If you’re looking for information about baby development, or looking for ideas about how to play with your baby to support development, Learn With Less (formerly Strength In Words) is where we discuss all things early parenthood and early childhood. We help families (expecting parents, new parents, and seasoned parents) navigate those early years in an inclusive, educational, and supportive space. Join Ayelet Marinovich, M.A., CCC-SLP, author, singer, imperfect mother of two and pediatric speech-language pathologist, for a podcast for parents, caregivers, and educators of infants and toddlers of all developmental levels. Learn With Less is the place for families to access high quality, evidence-based resources about how their infants and toddlers learn and develop; for regular sessions of music, play and developmental information for both you and your baby, subscribe on Apple Podcasts and visit https://learnwithless.com!
You’ll always know how to support a young child’s development with a laundry basket, a cardboard box, or a dishtowel!
On this episode of the Learn With Less® podcast, Ayelet discusses how a simple shift in our understanding of what we can view as “educational materials” or “toys” can help us see how little we actually need to buy… And also how much power there is in opening up our own eyes to the wonder of play, as seen through a young child.
Are you a new parent or caregiver wondering what you really need to support and connect with your baby or toddler? Or are you a professional who serves new families as a developmental therapist, early childhood educator, or other professional in the perinatal space? This episode and our related resource, Connect Learn Play, is for you!
Hi there. I’m Ayelet Marinovich, and you’re listening to Learn With Less®. Today, I wanted to share a little bit about a very exciting new resource that we have just released here at Learn With Less®, in collaboration with my friend and colleague, Miranda Zoumbaris at The Emerging Parent. Miranda and I attended the American Speech Language and Hearing Association conference back in November 2023, and at that convention hall, we had a exhibit booth for Learn With Less®.
One of the fun giveaways that I had created was a series of postcards. On the front was an image of an everyday object, like a funnel or a laundry basket or a box. On the back there were a series of ideas for how you could use that everyday, simple object (a commonly found household item) to support connection and development through the use of play, language, music or movement. These are the four pillars of Learn With Less®: play, talk, sing and move.
Now, I had created these as a giveaway, and they were sort of a testing ground for the kinds of fun things that might be useful for both professionals serving young families as well as new parents and caregivers themselves. What happened was pretty hilarious. Everyone was getting them as giveaways, and they were asking where they could buy the product. So Miranda and I got to work creating this new, exciting resource for all of you, and we call it Connect Learn Play.
What does Connect Learn Play do? Basically, the promise is that you’ll always know how to support a young child’s development with a laundry basket, a cardboard box or a dish towel. Connect Learn Play is a resource for parents and caregivers of young children and for practitioners working with zero to five year olds. They are digital, printable, infant, toddler and preschool aged ideas to provide simple, enriching ways to support early development through play, language, music and movement, using everyday items, helping you to Learn With Less®.
What Does It Mean to Connect Learn Play?
I want to give you a little bit more information about what Connect Learn Play is, and why it is a useful resource for you. So essentially, it’s your invitation to stress less, to need less and spend less of your time and money so that you can feel more confident, be more responsive, and create more connection.
So, picture this: you’re sitting on the floor with your tiny human. You’re trying to figure out what to do to maximize the 20 minutes between the time you’ve gotten home and the time you’ve got to start getting ready for the next meal. You take out your devil device and start scrolling through Tiktok or Pinterest or IG, or whatever the latest idea rabbit hole where you’re currently following the latest parenting or early childhood influencer. Everything you find requires materials that are not within arm’s reach. And everything requires time you don’t have. Everything requires pre-planned brain space that you don’t have. And in the meantime, your child has found the curtain above them.
What do you do next?
A, pull your child away from the curtain again and again.
B, distract them with one of the five toys you got suckered into buying from this year’s best toys to buy for kids under five.
C, join your child at the curtain after recalling the idea about using long fabrics on the Learn with Less® Connect Learn Play prompt yesterday.
You can play peek a boo. Or you can talk about the color or texture of the curtain, or what you see outside the window. You could sing a song about hiding and seeking. And you could follow your little one around as they move behind the curtain. Listen, you get to decide!
Connect Learn Play cards are a classic resource from Learn With Less®. They’re designed to prompt you to start thinking about ways to connect the dots between what a child is showing interest in, between the relationship between caregiver and child. And to connect the dots between the literal neurons in a young child’s brain that enable them to grow, learn and thrive without being prescriptive, overly structured or requiring of any specific toy. Connect Learn Play helps parents and caregivers make the connection between a child’s interests and strategies used to support development, whether that child is experiencing a delay, is right on target or is ready for more.
If you are a parent, a caregiver or a provider of developmental services, then Connect Learn Play is for you! As with all the resources we create here at Learn With Less®, we use the four-pillar framework of the Learn With Less® curriculum (as I mentioned, play, talk, sing and move) to address four major areas of infant and toddler development: cognitive, communicative, motor and social and emotional development.
Toys and more materials take up, extra space, cost more and sometimes even prevent us from following a young child’s lead and responding to what they’re interested in at the moment. So, let’s get real. As a mother, a pediatric speech language therapist, and as a coach for practitioners using the Learn With Less® developmental curriculum, I am certainly not anti-toy. I say, do what works for you. But the idea that you need to buy anything in particular to support a tiny human is not only flawed, but also deeply inequitable.
How To Support Early Development With Everyday Routines and Everyday Items
Supporting development and connection for young children can be simpler than we think. Families need to know how to make use of the natural routines and everyday interactions in front of them. The idea that there’s an inherent developmental value in an object classified as an educational toy is, quite frankly, a delusion. The truth is, you already have the resources to give young children the right stimulation, play, and interaction to thrive – whether or not your toy closet is bursting at the seams. The items in our homes that we already have often hidden in plain view are powerful learning tools that can support all areas of development.
So just imagine, providers and practitioners: instead of spending your precious time pre-planning sessions, hauling that big old therapy bag around, wondering how to do bagless therapy routines based intervention and how to center parent education in your work with young families. You feel confident responding to the parent or caregiver and the child in the moment. You feel rooted in the routine you step into using what the family already has and relying on your own set of skills, knowledge and observations instead of a particular toy. And you feel relieved to have a quick reference guide to use an object the family already has on hand in either printed or digital format so families can generalize and carry over what you practiced in the many, many days and hours while you’re not there.
Now for families, imagine this instead of the constant looming guilt that you’re not doing enough or that you don’t have that special toy or specific material in order to support your kids, brain, language, muscles, emotional needs, I’m looking at those very expensive toy subscription boxes in your social media feed. Instead of all those feelings, you have ideas for play and interaction using what materials, time and energy you already have. You have confidence. You’re doing enough for your young child’s physical and mental development each day. And you have more valuable interactions using the tools at your fingertips to play and engage in enriching activities that support the connection between you. Finally, you also have access to ideas on the go wherever you are with a digital download.
What exactly do I get with Connect Learn Play? So what this is, is access to over 100 ideas for play with 25 everyday items. It is a simple digital download. You’ll be provided with both postcard-sized and full page handouts, in case you want to print a physical copy for easy use or easy sharing with families. For families, you can easily save to a folder on your phone, for instance, print it out and place one on your fridge. And for providers and practitioners, you could text or email an idea to a family with whom you work.
Connect Learn Play can be used during sessions as handouts or cards. They can be provided as supplemental material after. You’ll receive a link to a digital download with all 25 cards in English. Currently, we’re still working on Spanish and Arabic. As a parent or caregiver, or as a provider, you can save these to a folder on your device or print them out for quick reference. Just as you’d refer to a cookbook for a recipe, you could check out what you might do with the ingredients you have on hand. Once you’re using these ingredients regularly, you’ll start to see the power of everyday items. Connect Learn Play can go alongside materials you might use as a clinician, for instance, mental health or developmental therapist, as an early childhood educator, home visitor and or a licensed Learn With Less® class facilitator.
See Play Through A Child’s Eyes
I want to share with you one thing that a current Learn With Less® facilitator, parent of multiple young children who have attended Learn With Less® classes themselves, with me as a facilitator, and who are now in preschool and beyond… I want to share with you what Rachel Kammeyer has to say about the power of Connect Learn Play.
“The most powerful thing is that, like, this veil gets lifted of our adult perspective of the use of an object. And then once you unsee one thing, like a garden hose, you start to unsee it everywhere. You’re open to how a child explores it, versus our expectation of how we use it. Yeah, it’s amazing!
So the preschool I go to is very Learn With Less® in the sense that we use a lot of everyday objects for our activities, and one little girl was touring yesterday. There are these little sticks that look like golf tees, and we have 12 or 15 little things to put them in. And this was, like, this little girl’s jam. She was just putting in and taking out and lining them up. And it was fine motor. It was cognition. It was so beautiful. And the mom was like, How do I buy these? And I’m like, “Oh, do you have hot rollers at home? You can do the same thing. She can put them up and put them right down on this.” And she’s like, I do, and I haven’t used them in forever! She’s like, I never would have thought of that. I’m like, I have been trained in the art!”
I love that from speech-language therapist and Learn With Less® facilitator. Rachel Kammeyer, Thanks, Rachel. So again, who this is for: Connect Learn Play is for families with or expecting infants, toddlers and preschoolers. It’s for individual providers serving families in a home based, clinic based, school based and/or medical setting, and it’s for organizations serving families.
So no more scrolling Pinterest trying to find the perfect activity to set up for your child. No more digging through your therapy bag to find the perfect toy to invite playfulness into a session. Again, there is a simpler, more equitable way to support tiny humans without needing the fancy toy subscription. Connect Learn Play is the perfect, simple resource that allows you to offer a perfect blend of child led and structured play for tiny humans to thrive.
Here’s the thing: when you learn to recognize the tools you already have to boost your child’s development, you are able to maximize the time you have with a young child. You’re empowered to get it right, and you’re able to unlock the power of everyday routines and everyday objects to figure out how to play with your tiny human go ahead and grab Connect Learn Play. Over at learnwithless.com/connectlearnplay. We cannot wait to hear how you’re using Connect Learn Play, and we look forward to hear what you think! Wishing you more great moments with what counts.
What Do We Really Need to Support & Connect With Tiny Humans?
Apr 10, 2023
An Ultimate Checklist of Baby and Toddler Learning Essentials? Or Nah.
On this episode of the Learn With Less® podcast, Ayelet discusses the ways in which early development, everyday routines, everyday materials, and simple activities (often in which we are already engaging) are powerfully interconnected.
If you are a new parent or caregiver wondering what you really need to support and connect with your baby or toddler… or you’re a professional who serves new families as a developmental therapist, early childhood educator, or other professional in the perinatal space, this episode and our related upcoming workshop is for you.
Many of us are searching for the ultimate checklist of items for young children, or for a list of go-to developmental activities for babies or toddlers to have in your back pocket. Ayelet makes the case that you already have the resources you need – and that if you’re spending your hard earned money on fancy developmental toys, that investment could go toward other places that are in line with your values.
In our upcoming Learn With Less® Family Enrichment Fundamentals Workshop, we’ll explore the basis for the four areas of early development, and connect these to a framework of play, language, music, and movement so you can support and connect with the tiny humans in your care using the time and energy you’re already expending, and the materials you’re already using. Find the magic in the mundane, everyday objects and routines. Join us in our upcoming workshop and discover all about how to Learn With Less®!
The Learn With Less® Curriculum is used in communities all over the world in a “caregiver & me” class setting, and has also influenced the philosophies and environmental considerations for play spaces and organizations serving families.
Not familiar with the term, “caregiver & me” classes? We use it as a more inclusive term instead of “mommy & me” classes. Our classes are open to – and meant for – ALL parents and caregivers: not just moms… but also dads, non-binary folks, grandparents, foster parents, babysitters, nannies, and other amazing grownups who care for tiny humans. We’re going to play the “search term” game here (so you can find this great content more easily!) and help shift the conversation from “mommy & me” classes to “caregiver & me” classes… to do our part to shape the more inclusive world in which we’d like to live.
Learn With Less® Bundle: get our favorite infant and toddler development resources (save 70%)! Discover how to support & connect with your tiny human, without having to buy a single toy.
Learn With Less® “Caregiver & Me” Classes: the magic of Learn With Less® lies in the communal aspect of coming together with our resources, in community with other families. Join us for a virtual or in-person class led by a licensed facilitator near you!
Learn With Less® Facilitator Training & Certification Program: Use your existing skills as an educator or therapist to serve families holistically with a high quality program that will provide lasting impact! Apply now to become a licensed facilitator Learn With Less®.
Hi there, I’m Ayelet Marinovich and you’re listening to Learn With Less®. Today I wanted to share a little bit about an upcoming event that we are holding here at Learn With Less®, you can learn more about it at learnwithless.com/fundamentals. What this is, is a family enrichment workshop, all about the fundamentals of the Learn With Less® curriculum and program and philosophy.
It is a live workshop for parents, caregivers and professionals serving new families. The whole idea is to help you feel confident that you can support and connect with babies and toddlers without having to buy another toy. The event is being held this time around on April 29 2023, from 10am PST until 2pm PST. When you enroll before April 15, you’ll be able to enroll and save $50 on the ticket price. So again, that’s learnwithless.com/fundamentals.
What we’re trying to do with this workshop is to help support you to find confidence and connection through play language, music and movement. These are the four pillars of Learn With Less®: play, talk, sing and move. And you’ve heard me speak a lot about them on the podcast, and in all of our content and information that we put out into the world. Essentially, what we want you to do is to discover how to use the time, the energy and the materials that you already have to support young children — instead of buying all the fancy toys that you may be are being shown on social media.
Here’s the question that we all sort of ask ourselves: what do we really need to support and connect with tiny humans? When the internet feels like a firehose of information, Dr. Google and the baby industry create a sense of overwhelm and perceived incompetence in families… New parents and caregivers know the should’s, but they’re exhausted! Gathering internal resources to do anything extra for their children often feels impossible. And then on the other side, educators and therapists, as well as families, often feel pressure to go out and buy a bunch of toys to ensure that they’re doing the “right” thing, maximizing the precious time that they have with tiny humans.
Now, here’s the thing: supporting development and connection for young children can be simpler than we think! Families need to know how to make use of those natural routines and everyday interactions. The idea that there is an inherent developmental value in any object that’s classified as an educational toy is, quite frankly, a delusion.
You Already Have the Resources to Support & Connect With Your Young Child
So drumroll please, wait for it: the Emperor has no toys, folks. The truth is, you already have the resources to give young children the right stimulation, play and interaction to thrive. And that is true whether or not your toy closet is bursting at the seams. The items in our homes that we already have often hidden in plain view, are powerful learning tools that can support all areas of development. Now, again, I’m just going to break here and share with you that if you want to find out how to Learn With Less® with this workshop, you can go to learnwithless.com/fundamentals and sign up right now.
As a parent myself, I’m a mom, I have two young children, and I’m also as a professional serving new families. In my work with other educators and therapists, I know that the developmental value between a cardboard box and the fancy toy that might have come inside is often (ahem) exactly the same. And I also know that early learning does not happen only when I can eke out 15 minutes to provide undivided attention to my child.
I also know that it feels sometimes impossible to share succinctly about the simple and natural ways to support and form a deep and loving connection with a child. But when we can connect simple everyday interactions with early learning, we have a blueprint for parent support, partnering with families, and education. Because families already have the resources to give young children the “right” stimulation, play, and interaction to thrive and we can do it with the materials we already have. No extra time or energy needed.
Supporting Early Learning With Simple Activities
So I’d like to present to you the Learn With Less® Family Enrichment Fundamentals Workshop. We held this workshop in December of last year and it was very well received. We had a lot of great feedback from folks. This is a live workshop for parents and caregivers as well as professionals serving new families. And like many of you listening right now, you might actually be both – a new parent or caregiver, as well as a, say, developmental therapist or early childhood educator – or something in the perinatal space.
The Learn With Less® framework is built on four pillars, which each, in turn, support each of the four major areas of early development. In this live workshop, you will find out how to make use of what you know is special, precious time with tiny humans. You’ll discover ways to ensure you’re doing the “right” things for children at their developmental level. You’ll learn how to find that balance between structured play and free play. You’ll find out how to let a young child guide their own learning. You’ll discover new ways to use materials you already have, and also how to help a child communicate to, say, reduce negative behavior and minimize everyone’s frustration.
Now, this is a great workshop for families with or professionals serving children who are developing along a “typical” progression within, say, normal developmental limits. It is also a fantastic workshop for families or professionals with children who are not meeting developmental milestones, for instance. This is not about milestones. It is about helping you and discussing and showing you how this four pillar framework of the Learn With Less® curriculum (which again, play talk, sing, and move) actually addresses those four major areas of infant and toddler development, regardless of where a child is performing. Those four major areas are cognitive development, communicative development, motor/sensory development, and social/emotional development.
Interaction, Discussion, Observation, and Practice
What we’ll be doing is interacting, discussing and sharing about all of these ideas and information. You’ll come away with specific ways to support and connect with young children using what you already have through natural interactions and simple play ideas. Again, this is a workshop that’s occurring (this time around) on April 29 2023 at 10am Pacific. We will be providing a replay period to those who are registering for the live workshop. I do definitely recommend that you try your best to attend live because we’re going to have a whole lot of interaction, live Q*A, and interaction with other professionals who are using the Learn With Less® curriculum in their practices or in their families.
For instance, I wanted to share with you what one of our attendees in the past has shared about their learning in this workshop. This is from a father named Josh. He’s the parent of an infant and a toddler. After attending and after involving himself with this information, he shared the following. He said, “You’ve helped me see more clearly that we are already engaging in the kinds of activities that can make a huge impact on our children’s development. We already have the materials we need.” He said, “Ayelet’s words rang true for me. Pinterest can be helpful and fun. But it’s the experience of words, objects, people and ideas in a variety of contexts, settings and environments that support your child’s learning.” He said, “Ayelet helps you understand and knows way to do so – thank you.” So Josh, thank you for sharing all of that.
