You may have noticed I have been doing a lot of reviews lately! I am finishing up all review requests I have had as I get ready to go out on maternity leave. Today, I am really excited to review a great book by fellow SLP Kimberly Scanlon called My Toddler Talks: Strategies and Activities to Promote your Child’s Language Development. Disclaimer: I received this book at no cost in exchange for my honest review. As always, all thoughts and opinions are mine and are not influenced by the free product. There are Amazon Affiliate links in this post for your convenience.Â
What is My Toddler Talks?
My Toddler Talks: Strategies and Activities to Promote Your Child’s Language Development
Who is This Book For?
My Toddler TalksÂ
First Impressions
My first impression is that this book’s cover is bright and happy! As I flipped though the book, I saw it was under 120 pages, which is GOOD, because books that are too long/thick can be very intimidating to parents who are starting off on this adventure of trying to help their child.
The book is printed in a larger font, which is easy to see/read. The language is simple and easy to read as well.
What is This Book All About (content)?
Kim has written a simple manual here to help parents of children with language delays increase their child’s speech and language skills. The first part of the book is separated into the following sections that are devoted to educating readers about strategies they can use with their child to help expand speech skills:
- Introduction
- How to Use This Book
- Language Modeling Techniques and Elicitation Strategies
- Troubleshoopting Tips
- The Do Not list
- More Tips: The Five R’s
After you read through these pages (29 pages) the rest of the book is now full of activities you can do with your child (that include tips and references to the information in the first 29 pages) at home to help expand speech and language skills. Activities include things like how to play with specific toys as well as simple arts and crafts activities.
After the activities, the book has several appendices that include information on tracking your child’s development (including goals, progress chats, etc), routines, how play relates to language, common first words, etc. These are WONDERFUL resources!
What I Love About This Book
- It is relatively short at just over 100 pages, which is great for parents just starting out on helping their child with speech and language
- The book gives simple and well explained strategies for parents, caregivers and others to help expand speech and language skills in young children. The strategies are well explained and “do-able.”
- The activities portion of the book provides concrete and easy to read (and follow) directions on how to do the activity as well as provides tips on how to incorporate and use the strategies explained in the beginning of the book. Each activity has a clear beginning, middle and end to help parents, caregivers and others plan and implement activities.
- I like that this book can be used not only by parents, but by caregivers, day care providers, and fellow SLPs as the language is easy to understand. I think this is a great book for SLP students and new grads just beginning to work with young children with speech and language delays.
Want to Learn More?
Kim also has a website for the book My Toddler Talks with some additional information including an app to track your child’s words! Go check it out! (Somehow this section disappeared from my original post….I’m adding this in Monday evening in case you missed it!)
Want It? Win It!
Kim, fellow SLP and author of this wonderful book, is so kind and is giving not one, not two, but THREE copies of  My Toddler Talks: Strategies and Activities to Promote Your Child’s Language Development to three of my lucky readers! How awesome is THAT?! Just enter in the Rafflecopter below. Good luck!!
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE DOES NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
Open to legal residents of US and Canada (must have mailing address in US or Canada) who are 18 or older. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. By entering below, you verify you have read the full terms and conditions, found in the Rafflecopter widget.Â
Promotion open from 12:00am Monday July 1st until 12am Monday July 8th, 2013, Pacific Standard Time.Â
When my second child was diagnosed with a speech delay, I was so frustrated because I knew that there was nothing magical about speech therapy but I felt as if speech therapists held some secret body of knowledge that I couldn’t find anywhere. As a huge do it myself type of person I was thrilled to find your blog and work with an amazing therapist. I have been just soaking up knowledge however I can. This book sounds like the very thing that I had wished for when we first started a few months ago, and I’d love the chance to get my hands on a copy!!
Jennifer Wagaman recently posted..Reflections after a c-section 5 months later
As a fellow pediatric SLP, this looks like it would be a great book to recommend and loan out to parents.
I would love to win this! I am starting a new job at a peds clinic and need some ideas. 🙂
I just happened upon this site looking for ways to assist my child with a speech delay! Wonderful!!! Thank you so much for all of the info, and thank you for the opportunity for this book!
I would LOVE to win this book to help with my 2 year old’s speech delay. We’ll take any help we can get!
