As young Lookers, Listeners, and Movers begin their second year, their actions make it clear that they're leaving infancy behind. During this evolution from baby to full-fledged toddler, a child's sensory preferences continue to influence both her development and her responses to the people and objects that figure in her life.
This chapter first describes three different learners in early toddlerhood, and then compares and contrasts their growth during the period from thirteen months to three years of age. A Learning Style QuickCheck for Toddlers is included to help you identify the way your own child absorbs information (see page 63), and lists of suggestions are provided to guide you in enhancing her daily explorations. This chapter also addresses the child-care issue, offering ideas for making your toddler's day-care arrangement as beneficial as possible.
Toddlerhood may be notorious for its parent-child power struggles, but it brings with it just as many exciting social breakthroughs and physical achievements. As you encourage your toddler's growth, take pride in her budding independence, as well! 0
A LOOK AT THREE LEARNERS
Although they're exactly the same age and have spent their infancy in similar family circumstances, toddlers Tina, Anthony, and Paul are amazingly dissimilar. Where one child seems to excel, another struggles, with their varying levels of development quite naturally dictated by learning style. Given the tremendous impact of a child's inborn preference for sights, sounds, or tactile sensations, it probably won't
surprise you to learn that Tina, a Looker, exhibits eye-hand coordination far beyond that of which Anthony and Paul are capable; that Listener Anthony's verbal skills are quite advanced; and that Mover Paul continues to perform the kinds of physical feats that have astounded his parents from the very first. Although many children exhibit characteristics of more than one learning style and are therefore considered Looker-Movers, for example, or Looker-Listeners, our case-study toddlers display "pure" styles. This has been done to highlight the distinctions between the three sensory preferences. Let's take a closer look at each toddler.
Thirteen Months of Age
Meet Tina. Like infant Michael in Chapter Two, thirteen-month-old Tina displays the Looker style of learning, preferring visual stimulation to any other. Always intrigued by detail, Tina has, until now, been content to sit quietly, exploring with her eyes and hands. But now that she's toddling in earnest, a whole new world has opened to her roving eyes and probing fingers. She has discovered buttons and dials on appliances, cabinet-door handles, the blinds, various cords and wires—all, Tina seems to think, for her personal entertainment. Tina's desire to handle such tempting devices far outweighs any desire to run, jump, or climb; in fact, her sole gross motor effort since learning to walk has been to step atop the baseboard heater in order to reach the drapery tiebacks and peer out the dining-room window.
Tina loves imitative play and tries to duplicate many of her parents' actions with toys. Her long-handled push toy serves as a vacuum cleaner, and her drumsticks as kitchen utensils or hand tools. And, though she makes no move to join in, she also enjoys watching other children at play. When alone, she plays contentedly for long periods with nesting toys, a peg board, puzzles, and other playthings that exercise her eye-hand coordination.
Tina recognizes words as symbols for objects, but rather than speak, will point toward the window or the kitchen when coaxed to say "car" or "cookie." She waves good-bye and throws kisses, but sees no need to accompany these gestures with words. In fact, at thirteen months, Tina's speech—really just occasional babbling—is little different from what it was two months before. Her love for quiet play helps her retain the label of an "easy" baby; but, though she's just a month past her first birthday, there's already a noticeable gap between Looker Tina's visual and eye-hand abilities and her skills in language and full-body activities.
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Meet Anthony. Listener Anthony, also thirteen months of age, shares Tina's disregard for active large-muscle play, but lacks her fine motor ability. Shape sorters, snap-together blocks, and stacking toys gather dust on the nursery shelf while Anthony changes the discs on his music-box record player, chats with his dolls, or trails after his parents, eager for conversation. He already indulges in pretense, chanting "A- B-E-B" to a cousin's cast-off book bag before donning it and announcing, "Go gool." Anthony also likes to perch on the stairs in his firefighter's hat, alternating the words "My fie duck" with siren sounds. He puts on his best performances for an audience.
When there's no one available to share his play, Anthony keeps the auditory stimulation coming by singing and humming, substituting babbles for words he can't remember. In public, he approaches anyone in his path with keen anticipation of their smiling reactions to his sophisticated vocabulary. Unfortunately, Anthony's sociability now causes problems at bedtime. His radio is no longer an acceptable night substitute for Mom's and Dad's company, so he calls for them many times during the night.
