (animals or vehicle) threading
• Stacking and Nesting Cup Sets
• Wooden puzzles
• Doll House
• Cars, trucks, buses, boats
• Basic train set with track
• Mr. Potato Head
• Play Dough
• Dress up clothes
• Tool set
• Tea set
• Babydoll/baby blankets, baby food/bottles, and diaper bag contents
• Books, books, books

AV Graduate Anthony Alfano Featured In Chicago Lighthouses On The Mag Mile

I am so excited to share that Anthony Alfano, one of my AV graduates is featured in Lighthouses on the Mag Mile, a public art display celebrating access and inclusion for people with disabilities from The Chicago Lighthouse Deaf-Blind Program . Fifty-one 6 foot lighthouse sculptures on North Michigan Avenue are catching the public’s eye and capture their hearts this summer. 

Anthony is pictured as King Cole the merry old soul. His chair became his throne as he calls for his pipe, bowl and fiddlers three. Rich Green’s illustrations on the lighthouse will be soon to be published book, Chicago Treasure that features photos of children from all over Chicago in leading roles of classic fairy tales, nursery rhymes and folk tales. Proceeds from sales will be donated to The Chicago Lighthouse for People who are Blind or Visually Impaired, and Access Living.

Remember What I Heard.

This drawing may not look like much to you but it is the result of a Little Listener hearing an open set story, remembering what he heard then illustrating the story elements. 

Love how he held what the details in his auditory memory while multitasking to remember all the elements, draw and then describe and retell the story.

FREE Guide to Communication Milestones from LinguiSystems®

Audiologists and speech language pathologists must know and understand typical communication behaviors and development milestones across multiple domains.

 LinguiSystems® generously offers the popular reference  Guide to Communication Milestones as a free download and is available for printing.

Click HERE!

Summer Pool and Water Fun - Auditory Verbal Therapy

Summer and the swimming go hand in hand for many families with young children. The opportunity for maximizingListening and Spoken Language (LSL) learning is immense and cumulative for water-loving families over an entire summer. Early in June, I often coach parents/caregivers and we brainstorm and plan together LSL goals to target while they are enjoying the pool and related routines. The child’s age and goals dictate the activities and strategies. I help families understand and take advantage of water-resistant hearing technology and related gear/equipment.

For home-based LSL auditory verbal intervention the backyard plastic pool is equally as effective as play-based clinic therapy with a container of water and pool themed manipulatives or in my case, I am fortunate to have a Fisher Price Little People pool.

 A few of the pool related LSL vocabulary themed areas I’ve targeted with families involve:

• Packing a bag to go to the pool or grabbing a suit, towel, and toys for the backyard
• What’s goes in the bag or what do we need for our pool? (Towels, sunscreen, hats, shovels… )
• Putting on a swimsuit or dressing a doll (The straps go over your shoulders.)
• Rubbing sunscreen on your toes vs. nose. Body parts vocabulary expansion - forehead, cheeks…
• The weather –> sunny, too hot, cloudy, bright, humid, breezy
• The water–> warm/cool; deep/shallow; sink/float; above, below or under
• Pool/ sand toys –> and related activities (splashing, digging, castles…)
• Pool snacks or a picnic lunch –> popsicles, ice cream sandwiches...
• Swimsuit, bathing suit, bikini, trunks…
• Barefoot –> shoes, sandals, flipflops, water shoes
• Pool related words/phrases that sound similar to little listeners such as – sun, sunny, sunscreen, sunburn, suntan, sunglasses…
• Old MacDonald had a pool E I E I O. And in that pool her had a toy boat.. with a ppppp…
• Motor Boat, Motor Boat Song ( goes so fast, slow, goes around and around…)

Maisy’s Pool and Maisy Goes Swimming by Lucy Cousins

Fisher Price Little People Pool/Mattel Barbie Pool

Dave Sindrey’s pool/beach themed murals, games, and materials in The Listening Room

VocAB Scenes app by Advanced Bionics, LLC

Speecharoo Funny Directions

Pool fun is great entries in an Experience Book

What summer LSL ideas can you share?