I work in early intervention so I see a lot of delayed kiddos. This would be a great resource to share.
I would love to receive a copy of this book! I think it would be great to have a resource to help better understand normal vs delayed speech and language in toddlers and activities to help them improve their skills. It seems like such a big range of skills!
Who wouldn’t want this if you work with this population? I recently added Birth to 3 to my caseload population for the non-profit I work for–trouble is, I had given all my material away about 10 years ago! Starting to collect stuff after all these years, is exciting, but costly…Would love to be able to share your great ideas from this book! Aloha!
As a pediatric SLP, this sounds like a great book to add to my office library to recommend/loan to parents. Thanks for the review and opportunity!
I have this book on my Amazon wish list! Thanks for the review…super helpful and makes me want to get it even more. I think this would be great to have in a lending library for parents you trust to actually return it 🙂
I would love to have this as a resource for my practice and to recommend and loan out to parents!
Thank you for your review! This book sounds like a great tool for my husband and I to work with our 2.5 year old with a speech delay. He has a few words and has had some progression, but we are always looking for advice and activities to help him build on the language he has.
Thanks for a great review!! With my new job, I work with so many EI kiddos! I would love a copy of this book 🙂
Kristin Cummings recently posted..Cluster Reduction Rodeo!
I would love to win this for my niece whose 2 year old is receiving speech therapy.
This is a perfect resource to add for my Birth to 3 families. They are SO appreciative of tips that are easy to implement, are fun . . . and work.
I would LOVE to have this book.
My insurance company paid for my 2.5 yr old son’s evaluation, but won’t pay for therapy 🙁 I’d love to have this book to get more ideas for helping him at home!
Even though Trevor is older than a toddler – that’s where his language skills are and I’d love to learn more ways to help him thrive!
..danielle
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As a pediatric SLP, I work a lot with parents and it’s nice to have info readily available to them.
Would love to be able to use this with my 3-year-old who will be starting therapy this fall!
This book looks awesome and very user friendly, from your review!
This looks fantastic! Thank you for your honest review. It’s always helpful to know what other professionals think about the resources that are out there.
As a fellow SLP, I would love to read this book to improve my ability to work with toddlers with speech and language disorders as well as assist the parents of my kiddos understand better what they should be doing to help their children! Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!
I would love to read this book to improve my ability to work with toddlers with speech and language disorders as well as assist the parents of my kiddos understand better what they should be doing to help their children! Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!
As an SLP in early intervention I am always trying to learn and add new things as I play/work with the little ones on my caseload. I also take a great amount of time continuing to provide the families I work with information, resources and recommendations. Any resources to help offset the costs of providing for all work related expenses would be so appreciated.
This looks great! I’d love to add it to my ‘library’ and have it to lend to parents!
I would love to have this book to be able to share with parents of the children I work with. It looks great!
I would love to win this to help my twin grandsons who are speech delayed.
Joanne Mitchell recently posted..Odds & Ends in June
I would love to win this book and add it to my EI resources!I’ve seen some other reviews and it’s on my “to-read” list 🙂
I am a day care provider. My 17 month old has just started EI for speech delays and SPD. There may be some hearing issues but we are waiting on testing. So much of what I’m reading is aimed at older kids. Is this book appropriate for a child this young with no language at all? I know it says toddler, but I wanted to be sure.
I ask because if I don’t win, I may want to buy a copy for myself.
Thanks!
Yes, I am a grandparent of a 3 year old with speech delays and have been looking for something like this book. (I found this site through pinterest.) Thanks for the chance to win and learn from this site.
🙂 Marie in NJ
Why haven’t I found this before! My son, a micro-preemie, is speech delayed and every little bit helps!
I have twin 18 month old boys and I’d love this resource to help them develop their language skills. Thanks!
I love the idea of having a book I can recommend to parents. Don’t they always ask for exactly that in those first sessions? This one sounds perfect!
Julie
This would be a great resource to use with my early intervention parents. Thanks!
Always love a new resource for families.
Would love to win this to use with my son with Down syndrome. Thanks!
I would love a chance to win and read this book to help my son improve his speech and language skills.
Always looking for new ways to help my little one’s communicate better! I wish I could understand his needs without question, and this book sounds like it would be a huge help.