At thirteen months, Anthony walks with a waddling, bowlegged gait. He falls a lot, and so is still hesitant to climb stairs or cross unfamiliar or unlevel terrain. He'll sit on a riding toy if another child joins him in play, but prefers to settle himself beside the supervising parent for a "chat." Indoors and out, conversation takes precedence over physical activity for Listener Anthony.
Meet Paul. Paul, a thirteen-month-old Mover, is quite the opposite of Anthony—largely silent, but never still. He runs, jumps, hops, climbs, kicks a ball, and walks backwards with complete confidence, the faster the better, and has already climbed atop a neighbor's tricycle in a desperate attempt to pedal along. Paul delights in all sorts of physical play—hide-and-seek, the pool and sandbox, his rocking horse, his riding toys, his slide, and the "house" his father made from an appliance carton.
Paul received a toy tool kit for his first birthday and bashes delightedly with the hammer. He tends to ignore the other tools, though, having tried and discarded them in much the same manner he tossed aside spoons and forks, crayons, and other small items that require manual dexterity. Not surprisingly, Paul is a messy eater and an aggressive, daring, somewhat destructive force while at play. Only his teddy bear sleeping companion escapes rough handling. This toy spends the night locked in Paul's arms, and the day hidden beneath his pillow for safekeeping.
As he enters toddlerhood, Paul has a one-word vocabulary—"No"— and still relies on gestures and howls to convey his wants and needs. As the gap grows wider between this Mover's motor skills and language ability, it comes as no surprise that Paul's frustrations are beginning to take a physical form: daily tantrums.
What type of learner is your toddler? Is she a Looker, like Tina, enthralled by visual stimulation? Or is she more attracted to sounds, like Listener Anthony, or movement and sensations, like Mover Paul? The Learning Style QuickCheck for Toddlers on page 63 will provide the answer. Simply check those traits that are characteristic of your toddler, and then add the checks in each column. A glance at the totals will tell you which learning style your child favors, and help you understand her inborn strengths and weaknesses.
The pictures that have been painted of Tina, Anthony, and Paul clearly show the distinctions that exist between the three types of learners at the start of toddlerhood. The fact that these three children absorb information about their world through the sense dictated by their learning style has caused them to develop different skills at surprisingly different paces. You'll see from the accounts that follow that this trend will continue as Tina, Anthony, and Paul move through toddlerhood.
Tina. As Looker Tina passes the sixteen-month mark, her words begin to flow. Easy-to-picture words come first, like "dog," "shoe," and "car," and the word "see" is soon added to form two-word sentences about the all-important sights in Tina's environment. Her first three-word sentence, also used frequently, reflects both Tina's liking for solitude and her ability to persevere: "No—Tina do!"
When at play, Tina continues to explore with her eyes and hands. When Tina's parents try to read to her, she insists on holding the book herself so that she can look ahead and back as she pleases. Tina loves blocks, a pull-toy duck whose wings and feet move as he does, puzzles, her toy farm, and anything with intricate parts. Her current favorite plaything is a child's jewelry box with doors, drawers, and a lid that lifts to reveal a mirror and a spinning ballerina.
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Tina even manages to incorporate sights into her outdoor play. Although still uninterested in riding toys—she's more likely to turn her trike over to watch the front wheel spin—she simply adores sightseeing strolls to the local mall, to a nearby nature preserve, or just through the streets of her town. Tina plays with a ball, but more to watch the colors blend as it rolls than for exercise; she uses a swing, but on her stomach so that she can twist around and then watch the world spin by; and she plays in the sandbox, so long as there's a basketful of intriguing-looking sand toys beside her.
In a group, Tina still keeps to herself. She likes her own space, pulls away from being touched, and keeps her emotions so much in check that the yelling or crying of other children actually alarms her. (She relies on fleeting facial expressions to indicate her own surprise or displeasure.) Despite her penchant for being alone in a roomful of children, Tina is fascinated by the activities and various interactions that take place within her play group. In fact, on most mornings, she devotes more time to observation than to actual play.
