Summary: Dr. Lynn Scoresby, PhD Child and Family Psychologist teaches us simple ways to increase our baby’s learning ability The baby years are a special window of opportunity when the brain develops at the fastest pace and takes in the most information. You can take advantage of this time and create a great learning environment in your home with simple activities. Routine activities provide an amazing opportunity to learn because they repeat. You can use them to introduce simple learning experiences like counting toes while changing diapers. Dr. Scoresby breaks learning in to three areas: emotions, language, and numbers. Language: Labeling, self-talk, etc. Label things as you go through out the day and talk to your baby even when she can’t talk back so she can get more language. The more she gets the better (that includes sign langauge). Numbers: Sorting socks, counting stuffed animals, counting stairs, counting toes and so forth. Have positive feeling about numbers (don’t pass your fears on to your baby) Emotions: Label your emotions for your child, tell your child how you are feeling, allow him to feel his emotions and acknowledge them. Research shows that children whose emotions were validated as a child grow up better adjusted and able to deal with their emotions. For more information on Dr. Scoresby’s books and materials, go to www.kgls.com or contact brett@kgls.com. Phone 801.225.9585 or 1.800.526.7793 Signing Progress Stacey is signing with her youngest baby, Spencer, and she reported that this week Spencer seemed not as interested in signing as in past weeks. This is a common thing. When babies are going through a learning curve learning something new, they will often backtrack in some other skills that they have started to master. When we mentioned this to Stacey, she said, “That’s right. This week, he said his first word and it was ‘MaMa.’” Congrats on the first word. Stacey should keep signing with Spencer and he will continue to sign when he masters the skill he is working on.