We also have from Megan, who’s a speech language pathologist, and she attended this workshop in the past. She said, “I loved seeing how easy it can be to incorporate music into everyday tasks. And I like how the class flowed and how each parent was able to be successful.” Now, she is actually referring to one of the components of this workshop. And so I’m going to share with you what all of those are.
What Are the 4 Components of the Workshop?
We have four components. The first is that you’ll learn and discover those four major areas of early development. So we’ll lay out these four areas of early learning. And then we’ll take a deep dive into a particular aspect of each area helping you to find simple, practical and fun ideas to support that learning, using the time, energy and materials that you already have. Then, we’ll also be sharing how to utilize those four pillars of learning with less so that you know you don’t have to expend your energy and resources worrying about what you really need to support tiny humans. Instead, you’ll discover how you can support the connection between caregiver and child.
And then that third component, which is what Megan the SLP who shared that quote was referring to. We’re going to then connect practical application to that theory with a live demonstration of activities. So you’ll actually get to experience a live demonstration of caregivers and children experiencing the Learn With Less® framework and working together in a group class that breaks down how to use this info very clearly – and definitely joyfully!
Finally, the fourth and potentially most impactful part of this workshop is that you will be able to find out answers to your most pressing questions with a live Q&A. So we’ll have access to a panel of early childhood professionals, early childhood educators, speech language pathologists, developmental therapists of all sorts, who use the Learn With Less® framework in their everyday practice, as well as often with their own children when applicable.
I’m going to just share with you some details about this workshop. It is, again, on April 29 2023, at 10am Pacific – that’s 1pm Eastern. You can expect to reserve up to four hours of your day. If you are a speech language pathologist who is registered in the United States, you will receive professional development hours as well.
When you purchase before April 15, you will also save $50 on the price of your registration. This workshop will be held on our private Zoom room, and the link will be emailed to you prior to the session. Space is limited. We are capping this workshop it’s going to be small in an effort to create an intimate community learning experience for everyone. Once it fills up, we will consider adding more dates. As I said, we held this workshop successfully in December of last year and it was very, very well received. So that’s why we’re doing it again.
Pertinent, Evidence-Based, Bite-Sized Information & Ideas For New Parents and Professionals Working With Families
You will also have bonus access to the recording for seven days should you want to review the information, or say, if you were unable to attend for part of the day. So again, who is this for? This is for parents and caregivers of infants and toddlers, expecting and seasoned parents alike. This is also for professionals working with tiny humans and their families. So those working in the perinatal space, those who are early childhood educators, developmental therapists, doulas, mental health practitioners. Also professionals who are, in addition, parents and caregivers, so people who are looking for high quality, evidence based information and ideas to support your tiny humans, as well as those on your caseload.
There is no complicated activity planning, there’s no required materials from say a particular parenting philosophy. This is just about you. It’s about the tiny humans in your life and the everyday objects and everyday routines already happening around you. We will be sharing what the baby industry doesn’t want you to know or to understand. When you learn to recognize the tools that you already have to boost an infant or toddlers development, you’re able to maximize the time you have with young children, you’re empowered to get it right. And you’re able to unlock the power of everyday routines and everyday objects to figure out how to play with the little ones in your life while also supporting their learning.
You’ll discover how to take simple everyday items and use them in different ways. exploring them with the children in your care and guiding that child to explore with you. There is a simpler, more equitable way to support tiny humans without needing the fancy toys subscriptions. Here’s another quote from Sue, who is a pediatric occupational therapist. She said, “I often went into houses with my magic bag of toys. The Learn With Less® framework is making me rethink the way I interact with the family. For instance, interacting with family as a whole, or at least the caregiver and child dyad – versus interacting predominantly with the child.”
Think Outside the Box When It Comes to Early Learning
With this workshop, I want you to discover how to think outside the box. Parents and professionals alike are often caught up in the lure of fun new toys, only to start to feel a strong sense of overwhelm each time they idle down the toys and games aisle. Cut the overwhelm: let’s play in the box instead! So we’re going to help you connect loose parts and open ended play with straightforward developmental concepts that you’re often already supporting… without having to spend time, energy and money setting up a bunch of crafty activities. Again, space is extremely limited. We are creating an intimate atmosphere for learning and community. So I urge you to save your spot today. That’s learnwithless.com/fundamentals.
I also want to say that the Learn With Less® Facilitator Training & Certification Program is a complete plug and play system for using the popular Learn With Less® curriculum in one’s community as an additional offering for new families. That is a four figure investment. It includes a complete training program and certification process in addition to access to all of our licensed materials, ongoing Q&A and coaching calls, and a professional sounding board. But I want to invite you to join me for a complete workshop around the framework, a panel of other educators and therapists who have integrated the Learn With Less® framework into their practice to answer your questions around the concepts, and a live demonstration of the Learn With Less® curriculum in action.
Right now this workshop is just $99. You can save $50 on the price of the workshop before April 15. After that, it will go up to $149. So go ahead and register now to save your spot. We have also a quote from pediatric speech language pathologist and a parent of a toddler, Meryl, who said, “I like that it makes things feel simple. It feels like you’re going back to the basics, the Learn With Less® framework is accessible, use what you have. I really like it because it feels relatable, like anybody can do it.”
Who Is the Creator of the Learn With Less® Framework?
Finally, I just want to introduce myself in case you don’t know who I am, and if you’ve made it this far, I am Ayelet. I’m a pediatric speech language pathologist and a parent educator and I’ve been running caregiver and me classes using the Learn With Less® infant and toddler curriculum since 2014. I’ve served thousands of families all over the world, both virtually and in person, helping new families to feel confident that they can support and connect with their babies and toddlers without having to buy another toy.
And since early 2020, I’ve helped dozens of educators and therapists to do the same by creating lasting impact leading, marketing, and filling caregiver and child classes to supplement their income and to provide education and support families in their communities. I wanted to share, in case you’re wondering, a few things. First of all, you will have the tools and guidance to promote learning and connection using existing time, energy and materials. And again, if you are a US based speech language pathologist, you’ll get more certified maintenance hours of continuing education.
FAQ’s About the Family Enrichment Fundamentals Workshop
A couple of FAQs, in case you’re wondering, what if I want a training that provides me with in depth knowledge and support integrating these concepts into everyday life. So here’s what this workshop will not cover. It will not cover access to and training around our full curriculum as a parent coaching and support and a family enrichment offering. It will not cover coaching and guidance around using the Learn With Less® curriculum in your community. It will not include ongoing support for your questions and challenges frustrations regarding early parenthood and early childhood, and it will not include ongoing access to a community of like minded caregivers or educators. If you want more in depth training or mentorship and support, here’s what we recommend.
For parents and caregivers, we recommend that you grab the Learn With Less® Bundle, which includes all of our best resources, including our best selling books, our musical album, a recorded class, as well as caregiver handouts. That can be found at learnwithless.com/bundle. We also recommend that you participate in a Learn With Less® caregiver and child class in your community, either virtually or in person, led by a licensed Learn With Less® facilitator. You can find those over at learnwithless.com/classes.
And for educators and therapists, if you are looking to create lasting impact leading caregiver and me classes with a high quality evidence-based “plug and play’ program. then we would love to see your application come through over at learnwithless.com/certification. And then here is the rest of the fine print, because I always want to be up front with you.
So number one, no refunds for this workshop will be granted for any reason. Space is limited, which means that if you decide to take one of those spots, it’s yours, even if you don’t attend live! This session will be recorded. You will still learn a ton from watching the recording after the live workshop is over, and you’ll have access to it for a seven day replay period.
The workshop is for parents and caregivers with or expecting infants and toddlers, and also for professionals supporting new families or who are in the perinatal space like developmental therapists, early childhood educators doulas, mental health professionals, etc. If you’re not sure really whether this workshop is right for you, please do reach out to me at admin at strength in words.com and we will get back to you ASAP. If you want to know, “how do I sign up to host a Learn With Less® group?” That’s another question I wanted to answer. We would be thrilled if you’re interested in becoming a Learn With Less® facilitator. We are accepting applications now. So if you get yours in today, you can do so by applying aat learnwithless.com/certification.
Another quote or testimonial I wanted to share from Miranda Zoumbaris who we’ve had the podcast a bunch, who is a licensed Learn With Less® facilitator and early childhood educator, and who will be on the panel on the upcoming workshop. She said, “what could be better than sharing with families the gift of joy? It has always been a goal of mine as a parent educator to take away worry, provide education and infuse joy into everyday activities, teaching parents to have joy with their babies and toddlers. What could be better than helping them have that gift?”
Learn With Less® Values: Showing Up In Our Space
So again, you can go ahead and enroll now to secure your seat at our upcoming workshop on April 29, you can do that today, it’s learnwithless.com/fundamentals. And if you are wondering what the experience of the workshop will be like, I wanted to just share a little bit about our values and how those play into the way that we hold events and the way we run our communities. Here at Learn With Less, we are a relationship and values based company. To us, that means that we prioritize and make decisions based on the values that we hold. We hope that learning more about these values and how they show up in the company will give you a good sense of what to expect.
The first one is simplicity. As professionals, we know that everyday materials and routines hold the utmost developmental value, we always encourage you to use what you already have, you don’t have to go out buying more stuff. We also want to encourage you to remember that you already have everything you need. Play and interaction do not require expensive toys or lots of time.
The second value that I want to share with you is community. To us, that means communal learning. So facilitation versus hierarchical learning. We value the idea of learning together, and alongside one another. We value communal support, meaning we’re here for each other even when we don’t have the same professional backgrounds, or hold the same identities, or parent in the same way.
Our third is inclusivity. We respect and accept diverse thought and practice, these are valued. We want to help our audience with access: you don’t have to have oodles of supplies to support families or your baby. We provide access to information throughout our podcast books, workshops, and programs. We honor, create, and uphold space for those holding a diversity of social identities.
Next is education. So we value the power of learning and knowledge, shared learning. Once you know what you’re doing is supportive of a young child, you’re motivated to keep doing it. You’ll be participating in the educational information that we’ll be sharing in this workshop, but you’ll also, at times, be co-creating it.
And then finally playfulness. We value playfulness. And we define this in terms of exploration, musicality, and love. Play with your baby, play with your style, play with materials, play in a group with others, play with me. Those are the values that we define in our company and how they show up. I wanted to share with you what that feels like and looks like, and how that might present itself within this workshop.
Join Us In Community With the Learn With Less® Framework
Again, we are holding a wonderful workshop. It’s a Learn With Less® Family Enrichment Fundamentals workshop for parents, caregivers and professionals. It will be held on April 29th 2023 at 10am Pacific / 1pm. Eastern. You can expect to reserve up to four hours of your day, and you will receive professional PD hours (professional development hours) if you’re an SLP – a speech language pathologist. If you purchase your ticket before April 15, you will save $50 on your registration. Currently the price of the ticket is $99 and that goes up to $149 on April 15. You will also, once you purchase your ticket, have bonus access to the recording for seven days if you want to review the info, or if you were unable to attend part of the day, for instance. I do want to again reiterate this is a ticket to a live virtual event and there will be no refunds, so make sure you understand fully: we do have no refunds policy when you purchase.
We can’t wait to see you. It’s going to be so fun. We have a wonderful panel of early childhood professionals and it’s just going to be a great day, so please go ahead and reserve your ticket now. I can’t wait to see you go ahead and reach out to me a great place to do that would be @learnwithless on Instagram in the DMs. I would love to hear your thoughts questions, and I can’t wait to see you at the workshop on April 29th. Talk to you soon. Bye!
Building Community & Belonging for New Families
Mar 30, 2023
Building a Sense of Community in Parenting
On this episode of the Learn With Less® podcast, Ayelet sits down with Desiree Viray, an early childhood educator, mother, entrepreneur, parent partner and parent educator, Learn With Less® facilitator, and the owner of Empowered Family Collective.
Desiree’s purpose and joy are rooted in serving, empowering and walking with educators, parents / caregivers, and families through each stage of development, impacting children’s lives through a family-centered approach to play, talk (language development), song, movement, connection, and simplicity. Her work at Empowered Family Collective helps families find moments of joy, and opportunities for intentionality and simplicity in each stage of child development and parenthood/caregiving. She offers “caregiver & me” groups for families using the Learn With Less® curriculum, among other services.
Not familiar with the term, “caregiver & me” classes? We use it as a more inclusive term instead of “mommy & me” classes. Our classes are open to – and meant for – ALL parents and caregivers: not just moms… but also dads, non-binary folks, grandparents, foster parents, babysitters, nannies, and other amazing grownups who care for tiny humans. We’re going to play the “search term” game here (so you can find this great content more easily!) and help shift the conversation from “mommy & me” classes to “caregiver & me” classes… to do our part to shape the more inclusive world we’d like to live in.
In this episode, we discuss:
Desiree’s background, how she came into the world of early childhood education, and where her career has taken her
What drew her to the Learn With Less® philosophy, and the value of prioritizing parents and caregivers and parent education
How she has placed her values front and center with regard to her own business decisions, marketing decisions, and how she coaches families
The ways in which creating a sense of belonging serves both her as a business owner, as well as serving families with young children
How she has respected her internal pace and intentionally created slow and steady growth
Helpful Resources Related to This Episode
Learn With Less® Stories: Additional podcast episodes and other interviews from educators who’ve provided the Learn With Less® infant/toddler family enrichment curriculum and families who’ve experienced our programming.
FREE Infant/Toddler Development Blueprint: Discover the four major areas of infant and toddler development, what’s involved in each one in the first three years of life, and what you can do to support that learning (using what you already have in your home).
Learn With Less® Bundle: get our favorite infant and toddler development resources (save 70%)! Discover how to support & connect with your tiny human, without having to buy a single toy.
Learn With Less® Facilitator Training & Certification Program: Use your existing skills as an educator or therapist to serve families holistically with a high quality program that will provide lasting impact! Apply now to become a licensed facilitator Learn With Less®.
Learn With Less® “Caregiver & Me” Classes: the magic of Learn With Less® lies in the communal aspect of coming together with our resources, in community with other families. Join us for a virtual or in-person class led by a licensed facilitator near you!
Ayelet: Welcome to the Learn With Less® Podcast. Today I am joined by my dear friend and colleague Desiree Viray. Desiree, welcome to the Learn With Less® podcast. So happy you’re here.
Desiree: Thank you for having me. I’m really excited to be here.
Ayelet: Yay! Desiree, I would love it if you could just tell us a little bit about you who you are, your background and what led you to come into the world of Learn With Less®?
Desiree: Yes, I was an educator in the classroom for about 16 years. And I’m going to take it way back to junior college where I did not know what I wanted to do with my life, and I felt lost. I found my way when I stumbled across a flyer from Bright Horizons. I took my very first child psychology class, and I was hooked.
That literally was the seed to my career in early childhood education. It should not have come as a surprise to me, because I actually come from a long line of educators. My paternal grandfather was a principal in the Philippines. I have been in the classroom, as I mentioned, for 16 years. I managed a team, if you will. One of my dream jobs was to become a principal, which I tried on for two and a half years… and realized that it just was not my thing. And I’m glad that I tried it.
Fast forward a little bit. I’ve since transitioned into executive support. I’m not surprised that my skills have transferred over really nicely to this role. So I do that full time. I am a bonus mama to two wonderful children that I met about eight years ago. They are 10 going on 20, and 12 going on 50. My son has a very old soul. One morning, I heard him say Hey, Google… Play Elvis Presley. Like that’s, that’s my kid I love.
I met you and I stumbled upon Learn With Less® when my good friend Lesley Mayson had posted about her own experience. And I was in a bit of a transition. I knew that I wanted to serve the community in some capacity, and I had thought, Oh, I’m going to be a career coach! Took an intro class and realize that specific framework was not the right fit for me because I am an intense introvert. And when I met you, and you told me a little bit more about how the information is disseminated. Again, I was hooked. And so here we are together. A year later!
What is it about the Learn With Less® Program That Speaks to You?
Ayelet: Let’s hear a little bit about what was it that really intrigued you about the way that the Learn With Less® facilitator training and certification program, really… What is it that really got you in terms of feeling like it was a better fit? Not only, of course, within the way that you wanted to serve and impact your community, but also in the way that we do our training? Because it sounds like that, as as I know from speaking with you over the year, I know that really was useful to you. But I’d love to hear specifically what it was about it then.
Desiree: The thing that really drew me in is the fact that it is play-based. I was in a program where we had a community of parents and caregivers that did not initially see the value of a play-based program. And I tell you, I talk to them still, many of these families, their children are probably now in middle school, which is absolutely insane to think about. They talk about that time, this magical time that they had in this particular program. Now seeing why play was so important, and is still so important. So that was part of it is just the fact that it was play-based.
The other part is that it was a mix of philosophies, Ayelet. I came from a program that was heavily inspired by Reggio. And so my own value system, my own philosophy around education, is actually a mix of those different philosophies and ways of thinking around child development and play. So that was the other part.
The receiving of the information is that I got to choose my own adventure. I took about a year to go through the actual program. And you and our community did not make me feel guilty about that! We had just talked about time being a very precious and scarce resource, right. While working full time, I would go through the program when I felt called to it. And that is so empowering.
I just want to pause there because I got to make very intentional choices as to when I engaged in that learning. And that was really important to me as a working mom, and someone that was making a very serious investment in this… I don’t like to call it a small business because it’s not small! In this venture, this new chapter that I was writing for myself.
Ayelet: I love that. Yeah, it’s so important to me, in terms of the way that people go through the program, to have that opportunity. Because we know that not everybody life circumstances are the same. Everyone is coming from a different educational, professional background. People are dealing with different COVID restrictions, different life restrictions, different life pathways, and some people zip through it, who are in your exact circumstances, right? Who are working full time parents, and some choose because of other circumstances to take their time.
What we try to do is, like you said, try and create that ability for people to self determine what it is that is important to them, and what they need while continuing to provide the support, and information sharing, and inspiration to those who are ready to take it in, as well. And to bring you back in, and pull you back in, when it’s time.