Anthony. Unlike Tina, who labors to produce words. Listener Anthony imitates everything he hears and quickly builds a grammatically correct sentence around almost every new word in his vocabulary. His sentences provide him with a strong sense of self, as in "No way. Daddy," "I do it fust," or "Dat my toy car." By eighteen months of age, Anthony possesses a huge, clear vocabulary, and uses such adultlike inflection and articulation that he's often mistaken for a much older child.
As he moves through early toddlerhood, Anthony continues to love being read to; in fact, if no one is available to oblige him, he'll sit with an unopened book in his lap, naming the various characters and their actions. Lately, he's discovered the art of storytelling, and he and his father exchange tales whenever they're working side by side or traveling in the car. Aside from books, Anthony's currentTavorite toys are a mock pay phone, a toy cassette player, and various dolls and figures with whom he can act out daily events.
Anthony is a sedentary toddler, uneasy about climbing, swinging, or traversing the stairs. His avoidance of gross motor activity often borders on the comical, for he'll strike up conversations with or otherwise attempt to distract the adult at hand solely to avoid taking his turn in a game. At home, he needs help with zippers, clasps, and even the Velcro closures on his sneakers, but will dictate exactly what the assisting adult should do.
Not surprisingly, Anthony loves to socialize. He approaches both friends and strangers with greetings and questions, clearly enjoying every moment of conversational give-and-take. If, as often happens,
Anthony's playmates can't quite keep up with his verbal ability, he simply directs his attention towards the adults. At age two, Anthony mixes happily with the children in his play group, but quickly loses interest whenever an activity doesn't provide the noise or conversation he craves.
Paul. Mover Paul is constantly on the go, and shows little interest in communicating. At sixteen months, his vocabulary is limited to "Ma," "Da," and an occasional "No!" tossed over his shoulder as he whizzes by whomever calls out a greeting or request. Paul, you see, is far too busy to listen. In fact, he is past twenty months before his language skills begin to emerge in the form of terse action words like "go," "run," and "hide." Paul seems to struggle with the formation of each word, opening his mouth and thinking hard before uttering a sound. Needless to say, Paul is quite anxious when the thought he wants to communicate is particularly important to him; frustration and tantrums are becoming more and more frequent.
Unlike Tina, who is very entertained by quiet play, and Anthony, who wanders between activities but makes important social connections along the way, Mover Paul derives little benefit from toys and indoor play. His favorite game is something his parents call "dump and toss," in which Paul empties cabinets, unloads shelves, or dumps dresser drawers. Sometimes he flings the contents into his wagon and races around the house, playing garbage man; but more often, he just moves on to the next room, leaving a huge mess in his wake. Paul's parents have tried in vain to discourage this practice, for Paul is very quick and methodical about his mess making and just loves the bending, twisting, and throwing involved.
Outdoors, Paul fares much better. He loves roughhousing of all sorts, as well as any activity that involves pushing, kicking, throwing, and pounding. He began pedaling a tricycle well before age two, is fearless aboard a slide or jungle gym, and has learned the rudiments of "pumping" to keep a swing going. Paul likes to engage the neighboring kindergartener in play by daring the boy to chase or race him. Of course, the five-year-old possesses a physical edge, and Paul, already overstimulated by all his running around, winds up flinging himself on the ground and howling in frustration because he simply can't keep up with his friend.
When Paul socializes, he relies on action—chasing and grabbing— rather than verbal interplay. He is quick to join any loud, wild activities that he didn't initiate himself, and just as quick to recruit additional playmates. Paul's characteristic exuberance turns to tears at the slightest hint of anger, and he is learning to evoke similar emotional responses
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from others by goading them. At two years of age, his gross motor actions and rough-and-tumble sort of socializing seem to his parents to be more characteristic of a three-year-old.
Tina. Looker Tina began using three- and four-word sentences before she was two years of age, but six months later, she still omits sounds and parts of speech on a regular basis. She says, "Dat paint boo" for "That paint is blue," for instance, and "Can' fine ma bankie" for "I can't find my blanket." Always on the alert for familiar sights, Tina has begun to recognize and read "Dead End" and "Stop" signs, as well as department-store and fast-food-restaurant logos. Naturally, she relies on visual cues like color, shape, and letter configuration rather than phonics in order to do this; but Tina is nonetheless proud to show off her talents.
