How Toddlers Learn To Listen: Part 2

Welcome back, new moms!

In today's episode, we're diving deeper into one of the essential skills for toddlers: LISTENING.

As we know, mastering this skill takes time, but fear not, we're here to guide you through it.

Every parent wants their toddler to listen - to understand, right?

Are there any secrets to helping your toddler develop these listening skills?

Yes there are ... and we begin to peel back the layers.

So be a good listener and let me know if you have any questions.

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Transcript

Erin: 0:00

critical those first three to five years at home with you, that your babies and your toddlers really are experiencing. And. Engaging with that environment. And so I just want to put a word of caution here because I think both parents and many, many early educational professionals. I make a mistake by emphasizing the wrong kinds of words. And what I mean by this is that we might. Hello and welcome to Talking Toddlers, where I share more than just tips and tricks on how to reduce tantrums or build your toddler's vocabulary. We're going to cover all of that, but here, our goal is to develop clarity, because in this modern world, it's truly overwhelming. This podcast is about empowering moms to know the difference between fact and fiction, to never give up, to tap into everyday activities so your child stays on track. He's not falling behind. He's thriving through your guidance. We know that true learning starts at home. So let's get started. Hello. And welcome back today. We're going to continue the discussion. On understanding spoken language and how to help your toddler really develop these skills with intention. We first started this last episode, looking at the difference between hearing, listening, and understanding. And they really do have different meanings behind them, even though we interchange those words, but I can hear. Uh, person's voice or I can hear an environmental sound, then I can actively listen for it to try to make sense of it. And then I can. Give it some understanding. And so those are different skills that your babies and toddlers learn over time with your guidance. Last week. I did give a basic outline of the anatomy of the ear, because I think it's important that we understand how all these parts fit together. And then I began to outline the, the specific aspects of what we refer to as auditory processing. Because, like I said, we could hear something, we could actively listen for something and then we can. Place meaning onto that. But the auditory processing system is really what happens. One, the brain perceives that information. And then how does that work? Right. And so it's important as parents are playing with their babies and toddlers and preschoolers, because these skills develop for over years. But it's under, it's important to keep it in mind of all the different things that are happening. In real time. So for example, there's a difference between auditory attention. Right? All I heard something that brought my attention to it. Maybe that's daddy's voice or maybe that's my older brother. And then there are different aspects of auditory memory. Somebody starts singing a song. Oh, I remember that. The wheels on the bus go round and round, and then there are elements or aspects called auditory figure ground. So if I'm all of a sudden brought into a party, There's lots of noise going on. Can I hear my mom or my dad or my grandma talked to me from across that room. Can I really pull out? And, and differentiate all this background noise from something that I have to pay attention to and listen. So there are these. Auditory aspects that are really important that your son or daughter are practicing each and every day. So, if you haven't listened to last week's episode, I believe is number 81. You can go back and listen and get that. Broader perspective. It's not necessary that you listened to that before we talk about the milestones here, but it really together will really give you a fuller. understanding of what's going on. Today. I want to dive deep into some specific milestones. Only for receptive language or understanding. Between that first birthday and that second birthday, because I want to be able to then contrast that. With what the receptive language skills look like between the second birthday and the third birthday. Because there are striking differences. Even within that 12 month period. And I think it's really important that we keep in mind what is developmentally appropriate for that one and a half year old versus that two and a half year old. Or that brand new two year old versus that brand new three-year-old. And so to be able to contrast that and to really help. Work with, with in alignment with your son and daughter to help nurture that. So he, or she feels successful and you can really. Guide them through this processing system. So I will highlight a couple of my favorites. Just to give you an example, we can certainly come back later in other episodes to dive deeper into additional ones. But I think it's really important that we separate. These different age groups. And we really focus on receptive language or understanding, which is very different than expressive and how they build upon each other and then really begin to merge. So my purpose is to demonstrate how much development is going on underneath the surface. Right. Especially during these first three years, but you're laying that foundation in those first. 