Finding Your Sweet Spot, Creating Balance in Your Life
Desiree: Yes, you make me think about this conversation that I had with a few – three of the executives that I support right now. And I said to them, no joke, I’m retiring with you all, I will be on this team supporting you all for as long as you’ll have me. And one of them said, I really worry about the day that you’re going to leave and want more. And I told him, I found my sweet spot.
Sometimes people search a lifetime for that sweet spot where you feel like everything is integrated at just the right volume, if you will. And so that was the beauty of Learn With Less®, is that I was able to maintain equilibrium, if you will. I was able to maintain that sweet spot. I think that was really important to me, it still is really important to me. And I just I want to talk more about that with other people! Just that if you have found your sweet spot, that’s okay. And that is good.
Ayelet: Yeah, well, I want to dig into that more, actually, because it’s such a perfect parallel to what you’re doing for families using the Learn Wit Less® curriculum, right? Because yeah, I mean, as we were also talking about before we started recording, new families have such limited bandwidth. And so asking them or sharing with them new ideas for more ways that they can play with their child, and more things to do, and more things to buy, and blah, blah, blah, is like… no! That’s not what people want.
I want to actually quote you. When you entered the program, I ask people, you know, why are you passionate about being a parent educator using the Learn With Less® curriculum? You wrote that this chapter is rooted in wanting to help caregivers feel and be empowered to look at their environments through a different lens, and to help them see value in and find their way to simplicity. So I mean, well done, Desiree of the past.
Desiree: I wrote that?
Ayelet: You did! And that’s, I mean, that’s it. I think, that really cuts to the heart of what we’re doing here and why. And I wonder if you could just say a little bit more about that. And what you think was going through your head when you wrote that! What it is that you, now that you’ve been through the training program, and you are a licensed Learn With Less® facilitator. You’re fully certified, you’re doing the thing, you’re marketing your classes, you’ve hosted a demo class, and you’ve done some investment into local marketing things. So let’s talk about what it is you are trying to create for folks who enter your space and what the value is of your classes.
Intentionally Creating a Sense of Belonging
Desiree: Yes, I as you know, I hosted my first pop up last weekend, and it was actually a school district sponsored event, it was outdoors 80 degrees in Texas, and there was a breeze. So it was good. I learned a lot with it being my first pop up, and we can go back to that. But you encouraged me to really think about what my elevator pitch is and was. I got to practice it a number of times. Yes, it changed a number of times too. But it allowed me to get closer to what it – and that was the question. I was approached with, oh, Empowered Family Collective. What is it that you do?
I often started with, well, I’ve been an educator for a number of years. I’m also a parent and I one want to serve the community. And through that, it is about disseminating this message that your child, your children, don’t need the $100 toys. I’d walk over to the shelving that I had available because I wanted. The vibe that I wanted was, I wanted one to feel like you were walking into my living room.
Ayelet: Yeah. And to clarify, this was a pop up like marketing event. You were the vendor at a fair at the school district’s fair.
Desiree: That is correct. I wish you could have seen the faces when I was unloading my car. Then I talked a little bit about, and then I pointed to the recycled materials that I had collected and amassed over the last, I don’t know, six months? I talked about how oftentimes what our children want to interact with and play with and learn most from are the things that we have at home already. I had spatulas, colanders, tons of recycled materials. Then, of course, conversation began around, oh my gosh, yes. Why don’t I save the egg carton, right.
So I created, I like to call them invitations. I created invitations as to how you might pair something that you did buy from Amazon, because that’s real, with something that you purchase from the grocery store, like a yogurt tub, and how you could pair those things. That there is room for a combination of both situations. Then I talked a little bit about, you know, many times our families really crave, like, how do I cultivate independent play? It’s through that is through these open-ended materials that you offer. Because the possibilities are endless, and the creativity and the imagination is just bananas!
Ayelet: That’s right, that’s not going to happen with a press the button toy, cause and effect, right? There’s room for that, yes. And when you have these wonderful, open-ended – meaning materials that can be used in a multitude of different ways… You have endless opportunities, as you said. I love that. Yeah.
Desiree: And you hit on something. I think we can fall into the trap of “but” – I think what we’re doing through learn with less is the message of using more and yeah, I have these, what is the word that we use for things that have single use – prescriptive materials? There’s room for prescriptive materials and open-ended materials, loose parts.
Ayelet: Yeah. Right. Because the point is not to be anti toy. It’s very interesting. Because we do live, you and I are both stateside, we both live in the US. And we live in a very binary society, right? That’s how we’re socialized generally. And you have yes/no, good/bad, big/small. And that’s… so much of all of this is taking that down. Helping people see that parenting also in general is not a binary there’s no right and wrong way, right or wrong way to parent, a human. Number one, we’re all coming from a unique set of circumstances, life experiences, cultural, ethnic, and otherwise background. And number two, we have our different humans who have their specific needs.
So, we often in a Learn With Less® group, will touch upon those challenges, and also wins of what’s going on with families. And in that time, that sort of sharing time, it’s a wonderful opportunity for families to share, like, what is going on with them, what they’re challenged by. But of course, as you know, we talked so much about how this is not the time for you to give the prescription of oh, well, here’s how you can solve that problem. Right? Which I think a lot of us as the helpers of society. Early childhood educators, developmental therapists, we want to help we want to solve the problem, we want to get that child to the next milestone!. But in this case, it’s, it’s so much more about creating a space where people can feel seen and heard. And I wonder Desiree, if you could talk a little bit about that, in terms of what it is that you’re creating, and why that’s valuable.
Desiree: Oh, my gosh, yes. Many of the people that I met last weekend, were those who have moved to Texas recently, and are essentially rebuilding their communities, their villages. And that can be so challenging. And some people talked about how isolating it can be. That’s part of my purpose is to create these communities of support, especially for those who are feeling isolated by especially first time, early parenting. I am here to create space for whoever it is that you want to show up as today. I am here to simply listen.
One thing that I like to often start conversations with is, okay, I need to know, do you need me to listen? Or do you need solutions? Or do you need both? Because then that sets my mindset into the space of like, okay, I’m going to be totally clued in. And so one of the pieces of feedback that I receive quite often is that people often feel visible and heard by me. So I’m using… I’m hoping to really use that gift in the community while I’m serving them in that way. Building community. Allowing space for parents and caregivers to feel like it’s okay to make mistakes. You’re not going to show up as your best self every day. There are going to be things that are challenging and I want to be that sounding board for you. And to just help you feel okay with that?
Ayelet: Yeah, beautiful. I think for all our listeners here, right now, like it’s, I mean, if someone were there to do that, for me, when I was a brand new parent, that would have been really nice, right. And also, that’s for me also why I started leading these classes, because I wanted a place to be able to do that for myself and for others. I knew the value of that for myself. I knew how much I got out of creating a space for people.
I just want to come back to what you said about that. Instead of immediately jumping in to solve a problem, that that pause of asking a person and this is so true in all areas of life. It’s very, it can be very hard for people to do it is actually that moment of empathy, right? Where you’re asking someone what support looks like for them in that moment: what would you like for me right now?
A lot of what you’re doing in this season of life with families is creating that space, holding that space and creating a place for families to let someone know what they need… and be asked. Because we also know that in early parenthood, that doesn’t happen very much. There’s not a whole lot of… you’re giving, giving, giving, giving, giving to this tiny human and whether or not you have a co-parenting partner, it can be really hard. Many people, I will say, don’t have — who is asking them what they need, right? Because often when we’re sleep deprived, or we’re overwhelmed, there’s an immediate go to.
There’s that switch of, without that pause, of the other person who’s trying to provide support, often goes right into trying to solve the problem. And all of this is not to say that there isn’t a problem that we solve within a Learn With Less® class, right? Of course, what we’re doing and actually, I’d love to hear what you would define that as – what, what is it that we are doing? If we’re not solving, solving all the problems of early parenthood? Why do people come to your classes to Learn With Less® classes? What is it that they get out of it, other than having a space to come to where they can feel seen and heard and held? Because just that is super valuable to people! But there’s a lot more, right? And so what what else is it that you’re doing for families, Desiree?
Desiree: I’m gonna go back to that, to that sense of community that you’re building. Especially when we have Learn With Less® facilitators that offer a series of classes, right, that you’re going to see these consistent faces over a certain amount of time, and you will more than likely exchange phone numbers with somebody, right? So that’s another connection that you’ve made locally. And I think that was the that was the other thing that drew me in, Ayelet, I’ll bring it back, is the fact that you’re encouraging us to be in our local communities.
And so it makes it easier for parents and caregivers to make those local connections. Isn’t that what we want? That when you are not in this space, when you’re not in the space of Empowered Family Collective with Desiree, that you are potentially connecting at the local park or the coffee shop when we are not all together. The other part is that we are holding our parents and caregivers and those children at the same time. When I think about traditional classes, like a music class, for example. It is mostly geared towards the children.
But yet we incorporate our parents and caregivers by engaging in the conversation of hey, what are your roses and thorns this week? I want to hear from you very intentionally about what you are excited about and what was challenging this week. So there’s that layer, again, of visibility for the adults that helped bring the children to this space. And so yeah, I have goosebumps.
Ayelet: Yeah, it’s powerful stuff. And then of course, without failing to mention the entire developmental enrichment piece of it. So I want to hear about that, too. For sure.
Desiree: That part I get really excited about. I’m a child development nerd. I really enjoyed the classes that I took both in undergrad and graduate school. And so I really appreciate being able to talk about that with families, because one, we talked about this: time is a very precious yet scarce resource. We no longer potentially have the time to read the 100 page book about what to expect. Allow me to be your personal, oh my gosh, what was it back in the day, they were yellow. If you wanted to read a book… allow me to be your personal CliffsNotes. Yeah, around child development, in particular. Why is my kid waking up at 3am every morning? Or why is it that my child’s appetite is very unpredictable? Right?
Well, Oh, well, I’ve spent 16 years in a classroom, I’ve seen a variety of things, I have my own children to kind of add to the mix, right? Allow me to, to maybe offer three or four possibilities. And if you want them, some solutions that you might try at home. So yes, the whole child development piece. Then of course, the enrichment part, right? Is how do we put these philosophies into practice? But in a way, that’s not scary, very approachable, again, using the things that we already have at home. And I think that’s where the simplicity comes in. Again, I’m not asking you to go out and buy all these things. Everything that you need to create an engaging environment for your child is already in your home.
Ayelet: Yes, whatever kind of home you live in, whether it’s big, or small, yes. Whether you have ample storage, or none at all, yeah, okay. So Desiree, you’ve acknowledged that your business is called Empowered Family Collective. So I’d love to hear what it is, if you can speak specifically to what it is you’re empowering families to do.
Desiree: Yes. The seeds were planted during the pandemic. And I had a number of families that had been part of my program, my early childhood program, when I was teaching, reach out to me because we were still connected. Because they just weren’t sure how to navigate the pandemic. We were all homeschooling, et cetera, et cetera. And I had done this with a number of families. And I thought, I feel like I’m kind of good at this, and I still got it. So there’s something there. That led me to the proposition for myself, like, okay, so if you’re going to do this, what is it that you’re trying to do here Desiree? And the word empowerment kept coming up, because what I was finding is these families that were coming to me just seemed disempowered, and potentially because they were so flippin’ tired.
So I am here to help you step into that empowerment that still exists. It may be dormant right now, and to potentially connect you with the resources or local resources that can help you get to the next step. I think the empowerment piece also comes in to play when I am listening, I’m actively listening to these parents and caregivers. I’m actually reflecting back what I’m hearing and or validating what I’m hearing and what they’re experiencing and feeling. And I think that when you are truly heard, when you feel like you’re heard, and you’re visible, that you actually realize that oh, she’s in there still, and I am going to make it through this season. It may not feel like it today, but I’m going to.
So, multiple conversations with these families over time, none of these things were fixed overnight, not not even fixed. I don’t like to use the word fixed. It took time to address what was happening for them. Some of them are still ongoing. But it was really helpful to have someone that they trusted, someone that had been in the classroom for a number of years. Someone who had sort of the educational background to help them figure out what might be happening and what next steps were. Sometimes you just need someone to say, what if you tried this? Here are three options, and here is where you might potentially go for that support.
Values Driven Business, Values Driven Life
Ayelet: Yeah, I think it’s so important to to really get to the core of what motivates us, as business owners, as parents, as women, as humans. And really understanding what the values are that guide our choices in making decisions, right, because that, when we move back into those values, whether those are of the company that you’re building, or the way you are parenting, actually stating those out loud, writing them down somewhere, having that set of belief systems to guide you… really helps. So of course, empowering families is one thing for you. But I’d love to hear if you’re willing to share, Desiree a few of the other values that are really guiding you.
Desiree: Yes, I all of a sudden had this vision of when I had engaged in the rocks, pebbles, sand – you can actually Google this – framework around how to identify what your rocks are, when you put all of those together, the rocks are the ones that take up the most space in the physical vessel that you put them in. And those actually, for me, translated into my values. And my values, my very first one, actually, is my family. The other one was my career. The other one is also my wellness. And I have two more, but they they slipped my mind at the moment.
So I use those values for myself. They help me make decisions. I use this very same sort of provocation invitation, if you will, for families that have needed help to say… I don’t know which school to send my child to. And my response is… Sometimes they’d come in with like piles of printed articles around data, just data, right? And that’s how they thought! And so I would take them along a different path, sometimes an uncomfortable path and I’d say well, what are your values as a parenting unit? What are your values as a family? And if you haven’t established them, here’s a way that you can.
We actually have our values as a family posted in a common space very clearly so that we can go back to them when we have hard conversations. And so when I think about just to bring it full circle, when I think about my full time job writing this new chapter around starting my business, Empowered Family Collective, I kept my family at the forefront. How is this going to impact them?
What ways can I include them in this in this chapter, which my daughter made her own name tag and she had her name, her age, and on the top, it said, employee, she laminated it. And so that’s just an easy example, if you will, of how I have used my values to inform this chapter of mine. And the way in which I think about how I’m I’m actually executing the vision that I have for myself. What I do as a parent educator – I prefer to call myself a parent partner – is rooted in family, whatever, whatever that looks like! I wish there was a different term that we could use. So I’m going to figure that out.
Ayelet: Well, let’s talk about that, actually, because I do find myself using the the word “parent education” so often. But I think it’s so useful to explore what does that mean? How else can we say that? What are we actually referring to when we’re talking about parent education? For you, what would you say in terms of like, why you prefer the “parent partner,” instead of “parent educator” piece? What does that bring up for you? What, what resonates there?
Desiree: It brings up sort of a division of power for some reason. And so when I think of partner, you and I are side by side, potentially linked in arms if you want to. The other word that I love using is Sherpa. We’re on this journey together. Allow me to utilize the information and experience that I’ve gathered over time to help you and inform you as you go through this experience that you’ve never gone through before. And working with you, working with a number of the educators that I’ve worked with in the past, I’ve just learned to really value belonging.
Yeah, not just inclusion, belonging. And so I have learned to use “y’all” more. “Hey, everyone,” and then so much of what I post has slashes, right. It’s like parents slash caregiver slash, etc, etc, because, and I, I say that out loud, because it’s like, I just want people to feel like they belong in this space. Oh, my gosh, that’s it. I’m trying to cultivate a sense of belonging. I know that the Learn With Less® framework allows us to do that. And that is so clear in your value statement too. And I think I told you in the beginning, that really drew me to your values are so clear. And that allows someone like me to say, hey! My values actually line up with Ayelet’s. And this framework that she has created. So the decision was so clear. I’m in.
Ayelet: Yeah, I love that. Thank you for sharing that does. The piece that I wanted to really tease out of there is in terms of the belonging piece, and how that relates to how we talk about things at Learn With Less®, and to really emphasize about what you said in terms of those slashes. And the partner piece is how we speak about our role as facilitators of a space or guides. Versus a leader, a class leader, a teacher, an expert, right? And that, what you said there in terms of, let me guide you through a process. Let me move you through an understanding. Let me give you the Cliff Notes, right, let me break it down into bite sized manageable pieces of information that you can utilize right now to understand how to build the connection between you and your child in a way that feels natural to you.
And also, how to really feel confident that you are doing all of the things that you need to be doing, quote unquote, “need to be doing right” in terms of supporting their learning and development in all those areas of learning – cognitive development and communication, development and motor and sensory development and social and emotional development, right? Because we go through all of those things within the different classes that we hold, and we have a very clear breakdown of ways in which we address all those areas of learning. So I’m curious, what for you stands out in terms of the actual curriculum and the way that it’s broken down for families? How does it allow you to do the job of empowering families to feel confident? How does it facilitate for you a process of transition in that way that you’ve said is so important?
Desiree: Well, one of the more powerful pieces around what we do is we’re basically equipping our parents and our caregivers with information that is so powerful. It’s a game changer often, but again in a way that is bite-sized, and is just so easily understandable. So we’re equipping this community with knowledge that is going to help them in their home when we’re not with them. And two, helping our parents, caregivers, families, units understand and see the value around play, natural play, let them play.
Ayelet: It comes back to what we were talking about earlier, in terms of just like that pause, instead of providing an answer, or a direction, or a solution. It’s also letting… providing that model for families that you’re doing, also provides them to do that, and step back and watch what their child is doing, what their child is interested in. So that then they can respond, and support, and clue in and provide the words or the tools, for their child to do the play. To actually do the learning. And then for them to create that environment around the child that facilitates even a deeper level of it through the interaction.
Desiree: Yes, the other part is the playfulness that the adults are encouraged to engage in. So parenthood is hard. But it doesn’t always have to be! That it is okay, it is encouraged to bring in playfulness. And I’ll give you an example. My kids don’t like to brush their teeth. So guess what mama does, I go in there, I make up a silly song, it may not be in tune. And I’m actually brushing my teeth with them maybe took five minutes in my day.