Tina spends much of her play time with her chalkboard, her doll house, and the collection of puzzles her mother borrows each week from a local toy library. She has discovered the joys of arts and crafts, and frequently asks to use paints, crayons, and markers. Tina has also become fascinated by board games. She likes to watch others play, and when no one's around, she likes to set up the playing pieces by herself and pretend she's a participant.
Tina continues to demonstrate excellent fine motor skills. She has been successful in all her early efforts with scissors, crayons, and clay. In fact, at two-and-a-half years old, she is able to draw recognizable shapes. Tina is a stickler for details when it comes to artwork. You can count on her to add chocolate chips to a modeling-dough cookie, or a tail to one of her animal creations. Tina's gross motor development continues at a much slower pace. It's not surprising that it takes some coaxing to convince her to try a full-body activity like climbing or riding a tricycle; even then, she quickly loses interest.
As she approaches her third birthday, Tina still prefers solitary play to games involving other children. She seems distressed by their noise and commotion, and is put off by impulsive hugs, hand holding, and similar social overtures for which toddlers are known. However, she is beginning to enjoy the different reactions she can elicit by making a silly face or by deliberately putting a puzzle piece in the wrong place. At three, Tina is still a confirmed Looker—quiet, content, strong on visual and fine motor skills, and weak in social and gross motor areas.
Anthony. While Tina's speech is still fairly primitive. Listener Anthony has become quite the conversationalist. Now that he understands the concept of tense, he peppers his speech with words like "yesterday," "tomorrow," "already," and "yet." Anthony also has an amazing memory for words. He mispronounces a few, but never fails to use them in the proper context. Anthony is also beginning to understand that letters make up words, and will shout, "N-O spells No!" or make reference to his "N-A-P nap."
At age two-and-a-half, Anthony loves pretend play. He drags his stuffed-animal friends into his playhouse several times a day and stages a three- or four-way "conversation" to fit the fantasy of the moment, but he's just as happy role-playing without props or companions. These days, a children's tape recorder is Anthony's favorite toy. He sings, chants nursery rhymes, and tells stories into the microphone, and enjoys the playback just as much as the recording session. He also spends a lot of time working with his realistic-sounding toy tools and using the siren on his pressure-sensitive toy ambulance.
Like Tina, Anthony would never choose gross motor play over other types of activities. When he absolutely has to indulge in full-body play, you can rely on him to talk himself through each and every step. His artwork is often creative, and almost always story-related, but very, very primitive. As he approaches three years of age, Anthony ignores puzzles, shape sorters, and, in fact, the majority of his toys. As you can see, motor skills are not this toddler's strong suit.
Socially, however, Anthony shines. Not only does he talk and reason when it comes to his own conflicts, but he uses his conversational skills to help his playmates resolve their problems, as well. Anthony is very much at ease with verbal instructions and helps his friends in this area, too. He loves the limelight, has a flair for the dramatic, and can be a bit bossy when organizing a game or assigning roles for one of his imaginary dramas. If the activity turns physical, however, Anthony's Listener-borne confidence vanishes, and he quickly removes himself from the area. Like Tina, Anthony displays the same strengths and weaknesses at age three that he did in infancy, for his language skills far surpass his motor ability.
Paul. At two-and-a-half years of age. Mover Paul's lagging verbal skills cause him increasing frustration. When he wants to convey a need, he does so in an almost frantic fashion, having learned to anticipate misunderstanding and delayed gratification. Paul's vocabulary is growing, though not nearly fast enough to keep pace with his increasingly sophis-
ticated thoughts, but his speech is filled with the sort of verbal shortcuts you'd expect from someone a year younger. He omits words and ending sounds, saying "Scoo" for "Excuse me," and "Wan joo" for "I want juice." Because many parts of speech are ignored altogether, Paul's sentences are still limited to two or three words.
As this little Mover grows, he needs more and more space to play. Enthralled, as always, by full-body activity, Paul pushes, chases, runs, climbs, and jumps at every opportunity. When the weather curtails his outdoor fun, you can find him moving furniture and piling up toys indoors as he imitates a delivery man or mechanic. Paul rarely sits down, and when he does, it's either to roll his collection of cars across a table top or to watch some cartoon superhero perform fascinating physical feats.