12 months, right? From birth to that first birthday. And then things really start to move and shake. Right. They're beginning to express themselves at the same time. They're understanding more and more and more. And how does that happen? Right? It's not just by accident. So I often think about it as building a house, right? I give that metaphor that the initial year you really are leveling the ground, right? You're clearing out the rocks and cleaning out the debris and you're making sure that your foundation is really, really level before you start pouring those footers, because the structure that you build upon those footers. Has to be really, really solid. So if you're looking at your building site and it's unlevel, or there's too much sand or it's too Rocky. Everything you build on top is going to be vulnerable. Right? And sooner or later, no matter how well you think you. Shimmy that here and shimmied it there. The cracks in the wall would begin to appear. Right. And there's going to be a shift. Over time or whether it's the weather changes or it's just years on end that the structure that you build his or her, your son, or daughter's language, social communication, academic skills. Problem solving their interpersonal skills. All of that is built on top of what you're laying down today for those first three years. So keep that in mind that their health and wellbeing really in the future really. Um, is being formed in those early, early years, or at least your trying to build. They're there network. So they, they don't have kinks in the system or you prevent it and stay out in front of it. So your goal is to set the stage and take advantage of all these God given human traits. And, and really nurture them. So your son or daughter can really thrive, can really blossom right before your eyes, for example. And I've, and I've talked about this before the. There's auditory mapping going on just for that human voice. Right. That's part of our survival that God gave us this. Keen ability through the auditory canal to say, Hey, I recognize that's my mama's voice. Or, Hey, I recognize that's my daddy's voice. Cause he would sing. To me, or talk to me, read stories to me when I was in the womb. Right? So that auditory mapping for the human voice is part of that survival. Babies are also born with primitive reflexes that help them. Especially with that initial feeding. Right. And, and you don't really know what you're doing. They don't really know what they're doing, but if we have these soft wired reflexes, then they can kind of figure it out as we. Find that rhythm as well. Babies also have that soft wired system to code their native language. And, and as I often say, here's, every newborn is a citizen of the world and. But we're able within those first eight months or so to really code and differentiate ha. That's my native language. That's the language that mom and dad speak that I don't recognize anymore. And so they start to prune that away. Babies also babies and toddlers also have that flavor window, right. And again, this is a God given gift that when they're 6, 8, 10 months, they're really, really open and excited to try all kinds of flavors for new foods. They don't really understand, ah, I'm going to eat this and get nourished, right? Because 99.9% of their nourishment still comes from their bottle or the breast. But they're open because flavors. With food, broccoli key. We avocado lemon, all of these beautiful flavors, a steak bone. It's very different than the rattle are different than my thumb, different than mom's hair. Right. And so they're open between six months and about 24 months to really try a wide variety, then they start getting more selective. But now you've given them a year, 18 months, a really, really good exploration with their taste buds and chewing and all of that. So these are just some examples that are baby. Babies and toddlers have wired in our system. This is, you know, an average child who's fully, um, you know, full term didn't have any birth complications, but all of these systems are there. We just have to know how to nurture them. Right. Today, we're going to begin contrasting between the receptive language or that their ability to understand and code the meaning of sounds and words and words and sentences. Between that first birthday and second birthday. And then we'll cover between that second birthday and third birthday. And there's a big difference, right? And if we look at what is healthy or typical or realistic expectations, Then we can set them up for success and we can really feel like we're, we're navigating this and nurturing it to. To completion. Right? So, let me outline a few basic ones and then we'll explore a little deeper on a couple of them. So the first one between 12 months and 24 months, they really begin to understand concrete directions. Right. Come here. Sit down. Give me your foot. Those are typically given without gestures. And so we're, looking and helping them. Hone their pure listening skills, their pure understanding. So I'm not going to point to the shoes that I want them. I'm just going to say. Get your shoes. Right or sit down. They will also then really began to identify several body parts. And usually I recommend body parts that they