Sure, I could have been washing the dishes, I could have been doing other things. But making those intentional choices around being playful myself, has helped me many times over. So we’re modeling that right? That that’s okay. Two: the practicality of what we are sharing that again, you do not have to come to this space that we are in together once every few weeks, you can do this in your home. And that’s the idea. Yeah, the practicality.
Intentionally Building Slowly
Ayelet: Alright, Desiree with our very short remaining time, I would love to ask you about the intentional building that you’re doing, like the building of what you’re creating, and how you’ve gone about that. Because you’ve been very intentional about really being interpersonal, more one on one interactions and reaching out to your existing community and the people who you know, and who can help to facilitate connections for you. And now you’ve also stepped into some additional sort of marketing type adventures. So I would love to just hear very briefly about what that’s been like for you – that process of stepping into actually letting other people know about what you’re doing here.
Desiree: Yes, when I knew that I was going to write this chapter, I knew that I needed to be very intentional and slow about it. Because as I’ve gotten older, and as I’ve peeled back my childhood, mamahood, adulthood, I have learned that I am, one, an introvert. Two, that slow and easy is my pace. I am happily going to hang out in the slow lane, like, let me be. So honoring me has become very important and it’s also one of my values. And so I don’t like to make mistakes. And so going slow allows me to avoid as many of them as possible.
I did make mistakes along the way but they were mistakes that I felt like I learned a lot from, right, some of the things that I had done were sort of out of order, if you will, in regards to setting up an LLC for example. And my time also led me, my own sort of resource, like my time, really led that. You know, I work full time, kiddos are with me, and so when is it that I can earmark some uninterrupted time to doing this and looking at this more closely.
A lot of it was just having that internal banter with myself. I call her the negative roommate. She tells me sometimes that I’m not good enough, you’re not going fast enough. What is it that you’re doing? And so I say to her, I hear you and it’s not true, right? So I try to combat those messages. You know, with that, I just I try to make very intentional choices. Yeah, and it’s, it’s okay to go slow because ultimately I want to be proud of what it is that I’m doing and that stands true today.
Ayelet: And what a perfect place to land. Yes, Desiree thank you so so much for your time today. We will be linking to all of your beautiful links but just for all the folks at home who are listening will you let them know where they can find you?
How to Incorporate Movement into Everyday Routines, with Miranda Zoumbaris & Ayelet Marinovich
Feb 20, 2023
Creative Ways to Add Movement into Your Young Child’s Day
This episode of the Learn With Less® podcast is the final of a 4-part series about incorporating play, language, music, and movement, into everyday routines. These episodes feature a conversation between Ayelet Marinovich (pediatric speech-language pathologist, founder & creator of the Learn With Less® curriculum) and Miranda Zoumbaris (early childhood educator & interventionist, licensed Learn With Less® facilitator, and entrepreneur).
In this series, we’ll explore the four pillars of the Learn With Less® framework, and examine how we can incorporate more of each of those into our everyday routines to support connection and early learning.
For each episode, we chose one routine and one everyday object, and explored the ways in which we could infuse developmentally enriching experiences into everyday life, and helping families see they can do this using the time, energy, and materials they already have.
Be sure to check over at our Instagram and Facebook pages (linked below) for additional content that may support your understanding and experience of these episodes. As we release each episode, we’ll link to them here in the show notes so you can access them easily.
In this episode, we discussed:
What is MOVE (as we define it in the Learn With Less® curriculum), and how it can be woven into everyday routines
How to take the routine of dressing (putting on and taking off coats, zippers, etc!), and incorporate more opportunities for movement into these moments
How we can adapt movement activities based on our body’s needs or the needs of our children
Adapting an environment to include opportunities for movement and integrating a child’s needs
How to incorporate movement into simple routines, using simple, everyday objects
How to include young children within an activity by facilitating opportunities for movement
The value of learning in community, of parallel processing with other families, and of experiencing the practice of following your child’s lead, through caregiver and child classes like those led by licensed Learn With Less® facilitators
Helpful Resources to Acknowledge For This Episode:
Daily Routines Freebie: download Miranda’s free handout about winter dressing, and get ideas for incorporating play, talk, sing, and move into your everyday routines!
Free Infant/Toddler Development Blueprint: what are the four major areas of early development… and how can you use the pillars of Learn With Less® to support that learning, using the time, energy, and materials you already have?! Download our free blueprint today.
Expand Your Impact Workshop Bundle: for early childhood educators and developmental therapists hoping to serve new families in their community and support themselves, using their existing skills
Learn With Less® Bundle: our best infant and toddler development resources for families and educators alike, including our bestselling books Understanding Your Baby and Understanding Your Toddler, our acclaimed family music album, recorded Learn With Less® “caregiver & me” classes, and a caregiver handout featuring ideas for carryover in the home
Learn With Less® Stories: Testimonials from educators who’ve provided the Learn With Less® infant/toddler family enrichment curriculum and families who’ve experienced our programming.
Ayelet: Okay, welcome back to the Learn With Less® podcast. And welcome to my co-host for these four episodes, Miranda Zoumbaris! Hi Miranda!
Miranda: Hello! I’m glad to be back.
Ayelet: I can’t believe this is the last one, of this installment. Tell us over on the socials: did you enjoy this? Was fun to have Miranda join us in all four episodes. This is so fun. I had a great time. It is nice to have a co-host, actually. Thank you so much, Miranda, for all your contributions to the last few weeks of content and things that we’ve been talking about. This conversation has just been so much fun to have and connect with people over on social media, Instagram and Facebook over on @learnwithless and @earlyinterventionmama!
Why don’t we go ahead and finish out our series of our four Learn With Less® pillars, with the final installment of MOVE. So again, just like we’ve been doing in the last few episodes, and if you haven’t already listened to those, go ahead and check those out. We’ve got three other wonderful episodes for you about the other three pillars of Learn With Less® which include PLAY, TALK, and SING.
But today we’re going to talk about MOVE, what move is. We’re going to give you some examples about how this pillar of MOVE can be woven into those everyday routines. And the routine that we’re going to be talking about with relation to one particular object… we’re going to talk about this notion of dressing, coats, zippers.
Learning About Motor and Sensory Development
So that’s what we’re gonna be chatting about today. Let me go ahead and introduce the ways that we define this pillar of move within the Learn With Less® curriculum and framework. So movement, as we know, can be very big movements, very small movements, proprioceptive movement. Gross motor movement and fine motor skills, all kinds of visual spatial movements, there’s lots of different pieces to movement, and then motor and sensory development, in addition to how MOVE can support all other aspects and areas of early development.
First of all, movement, whether we’re talking about a child who is developing along a typical progression of learning and within, you know, quote, unquote, “normal limits” of meeting milestones and things like that, or whether we’re talking about a child with severe motor needs and limitations, movement is learning and movement is life. We can always help to create more opportunities for movement, even with a child who has more motor challenges.
In general, with all of our movers, babies and toddlers are learning how their body moves, where their body ends and begins, and where the rest of the world ends and begins in relation to themselves and their own identity… through exploration and movement. Through touching the surfaces on which they’re laying down or running around on, or whatever it is.
And we want to think, even from that very beginning, of when our children are just starting to learn how to move, to consider various planes of movement, when they’re on us, or on the floor, forward and backward and side to side, up and down, vertical and diagonal. Really remembering that when we’re talking about exploration of movement, yes, we can think about a “yes space” kind of a thing, a place where everything is available to our children. And also thinking about, that can be inside or outside.
One of the physical therapists that, I love her work, and we’ve had her on the Learn With Less® podcast in the past, Wendi McKenna, and I’ll link to the episode, she talks about how our homes are just giant containers for our children. I love that notion of the idea of yes, it’s really important to have a space that you feel comfortable for your child to explore in, and also get outside, right?
Your children can explore spiderwebs, and the gravel and the broken sidewalk, and the little pebbles between their toes, and the grass, and the dew, and all of the things. It doesn’t matter whether you are in a rural or urban or suburban setting or any other place, there is so much to explore. And movement is how our young children do that.
So that is the basic outline that I wanted to start with, a–nd let’s move into how we can use this understanding of this pillar of MOVE in relation to, say, putting on coats and zipping up and zipping down zippers, and really just dressing in general. So Miranda, why don’t you get us started on the ways that we can utilize this pillar of movement and MOVE in relation to everyday routines.
How we can embed movement into everyday routines
Miranda: Yeah. So I don’t know my brain just goes to the really tiny infant side of things first in terms of developmental spectrum. Thinking about, at first, you’re kind of moving your tiny human through dressing. Putting their arm through a shirt for the first time and those sensations that they have, putting their hand through it.
Then, thinking about how when they start moving their fingers and really moving from involuntary grasping onto something to voluntary grasping on something: your hair, a necklace maybe you’re wearing, or your shirt, the zipper, feeling how that feels different. So just really thinking about those smaller movements. And then working up… there’s this meme that’s going around the internet that shows instead of a toddler trying to get dressed, it’s wrestling an alligator.
Ayelet: Yeah, every parent and caregiver of a toddler knows this. Even if they’ve never seen that, they know exactly what you’re talking about.
Miranda: And I think the tagline says, “recent photo of me getting my toddler dressed,” or something. All of that is the movement – playing chase to get away from your mom because she wants your coat to go on to go outside! You don’t want to go! So those parts of dressing routine is movement.
Or, keeping in mind, you’ve done such a great job Ayelet, of just how we adapt, based on our own body’s needs. So if you are a parent that is wheelchair-bound, how you might need to move your body to be closer to your child using a wheelchair and describing that to your child. Thinking about how we get around, or how we get how to get around, impacts every area of development, whether it’s the parent or the child that’s working on movement.
I’m just going to share as we’re talking through this, I am just reflecting on the last couple months, my husband had a significant break in his ankle. And I was gearing up to have a big season of Learn With Less® classes, and instantly one Chipotle curb took him down for months! So really, it just changed our whole perspective, I think, on movement, and just what he could and couldn’t do.
Thinking about, for him, his ankle was completely immobilized, but he was allowed to move his toe – and how important it was for him to have that little bit of movement in his foot up to when we regained full mobility and the celebration we had around him running around the kitchen. Oh my god! So yeah, really put some perspective, I think, for me, on what an impact movement is on development and you know, just in daily life.
Working on Balance, Weight Shifting, and Independence in Dressing
Ayelet: Yeah, so, so true. Let’s give a few fun ideas and examples for families who are looking for a few more tools, because it’s interesting, I like to ask before Learn With Less® class that I hold, I like to ask people about which of those four pillars of PLAY, TALK, SING and MOVE, are they most confident or at least confident or comfortable in supporting, or doing, or participating in?
For those of us who do have more challenges with integrating movement, or maybe our children are not as interested in movement, bow can we integrate more of that pillar into our daily life, in say, the routine of getting dressed or zipping up coats and things like that? Do you have some ideas for us, Miranda?
Miranda: Yeah, of course. So I’m envisioning, if you have a little one who’s working on balance, and you’re working on getting on snow pants, or just regular pants, or shorts. Or working on weight shifting, right: lean to the left, lift your foot up, put it in! Lean to the right, lift your foot up, put your foot down. So we’re working on balance, or if you have an infant who you’re working on getting them to really push their hand through that shirt to get their hands out, playfully helping them slide that hand through.
Let’s see, other things… You know, of course, those zippers, we’re talking a lot about, I’m envisioning gross motor things here. But that fine motor movement is so important, right? Being able to pinch something to pull it up, or oftentimes they’re gonna start by pulling down the zipper on us if we’re wearing something. And scaffolding it.
If they can’t quite pull it down, helping them by aligning the zipper a little bit better, right or giving a cue: tug, tug, tug or pull down! Scaffolding that interest that they might have in dressing to give the least amount of support that your child might need in order to be successful. Do they need two hands to step into their shoes? Do they need to sit down? Do they need you to put on their shoe, but they can shove their foot the last little bit?
Ayelet: Yeah, or encouraging them to ask for help in whatever way they can. Whether it’s looking at you or signing the word help or saying something approximation of the word help – I love that.
Miranda: Visually searching for the coats and the gloves that didn’t return to where you hoped they would be when you needed to leave! All the movement that comes from that!
Ayelet: That’s right, yeah. Or racing to get to the door from the outside. If you’re not interested in running around in the home and things like that! Just using movement to warm up – my gosh, to warm up or slow down. Playing with the different kinds of movements that you can do. Again, a little bit of levity. Oh, how slowly can we put on our coats? I wonder, slowly, we can bring up the zipper or whatever it is, right?
Miranda: Love that. We just did the same thing in Target today. My little one did not want to hold my hand. And it was, well, do you want to hold my hand and go fast? Or do you want to hold my hand and go slow? And yeah, that helps helped us move forward with our grocery run.
Creating an Inclusive, Child-Friendly Space Allowing Movement
Ayelet: That’s a great example. I love it. Amazing. What else? Have we got anything else to share with folks? I mean, I feel like we’ve given people a lot to hold here. And so many tools for all four of our pillars of the Learn With Less® framework. Oh, one other thing I wanted to make sure that we chat about in terms of MOVE is that idea of moving in and out of a space that’s created, and exploring a space, and moving in and out of a physical space. And the comfort level of the group, and the caregiver, and the Learn With Less® facilitator, for instance. I wonder if you can share a little bit about experiences.
You shared in our SING episode, a little one who was interested in exploring and needed to regulate their body by moving away. And how you pulled in that child and their caregiver by creating opportunities to continue to involve themselves in the class, even though they had moved away from the space. So I wonder if you can talk a little bit more about how MOVE is integrated into your classes, even within the physicality of the space and the need for movement, or sometimes disregulated children and/or caregivers.
Miranda: Yeah, I… oh my gosh, this is something that I think can be really stressful for parents. They envision oftentimes a class, sitting down all together, nobody moving away. And just as the facilitator, I think it’s our job to really set up the situation to say: your child is going to need to move, let’s do what they need to be comfortable, you need to move! And then us, as facilitators, attune to what those needs are. And maybe say it out loud, Oh, I see everybody is ready to get up and go let’s just take our stuff with us.
I think for me, it’s really being as responsive as possible. We have certain classes that are designed to focus on movement. But for me, when I run out for classes, just really reading the group. And if we need to move out of the space that we are in to go on a walk, and we sing about the trees, or we… I had – one of my favorite examples, we were pulling the branches on a pine tree down, and using our muscles, and then letting it go and fling up. And it would like fling snow on us.
Ayelet: Oh my gosh, that’s so fun!
Miranda: How fun to do again and again. But you know, it was in response to… we needed to warm up, we needed to move our bodies. And you could tell that some of the children were getting restless. And so yeah, I think just ensuring that your space that you have, or that parents are comfortable in your space to move around in whatever way they need to. Referencing what you talked about at the beginning, that you know, your home is a container like your classroom space is a container, too, and guess what, sometimes the door needs to be open so your little one can go up and down the hall instead, and take a break from class and use their body that way.
Ayelet: Yeah, beautiful. Thank you for that. That’s really wonderful. Yeah, I think that it’s really important for people to know that, too, just about how because that is a really distinguishing marker for how, say, a Learn With Less® class functions versus sometimes other caregiver and child infant-toddler classes, that maybe people are used to. And really how, also your ability as a facilitator, to manage all of that.
Because, you know, we have people who are early childhood educators who are maybe more used to managing groups of children, but not necessarily managing caregivers and children. And then we have more interventionists, developmental therapists, who are more maybe used to managing that caregiver and child dyad, but not multiple ones, and not outside of a therapeutic context. So we give a lot of training around all of those things, and how to manage a group and how to really facilitate engagement, and movement, because that is such a big part of it.
Supporting Motor and Sensory Development Can Be Simple
Miranda: And I think we’re so conditioned to have movement be very prescriptive, almost. You think about – none of this is right or wrong, like you’ve talked so much about. And… use your phrase, Ayelet!
Ayelet: It’s not “but,” it’s “and!”
Miranda: Yeah, it’s not, you know, so we can attend a dance class AND we can have a dance party with our family at night, that’s not this very structured thing that’s just free. We can go for a run, AND we might just chase our child down the hill. So I think helping again, to just stretch that muscle in your brain and think about what does movement mean? It can mean your baby working on tummy time.
But it can also mean that they are stretching their arms up or grabbing their toes, all those things are movement and doesn’t have to be this prescriptive look at movement – that we often see in school, nowadays, right in school. Like this is when recess is, this is when gym time is. I’d love seeing more movement happening in classrooms throughout the day.
Ayelet: Yeah, for sure. So good. Yay. Well, Miranda, this has been such a pleasure. Is there anything else you want to add?
Miranda: Oh, gosh, no, but I just want to like, I’m ready, I’m ready to move now. And… ready for a dance party?
Ayelet: I know, I feel like we need to get moving! So everybody, thank you so much for tuning into these last four episodes. This has been so fun to do with you, Miranda. I really appreciate your time and energy and brain because it’s just so fun to put our heads together and chat about these things that we’re both very passionate about. And I’m just so happy to have you in this space. And as part of Learn With Less®. So thank you for everything you do. And anybody who’s in Lansing, Michigan, especially Miranda, do you want to just share a little bit about what you have going on your community specifically?
Miranda: I would love to! And I will just say, too, before I get into that, I just so appreciate all the support Ayelet. And getting to come and talk about this. Yeah, so I am in the process of actually opening up a physical space in Lansing called The Emerging Parent, where I will have Learn With Less® classes and open play, and some other classes and hopefully lots of collaboration with local early childhood providers and parent support people.
And so my vision is to really serve families that have young children, who are looking for places to get out and build community in a space that feels safe. You know, here in Michigan, I think one of the things I’ve noticed running classes, it is hard to get out in the winter, it’s important, it’s essential. Oftentimes, parents want to have that opportunity to linger and be together and connect. And so that’s what I’m doing. I’m building a space that will allow us to do that, you know, indoors as well as what we’re done outdoors. So yeah.