Paul's own gross motor skills continue to amaze his family. He can climb to the low branches of a tree, maneuver a scooter, and, with an adult hand to hold, roll along on a pair of skates—all before his third birthday. Lately, he has taken to imitating a preteen neighbor's karate moves. Fine motor tasks frustrate Paul terribly—for instance, he still switches hands and grips his crayon in a thumbs-up fist when attempting to draw—so Paul avoids these activities at all costs.
As he leaves toddlerhood behind. Mover Paul has many friends. Since he's faster than most children his age and has little patience with timidity, most of his favorite playmates are a year or two older than Paul. He is particularly well liked by the boys in his play group, and they follow his lead just as he follows the six-year-old next door. But for all his athleticism, Paul remains moody and emotionally needy. He will not sleep without the blanket and rag doll that have shared his bed since infancy, and he craves his parents' and teachers' patient reassurance to see him through his frequent episodes of frustration, embarrassment, and wounded feelings. Like that of his Looker and Listener counterparts. Mover Paul's uneven development continues to be dictated by learning style.
These days, it's more the exception than the rule for a child to spend her entire toddlerhood at home in the primary care of a parent. Day-care centers, family day-care homes, baby-sitters, and trusted friends and relatives all figure largely in the lives of today's young children. Certainly, any parent who is returning to work will review child-care options carefully before doing so. But did you know that when making such arrangements, your toddler's learning style merits as much consideration as cleanliness,
safety, and affordability? Understanding how your child learns best, as indicated by the Learning Style QuickCheck for Toddlers (see page 63), can help you select the child-care environment that best meets her developmental and emotional needs.
Child-Care for Lookers
During toddlerhood. Lookers tend to be much like Tina, our case-study child—quiet, serene, and very good at entertaining themselves. To avoid your Looker's being lost amidst children whose behavior commands more attention and more assistance, you might wish to seek out a child-care setup that stresses interaction with care givers and doesn't routinely leave passive children to their own devices simply because they seem content.
Since a Looker toddler will benefit from daily exposure to activities that exercise her less-favored senses of hearing and touch, it's important that her child-care environment offer all types of music, a safe area for outdoor play, and occasional messy activities like painting and water play. To indulge her fascination with intricate toys, the opportunity to select playthings from a varied collection should also be available.
At first glance, a Looker toddler may seem ideally suited to an in-home, one-to-one baby-sitting arrangement. After all, this would place her in a quiet setting with no competition for use of her beloved toys. However, it's important to also encourage development of her physical and social skills. For this reason, you might wish to consider a family day-care setting for your Looker if she is to be cared for outside the home. If she is to be cared for at home, enrollment in a play group might be the answer.
Child-Care for Listeners
Like our Anthony, Listener toddlers are usually expressive, social, somewhat uncoordinated children who thrive on talking, singing, and playing with others. They do well in group situations, and relate just as well to the adults around them as they do to other children.
Many toys are unappealing to a Listener toddler, but, if you place her in daily contact with playmates who do enjoy them, you may tempt her to give them a try. It's also a good idea to match her with a child-care setup that offers numerous opportunities for indoor and outdoor physical play.
Safe areas in which to throw balls, ride trikes, run, and climb will encourage the sort of full-body play from which she shies away. And, finally, it's important that a Listener toddler feel free to express herself, with frequent permission to act silly and be loud.
If you're satisfied that the care giver or staff that will interact with your toddler is knowledgeable, nurturing, and unflappable, a young Listener should fare quite well in either a day-care center or a family day-care home.
Child-Care for Movers
Like Paul, most Mover toddlers speak very little and prefer to express themselves physically by means of impulsive hugs, joyful jumps, foot stamping, and tantrums. They're a bit haphazard when at play, hopping from one activity to another and leaving quite a mess in their wake, and they tend to be emotionally needy. It's wise to consider a Mover's activity level and moodiness when making her child-care arrangements.