can touch on themselves and on you so we can compare. You know, my tummy. Uh, foot ahead, a hand, the nose, the eye. But these body parts are also things that he can do something with. Right? Oh my Tommy's hungry. Right. Or you can pat the tummy, right? My foot, put the shoe on my foot. Right. Or pick up your foot. Right. Shake your head. So we can start to build a connection and a relationship with these nouns, right? The nose, blow your nose, right. give me your hand, hold my hand. So these are body parts that he's going to be interested in all day, every day, right? Also between this first birthday and second birthday, they really begin to follow one step commands during play. And the idea here is to keep it in context, keep it in real time. Right. It's important that they understand what they're doing and you're starting to put language. and their actions, right. And so it's, it could be, give me the ball or bounce the ball or, ride the pony. So any kind of one step command during play in context. stirred the soup. Right. Eat. The Chile or whatever you're making. Right. But they're there in relation to what he does in real life and then apply it to his toys as well. This one to two year old begins to understand early prepositions and that's the location of things or what we call spatial concepts, you know, put it in the box. Put it on the table. And these are important because I've shared with you in the past that in order to build up to those 50 words by their second birthday, right. We want at least 50 words. That's minimum. And we want words to come from different grammatical structures. Right? We want the nouns, like the tummy, the foot, right? The doggy, the boy. But we also want verbs and then prepositions. To be able to put it in. Or put it on, put it under over all of those spatial concepts. Now it's important as we. Proceed from that first birthday to the second birthday to that third birthday. Because as the language load gets bigger. Meaning it's not sit down. You know, give me the doggy, right. It's we're going to be come more complex in it. And these smaller units of words in on those articles. Uh, the prepositions, those are often lost in the stream if they don't have really good listening skills. And I'll talk about this further on, but it's important that we pull out. These prepositions and stress them in the box. On the table. Right. And so they really begin to perceive them and code them. And so it's, they're not just targeting the big words, right? The nouns and the verbs. That we want these smaller units of sound also to be perceived and to be pulled out in those longer and longer utterances as they get older. But it starts now. It starts at that first birthday in 15 months and 18 months. To really begin to. did she, what kind of preposition did she say? Right. Now. They will also find familiar objects that are not insight. And so what usually happens around 12, 14, 16 months is that they have fully developed object permanence and that's important. Because now they're telling us that they can imagine things. They can imagine something that's no longer in front of them. And they can picture if the ball rolled under the sofa. and I can picture in my mind, it's like, oh, where's the ball. Where is it? and he can go look for it. The ball is under the couch. And words are also a representation of what. He wants in the world too. It could be from objects to a feeling Or to, description. But the words begin to become a representation of his thoughts and planning skills too. But it starts with that. Object permanence, where they can begin to find objects that are not right in front of them. It's like, Hmm. I wonder where your Teddy bear went. Where's Teddy right in. Can he go and look for it? So also you'll see that they'll begin to choose familiar objects from a group on request. And what this means is that. It's more structured. Right? And so say you have a little boy and an apple and a car, and you know, typically at this age you try three items, If you're not sure you can just put up two, right. Here's a boy, here's an apple. Let's see here I have. Here's. Here's a truck, here's a piggy, right? And you could say, oh, where's the piggy. Or you can put them on the table. these are familiar objects that he's been playing with, and then he has to listen with intention. And then pick something out of the pool that you gave him two or three or four objects right now, if they're all animals, then that's a little closer in discrimination. Meaning, these are very different objects. but if I had a pig and a sheep and a horse, then I would say, well, where's the horse. And so those animals. Is in the same are in the same category. So that's a finer discrimination and he has to think about it a little bit more. later on you can ask more complex ones you could say, oh, which one goes on the road? Right. So that's a much more complex question, right? or, you can have different objects and you can say which one do I eat? So you have an apple and a man. And a car, right? Which one do I eat? Or you have these and say, oh, who sleeps in the barn? Right. So those are more sophisticated questions. Right now between that first and that second birthday. You're going to give them the concrete ones. So show me the piggy. Where's the piggy. All right. It's also developing at this stage where they understand familiar action words. So