Ayelet: So special. And you can learn more about that over at Miranda’s website, earlyinterventionmama.com. Again, it’s called The Emerging Parent. So anybody who is or knows anybody with a little person in Lansing, Michigan, head on over because it’s gonna be awesome! All right. And then Miranda, you have a special freebie that pulls together some of the routines we’ve talked about in these last four episodes, can you let people know where to find that?
Ayelet: Amazing. And then again, you can also download the Learn With Less® infant and toddler development blueprint that goes through all of these four pillars of PLAY, TALK, SING, and MOVE, in terms of the framework that we use here and how it relates to early development. And that’s over at learnwith less.com/blueprint. We will have all these things in the show notes. And we can’t wait to connect with you. We want to hear all about how you have enjoyed these last four episodes and all the content that we’ve created for you over on Instagram and Facebook with regard to the more visual aspects of the things that we’ve been chatting about. So Miranda, thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure. Let’s do it again sometime.
Miranda: All right, that sounds like a plan. Thank you for having me. And like you said, I just look forward to connecting with everybody on socials.
Ayelet: Yeah, so @earlyinterventionmama and @learnwithless – head on over and let us know how you enjoyed these episodes! Alright, talk to you soon.
How to Incorporate Music Into Everyday Routines, featuring Miranda Zoumbaris & Ayelet Marinovich
Feb 13, 2023
Bringing Music Into Your Everyday Routine Can Support Early Learning!
This episode of the Learn With Less® podcast is the third of a 4-part series about incorporating play, language, music, and movement, into everyday routines. These episodes feature a conversation between Ayelet Marinovich (pediatric speech-language pathologist, founder and creator of the Learn With Less® curriculum) and Miranda Zoumbaris (early childhood educator & interventionist, licensed Learn With Less® facilitator, and entrepreneur).
In this series, we’ll explore the four pillars of the Learn With Less® framework, and examine how we can incorporate more of each of those into our everyday routines to support connection and early learning.
For each episode, we chose one routine and one everyday object, and explored the ways in which we could infuse developmentally enriching experiences into everyday life, and helping families see they can do this using the time, energy, and materials they already have.
Be sure to check over at our Instagram and Facebook pages (linked below) for additional content that may support your understanding and experience of these episodes. As we release each episode, we’ll link to them here in the show notes so you can access them easily.
In this episode, we discussed:
What is SING (as we define it in the Learn With Less® curriculum), and how it can be woven into everyday routines
How to take the routine of transitioning (from one activity to another, from inside to outside, etc), and incorporate more musical elements into these moments
What kinds of musicality can we infuse into the routines we have when it comes to transitioning between activities
Using the power of music to create levity in a stressful moment – for both children and adults
How to incorporate music into simple routines, using simple, everyday objects
The power of “group sing,” and learning within a group
How to create inclusive environments for children (or adults) who are reticent or averse to music
The value of learning in community, of parallel processing with other families, and of experiencing the practice of following your child’s lead, through caregiver and child classes like those led by licensed Learn With Less® facilitators
Helpful Resources to Acknowledge For This Episode:
Daily Routines Freebie: download Miranda’s free handout about winter dressing, and get ideas for incorporating play, talk, sing, and move into your everyday routines!
Free Infant/Toddler Development Blueprint: what are the four major areas of early development… and how can you use the pillars of Learn With Less® to support that learning, using the time, energy, and materials you already have?! Download our free blueprint today.
Expand Your Impact Workshop Bundle: for early childhood educators and developmental therapists hoping to serve new families in their community and support themselves, using their existing skills
Learn With Less® Bundle: our best infant and toddler development resources for families and educators alike, including our bestselling books Understanding Your Baby and Understanding Your Toddler, our acclaimed family music album, recorded Learn With Less® “caregiver & me” classes, and a caregiver handout featuring ideas for carryover in the home
Learn With Less® Stories: Testimonials from educators who’ve provided the Learn With Less® infant/toddler family enrichment curriculum and families who’ve experienced our programming.
Ayelet: Okay, welcome back to another episode of the Learn With Less® podcast. I am again joined my my fabulous current co-host Miranda Zoumbaris. Hi, Miranda!
Miranda: Hellooooo!
Ayelet: Hello!
Miranda: I know that’s like almost how I always say hello, when I’m on a call like this. I don’t know why. But…
Ayelet: Well, I would like to propose a thought, which is that, I think it’s because it’s fun and playful and musical. And that is the thing that we’re talking about today. I’m very excited because the last few episodes that we’ve been chatting together have been about the first two pillars of Learn With Less®, PLAY and TALK. And today, we’re going to talk about SING!
I know that SING is sometimes one of those more divisive, maybe… You either know the power of musicality, and you’re always singing to your child or always humming in the shower, whatever it is. Or, you’re like, nope, I am not musical, I am not a singer, I do not want to do that. I do not feel comfortable, I hate all children’s songs. They sound like nails on a chalkboard… or nobody wants to hear me sing or whatever it is!
We all have a story that we have in our heads about what music means to us and our relationship with it. And also, I hope that today, you and I Miranda, can just give people a few extra tools in their toolbox about how they might consider utilizing musicality, and really what that means to us here at Learn With Less® with regards to how we can utilize it with young children, and in our families, and in our daily routines.
Because I know, Miranda, you and I both know that there is a great power in singing and in music. And in utilizing music to enhance, energize, or decrease energy and lull to sleep, our young children, or lull into a more regulated state. Lull into? I don’t think that’s really the term I want to use, but help move into a more regulated state. I don’t think I want to be loaded into a regulated state.
Miranda: We’re gonna lull you in. Yeah. That’s for our podcast listeners, we’re just going to let you lull you in!
Ayelet: Listen to what we say. Anyway. So let’s just talk a little bit. Again, we’ve been doing this structure of sharing with you listeners: what are the definitions about how we define these pillars of PLAY, and TALK and SING and MOVE, those pillars of Learn With Less®. And then also, we’re going to be talking today again, about how we can weave this pillar of SING into everyday routines and give you a few specific examples and ideas around one particular routine. That of… you want to introduce it, Miranda, go ahead? I’ve been talking a lot!
Miranda: Yeah, going in and out of the house, or transitions in and out of the house.
Ayelet: Yeah, the transition piece and maybe bundling up or heading outside. Miranda, you are in Michigan. And right now it’s January. And it’s wintertime, and it’s cold. Here in California right now, it is also wintertime and it’s been raining a ton. We’ve been very wet. And you know we’re in a drought, still, despite all the rain. But it’s meant a little bit of a different kind of transition for us than maybe our children are used to, and us as adults, as well. So those going in or out transition types of things.
Singing To Babies – For Non-Musical Parents!
So let’s just start a little bit with what is SING as we define it here at Learn With Less®. So really, as we know, singing, yes, can look like singing a song from start to finish through and through. Having particular lyrics, and having it be the lyrics that you associate with that song in particular. Or, it can just be humming a tune, or tapping a rhythm, or moving, swaying to the beat of something that is happening.
Holding your child! It can be really just adding a silly element and adding more joy, often, into routines through this idea of musicality: of quickening or slowing the pace. Of enhancing the pitch intonations, which as it happens, is something that we actually naturally do in every single language – spoken or gestural – in the world. It’s what we call infant-directed speech, sometimes referred to as “parentese” or, more archaically, “motherese.”
It’s this idea of naturally slowing down, enhancing those pitch contours, being more melodic in our voice, actually. And this is something that I linked to the podcast episode that I did about infant-directed speech years ago. But this is something that we do to help our young children really feel considered naturally. And when we don’t even think about that we’re doing it, right? Think about the connection between all those specific things: shortening a phrase, making your voice more melodic, all those kinds of things… You are already doing it. You are literally already enhancing the musicality and this experience of SING for your child.
But then also remembering that we can distract or engage with music. We can heighten an experience or an energy level, like we said, or we can lower the energy level with a lullaby, for instance. We can connect and cuddle with a lullaby, or a cozy song, or we can have a wild dance party. Rhythms are everywhere, right? They are literally everywhere – in the sounds that we hear, the environmental noises everywhere. We can bring them into a song, knock, knock, knock, who’s there? Whatever it is, like Tada, like, there it is.
Really, remembering to make music with what you have, whether that is a fancy, organically stained, hand carved wooden drum, or a laundry basket. They are all great. Yeah. So let’s talk a little bit about relating this pillar of SING into this routine of going in and out. And that transitional thing that happen, those micro routines of transitions that we all experience – whether we are at home with our children all day long, whether we have another caregiver with our child all day long.
And we’re only present for a couple of routines throughout the day, I want to just really name that this is for all of us. And whether you are a full time working parent, or a full time stay at home caregiver, or anywhere in between, you can utilize this information, you can utilize some of these ideas.
Again, these are tools for your tool belt, and I know that you’re present for at least one routine throughout the day. So let’s think about how we can utilize this pillar of SING and make it more fun, if that’s the one you choose. If singing just really doesn’t speak to you, and you’re like, No, I refuse to do that. That’s fine! After you listen to this whole episode, go back and listen to the other ones that we have around, PLAY and TALK and MOVE. But Miranda and I are hoping to convince you otherwise, that there’s something here that you can take away and utilize. So Miranda, take it away, let’s hear a little bit about how we can use this pillar of SING with these routines of going in and out and transitions.
Miranda: And the other thing I’ll say before I dive into that, too, is I think I would hope that this will allow anybody that is a little bit hesitant to see SING and music and rhythm around them more frequently. Like when you see your child on the floor banging a whisk that all of a sudden you notice that it happens to be kind of in a rhythm or that you are watching a group of parents swaying back and forth. Nobody told them to do that. They happen to be doing that.
Ayelet: Oh my gosh, I still do it when there’s a baby around.
Miranda: Right? Yeah! So just open those pathways up in your brain to see it when you go out and pick up on on where it might be coming in. And maybe that makes it a little bit easier for you if you are hesitant, so search it out. But yeah, so, okay, right now I’m gonna give a very real example. So we use SING a lot when we have grumpiness going on in our house. And there is so much grumpiness when it happens to come to transition time, right? So even just the way that we might call our children to come into what we call it the Magic Room. It’s our laundry room where we exit our house, everybody comes in there and we’ll be like, Okay, come to the Magic Room.
Ayelet: Oh my gosh, that’s amazing.
Miranda: Or, you know, and it’s not every time we’ve talked about this, right? Or it’s time to go, how we say it, you know, the words that we use to give some instruction for older toddlers who may have a good understanding of receptive language, who have good receptive language skills, right? Or we’re modeling it for them. That is a way to kind of get their attention. It’s not mom and dad just chattering in the background. It’s this calling, of them to come.
Ayelet: Right, and it’s a shift in tonality that they recognize as distinctly their family. Actually, a funny example of that is a specific whistle that my dad used to use. And if we were in a store, a grocery store, whatever, I’d always know if he was looking for me. I’d be like, Oh, that’s mine. That’s my, that’s my family. That’s my family’s whistle. Right? So that’s just that even – if you don’t want to sing it, or call it, or use your traditional speaking voice, there are other ways to do it. A whistle is great one!
Miranda: Yeah, or chanting, right? It’s time to go. It’s time to go. It’s time to go out the door. I know you don’t want to go anymore. It’s time to go out the door. Like it doesn’t have to be singing, it can just be saying you know, I mean… My husband and I sometimes I have some very humorous moments where we’re like we don’t want to go eiiiiither!
Ayelet: Love it right? Yes.
Miranda: Levity just for us, even.
Ayelet: That’s for sure!
Miranda: But yeah, so I would say for us, we use this so much to regulate ourselves. And I think to just rhythm and that beat helps us regulate when we’re having a difficult transition. I think oftentimes, we see clean up songs being used in transition. So thinking about having some kind of song that signals when it’s time for something to be done. Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho it’s inside we go, doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, you know, something like that.
So something that, like you said, when you hear it in the store, you knew what it meant? It meant come find me. I’m waiting for you. This signals, Hey, it’s time to come inside. And we’ve set the routine and you know it. Or singing about what we’re going to put on next to go outside? You know, we’re gonna put on your… gloves next. Now we’re going to put on your… hat. Pausing for them to add those things in.
Ayelet: Yeah, right holding up the object so they can see what it is and then waiting for them to fill in the word, for instance. Yeah, that’s great. Right or even, the transition that comes to mind for me, this is not like an indoor outdoor but like diaper changing. And especially for a little ones for whom diaper changing and that sensory experience is not a pleasant one, adding in a little levity, through your voice and through song, or just a little playfulness and connection. Where you’re looking into their eyes, and you’re being silly, and you’re my… Do you mind, Miranda, if I share my favorite song that I made up when my child was young?
Miranda: No! Please sing about the poop!
Ayelet: Is their a poo-poo in there? Is there a poo-poo in there? Was it only air or is there poo-poo in there? Good one. And it still gets giggles! It still gets giggles. In fact, my six year old now is like, hmmmmm, Mama, stop being silly! There you go. But even if it doesn’t work for him, it works for me!
Miranda: Yeah, yeah!
Ayelet: What child doesn’t love talking about poop as they get older. Right. So right, right. Good. All right. Back to you, Miranda.
Miranda: Oh, well, I’m just remembering, now that you’re singing about your little one, we have lots of songs for this when we were doing diaper changes, too! I used to sing, every party has a pooper, that’s why I invited you! Poopaloop? Poopaloop! Yeah, right! I think we as adults kind of know when we need to add a little bit. And it is such a mood shift. Yeah, I’m sure there’s plenty of research about how music, like you talked about, but how it can really like calm and, and shift moods and all of that.
So the other Oh, the other things I’m thinking about, right? If you’re transitioning a little tiny baby to go outside how, as you’re putting them in their car seat, maybe you’re humming, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm! Even if it’s just one tone, because maybe you don’t – you have a Shusher upstairs in your nursery and you don’t have one when you’re putting them in the car. Maybe it’s shh shhh shhh shhh. So even just simplifying it to that, or as you’re swaying, waiting for the garage to close or something, and you’re racking their car seat back and forth. Or giving a gentle bump on it to give a little bit of that patting sensation that they got.
Ayelet: Yeah, or just in the stroller, right? I’m thinking of folks who don’t live in suburban areas. Like for the first three years of my journey through parenthood, we lived in cities and did not have a car and so it’s the stroller, right? So yeah, just all of all of the things that’s just think about how you can apply it to you. And if you’re having a hard time envisioning that reach out, reach out to us we we got ideas clearly. I think that’s pretty clear here, Miranda! All right. What else? How about a song modeling a familiar tune with the steps to get ready to leave the house, for instance?
Miranda: Yeah. Oh, gosh, we love The Ants Go Marching. My favorite Learn With Less® classes, too, we utilize this, but so let’s let’s just sing it! Let’s say your child really needs you to walk them through each step. It’s time to get our shoes on, hurrah, hurrah. Now we’ll put our coats on, hoorah, hurrah. Time to go out the door, walk to the park once more. And we’ll be ready to go play at the park, at the park park park park… And then you might even say something like and now you’re laying on the floor hurrah, hurrrah. You don’t want to put your shoes on hurrah, hurrah. But we’re gonna do it anyway, so we can go play!
You know, I think singing through some of that… Obviously we want to attend and attune when our child is upset, but it does help sometimes to sing through it! You know, sing through it, and then acknowledge where we’re at, and pause and, and use that other pillar of TALK to be at their level.
The Power of Group Sing
Ayelet: That’s right. That’s right. I love it, I also want to actually use this moment to chat about that power of “group sing” in a Learn With Less® class, for instance, and this is slightly off topic in terms of our routines piece. But I mean, you can certainly utilize it with a caregiving partner even, right, in your own home. Or replicate this in your home with, maybe it’s a family dinner, you know, extended family, if you can get people on board.
But my goodness, when you have people within your community all singing the same tune at the same time, there are such limited opportunities for humans to experience this. I think, especially in the United States, outside of, say, a religious or cultural, specifically cultural experience, I would say. It’s that creation of a ritual that is very special, and very special somehow to give our children the experience of. Can you, would you mind talking a little bit about what that can feel like for families in your classes or for you as the facilitator of a space that’s doing that?
Miranda: Yeah, I mean, to me, it’s like the evolution. When I have a group of families that have committed to come for a several week session, the beauty of the evolution of them coming at the first class and kind of looking around, like, we’re gonna do this? We’re gonna do that… we’re gonna, oh okay, everybody’s singing, I’m good, I’m gonna join in! Or they’re like, oh, I want to, I want to have this moment with my baby. And they sing.
And just, I think, you know, to see people be a little bit afraid, a little bit brave, too, to call out something to add into a song. Or maybe they really enjoyed the singing piece of it. And other parents get a giggle out of it, because they’re singing about something ridiculous. Or oftentimes using humor, and we all can sing together.
We’ve had little celebrations, you know, at classes, too. I know some people, some people celebrate birthdays, some people don’t. But like, that’s really a powerful thing to have happen on a normal basis. But for us all to sing together, or when oh, gosh, this is a good example. I had a class where we were doing, “way up high in the apple tree.” And I am not very familiar with that song. And I had a few other parents who were! I was like, Oh, please, please. And they just kind of go over for that part.
Just, the joy that we had hearing them sing and lead was just… yeah, just just really wonderful. I think in class – Ayelet, you and I are reading a book right now, and one of the things that it talks about in that is the power of strangers. Kind of how you might be a little bit more willing. And I think there is that element of it to a Learn With Less® class, too! You’re coming into it and you know, it’s not your, it’s not your aunts and your uncles that you never sing around that you just happen to be doing. It’s just everybody is getting to know each other, perhaps, and there is that element of… well, they don’t really know me, I guess I can sing and feel comfortable and, and do it.
Creating Accommodations, Centering The Marginalized
Ayelet: That’s right. That’s right. And also just noting that creating accommodations, too, for people who are like either not interested in singing. Or where song or music or voices in unison can be a very overwhelming sensory experience both for adults and children in the space. So creating opportunities for families to note that this might be an issue in advance, or noticing yourself as the facilitator of a space when there might be some discomfort for a child for instance, who’s covering their ears because things are too loud. And just giving that opportunity also in a community group that creates that space that helps people feel seen and heard, and helps them feel noticed and valued. And their needs valued. So I just wanted to say that, as well.
