I am following up on the last posting about therapy materials and how we should approach them creatively rather than within a narrow context. I want to introduce the expertise of Ms. Elbea Stonier for this blog posting. Ms. Stonier is a colleague and an Assistant Clinical Professor in the MS-MEDSLP Program at Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions, Center for Communication Disorders. I call Ms. Stonier one of our “Child Whisperers”. She has wonderful instincts, skills, experience, and expertise as a master clinician in speech-language pathology working with the pediatric population. I learn something every time I observe her working. Ms. Stonier’s thoughts about therapy materials are below. Enjoy and learn.

“What do young children actually do when they aren’t being directed or corrected by an adult? A lot of the time they aren’t even interested in toys – they’re too busy touching and opening everything they can get their hands on. This is the kind of play that comes most naturally to young children but is often overlooked by adults who are boring and already know everything. Adults typically select toys with an adult perspective in mind, meaning we are more likely to choose it for what we think it should be used for rather than how it will help further the child’s existing curiosities and interests in play, which can lead to stressful and ineffective therapy sessions. Designing therapy activities that capitalize on or enhance a child’s play skills gets easier with practice, but will be easier if approached intentionally. Try these tips to get started: 

1. Choose a toy/object that you might use in therapy and make a list of what the toy/object is and what it does/is for, but with wrong answers only. Try to make a list of at least five different names/uses for each toy or object you want to use.      For example:
   • Plastic food: These are cannonballs, they’re for knocking down castle walls. 
   • Tea cups: These are snowman shapers, they’re for scooping and packing snow to build snowmen. 
   • Legos: These are beans, they’re for growing a beanstalk.
2. Use materials that are familiar, but not usually available to kids. Things like rolls of tape, empty makeup containers, or costume jewelry are interesting to explore but not considered toys. The combination of a recognizable but still novel can lead to some great play and exploration. 
3. Lastly, watch your young clients as they play and interact to remind yourself of what kids are still learning about their worlds, and then try not to take curiosity for granted.”

You can contact Ms. Stonier at: elbea.stonier@rm.edu