delayedtoddler

photo by hyperscholar on Flickr.com

Both of my kids had lots of fun dressing up in their costumes tonight for Halloween and it reminded me of how much B loves to dress up any day.  Dress up is a great play for my delayed toddler because it helps her to hone her fine and gross motor skills.  Playing dress up has helped her to learn to get herself dressed (of course, that doesn’t mean she’ll actually do it when we want her to).  I think part of why she likes it is that the costumes surround her and give her some deep tissue sensory input.  It also helps with her imaginitive play.  She is currently a doggie and is having fun barking and hopping like a kangaroo (because that is the costume her sister is wearing).

We have a princess dress up box that my oldest was given when she was a toddler.  You don’t need to buy anything expensive though.  A dress up box just needs some old clothes, bathrobes, baby blankets make great capes, costume jewelry is great for them to accessorize with, purses, hats, you might be surprised what you can come up with to make your own dress up box.  One friend of mine waited until after Halloween to go to the store and buy marked down costumes to use for her costume box.  The point is it doesn’t have to be expensive and it can provide hours of creative play and sensory stimulation for your special needs child.

photo by lepiaf.geo on Flickr

In one of my most popular posts I shared about B’s delayed echolalia which she displayed when she asked me to pick her up (B would ask, “Carry you, mama?). Then I posted a celebration when she asked, “Mama, you like you carry me?” Well today, we can have an all out party, because B asked me today, “Mama, can you carry me?” We’ve been working in speech therapy on asking for things (”can I have?”) and we’ve started working on directing her questions to who she is talking to (either with eye contact or by name). I’m so pleased to see this progress! Tomorrow is her last speech therapy appointment for this session. I’m really amazed what a difference eight weeks has made for her. I really believe early intervention has had a huge positive impact.