Miranda: I love that you’re pointing that out because that’s bringing up for me, I have a little person who has attended several of my classes and he needs to move. And a lot of times the start of that movement is with the welcoming when we’re all together having that group sing of the Hello Song. And he kind of heads off on that.
Then when we, it has been really great with the outdoor classes I’ve done, to allow him to move away — or not allowed, just to, we have the space and safety in place for him to be able to move far away from the group. But ironically enough, sometimes with that SING portion, being able to call out to the mom across, she’s a little bit away attending her little one, to invite her back in, be a part of the SING like, “call out what he’s doing right now and we’re gonna sing about it!” It kind of brings her back even though she might not be able to be right at the circle.
Ayelet: Exactly, exactly right. Because within that structure, there’s always… It is like, we like to call it sort of a semi structured class structure. Because yeah, there’s always that flexibility. And you’re never stuck trying to accommodate the needs of a curriculum versus the needs of the families within your space. So yeah, love that. Thank you. That’s a that’s, I think that’s really helpful for people to know, actually. Anything else? What other songs do we want to leave people with? Or other other ideas for song prompts, right?
Miranda: Yes. So what about if you’re, we oftentimes, on the way going places, instead of singing Wheels On The Bus, we’ll sing about the wheels on the car. So we’re just changing a little bit. Yeah, you know, the wheels on my car go round and round. Or the clip on your car seat goes click, click, click. Or with a stroller, right the buckles on the stroller go click, click, click. Or on your carrier, or whatever it is, but taking that very familiar song and just changing a little bit of it is something we do all the time in Learn With Less®. It doesn’t have to be a particular song. Pick something that you know, and feel comfortable changing. Or instead of singing, like we talked about, do a chant: buckle buckle, put on the buckle!
Ayelet: Talk through it in a rhythmic way.
Miranda: I just want to point out, too, we’re talking I think a lot about activities that work really well for toddlers. But just keep in mind, you’re doing a lot of this with your babies and infants, tiny people. And yeah, they need to hear this language. They need to hear your voice and be connected with you from the time they’re very little. So, just remembering that they’re soaking all that in, like we talked about, from the womb, and though when you’re pulling them out of their bassinet in the morning, or rolling over if you co-sleep. Good morning, good morning, you know, just those little moments with your tiny ones. It doesn’t have to look like this preschool circle that you’re sitting around.
Ayelet: That’s right. Thank you for that. That’s so important for people to just remember and hold. Awesome. All right, well, Miranda, just a little recap of where they can find, our listeners, a special little freebie that you’ve created all around routines. Why don’t people head over to your website at…
Ayelet: Amazing. And of course, go ahead, if you haven’t already, go ahead and download the Learn With Less® infant and toddler development blueprint that goes through all of the four pillars of Learn With Less® that we’re talking about in these four episodes of PLAY, TALK, SING, and MOVE. And just what they’re all about and how they can relate to early development, as well.
So go ahead and follow what we’re doing over at Instagram and Facebook and social media in relation to these episodes, because we’ve got lots more visual content and maybe even more auditory content that you can see us doing these things. What we’re doing with our hands or the things that we’re holding with relation to the music or chants or songs that we are encouraging you to utilize.
And we’d love to hear from you about what you feel regarding this episode. Did this change anybody’s perspective? Give you new ideas for utilizing music or musicality in new ways? What’s your big takeaway? We’d love to hear it. So head over to Instagram and let us know. I love Instagram right now. Looking forward to see you at @earlyinterventionmama and over @learnwithless. We will be back next week with our final installment of these four pillars, with our pillar of MOVE. So we’re going to be talking all about that next week. But in the meantime, head over and we will see you on the socials. Okay, bye Miranda!
How to Incorporate Language into Everyday Routines, with Miranda Zoumbaris and Ayelet Marinovich
Feb 06, 2023
Use Everyday Routines to Build Language Skills In Young Children: It’s Powerful!
This episode of the Learn With Less® podcast is the second of a 4-part series about incorporating play, language, music, and movement, into everyday routines. These episodes feature a conversation between Ayelet Marinovich (pediatric speech-language pathologist, founder and creator of the Learn With Less® curriculum) and Miranda Zoumbaris (early childhood educator & interventionist, licensed Learn With Less® facilitator, and entrepreneur).
In this series, we’ll explore the four pillars of the Learn With Less® framework, and examine how we can incorporate more of each of those into our everyday routines to support connection and early learning. For each episode, we chose one routine and one everyday object, and explored the ways in which we could infuse developmentally enriching experiences into everyday life, and helping families see they can do this using the time, energy, and materials they already have.
Be sure to check over at our Instagram and Facebook pages (linked below) for additional content that may support your understanding and experience of these episodes. As we release each episode, we’ll link to them here in the show notes so you can access them easily.
In this episode, we discussed:
What is TALK (as we define it in the Learn With Less® curriculum), and how it can be woven into everyday routines
How to take the routine of nose-blowing and other self care routines, and incorporate more language into these moments
What kinds of language routines we can create with an item like a tissue or tissue box
Using language to create levity in a stressful moment – for both children and adults
How to incorporate language strategies into simple routines, using simple, everyday objects
The value of learning in community, of parallel processing with other families, and of experiencing the practice of following your child’s lead, through caregiver and child classes like those led by licensed Learn With Less® facilitators
Helpful Resources to Acknowledge For This Episode:
Daily Routines Freebie: download Miranda’s free handout about winter dressing, and get ideas for incorporating play, talk, sing, and move into your everyday routines!
Free Infant/Toddler Development Blueprint: what are the four major areas of early development… and how can you use the pillars of Learn With Less® to support that learning, using the time, energy, and materials you already have?! Download our free blueprint today.
Expand Your Impact Workshop Bundle: for early childhood educators and developmental therapists hoping to serve new families in their community and support themselves, using their existing skills
Learn With Less® Bundle: our best infant and toddler development resources for families and educators alike, including our bestselling books Understanding Your Baby and Understanding Your Toddler, our acclaimed family music album, recorded Learn With Less® “caregiver & me” classes, and a caregiver handout featuring ideas for carryover in the home
Learn With Less® Stories: Testimonials from educators who’ve provided the Learn With Less® infant/toddler family enrichment curriculum and families who’ve experienced our programming.
Ayelet: Okay, welcome back to the Learn with Less® Podcast. Today I am joined by my current co-host Miranda Zoumbaris. Hi, Miranda!
Miranda: Hi! I’m so glad to be back!
Ayelet: Yay! Let’s go ahead… Last week, we had an episode all about that first pillar of Learn With Less®, which is PLAY. So, go back, if you haven’t listened to that, and grab all of the things that we talked about, listen to all of that, and catch up with all of the content that we’ve created over on Instagram and Facebook and places at @earlyinterventionmama and @learnwithless, and you can get caught up with all the great stuff all about PLAY. But this week… Miranda, what are we talking about this week?
Miranda: We’re going to talk about TALK! We’re going to talk about talk, and talk about playing with some tissues or tissue boxes.
Ayelet: Yeah, last week, we talked a little bit about what play is, and then different routine examples of using a specific object in play. This week, we’re going to do the same thing about TALK. And the object that we’ve chosen for this week is, as you said, that whole routine of blowing your nose. Blowing, the sort of handkerchief, nose blowing, tissue pulling type stuff. Tissues and self care, really, is the topic that we’re gonna chat about.
Let’s talk a little bit about what talk is, as we define it in Learn With Less®. I can start there. And then I’m going to hand it off to you to chat a little bit more about the different routines that we’re going to chat about. So when we’re talking about this pillar of TALK, what we’re really discussing is discussion, the act of discussion and observation. The idea of repetition with variation. Because every single day, we hope, you’re having some kind of conversation with your young child. Within daily routines… is such a wonderful time to really give into that discussion and observation. Instead of quietly changing your child’s diaper, this is a great opportunity to say the same kinds of things at the same time. Because then you’re repeating yourself and giving context to words.
So for instance, oh, let’s take it off, when you’re taking off the diaper. You can sequence events, and look at what’s coming next, and all of those things. So you’re repeating, and you’re giving a lot of consistency, but then a little bit of variation, right, the pattern adjusts a little bit each time. We’re also talking about, when we’re talking about TALK, we’re having this conversation about communicating for a variety of purposes, not just “what’s this, what’s that” – labeling, which is, I think, something that a lot of us as adults tend to get stuck in in terms of quizzing and drilling our little ones. That’s how oftentimes we’ve learned what learning is! It looks like taking tests and quizzing.
Also as the grownups in the room, we want to hear our children say those words, we want to see that they can identify something. We want to know what they know, we want to see what they know. We want to show our loved ones what they know. And also, because again, we’re talking about not just the but/or its AND. So, we want to communicate for a variety of purposes. We want to ask our child questions. We want to wonder aloud, we want to imitate them. We want to talk about what’s happening around us, how something feels, what it looks like. And notice what they are noticing – and say those things out loud.
And then, of course, we also want to communicate to our little ones using a variety of means and modes of communication, right? We know that right now, Miranda and I are sitting at two different computers looking at each other on Zoom, and she’s nodding, That tells me that she’s listening, right, and she’s smiling. That tells me that she’s engaged. And all of those nonverbal communication skills also assist in communicating and engaging with each other as humans. So whether it’s gestures and pointing or clapping. Or whether it’s moving towards or away from our little one. Whether it’s facial expression, or different kinds of motor movements, like hugs or pushing something away, not everything has to be positive! Really showing that there are so many ways to communicate what we need, what we want, what we think what we’re wondering what we’re questioning.
Then finally just modeling what you want to see both in terms of the kinds of communicative behaviors that you want your child to then imitate and replicate because goodness knows. Some of the things that I’m noticing in my nine year old right now are directly influenced by things that I’m like, Oh my gosh, I wish I wasn’t like that. I wish I didn’t do that to him because now he’s doing that to his little brother. That doesn’t feel very good. Yeah. How lovely. So just bringing that awareness to ourselves, because even from before day one, they are learning from us. So those are the pieces that I wanted to start with in terms of what is TALK. Right. So let’s talk a little bit about, Miranda, how to utilize routines with regard to this pillar of TALK.
Miranda: Yeah, absolutely. So oh my gosh, There literally is so much to talk about. So let’s really think about that self care routine and your child has a runny, gunky nose. So maybe you start by explaining what’s going to happen, if that works for your child. So you’re using language. I see you, you have boogers coming out of your nose. It’s about to get on your mouth. Let’s find a tissue to clean it up. Or maybe you want to give some choices. You know, you have boogers on your nose. Do you want to wipe or a tissue so you can wipe it and allowing them to do it, giving some choices! Or maybe you’re the one blowing your nose! And your baby looks up at you startled! Or you know, you’re running a Learn With Less® class and you make the children cry when you blow your nose!
Ayelet: I assume we’re speaking from personal experience!
Miranda: Yes. I did a playful sneeze, and I had about three crying babies. And they were like, Yeah, that’s kind of traumatic right now! You have to know your audience! But you have your tiny baby looking up at you because you just sneezed or you blew your nose – to useTALK to change the pitch and tone of your voice to let them know it’s okay. Whoa, you were startled, and I blew my nose – that was loud. And then you pause and look at your child and give them an opportunity to go oh! And kind of reconnect and that serve and return that we get with TALK, too. So I think in all those different examples, right? They’re just little micro routines that are happening around nose blowing, but we’re able to use that pillar of TALK. And I think playfully too, like I said during class where we’re pretending to sneeze really loud using noises…
Ayelet: Yes, right, right, those social sounds. Yeah, I love that. And actually, just another note about that is that, again, we talk about these four different pillars, sometimes as if they’re four distinct, different things. But there’s always overlap. Just like when we’re working on a communication skill, we’re also often working on a motor skill. And we’re also often working on a cognitive skill. So there is overlap in all of this, especially in those first three years of life. So I love that you brought that to our attention, Miranda.
Let’s talk a little bit about some of those kinds of things in terms of… So we’re talking about blowing the nose, but also like wiping faces, putting a mask on talking through some of those things. Let’s just chat about how we can useTALK in terms of – you had said a little bit about nose blowing, but also tissue pulling, right? Even just taking little pieces of fabric out of a box and just saying some of the words right? Out! Out! Pull! All of these things have so much potential for adding a more language-rich environment into your everyday routines. And so providing those examples of little tiny bits of language to offer during some of those nose blowing and caregiving [routines]. Do you want to give a few more examples? Miranda?
Miranda: Sure. Yeah, I’d love to. I’m thinking now because we talked about that pulling something out of a box: wipes! That’s the same thing is a tissue, right? So maybe you talk about opening the wipe, the little button, push! And then put it in front of your child and maybe you don’t say anything. Maybe you look expectantly at them and just wait, give that power of the pause that we talk about in Learn With Less®, and see what they do. Do they say something back to you? Do they reach for it, but we’re looking at them with this playful expectation that says, Hey, it’s your turn to do something? What are you going to do? So that’s one thing that I’m thinking and then just like you said, maybe it’s not wipes or tissues that you’re pulling out? Because those do get expensive. You know, and they are a valuable resource then maybe we save that empty box to put things in that we’re okay getting continually pulled in and out because…
Ayelet: Yeah, it might be mail – Junk Mail. Yeah, pieces of paper, envelopes that we’re pulling out. It might be postcards, it might be… I’m just thinking about paper now. But other little scraps like scraps of fabric or ribbons or ties or hair ties, hair pulls… any – it can be any little thing! I’m just riffing on different things that you can put in and pull out that are just everyday items used in self care routines.
Miranda: Then thinking about what do we do with like a blanket right off Sometimes we’re hiding behind that. So playing peekaboo thinking about taking that and using it when you’re using a tissue or a wipe. Or maybe you happen to be sitting out waiting to get into a restaurant, the only thing you have in your pocket is the tissue. And it’s a clean one! And you pull it out to play peekaboo, or maybe you pull it out and ball it up in your hand and give a big puff of air and blow it across the table and take turns practicing that back and forth. And again, you’re giving that turn taking which is essential to communication and you’re playing and talking about it. Maybe we do a verbal routine, crumple that tissue or mask or whatever you have in your hand. 1,2,3 – And we throw it in the air! Lots of ways to add language and play and all the pillars.
Ayelet: Yep, that’s right. Yeah, I love that idea of crumpling up a tissue or even a little piece of paper or a mask or whatever it is – something really light right it can be a cotton ball and then blowing it across a floor right the vinyl or laminate or wooden floor. Yeah, and then watch it go! So BLOW, GO, taking something OUT of a box – out! Pretending to sneeze, all of the Ah-CHOO! And ooooh – when is mom or dad or other caregiver going to finish? That anticipation of “choo!” coming right? Or finding a hidden toy, or hidden whisk, under one of a few of the hankies, handkerchiefs, for instance. So yeah, UNDER, ooh, WHERE? Where could it be? You put something under! Where is it?! So much language in there – anything else you can think of Miranda?
Miranda: I was imagining if you don’t have a box to pull things out, of that maybe you shove it in your couch. Or maybe you’re cleaning your socks out of your couch that got taken off and you’re pulling that in a silly way or pretending and you’re pulling! Oh, what did I say? I found a sock. Maybe it’s not a sock, maybe it’s a maybe it’s a tissue, and pretending, or a hand puppet. Put it on as a puppet.
Ayelet: Yeah. Well, I’m thinking about my getting-more-stinky-as-we-go little people. But there are always socks. There are always socks hanging around the house. That is, yeah, that is the eternal issue… Why are your socks here? Again? Child. Yeah, again, that levity that we talked about in the last episode, when you’re feeling energized and frustrated. How can we bring that a little bit of play and language into that? Love it.
Miranda: And as you’re saying that I’m just thinking about how we’ve talked about repetition with variation. And in this instance, last episode, we talked about how you might say, we need to put your gloves on your feet! Come here. Also, if you have a child that’s resisting nose blowing: we need to blow your nose come here, and you wipe their ear! So using that same concept of I’m going to do something that’s not quite right, in a silly way, you know, using it and then switching it to something different. The next time.
I always talk with parents about all these little things are tools that go in your tool belt. And sometimes when you’re just getting more comfortable using those concepts, it helps to have a script like that. I’ll pretend to put something on a different body part or wipe a different party part or tickle a different body part. So to kind of have that in your mind as a way to help you stretch that muscle of play and talk.
Ayelet: It’s so true. I love how you said that too, Miranda. Because I think that is the real key differentiator of the biggest difference between you and I who came into parenthood with this set of tools… versus a parent or caregiver who really never spent a whole lot of time, maybe, with kids or young children before. Having access to those little tools to pull from, from the very beginning. Now, number one, I want to say that does not solve all the things. So if you’re, if you’re a professional who is hoping to have children one day and thinks you’re gonna be the best parent ever, because you’re already an early interventionist of some kind, yeah, good luck.
Miranda: We will wait for the enlightening, the enlightenment.
Ayelet: Right? But yes, there are there are some nice aspects to having that knowledge. And that is the whole point, I think, of number one, why we’re here with you today. And number two, what Learn With Less® is all about, and what we’re doing in our classes. Miranda, actually, I wanted to just ask you as a Learn With Less® facilitator, what are some of the… because before we hit the record button, we’ve been chatting a little bit about those little moments of “aha moments” for families in your classes. For instance, that when they realize like, Oh, this is what play can look like, Oh, this is what talk can look like, and how simple actually, it really is right? Because we see all this content on Instagram or we read all the parenting books. And we hear all of the messages that oh, we need more and to do more and to buy more and to blah, blah, blah. But really, it’s about simplification and just utilizing these simple simple routines and simple objects. So I was wondering if you could just talk a little bit about that.