these are all nouns, And now we want those familiar actions. We're building that, that word list of 50 words, right? It's not just 50 words. We would like a hundred, maybe 200. But we also want those different grammatical structure. right. So, you'll ask him. to eat, to sleep. To jump to open. These are very familiar actions that he does in real life. Right. He eats, he sleeps. He jumps on the furniture when he's not supposed to. Right. He's always opening the cabinet doors, right. These are familiar objects or actions, and now we're going to do them with objects as well. And so he begins to understand them during playtime. It's not that he's just exploring anymore. You're starting to, to nurture his play, that he does things on purpose with his toys. then they also began to attend to, and identify familiar pictures. So this takes a little practice and hopefully you. All have started, reading books and sharing books from day one, but to really use it for kind of language stimulation, whether it's receptive language or expressive language. But to attend and then identify pictures that are asked, right. And so moving from objects to a book, let me show you here. You know, moving to a book. Is very different. So this is a three dimensional. Toy that they can feel and play and eat and, you know, throw and rock and do all kinds of things. This three dimensional toy is very different than looking on a flat. Pictures. in a book. Right. And so that's a different part of the developmental process. And we should be exposing them, but now they're really beginning to visually differentiate and understand, oh, there's the clock. There's the chair. There's the doggy, right? We still want it pretty simple. Just a couple of items on the page. Because we don't want to visually overload them. And we want it to be highly successful. So as I said, we are reading and. And showing them picture books from day one, but now we're going to really engage with them. Right. And, and this is a time where they're starting to use that pointer finger to write that index finger. And in the beginning, They'll tap right. They'll use their whole fist. If you're, if you're saying, oh, show me, spot we're spot. Right. And he'll go like that, or he'll tap like that. Or if you tap, they like it. When you really tap. Hey. There's spot. Look spot. And he's going to open the clock. Oh, Penn. Knock knock. You knock. Right. And so, it's, it's really about. Pulling him into the story. It's not necessarily reading word for word, but it's getting him interested because you are animated and you're interested. So you're really honing their auditory attention. And then there are auditory listening with. Intention. Right. So it's attention and intention. But it's really building that connection with objects and books. So. As he becomes more and more engaged with the books, then you'll really see that index finger. And that purposeful pointing between nine months is usually when they really kind of start all the way through 15 months and pointing. You can initiate by showing them that joint attention. Right. You're pointing to something maybe through a window or you're up into the sky. Oh, look at the airplane or look at the cloud or look at the big, tall building. Right. And you're trying to share that's what that joint attention is. That your demonstrating by pointing. And then he will ultimately, or she will ultimately start to point things out in the environment. So in the beginning, it'll be. The close environment, the immediate environment, and then we can go further and further out. But that pointing that isolating, that index finger is also part of that pincer grasp. Where they can then pick up small bits of food and other tools and start to really pinch. Their index finger and their thumb together for the spoon and the fork and the crayon and the later on it in the pencils. But it all starts with that, that manipulation of. Your indexes. Which has been supported through tummy time. And you know, I'm always trying to connect the dots here, but it's really important to understand how that first year through tummy time you're supporting their ability. Their strength through their arm and their chest and their back and everything, but their hands on the ground will also strengthen and begin to isolate those, those indexes. So all of this is coming together and between that first and second birthday, They're really trying to engage and not just explore. Right. It's really doing stuff with the, with the toys and objects and, and how. tools that you have that you're sharing. So this 35,000 foot perspective, I'm always like pulling back and giving you that big picture. Right? And to highlight what receptive languages, how well does he understand? and at this age, from that first birthday to second birthday, especially, we really want to teach usable words to make it relevant to your child. And I stress this a lot. I just talked about the nouns and the verbs. And what do you do with these animals? Right. What do you do with the books? What do you do with your clothes or when you take a bath, but it's all usable words because as he or she is mapping coding, these sounds that make up the words and then the words into the short phrases. Then they can do that, do it right. He's interpreting what you're saying. And so they're usable words. And then we teach by doing right by plane