This would be so helpful!
I would love this as a resource for families in our private practice. Parents really want to learn how to help their child with communication ! This sounds great!
I would LOVE a chance to win this book!! I babysit a young boy whose speech is significantly delayed and I’m super concerned about him!
This will help me out with my lil guy.
Of course I would love to win this book! My almost 2 year old has a speech delay and we’re trying all kinds of activities and every day things to help build his vocabulary. I love coming across great books of reference and this book sounds like it would be a great help to us to help my son. I love this website and the ideas and look forward to more tips and advice! Thank you!
My daughter has a severe speech delay and I am always looking for resources.
Would love to win this lovely resource.
This book would be perfect to loan to parents of the 0-3 kids I work with and to share with preschool teachers!
This book looks like a great reference and as a fellow SLP said a good reference to lend out to preschool teachers and parents.
Such a great resource for SLPs!
I work in Early Intervention and this sounds like a great resource!
My son has a great SLP at school, but we’re on our own during the summers. I’d LOVE to win the book so I can use it to work with him myself.
Looks like a great resource for parents
We’re experiencing delays with our 2.5 year old so this would be a great tool to work with him.
I have 2 sons in speech therapy right now and would love to win this!!
I wrote a lot of suggestions for older 3 and for 4 year olds, but would really like something to share with families with children receiving early Intervention and to use to update my daycare presentation.
I’d love to win so I could use tips with my 2 year old! And I am sure it has plenty of other info that is good to know!!
Kristina @ SchoolTimeSnippets recently posted..Baby Play: Water Ball Pit
I would love to win a copy to use as a resource for my Early Intervention parents and for my friends and family. I find that it will be a more practical way to recommend fun and effective stratgies to parents that might feel stuck when it comes to their child’s language development!
Looks like a nice resource. Love how it’s not too long!
What an amazing idea. As a mom with a child with a speech delay, any ideas/help we can get to reinforce the things we work on in therapy is GREAT!
I would love to have this book as a resource for my son that is almost two.
I’ve just started working with this age group and I think this would be a great resource! It’d also be great to use with parents!
I would love this book because I have a 4 year old with DS that is still mostly nonverbal.
I work in a public school setting. I’d love to have this book as a resource for myself and to share with the parents of my kiddos.
I am a Speech Pathologist, as well as a parent of a toddler with a speech delay. this book would help me both personally and professionally. Thank you for offering a giveaway!
This looks like a great book and language development is something I hope to work with my kids on
I would love to win this for my son!
I am an SLP,working primarily with toddlers. This book would be a great resource to share with all my parents!
Because it seems like a very good tool to use to develop language in toddlers.
I have my son and two lil girls I watch. 2 are under 2 years old and I’d love to try this book with them.
This looks like it would be a great book to add to my bookshelf of resources. I am always looking for more info, especially for the toddler population.
I would love this book. I was away from my kids for 6 months and now feel that my son, who is 3, is behind on his speech due to it.
I’m an SLP and I started working with EI kiddos directly after grad school (approximately 1 year) and I would love to expand my knowledge base regarding effective treatment strategies!
This books seems like an amazing resource!
Carolyn recently posted..Play Sand Castle
My daughter who is 33 months has a speech and language delay. I was a Special Education teacher for 6 years and I knew early intervention was the best thing for her, so at 21 months I had her assessed so that she could start receiving services. She was originally assessed at 12 months for her expressive language and 18 months for her receptive. At her 30 month assessments she has gone up to 24-27 months for expressive and 28 months for receptive. I am very happy with her progress and I have really enjoyed reading your blog! I love getting and learning more information on how I can help her. I would LOVE to win this book…..I think it would be great for my hubby too!!! 🙂
My toddler is a delayed talker and I feel this book would be very helpful.
Sarah Ann Walker recently posted..Sambazon Superfood Smoothie Review
I would like to win this to use as a resource for parents of my speech/language students.
I am coming to the end of my first year as a speech-language pathologist and have recently found your blog. I wish I had found it months ago! It has been so helpful as a resource for both me and the families I work with. I love referring them here to look for lots tips and recommendations to enhance language in everyday life. As an early intervention therapist, I am always looking for more resources to share and I feel that this book would be so helpful if I could add it to my bookshelf!