Miranda: Yeah, absolutely. I think it’s so interesting to watch parents have this surprise that they come to a class and their child happened to play with a tissue box for 40 minutes. And they did it together with them, and it was fun! Or that they played with a big shower curtain, rising above and below, and that those were the things that their child was most interested in. So I think just that feeling of watching on parents faces experience the delight that their child has in those simple interactions. And then getting to see later on maybe as they’re coming into class or leaving class, that they’re infusing some of that in the moment practicing it. Maybe they’re trying to have a conversation with a parent that they met during their little uncertain thing get fussy, and they pretend to sneeze! Because you’re doing that in class and their little one thought it was so funny, and so they’re like, oh, that worked!
Yeah, so absolutely, I think just watching them see that it’s a simple things. And then like you said, just adding a little bit of variation to it. Just me as a facilitator, I really view it too, as my role is to be like, I’m not doing anything, like I’m literally just pulling a tissue and pretending to go “ah-choo!” This is completely accessible to you. If you don’t have a voice, we can use the action, that we can modify, like, there are thousands of ways to modify this, to make it fun. And just really taking away too, I think that feeling of, “she can do it better than I can” or “they have more ideas.” No, put it back on them.
Ayelet: Like, actually, your child is going to show us what their ideas are. And then we’re gonna follow what they do. That’s literally, that’s a Learn With Less® class. And also, one thing in there that I really wanted to highlight is it’s not just… your role as a Learn With Less® facilitator is you’re not just illuminating that these are the simple objects that they can play with. It’s that you are connecting that there is a developmental value inherent in the ways in which they can very simply interact with those everyday objects. And you’re taking away the facade or the illusion that it has to be a fancy subscription box full of toys, or it has to be purchased from a specific aisle in a specific kind of store to have developmental value.
You’re totally busting that myth, you’re doing what what I like to talk about is, showing everybody that the emperor has no toys, that it’s just what you already have! You and your child, letting the child lead the way. Noticing what your child is interested in. And then providing a more robust version of these four pillars of play, talk, sing and move, around your child when you have the capacity. And that’s what you are doing and in your Learn With Less® classes, Miranda, and it’s clearly helping the families in your community because they keep coming back!
Miranda: And it’s so it’s so fun to just model that, you highlighting, we’re watching what the kids are doing, right? We’re watching what the babies and the infants are interested in and what they’re doing. And I think, too, we model that by also watching what our parents do, you know, in class, that whole parallel process! If you see a parent that happens to be pretending, if you see in that class, or maybe they’re gently waving a blanket up and down and up and down. And we might gently nudge them and say, Tell me more about why you did that. Or, I saw that you noticed your little one really wanted that scarf. They were looking intently at it. How did you think to do that little song? And just looking at the parents and watching them and letting them lead. That way they can do the same thing with their little ones.
Ayelet: That’s right. And then the value of doing that within a group setting is that other families can notice that, and see that, and observe different ways of being with children. And my goodness, especially as we come out of the deepest, darkest depths of COVID. What a beautiful, what a beautiful thing. And I will say we’ve been doing also all of these classes virtually, as well. And that is an incredible thing to witness because as we know virtual connection can be actually just as fulfilling in many ways.
Miranda: Yes. From from here in Michigan to you in California, Ayelet.
Ayelet: Here we are right now! Exactly. Right. So let’s just wrap this one up today, this episode. Go ahead, Miranda, and let us know where people can find this special little present that you have created for our listeners.
Ayelet: So fun. So fun. So fun. Awesome. And then of course, you can go to learnwithless.com/blueprint to download the Learn With Less® infant & toddler development blueprint that really kind of outlines just all of those four different pillars that we’re talking about in these four episodes as well. So hurray, head over to our Instagram and Facebook profiles, as well, for some more visual content around what we’re talking about today at @earlyinterventionmama and @learnwithless, and go ahead and DM us if you have ideas or thoughts or takeaways from these episodes, because we love to hear what people say. And of course, also feel free to comment on on our stuff, because it’s really fun! And it’s actually I love having these conversations with you, Miranda, so I’m looking forward to our next episode! Until then, we’ll see y’all next time.
How to Incorporate PLAY into Everyday Routines, with Miranda Zoumbaris and Ayelet Marinovich
Jan 30, 2023
Turning Everyday Routines into Developmentally Enriching Play Experiences (Hint: You’ve Already Got What You Need)
This episode of the Learn With Less® podcast is the first of a 4-part series about incorporating play, language, music, and movement, into everyday routines. These episodes feature a conversation between Ayelet Marinovich (pediatric speech-language pathologist, founder and creator of the Learn With Less® curriculum) and Miranda Zoumbaris (early childhood educator & interventionist, licensed Learn With Less® facilitator, and entrepreneur).
In this series, we’ll explore the four pillars of the Learn With Less® framework, and examine how we can incorporate more of each of those into our everyday routines to support connection and early learning. For each episode, we chose one routine and one everyday object, and explored the ways in which we could infuse developmentally enriching experiences into everyday life, and helping families see they can do this using the time, energy, and materials they already have.
Be sure to check over at our Instagram and Facebook pages (linked below) for additional content that may support your understanding and experience of these episodes. As we release each episode, we’ll link to them here in the show notes so you can access them easily.
In this episode, we discussed:
What is PLAY (as we define it in the Learn With Less® curriculum), and how it can be woven into everyday routines
How to take the routine of transitioning indoors and outdoors, and incorporate more playfulness into these moments
What kinds of play routines we can create with an item like a glove
Using play to create levity in a stressful moment – for both children and adults
You are the expert on your child, on what routines are useful for you, and on how you play with your little one
Helpful Resources to Acknowledge For This Episode:
Daily Routines Freebie: download Miranda’s free handout about winter dressing, and get ideas for incorporating play, talk, sing, and move into your everyday routines!
Free Infant/Toddler Development Blueprint: what are the four major areas of early development… and how can you use the pillars of Learn With Less® to support that learning, using the time, energy, and materials you already have?! Download our free blueprint today.
Ayelet: So, I’m really happy that we’re here together today to do some recording of these podcast episodes. This is a series that you and I are co-creating and putting together just a little bit of content for both of our audiences. And I want to just start by giving you the chance to introduce yourself to anybody who does not yet know you, because you’re the co host of these four episodes that we’re about to start releasing. So, take it away!
Miranda: I’m Miranda Zoumbaris, and I am… I am an entrepreneur! I spent 14 years in early intervention and serving families through a few different programs. And then transition to being a stay at home mom while also offering Learn With Less® classes. And that’s how Ayelet and I know each other! So yeah, now I would describe myself more as an entrepreneur than I would an early interventionist, although my instagram handle is @earlyinterventionmama, and I don’t think that’s going away anytime soon.
Ayelet: Right! Well, I love how you stated that because it is a very strange shift in identity, what both you and I have been doing over the years. We started as these helper people in the communities that we are both a part of, and then transitioned into working with families and professionals in a different way.
So today, and for the next few episodes, we’re going to be sharing a little bit about the Learn with Less® framework: play, talk, sing and move – the four pillars of the Learn With Less® framework. As well as routines, and routines-based intervention in terms of how this relates to supporting early development for families. And then giving professionals also some ideas and thoughts and resources to help support families that are looking to just utilize more of what they already have.
I know Miranda, you and I are both very committed to this idea of number one, family focused services, and really putting the power in the hands of the family and helping to show them what they already have access to and how they can utilize that. So let’s just start, I guess, by talking a little bit about what “play” is. And then we can talk a little bit about some examples of how we can weave that into everyday routine.
Miranda: Yeah, well, I would just I just want to add before we hop into play, too, I think so often, there are providers, or even parents, who look at play as one routine. And so I think just really reminding everybody that play can be woven into any routines. And if there are parents or therapists who are listening to this episode and thinking like, Okay, well, that’s great, but I really don’t want to do Routines Based work. I want to stick with my very play based therapy. I think we just keep that in mind, right? That play, yes, is a routine. But play and playfulness can be woven into any routine. And, you know, just something to kind of keep in mind.
Ayelet: Yeah, I love that. I think part of what we’re trying to do here today is just have a little bit more of a nuanced conversation about: it’s not routines based intervention versus play-based intervention, or Routines-Based Services versus play-based services. It’s not one philosophy versus another. It’s all/and and it’s not and/or.
Let’s talk a little bit about what we mean, first of all, by “play,” and I’d love to start, if it’s okay with you, with how we define it within the Learn With Less® framework of that first pillar of play, in terms of play being really all about open-ended experiences. When we think about that term… because I think it’s one of those things that’s thrown around by professionals a lot! It’s important to think about, okay, there’s no specific end-goal. This is about exploring, experimenting with a variety of objects, in a variety of different environments.
Whether that means indoors or outdoors, in the hallway, in the kitchen, whatever it is. And really just remembering that instead of that definition of play that I think a lot of us as grownups start off with, or have defined for ourselves, as: we play a game. There’s a specific set of steps involved. There’s a start, and a middle and an end. There’s a trajectory and an arc. And yet, we know that when it comes to playing with infants and toddlers, especially, that’s not what it is, right? It’s it’s more about being flexible and accepting what is happening in the environment.
Miranda: That’s right. That’s right. So it’s up to us to help to just see what happens, and let it unfold in front of us. And provide language around it, provide opportunities for movement around it. Provide music, is often something, right?
I think the thing to think about, too, is just taking a little bit to sit back and watch the children you work with or your own child – and they are really good at it! It is a muscle, I think, for so many adults – myself included – to really stretch, to embrace that open-ended exploration. To look at a toy that you are going… okay, this is a little person, I need to put it in the bed. Versus, we can just play dumb, bring it in and out, or we can play hiding it. So I think, letting our children guide us because they really are so good at that open-ended piece of it. They have less of that structure that things have to be a certain way, I think in their brain, than we do, oftentimes.
Ayelet: So I think one of the things that it’s important for us, that we wanted to set out and discuss today, was giving examples for families and professionals about how play can be woven into everyday routines. So you and I took the idea of… let’s come up with a specific object that we could think of, that would really help to define all the things that we could do within many different routines, with a single object – that’s not traditionally thought of as a toy or a play object! So do you want to go ahead and introduce what that is?
Miranda: Yeah. So we are going to be taking a look at gloves within that pillar of play, that focus of play. So when you hear gloves, I want you to if you’re listening, stretch in your mind what that might think. Here in Michigan, gloves or mittens for winter. But think about the gloves that you might wear for washing dishes in the sink! If you might happen to have access to a glove because you happen to be sitting in the doctor’s office, and they’re they’re accessible. So just kind of really start by just stretching that, and not thinking oh, like a glove that you put on to go outside because you’re cold. You know, there’s more than one way that we can kind of think about that even, in itself.
Ayelet: Yes, I cannot even say how many times we’ve been in the waiting room. Yes. How many ways can we use this thing? So, perfect. Okay, we’ve got the idea of gloves. All right, what are some of the things that we could think of to provide for ideas for families and professionals listening? Things that we could do to play with gloves or mittens within routines of everyday life?
And first of all, I think, maybe starting with defining routines, right? What are some of the routines that families are experiencing every day. So those might be those big things that we think of, and we’ve talked a lot about this, on the Learn With Less® podcast, and I’ll link to a few other episodes that will be really helpful, as well. But things like the big ones, like waking up, getting out, dressing, diaper changes, bathing, feeding, nap time. But the little ones, like in the in-between moment, right?
Miranda: Yes, those micro routines.
Ayelet: Yeah. What are some examples that you go to, usually, Miranda?
Miranda: Oh, so one thing that I’m thinking about is leaving childcare. So like, getting your child suited up to get out to the car. Or you’re trying to cook your eggs on the stove, you know, and you happen to be in the kitchen. And it’s not breakfast yet. And it’s not wakeup time. But it’s that little five minute where you’re, you’re in between. You know, so I think all those routines and to keep in mind that it’s not about schedule, it’s what is happening.
And I think to just the little connection moments can be routine, too. So for me and my daughters,, I think there are some routines that are play-based and connection where let’s say we play a chase game. It’s a little routine that kind of has a script for us.That, to me, is a routine, too.
Ayelet: Yes, the social routines.
Miranda: Yeah, the social routine. Exactly. Those are what come to mind.
Ayelet: I love it. Yeah, that’s great. So let’s give our fair listeners a few ideas for utilizing this idea of gloves of any kind, whether, again, it’s mittens, gloves for outside, soccer gloves, or dishwashing gloves, or surgical gloves. But how we could utilize anything, really, that you put on your hand. It could even be a bag, right? Yeah.
Miranda: Yeah, oven mitts!
Ayelet: That’s exactly right! How did we, how did we forget that? Yes, exactly. How can we give some ideas for how to utilize those in play? So we’re releasing this episode now, you’ve heard it, you’re listening to it. And you can also go over too @earlyinterventionmama, and @learnwithless on Instagram and Facebook to check out some of these examples in a more visual way. Because, we’ve gone ahead and we’re releasing some reels and different kinds of posts on social media so that you can really see the examples that we’re going to talk through. Miranda, why don’t you go ahead and start with the ideas that you have for playing with gloves or mittens?
Miranda: Yeah. So in terms of gloves, I just want to go off of what we talked about today, even. And I can create some more things off of that. So think about your oven mitt, any glove that you might have in the kitchen, right? So oftentimes, they’re going to be those bigger kitchen gloves that you’re pulling on for doing dishes or an oven mitt. I want you to think about using it kind of as a container to put things in. So maybe you’ve noticed that your child likes to fill and dump, and you’re looking for something to give them putting spoons and you know, whatever safe for them in the moment! But spoons, and different things from your kitchen drawer, pull out those odds and ends and put them in and out, and in and out of an oven, or put that oven mitt on and pretend to eat their toes. Right. Yum yum yum! It now becomes a puppet, almost! I think, other things that we might think of, are when you’re getting ready to go out, pretending to put them in a different spot, right? Oh, let’s put your gloves on. And maybe you put it on their head, you just set it on their head, and they’re gonna tell you, that’s not what it’s supposed to look like. So you’re being playful with them as you’re you’re getting ready to go out.
Ayelet: I love that. Yeah, that’s great. I want to also be specific here and just really call out the fact that we’re giving lots of ideas, you don’t have to do all of these things, you get to choose some of these things that really speak to you. And also leave out the ones that don’t. Because I know, for instance, people are very specific about their kitchens.
Some people love creating a little space kind of a thing within their kitchens, one cabinet that is just low and open to the child. And that’s just, they get to go in and out of it, or explore anything that’s in that one cabinet. Or maybe they don’t have access to cabinets at all. And you have a limited space in your kitchen, for instance. And maybe you have like a little basket or a bag of things that are available to your child, and there’s like a salad spinner or a dishwashing glove, for instance.
And so I just wanted to really name the fact that you don’t have to do this, this particular thing. This particular idea that we’re giving you, any of them? Obviously, there’s no should’s or have to’s. And the whole purpose of all of this is to give you tools for your own at-home routines. In your experience of early parenthood, and in your caregiving day to day life. So just wanted to clarify that. Yeah, go ahead.
Miranda: I was gonna say I think that is just one of the beautiful things about Learn With Less®. That it leans so heavily on that improvisation. Ayelet, you talked about that like as part of your background, too. And I think, like you said, for parents to know: you are the expert on what your child enjoys, and you are the expert on what routines work within your family.
And that is why, I think in terms of routine, it’s so important for professionals to rely on parents to show that to us. So we might not if we’re a professional, we’re not going to take this episode and go, Oh, gloves, great. I’m going to bring those on my home visit the next time… No, like wait for that family that maybe says oh my gosh, every time we have to put gloves on to go outside it’s terrible! And then you can think about, how do we make this a little bit more fun and engaging and playful to de-stress. So I think just relying heavily, like you’re saying Ayelet that this isn’t something that needs to be done. But parents know. And therapists can rely on parents to know what things do fit for them or will work.
Ayelet: Yeah, that’s right. And I like that distinguishing idea of you don’t need to bring it in because we said so. You might actually come in with your bag, your purse, for instance. And look at what are you bringing in? Maybe you you came in with a pair of gloves, and that child is really interested, or you use them to engage because they’re just there. So right again, yes, if you want to bring them in, great. And also, your family has shared with you that this routine in the kitchen is a particular difficult time, or transition outside is a particularly difficult time. Here’s your aha moment to integrate that idea, potentially, into your into your therapy or your intervention work.
Miranda: I love that, Ayelet. That’s such a good reminder. Yeah, you just happen to have the… I mean, absolutely. It happened to have them on you to think about that – again, right? You’re following that child’s lead! Oh, it fell out of your pocket. I’m gonna pick it up then. Okay. Yeah, that may be what we’re doing today.
Ayelet: That’s right. Yeah. Love it. So okay, you gave some great ideas in terms of filling a glove with smaller objects. I love how that can integrate also into so many different concept development conversations, too. Does this fit? Is it too big? Is it too long? Those kinds of things. And then finger play puppet, everything is fun if it becomes a puppet. If you remember any kind of finger plays, ghat’s great. And if not, I loved your example, Miranda, of ooooh, here are your toes! Toes are the best! Yeah.
You can also count the fingers obviously. There’s so many different kinds of little things in there. When we’re putting on… a couple of other ideas I had were, when we’re putting on a glove, find a missing finger! You put it on and intentionally craft an experience where you’re holding one finger down. Was there a missing finger, for instance? So you’re putting on a glove and there’s one empty. So there’s all kinds of things that you could do with with that, right? You could like jiggle the empty, yeah, jiggle, the empty one, talk about which one is gone. Which one is missing? Where’s my finger? Right?
There’s so much language here. Such a possibility for just absolute ridiculous playfulness. I was also thinking about how especially a dishwashing glove or surgical glove, for instance, those are great bath toys. Great for use with water, or any kind of water sensory bin, if that’s something that you have access to or want to, which, again, folks, is really just like a container. So maybe it’s a mixing bowl, or one of those plastic bins that you put under your bed flat, and you just fill that with water, boom, that’s a sensory bin. Brilliant! Ah.
Miranda: Super fancy!