by engaging. And. I'm sure I've shared here in the past, but the brain really learns best through exploration and interaction with people. And that's how us humans are designed. And I know the last 10, 15 years or so. Maybe even more than that, but there's always this discussion on what we. how is a classroom designed, right. That whole experiential learning. And I think it really became popular. Back in the 1970s, even though we're all still kind of stuck at our desks and they were aligned up in these rows. But. I think, like all parenting, all kids, all school topics, we swing this pendulum for one far, far end to the other and. It's different in the classroom, but I think it's really important, critical those first three to five years at home with you, that your babies and your toddlers really are experiencing. And. Engaging with that environment. And so I just want to put a word of caution here because I think both parents and many, many early educational professionals. I make a mistake by emphasizing the wrong kinds of words. And what I mean by this is that we might. we might stress academic words, and those are shapes, colors, letters, and numbers. And you're thinking, well, no, those are kind of important, right? I might child needs to know their colors. We call that rote learning. And it's really a list of insignificant to tell you the truth data points, especially at this age, these first couple of years. Because there's very little understanding involved. They could memorize the colors and they can memorize the numbers and the letter names. But it's not really. Um, significant, right. It's kind of akin to when we were back in elementary school and we had a memorize math facts or science facts, right. it's adequately accepted in elementary school and middle school, but with a 1, 2, 3, 4, five-year-old that kind of rote learning is really not learning. It's just memorized. And, I think we get all get caught up on it because the, uh, the toy industry and the commercialization is all about. Pushing educational material. And the truth is it's not helpful. your one, two and three year old. Really want and need to understand, right. And then to use language, remember our first goal is to help them. With. With human communication, And that we're building his word list. So then he can do something with it. So when you say to your two year old, Get your shoes. Or where's your coat? Or put the paper in the trash. Pick up your towel. Those are very concrete, realistic, verbal directions that will help you all get along in your house, but also help him feel like he's contributing. Like he's a part of it and, and helps you. And him connect right. Through language, through words that he's able to process it in real time. These are usable words. They're functional words. That help him. Be an active member of your home life. Right, but memorizing letter names. That doesn't really help. It's just something that the toy manufacturing companies have kind of warped our thinking into believing that these academic concepts are important in early, early childhood. And it couldn't be Further from the truth. I just have to. Say that over the years when I meet a toddler, And they will often have that, that kind of recited information, write letters or numbers or colors. And yet, nine times out of 10, eight times out of 10, at least they really do struggle with some basic questions. Some basic directions. And the other. I think. frustrating part is that we would often see. The confusion that parents were were having. When I say he really doesn't understand much of what we say and you're like, yeah, but he knows his colors and he knows his numbers. And so what happens quite often is that rote memorization will mask something that's underlying. a delay or a problem that they're not processing. Language the sounds and the words, and then the short phrases. In real time. Right. And so I think parents miss it, teachers and doctors, and even us therapists will miss this. And so it was important To really get involved with their play and their everyday engagement. So then you can always be. Not assessing or testing, but gauging, where are they? You know, and am I as Izzy moving from these 50 words to 200 words, to 500 words, right. And then the other side, I think. What happens quite often is once your son or daughter will enter, preschool or, even kindergarten. That there's, they know a lot of data. Right. But they're not really. Engaged in the learning environment. And so then they get really misunderstood. They think that perhaps. There's a behavioral problem, right? Because he's not following the directions like the other kids, or perhaps they might assume that he has an attention problem because he doesn't respond to his name. Or that, he might even have a social awkwardness problem because he's not playing with the toys. He's not. Trying to engage with the other kids. And yes. Yeah, two they're still parallel play, but they're interested and watching the other kids. And trying things out. But quite often when kids are having even mild processing language processing and it could be receptive and expressive. Then they're really getting lost in the shuffle. And I think it's important that we don't miss these clues. They're subtle. Right. And, and quite often, these young boys and young and girls are very, gentle, right. They're gentle souls and