Because a Mover's physical ability overshadows her language and fine motor skills, it's particularly important to provide her with a care giver who freely offers affection, support, and comfort during times of frustration. A daily routine that is constant and offers plenty of time for transition between activities can give the Mover toddler a reassuring sense of control over her environment. She needs room—and freedom— to roam, exposure to both full-body play and eye-hand activities, and lots of adult patience regarding food spills, strewn toys, primitive artwork, and toilet training. An in-home baby-sitter or a family day-care setup that includes four or less children would be ideal for affording the quantity and type of attention a toddler Mover needs to keep frustration at bay.
Sharing Information About Learning Style
Once you've settled your toddler into the child-care setup that best meets everyone's needs, you'll no doubt establish regular communication with her care giver. Naturally, frequent contact—whether by note, phone, scheduled conference, or a daily exchange at the door—will provide valuable information about your child's time away from you. But, familiarity with a toddler's learning style will help you take these talks one step further. You see, once you determine that your toddler is.
indeed, a Looker, Listener, or Mover, you will be able to share certain observations and suggestions that may prove vital to the child's development. If your toddler spends part of the day in someone else's care, you may find it easier to guide her toward well-rounded development if you first consider each of the following aspects of her behavior and then discuss your thoughts with her care giver.
How does your toddler act when you're at home with her, as opposed to when she is in someone else's care? Do all involved adults get the same impressions about her language and motor skills, her level of self-confidence, and her ability to socialize? If a toddler is at ease in her care giver's presence, you can expect her to "be herself." Ask the care giver to fill out the Learning Style QuickCheck for Toddlers (see page 63) to see if your results agree.
When in the care of others, does your toddler gravitate toward the same toys and activities each day? Are these toys predominantly Listener items, like musical instruments and talking toys? Does she prefer such Looker toys as puzzles and blocks? Or does she spend her time at Mover activities—speeding about on a riding toy or popping in and out of a playhouse? Your toddler probably favors the same types of toys while at home with you, and stands to benefit from exposure to playthings that will stimulate her other senses. You may wish to offer her care giver a few suggestions from the lists at the end of this chapter.
How and with whom does your toddler interact while you're away from her? Does she prefer to play alone, or does she seek the company of other children? Depending on your child's play habits, you and her care giver may wish to encourage a bit more interaction by selecting a relatively passive playmate to join in some of her activities. Or, you might see a need to expose her to the joys of solitary play, either by creating a private, special sitting area, or by introducing a daily quiet play time.
Does your toddler communicate as well with her care giver as she does with you? Requests for "bowly" or "goosh" may be enough to send you heading for the kitchen, but to avoid frustration on your child's part, it's a good idea to translate her home vocabulary for those who care for her. You might also wish to exchange information on any special tactics that seem to encourage improvements in your toddler's speech.
What are your toddler's current physical capabilities? Is she more active with you than with her care giver? Less active? Does she prefer full-body play, or would she rather work with her hands? If your child has recently shown interest in a new skill, both you and her care giver should provide encouragement. If your child tends to avoid physical activity, you can share ideas about how to entice her to try different types of play.
A toddler needs no formal instruction to learn about her world. Whether she spends the day with a parent or a care giver, she'll absorb plenty of important information through play and sensory experience. But, when the adult in charge makes a toddler's learning style a factor in the selection of her toys, her activities, and her outings, the child will be gently guided toward well-rounded development, and will acquire skills that are sure to prove invaluable during her academic years and beyond.
Each of the following sections explains the importance of sharpening the skills associated with one of the three learning styles: looking, listening, or moving. You will then find lists of toy and technique suggestions, grouped according to whether the particular activity enhances already strong learning skills or develops weaker ones. The toys and techniques suggested for learning-skill enhancement have been based on, say, a Looker's visual acuity or a Mover's natural coordination. The suggestions for skill development involve multisensory activity—auditory and tactile stimulation, for instance. As such, the play ideas are intended to overlap with your toddler's inborn strengths, so
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How to Maximize Your Child's Learning Ability
that she remains involved while you explore new territory together. Choose your favorite ideas and give them a try!