This book sounds very interesting to me!
My son was recently diagnosed with a phonological impairment and this book will be a great resource for me.
As a public school SLP, I have preschooler referrals coming in weekly! I would love to have this resource and to share with parents!
A majority of my patients are toddlers and I am always looking for new resources to draw from in my practice as well as to share with parents. This book seems like just what I need!
I work in a public school with preschoolers so his would be a great resource for me and the parents!
While my 2-year-old daughter is a chatterbox, I work with peds as a SLP, as well as with my 3-year-old nephew who has some delays. Thanks!
I would love to win this to use as a resource for birth to three clients and also to refer my daycare provider!
I can’t wait to hear my son say “I love you” with his voice and not just sign it!
This would be a great resource to share with the parents of my 0-3 patients! !!
I would win this for my daughter to help myself teach her how to talk. It would be nice to have for her, to keep her on track and to help her out.
I’m a social worker who works with kiddos on the spectrum. This would be a great resource!
I am currently a graduate student and have found many of the resources on your blog very helpful in my clinical work as well as my course. Your review about the Hanen Program: It Takes Two to Talk was inspiration for my selected alternative paper/thesis option. I would love to have a copy of the “My Toddler Talks” to review and incorporate into the paper.
I would love to win this so that I can use it to teach my son.
This book would be a fabulous addition to my collection! My son has Phonological Processing Disorder and I’m always looking for great resources 🙂
I would love to share this with families that I work with! Sounds very family friendly…
I’d like to see if there was something specific I could do …to help my grandson start talking!
I have a daughter with speech issues
I’d like this for our family.
Honestly I want to win this for my nephew because there are so many times where I’m left confused wondering what he is talking about. He is just getting into school so this would be perfect for him.
I would like to win this for my 3 year old grand son.
I would live to have an additional resource for parents and some new ideas for myself!
for my coworker
I am just starting out as a pediatric speech pathologist and this book would offer so many therapy ideas and would be a great resource as a new clinician!
I’d like to share the information with the families that I work with!
This book looks great. Always looking for information for myself to use with my child and to share with other families. Your Blog has been a great resource for me!
This sounds like a great tool to have in my bag!
As a pediatric SLP, I’m always looking for new resources for parents. This looks like a great one! Thanks!
This book will be a great resource for me while in grad school!
Sounds like a great resource for myself as an slp as wellas to share with families.
Looks like a great resource to share with parents.
I would love this book to help with my toddlers that are a little behind in their speech
This looks like a great book. Would love to add to my collection.
I have been so blessed with a healthy child, but his speech has been a struggle! As a professional, working, single mom I often feel I don’t devote enough time to just being mom! My sons SLP is amazing and his last year of therapy has resulted in a louder, more confident child! Yeah! I would live this book to help me become better at helping my little man with speech!!
As a former developmental therapist and mom to a late talker, this sounds like a great resource!
As an SLP who works with itty-bitties I find this book very interesting. I’m always looking for different ideas and trouble shooting. I love that parents and educators can use this book as a tool to build language and SLPs could use the material in the book in therapy as well as use the activities for a homework assignment and . I could refer this book to parents, educators and other SLPs.
This book looks fabulous, Katie. If I don’t win it, I will be buying it because it looks like a great resource.
This would be a great resource!
I would love to win this to help with my 2 year old son’s speech delay. I watch his SLP and love the work she is doing, but I often feel that I don’t know where to start when we are playing together. I would love some more tips!
Would love a copy to share with the parents I work with as an early intervention SLP!
My daughter had difficulties with k, g, and v sounds. Would be great to have this as a resource to help her
I would love to win this book to help my children with the speech and language development!
I would love to win this!
This book looks great and helpful!
I think that this would be a wonderful resource to have as I am currently working with my 20 month old on developing her spoken language
As a future SLP and volunteer with toddlers who have speech delays, this would be an amazing resource to refer to.
I would love to win this book! It could help me with my 2 year old
My son may or may not qualify for speech services tomorrow at his eval. I’m just wanting to help him out at much as I can and up reading your blog at 1am.. again. Would love to have a great resource like this book, however I enjoy your blog very much and appreciate the work you do.
Sounds like a good book!