they're trying to do their best, but they just can't. Linguistically auditorily and verbally keep up at the rate that their peers are just really exponentially growing and changing. Right. So keep in mind that once your toddler is using phrases consistently, and that means all day, every day. That's somewhere around their second birthday. With a minimum of those 50 words that cross all grammatical structures. Which would be nouns and verbs, adjectives, pronouns, emotional words, other than happy and sad. Right? You can also talk about being tired or brain being silly or being brave or excited. Right. So there's a whole plethora of possible words. And I do have a PDF, a list of common words that, that I have shared with parents over the years. And there'll be a link down there, But then once you have all of that, then you can add those academic descriptions. Right. Because then that colors it in even more, no pun intended. Right. But you can say, give me the red ball or give me the green cup. Give me two eggs. I only want two eggs. Or I have one egg and you have two eggs and we can compare the amount, right. Then starting to make. Sense, or like, oh, let's put all the square blocks together. and you can start to sort things, but now they have a whole list of vocabulary words, and they're really consistently putting them together to communicate right. And then you can start playing with things like, oh, your name starts with B. Bo Bo Ben Ben. Right. And so you're, you're honing their auditory, their listening skills. To not just a letter name, but then it's part of your, your whole proper name. That and it's related to a sound. And sounds are so, so, so much more important than the letter names. And I promise you that that's a whole nother episode or two or three. Because it's that important to in those first 3, 5, 6 years to really play around with the sounds that these letters make and not just their letter names. Right. And that's one of my favorite things to talk about and teach, but true listening helps them discriminate the sounds that they make in the words, right. It's, it's not the letter name that's important, but what sounds do you hear on the ward when we're, ultimately getting them ready for breaking the code and learning how to read right. But it all starts at one and two and three with the speech, the speech sounds. And then the language right. Receptive language is listening. Right and discriminating. All of those auditory processing aspects I reviewed last week and I do have a handout for that too. But these early years, zero to three, zero to four. Are really the fodder for literacy. Right. And, and, and I've shared this. I don't know. Thousand or 2000 times over the, over the years that the secret behind. Getting a child ready to break the code and become, eager to learn how to read and write. 80% of it is auditory. Learning how to read. Is not visual. It becomes visual. Once they become a decent, Fluent reader. And they have to blend the sounds together to create that word. But in the beginning. 80% is sounding the words out and you have to be able to hear the difference between Bo. And go. Right. The B versus the, the G But it's in the beginning, it is not visual, but all of this ear training stuff that you're doing. By singing. Nursery rhymes by talking with them in a one-to-one kind of place setting by reading books with them and playing around with, following the leader and doing all kinds of wonderful. Play based language, rich activities are building their auditory system. So they become a competent reader, right? Reading and writing are manmade skills. Talking and listening are hardwired or at least soft wired. And we have to finish that construction. Right. So just keep that all in, in, in your mind that your you're really creating that foundation to build upon over the year after year after year. Right. And everything we do in those first couple of years. We'll either support that, or it can hinder that. You know? Yes, there are other variables involved. But what we do laying this foundation really can. Um, Change the direction of future success, right? So toddlers with typically developing skills. Can understand simple directions while playing by 15 months of age. Right. Uh, they, you, they can follow simple concrete. In real time, push the button. Stack the blocks. Kiss the baby. Pat the doggy. Put it in the trash, close the door. These are all concrete one step directives, right. And you're trying your best not to give them cues or, or hints. They're in context and they have done most of these things with themselves. And now they're applying it to toys, Think function. Think, What do we do with these kinds of things? And later on, Say closer to their third birthday, then we'll ask them more complex questions. What do you do with a brush? or what do you do if you're cold? Right. So now they have an imagination, right? They can visualize that brush. You don't have to show it to them. but you just, without any cues, you just say, what do you do with a brush? Or what do you do if you're cold? These are basic questions that make them think. They have to process what is being asked and then come up with an appropriate answer. But that's closer to the third birthday, three and a half and four. You can even ask, big questions, like why do we wear shoes? And they'll think about it and they'll come up with