The Looker skills acquired during the early years help a child to recognize, recall, and reproduce what she sees through such fine motor endeavors as drawing and painting. The toddler who lags behind in this area usually finds intricate toys, puzzles, crayons, tools, and even eating utensils to be objects of utter frustration. But the toddler whose eye- hand skills are affirmed or improved through specially chosen experiences approaches both these and later visual tasks with more interest, more confidence, and more success. Looker toddlers will delight in any visual stimulation parents can provide, while Listeners and Movers, whose skills in this area can use an extra boost, will do best when Looker activities are tied in with their preferred senses: hearing and touch. You may find some of these suggestions helpful.
ENHANCING A TODDLER'S EXISTING LOOKER SKILLS
■ Offer a shape-sorting toy, which requires your toddler to insert a shape into a matching opening.
■ Provide snap-together Duplo blocks by Lego or Wee Waffle Blocks by Little Tikes to encourage use of the eyes and hands together.
■ Make a photo album of people and objects familiar to your child, and look at it together often.
■ Offer a set of different-sized toy barrels for your child to stack and fit inside one another.
■ Provide a peg board with fist-sized pegs.
■ Encourage your child to scribble in various art mediums—chalk, crayon, washable marker, and the like—on different-colored papers.
■ Give your toddler plenty of magazines to use as often and in whatever way she wishes.
■ Watch for birds, cats, squirrels, or other animals. Make a game of your toddler's finding for herself what you've already spotted and described.
■ Keys of Learning by PlaySkool helps a child match colors and shapes by fitting large, colorful keys into different-shaped keyholes.
■ Encourage your toddler to pour water from a plastic pitcher into plastic cups.
■ Show your toddler how to pump the handle of a top to make it spin.
■ Outline a table setting of plate, cup, fork, and spoon on paper. Let your toddler "set the table" using real utensils.
■ Buckle your toddler into her highchair and give her a bowl of fist-sized novelty magnets to stick on the refrigerator door.
■ Arrange to exchange puzzles with several friends so that your toddler always has several "fresh" ones to play with.
■ Play with PlaySkool's Mr. Potato Head together to give your child practice manipulating small pieces.
ENCOURAGING THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOOKER SKILLS IN LISTENER AND MOVER TODDLERS
■ To rest and refresh her eyes, encourage your child to "palm," as described in Celestial Arts' Natural Vision Improvement by Janet Goodrich (Berkeley, CA, 1986). Hold her hands, palms up, in front of her. Place the center of her cupped palms over her eyes to shut out all outside light. Then, tell her to close her eyes for about ten seconds.
■ Study an object together. Then hide it, close your eyes, and take turns describing the object to each other.
■ Tell your child a story in the dark. This will encourage her to envision details.
■ Roll a large lightweight ball to each other. Remind your toddler to keep her eyes on the ball.
■ Find a place outdoors to lie down and watch the clouds together.
■ Play store, exchanging pretend money for pretend items. This encourages visualization.
■ Provide fist-sized easy-grip crayons.
■ Offer your child materials like glue sticks, felt scraps, washable markers, and other fist-sized items to be used for simple crafts.
■ Work together with clay and modeling dough.
■ Visit a local sporting event—a high school soccer game is fine—and encourage your toddler to watch for various details.
■ Buy puzzles with knobbed pieces for easy insertion and removal.
■ Magna Doodle by Tyco is an erasable magnetic drawing board that works both fingers and arms.
■ Invest in a lift-and-look book, such as G.P. Putnam's Sons' Spot Goes to the Farm by Eric Hill (New York, 1987), and share it with your toddler.
■ Post Office by Fisher-Price has a dial, a lever, slots, and doors contained within a mailbox-shaped carrying case.
■ Encourage play with two-inch collectible cars, some of which change color with variations in temperature or convert with a few twists into an entirely different object.
A toddler calls upon her Listener skills when she speaks, when she plays, when she interacts with others, and when she learns from the sounds around her. Listener, Looker, and Mover toddlers can all profit from activities that call upon the sense of hearing. Listeners benefit because these experiences affirm an inborn strength; Lookers and Movers, because their ability to communicate and socialize improves along with their growing auditory skills. Just as with Looker skills, the toddler who already possesses this learning style will need no
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prodding to play with games and toys that stimulate her preferred sense. Lookers and Movers may need some convincing, though, and this is best accomplished by incorporating sights, motion, or touch with whatever Listener activities you suggest. These ideas may help.