some good answers, so your feet doesn't. Get dirty or your feet don't get dirty or so they don't get hot or sticky or you don't cut your feet or I don't like grass. I don't like sand they'll come up with an appropriate response. But that's. There are third birthday and beyond. So your homework for this week would be to think of things that you do every day together. And then you start to rehearse them, right? Say, your son or daughter likes to help, put things in the trash can. And so you give them big directions all the time, to throw this. wrapper in the trash can to throw this packaging in the trashcan, and it's all honing their listening skills. In real time. And it's, it's not necessarily. then the next. Best step that say you're picking up and say, and, and there's napkins over there and say, oh, throw the napkin in the trash. It's sort of like, Uh, off topic. cause then all, ultimately you'll turn this around and you'll pick up some trash and go, where does this go? Or you pick up a cup? Where does this go? Right. And so now you're pulling in his understanding and his imagination and attaching it to verbal communication. Now he has to answer you, right. But that's expressive and that's different today. We're really kind of honing in on how do you build that understanding Because we have to build that first. So research really does suggest. That it takes about on average 20 trials to hear a new word and to really master it. And then something happens after that second birthday. There's this thing called fast mapping. So once a child has about 50 or more words, This fast mapping happens. And their whole linguistic system. And we'll talk about that in another episode, but at this stage between that first birthday and that second birthday, it takes about 20 trials for them to really master that word that they they're just learning. Right. I just wanted to be able to lay this out and look at what's happening though. That first year, right. It was all about survival for mom and baby, those first three, four months. And then at six months, you're starting to introduce them. To solid foods. He's starting to scoot up on his belly and beginning to crawl things really, really move fast toward that first year. Right. So nanny's walking and he has a handful of words. And then between that first birthday and that second birthday things really start to explode. So, these highlights of receptive language, understanding really concrete direction. Come here, sit down, give me your foot. Or identifying body parts. Following one step directions during play that you can really then begin to fix. Expand upon right. And be creative. Put put the piggy under the blanket. But you can really expand his listening and then his follow through. Then, targeting early prepositions and then finding familiar objects that, that aren't insight. Right. Q you're stretching his imagination. Oh yeah. Where's my blanket or where's my green ball or where's my two, two, or where's my crown, But that really helps him stretch and think beyond his immediate environment. And then really identifying familiar. These are all familiar objects, inner group, right? So now he's learning how to differentiate and compare and contrast in his mind. And really understanding familiar actions that objects. Are different than actions, right? And then he's really trying to attend and identify familiar pictures in books. So focus on usable words, That will make sense to him, not memorized educational rope. Useless data, right? Will you can add those more descriptive things later on when there's meaning to it. And then teach by doing. You know, do it in real time in activities in your day, whether you're eating or cleaning or washing or wa walking. Right. And then play-based right. He gets to rehearse his daily activities with his toys. I will continue this receptive language discussion in the next episode, because we'll then look at the. Big expansion between their second birthday and then third birthday. So keep in mind it at, their first birthday, they have a handful of words. Which means that they can understand a handful of words, because we can't expect our children to speak what they don't understand. And so then by their second birthday, they have to understand 50 words minimum, right. And some concrete. Phrases. Then they can express them. And then they jump to like full on sentences, write 3000 words. And they're really having dialogue back and forth. Yeah. They get a little mixed up and their storytelling and whatnot. But by that third birthday, they're a whole different animal. Right. Um, but it's really important. And I think we just have to be mindful when we have say a one and a half year old or a two year old and they're playing with their older brother or their cousin. That they have different language skills and. It's. It would behoove everybody, but it's, it's really on us to help navigate that so that the younger child and the older child are successful in, and we don't set them up for unrealistic expectations, but. But keep that in mind. And I hope you're gaining benefits from these. It's always exciting to, to really get the lists and, and outline it and then have it at your disposal. So you can. Always be gauging and always be checking in, where are they and how can I serve them better each and every day. All right. So enjoy, and I'll see you in the next episode.