ENHANCING A TODDLER’S EXISTING LISTENER SKILLS
■ Provide a pair of sturdy headphones so that your toddler can listen to music whenever she chooses. Collect cassettes of children's music for use in the car and at home.
■ Provide plenty of opportunities for your toddler to socialize with other children by enrolling her in a play group or by scheduling regular play dates with the children of friends.
■ Encourage language development by asking your toddler to describe, explain, and otherwise expand on what she says.
■ Expand your child's vocabulary with a book like Western Publishing's Golden Picture Dictionary (Racine, WI, 1989), which has over 2,500 pictures of such uncommon words as oboe, unicycle, and yak.
■ Speak to your toddler in fairly complex sentences, giving lots of detail. This will encourage her to do the same.
■ Make it a practice to ask your child to relay messages to her other parent, her siblings, or her friends.
■ Set aside a special time of day for reading aloud. Let your toddler select a favorite book, and ask questions to help her express her feelings about it. For example, you might say, "What did you like best about the puppy?"
■ Buy or make a tape of household sounds like the dishwasher, the dog's bark, the telephone, footsteps on the stairs, the doorbell, and the vacuum. Play the tape back, and ask your toddler to identify the various sounds.
■ Get in the habit of talking about what you're doing as you do it. For example, you might say, "Daddy is going to wash the car. First, I use the hose to put water in a bucket. Then, I need bubbles. What can I use to make bubbles?" Involve your toddler in the conversation.
■ Make a chalkboard picture according to your toddler's specifications. Ask her what she'd like you to draw, and have her dictate the size, color, shape, and location of each detail.
■ Invest in a Golden Sound Story by Western Publishing. You might try Mickey's Birthday Surprise or The Sesame Street Pet Parade (Racine, WI, 1991). These books have built-in voices and sounds, which your toddler can activate by pressing pictures that match those scattered throughout the text.
■ Play a modified version of "Simon Says" by asking your child to follow the usual commands without visual cues from you.
■ Make a game of giving your toddler silly directions, like "Put the washcloth on your head," "Stand on top of the book," or "Put this toy under the chair."
■ Check your local library, YM-YWCA, or YM-YWHA for toddler story-time programs in which you can involve your child.
■ Encourage your toddler's auditory memory by turning ordinary activities—dressing, meal preparation, and bathtime, for instance—into sing-alongs.
ENCOURAGING THE DEVELOPMENT OF LISTENER SKILLS IN LOOKER AND MOVER TODDLERS
■ Make it a practice to speak to your toddler slowly and in short, simple sentences.
■ When your toddler mispronounces a word, repeat and affirm your child's thought while pronouncing the word correctly. At a pond, for example, your toddler might point and say, "Guh, kack kack." You can respond, "You're right! The duck says 'quack, quack.'"
■ Make hand puppets for yourself and your toddler by sewing two buttons on a sock to look like eyes. Have the puppets talk to each other.
■ Stage a make-believe tea party. To encourage conversation, ask questions of your toddler, like "Do you want hot tea or cold tea?" or "How many cookies would you like?"
■ Create a special story corner with a beanbag chair or soft rug and a cart or bin for storing books. Encourage your toddler to sit with you while you tell stories and read aloud to him.
■ Play supermarket with your toddler, using goods from the kitchen. Take turns being the shopper and the storekeeper, and make conversation while you play each part.
■ Keep television to a minimum, and encourage talking, music, and reading in its place.
■ Browse through mail-order catalogues together. Your discussions about the pictured items will be great vocabulary builders.
■ Bring-Along-A-Song by TOMY is a child-sized mock cassette player that plays four nursery rhymes and has colored push buttons.
■ Pop-up, scratch-and-sniff, and lift-and-look books are perfect for active storytelling.
■ Hide somewhere in the house, and make a game of your child finding you by following the sound of your voice.
■ Hide a treat, and give your toddler verbal instructions for finding it.
■ Watch a video created especially for children, and sing songs from the video during other times of the day.
■ Big Bird Talking Phone by Sesame Street is a push-button instrument
that features pictures and voices of the Muppet characters.
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■ Plan special outings to help build your child's vocabulary. There's a great deal to talk about at a pet shop, firehouse, park, or post office.