Ayelet: And then you put a dishwashing glove in, and it’s incredible! So yeah, great things can be done with water, it can be a bath toy. Obviously, the age old, put it on your head, right? You can, all the different fingers can become a little chicken comb. And you can imitate a rooster, a chicken, sing a song about chickens, right, whatever you want to do.
Miranda: Yeah, draw on it before you head into the bath and wash the little chicken, you know, put it on your hand and use that washcloth.
Ayelet: I love it. When my oldest was a toddler. We were living in London and my mom… My mom is really, I would like to just say out loud right now: my mom is the real founder of Learn With Less®. Because she instilled in me these ideas of playfulness. So she sent us a care package once and inside of it was a yellow dishwashing glove. And she had drawn on little faces on the tips of each little finger. On the hand of the yellow dishwashing gloves, she had written the words to a nursery, like a little finger play kind of a thing that she knew when she was a kid that her mom had done. So I’ll do it for you right now. If I can remember. So I’m like squeezing each finger as I go. So Little Pea, Patty Lou, Lu-Lu Whistle, Whistle Nozzle… and… Kadobble-Wobble-Wobble! And then on the Kadobble-Wobble, I would always go in for a tickle. And it was adorable anticipation game, we’re looking at visual-spatial recognition kinds of things, right? You’re bending each finger forward.
Miranda: Separation of mobility…
Ayelet: Yeah, exactly. Or my son would love to then imitate and put it on and then have me sing the finger play. Or maybe he’d imitate the words. And then a tickle ending is the ultimate for most toddlers, or even older sometimes, right? But that’s my ultimate favorite. So maybe we’ll have to, we’ll have to do a video on Instagram of that.
Miranda: Yeah, I love that. I love that. Well, and I think I’ll just say to, for us with that surgical glove piece. So I’m a mom to a type one diabetic daughter. And so we spent days in the hospital and just trying to find what was around her to be entertaining. Then also take things that are being used and might seem kind of scary and use them in ways that take away that fear factor, so really leaning in on those things, leaning in on Play to be a tool of comfort, too.
Ayelet: Yes, thank you for sharing that one. That’s a just a great point. And so important. Let’s think of just a couple of others. And then we can sort of wrap up. So being purposefully silly. I loved your idea of the glove to go outside or the mitten going outside, putting it on a silly place like, oh, let’s put them on your feet. Come on, let’s go. And they can just be like, oh Mom, you’re so silly, right? But especially, I think in those times when – and this takes a lot of practice and awareness and wherewithal. And please, parents and caregivers, please give yourself the grace that maybe I haven’t in the past given myself. Recognize that you’re stressed. It’s okay to be stressed. And when you do have the wherewithal to provide some levity in those stressful moments, play can be such an important and easy way to do that.
For me, one of my big triggers is getting out the door and being on time, right? Because my mom was never on time and I hated that. And it was, it’s like a thing for me that I need. And I’m trying to let go of that urgency and let go of that desire and need for timeliness as well, because I then overextend that to my children. Then now I’m giving them distress like what’s the point? This is not working for anybody! But when I can create those moments of levity in my stress, and come on, let’s go, alright, we got to get your mittens on. Okay, let’s put them on your feet. Right. And then my kids are like, Wait, oh, she’s she’s being funny. Okay, trying. She’s trying to. Alright, we can forgive her for being such a wild woman, as well.
Miranda: Yes! It lends to that cooperation. And, and I think such a good point, Ayelet too that here we are sitting on a podcast talking about this, but I hope that like you said, everyone knows that every single time I go out the door is not filled with levity, you know? When I’m in it, would I love to have tha? We have opportunities to do these things. But sometimes you just don’t have it in you in that moment. And I think that’s one thing to remember, too, as professionals and people who do this and appear to look like they can do this every single time without issue? No, it is, it’s a muscle that has to be stretched. And every time we go out the door, it’s not always beautifully playful. But we have these tools to rely on when we’re able to and and a practice to get better at it. You know, even for, yeah, for anyone to just kind of flex that muscle.
Ayelet: That’s great. What a perfect place to land. So all of you great listeners, we would love to invite you to, number one, go take a look at the Instagram and Facebook posts that we’ve created around the time of this release of this episode. Also, Miranda, do you have a little something for our audience to grab?
Miranda: Yeah, if they want to head on over I will have a daily routines handout about winter dressing. That will be a freebie for everybody.
Ayelet: That’s awesome. And we will put the link in the show notes of this episode, as well. And then I also want to encourage you to download the Learn With Less® Infant and Toddler Development Blueprint, which really goes through the four pillars that we’re talking about. So today was play, the next one will be talk, then then we’ll cover sing. And then finally we’ll cover move. But that blueprint download just brings everything together, and puts it all into context. So go grab those things that can be found at learnwithless.com/blueprint. Miranda, people will be able to find your handout at earlyintervention mama.com/dailyroutinesfreebies, is that right?
Miranda: Yes.
Ayelet: Perfect. Okay. And then obviously, linking to all those in the show notes as well. So thanks so much for joining us and go ahead and catch us next time on our next episode. Miranda, thanks for joining me. This is super fun.
Miranda: Yeah, thank you. I’m just envisioning that we’re in the same place and maybe I’m leaving, putting my gloves on to head outside. Giving a friendly wave.
Ayelet: Good. I’m gonna go put something in the oven with my mitt.
Miranda: There you go.
Ayelet: All right. Thanks so much for joining us. See you next time.
Listen, Learn, and Advocate: Support New Families, with Sydney Bassard
Jan 23, 2023
Building Equitable Outcomes for Families with Young Children Through Access to Information
On this episode of the Learn With Less® podcast, Ayelet sits down with Sydney Bassard. Sydney is an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist, with a B.S. in Public Health. Her clinical focus areas are working with individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing and those with literacy challenges. Sydney engages in research with these populations as well as clinical practice. With a passion for access to high-quality service and care for all, she takes the time to invest in each client and their family. Her motto of listening, learning, and advocating stems from the three principles that guide her clinical practice.
We discussed:
Sydney’s new book, “A Day With Mom,” which she co-authored with her own mother
The importance of health literacy
The fine line between “doing enough” and not doing enough for one’s child
How everyday routines can be developmentally beneficial
The importance of play, and what high quality educational materials actually are
Where to find high quality resources for families
Helpful Resources to Acknowledge For This Episode:
Free Infant/Toddler Development Blueprint: what are the four major areas of early development… and how can you use the pillars of Learn With Less® to support that learning, using the time, energy, and materials you already have?! Download our free blueprint today.
Expand Your Impact Workshop Bundle: for early childhood educators and developmental therapists hoping to serve new families in their community and support themselves, using their existing skills
Learn With Less® Bundle: our best infant and toddler development resources for families and educators alike, including our bestselling books Understanding Your Baby and Understanding Your Toddler, our acclaimed family music album, recorded Learn With Less® “caregiver & me” classes, and a caregiver handout featuring ideas for carryover in the home
Learn With Less® Stories: Testimonials from educators who’ve provided the Learn With Less® infant/toddler family enrichment curriculum and families who’ve experienced our programming.
Ayelet: Okay, welcome Sydney Bassard, to the Learn With Less® podcast. I’m so happy you’re here today. And I’m really excited to have this conversation with you, we have met all over the place on the internet. But finally, in November 2022, we got to actually connect and spend lots of good time together at ASHA in New Orleans. And we also around that time, it became very clear that you had just embarked upon the journey of publishing a book, which is incredible. So I wanted to make sure that before we get to the rest of the episode, we have a chance to talk a little bit about what that book is, why you wrote it, its name, and how people can order it, because I’m just very excited that my copy is on its way! Please go ahead and share with the good people.
Sydney: So first off, it was so great meeting you and getting to spend time together in person at ASHA. It was great to just finally get to connect with the people you’ve been talking with over the internet for the past couple of years. So the title of the children’s book that I co-authored with my mom is called A Day With Mom. The principle of the book is to really just tell the authentic story of middle class Black families: to show that Black people live everyday lives, oftentimes in children’s literature, Black children are put on pedestals of being extraordinary – they’re super smart, they’re scientists, they’re all of these amazing things, which can be true! But they’re also allowed to just be ordinary children. Everything doesn’t have to be rooted in being super amazing, and everything doesn’t need to be rooted in poverty and struggle. So that was our mission behind writing the book, and then everything in it is based on activities that my mom and I did as I was a child growing up, from making breakfast together, going to different book fairs, to just shopping at the mall and looking for a good sale.
Ayelet: Yep, that’s great. And tell us the name and the best place that people can find it.
Sydney: Yeah, so the name of the book, again, is a day with mom, and people can find it at artistmadridbooks.com. Please, please, please, we are so thankful for the people who have read the book, for the people who have shared the book with their audiences. But our real goal is just so people can feel seen and represented in this story. But also just to continue to make good connections with your kids. Everything doesn’t have to be an extraordinary experience, sometimes the simple things create those lasting memories.
Ayelet: That’s right. Fantastic. All right. Thank you, Sydney for that. That is very exciting. And again, of course, we’ll link to that in the show notes. So let’s get on with the rest of the episode. You and I have been in community on Facebook for quite some time now. And it’s just great to hang out with you in well, not in the flesh, but synchronously here now.
Sydney: Thank you so much for having me. I am so excited to chat with you today.
The Trajectory of Sydney’s Career as a Speech-Language Pathologist
Ayelet: Yay. Why don’t you, instead of reading a bio out loud, it would be great to hear from you a little bit about your story, you know, what led you to the work that you are doing today? And what is that work?
Sydney: Oh, that is such a long story. But I’m going to do the condensed version today. So I’ve been an SLP for almost three years. And I tell people that I kind of ended up in this space by chance. I originally went to school to be a pharmacist. I was dead set on being a pharmacist. And then I took organic chemistry II, and found out that I was not cut out for the pharmacy life very quickly.
And so I was kind of in the space of not really knowing what I wanted to do or having a strong foundation. And that’s around the time that my brother found out he was dyslexic and had ADHD. So I ended up working for the reading center that he went to. I loved it, but I knew that I wanted to still have some of the freedoms that I would have if I had gone into pharmacy. So I found SLP, fell in love with the field from the reading standpoint, first, and then learned a lot more about hearing loss and working with children with hearing loss that use cochlear implants or hearing aids, particularly. So that’s kind of what led me here.
Then right out of grad school, I wanted to work on a cochlear implant team. That was my goal. And so I did that for two years within a children’s hospital and I absolutely loved my job there. But I really missed my family. So I decided to move closer to home last year, and now I’m here owning and running my own private practice, and doing a bunch of other jobs on the side, too.
Ayelet: Amazing. That’s so great. Well, I It’s always fun to talk to people who like came to the speech-language pathology worlds from a slightly different path, because that was my path as well. And I learned about the field much later in life, or realize that that that was a thing that condensed all of… basically all of my interests. And it’s always nice to hear from people who found this field more intentionally.
The Inception of The Listening SLP: Health Advocacy and Parent Education
So let’s hear a little bit about what you are doing. You run an Instagram account and social media existence, and of course, a whole website that is called The Listening SLP. And I would love to hear about what you’re doing over there, what your mission there is, and the message that you would like to share with families, because as you and I both know, but we want our dear listeners to know, that it’s very much in line with what we talked all about here at Learn With Less®.
Sydney: Yeah, so The Listening SLP happened kind of by chance. I had been following some other SLP accounts on my personal Instagram, and then ASHA in 2019, I was like, I can do this, I want to share! I really wanted to help and connect with students, was my initial goal. So that’s kind of what I did then, I was still in the midst of my clinical fellowship. And so I just stopped it. And then COVID happened. And I picked it back up, thanks to a really good coworker who’s now a friend of mine. But my mission at that point had changed. At the time, I was like, students need help and information and support. But what I really started to see more from practicing is that there was a lack of transparency with information.
My bachelor’s degree is in public health. It’s not in communication sciences and disorders. So I knew a lot from the public health aspect of what does health literacy look like? What is the importance behind it, and how we’re always wanting to get people to this “take action” step. But sometimes we miss the steps along the way of, we have to plant the seeds before we can get them there. So that’s where I shifted the focus of The Listening SLP. And I wanted it to be a space where health equity was at the forefront. We are no longer keeping information to a few but we’re able to share information with the masses. And so that’s really what has happened. That’s where my business tagline that really means a lot to me, of “listen, learn advocate” comes from.
Oftentimes, as practitioners, we are really instructed in grad school, that we are the professionals. And we know all the things – which is true from a foundational standpoint, from a pure knowledge standpoint of the information, we do know those things. What we don’t know is all the other things that’s going on in that individuals life. What we don’t know is how much they know coming into the situation. And so, being able to take a step back and give information freely is really what I want to do. I love the space that I’ve created now, because that’s what I get to do.
I love interacting with the parents and people from all over the country, all over the world, that have taken like little snippets of things that I’ve put together and they enjoy it. And I should clarify, this is not coming from me. I think sometimes people are like “The Listening SLP” or “Sydney said it.” No, no, no, no, no, pretty much everything that I put out is taken from either research articles or other resources that are available. And I have just compiled it in this way that is a little bit easier to digest.
Ayelet: Exactly, right. It’s all based in developmental research, or whatever it is, in terms of what researchers, what scientists what “experts” are saying and have learned, and you’re the venue, right? You’re the person who is putting those things together, and putting them in a more sort of easily digestible format so that families can have access to that information.
I love what you said about that shift between what we, number one, what we as professionals are taught, and taught to believe about ourselves or understand about ourselves that we are quote unquote, the expert, and that we come in, and our job is to “teach” and “give” information when you and I know very well that it’s actually… to do our jobs in the best way possible, to serve our clients and to provide them with the tools that THEY need to be able to be the best advocates for their families. That role is not of teacher and expert. The role is of co-host, right? It’s a collaborator.
Collaborating With Families: Using Everyday Routines to Build Language
I would love to hear a little bit more about your philosophy, your belief system and what the kinds of things that like you help families understand. Of course, that’s a big part of what we do here at Learn With Less® in terms of routines-based intervention and looking at what a family is already doing, what’s already happening in the home, and how we can build language around that. So I know that you have some great tips and ideas for how to build language in the home or in the community for that matter. And I would love to hear a few of those if you don’t mind sharing with the audience.
And what you said about how, Yes, we know that we have that knowledge base, we have the pretty deep understanding of what the research says the quote unquote “best ways” or lots of different tools and strategies to help build language in a young child’s life, for instance. But what we don’t know is the context, the context that we’re walking into within every given family. That piece is just is so essential. And I think the reality of what you said [earlier, before we started recording] about you know, yes, toys are great, toys are great, they’re great, but everyone has access to everyday things in our homes.
Sydney: Yeah, so I think the first thing that we have to realize is that parents are stressed. And that is okay to say. Parents of small children, it can be a very stressful time, it’s a lot of love, a lot of joy, but it’s stressful. And it’s stressful when your child is hitting those milestones, as we would expect. The stress is even higher when your child is not necessarily doing those things. You know, you have pressures from family, you have pressures, even sometimes from your partner and your spouse within the same house. Maybe, you know, feeling some tension in that relationship, as well.
Then there’s tension sometimes between the parent/caregiver and this child who they’re just wanting them to communicate. So I think the first thing is to recognize that parents are stressed. And oftentimes, we hear practitioners say, play-based and floor-based routines are the best. This is what people should be doing… without acknowledging that there’s so many other things going on outside of just, this parent wants to help, they still have responsibilities of cooking and cleaning and working a job.
So that’s why I love routines. Daily routines, hands down, are my favorite, from the standpoint of it can help alleviate some of that guilt that parents feel from not being able to carve out this time to sit on their floor. Or if that’s not their thing, they don’t feel pressured into having to make it their thing. So that’s what we do a lot on my social media, that’s what I do a lot in therapy, is how can we find out what your daily routine is, and then incorporate language structures?
The first thing as a therapist is I asked families, what generally is your routine? And then you have the people that say, I don’t know, we just kind of do things. Okay, well, figure out things that most people do every day, then. Most people are going to eat, most people are going to bathe, most people are getting in a car to go somewhere. So okay, there you go, you got three daily routines, I don’t really care when you do them. But there you go, you have them.
Helping families to figure out how they can incorporate those language skills into their environment. And that takes some humility on the part of the professional, because what you’re going to have to do is not come in with all the ideas and just spit them at the parent. It’s really more so a collaborative effort, because what I call things, I grew up in the South, so I might call something very different than someone who grew up in the north, versus someone in the Midwest or a family that’s coming from California. So making sure that we’re asking those things as well, when modeling those behaviors.
So I have a whole series on my page where we do building language within daily routines, and we model it with toys. But then I try to have a video, too. And now those are blog posts that live on my website. So if there’s a family that’s not you know, they don’t want to be on social media, that’s fine. It’s also in a blog format. And then I’ve been tagging the video at the bottom so that practitioners can show the demonstration as well.
Ayelet: Nice. We’ll be sure to link to those things as well. That’s fantastic. What are some of those, what have you from the feedback that you’ve received from both practitioners and families? What are some of the ones that have been the most popular or you’ve had a lot of feedback about?
Sydney: Oh, I think the one that came out about ice cream, hands down as been one that people were like in love with, because it was summer, you know, everybody was ready for a nice cold treat to enjoy. That one was a really popular one. I think the one that we did with going to school was another really popular one. And there was one on bathtime routines and bedtime routines, those were popular. And I want people to know that I don’t come up with all of these ideas of things to say aye my own generally before those posts, especially, that I’ve sent them to a couple other SLP colleagues, I’ve sent them to parents. I’ve even had some grad students look at them too. So they’re not just coming from me and my own brainchild, but a couple other people are giving their input as well. So there’s some diversity in the language and emphasis of each post.
Ayelet: Oh, that’s great. That’s really cool. I mean, I think it’s so key that one again, it’s coming down to like “the expert” versus a collaborative piece of being in community with other people and how that, depending on where you’re from, what language or what words you are utilizing, and it’s so – I love how you say that about within the English language itself, there are so many ways Is that people express themselves. It’s totally true. For those of our listeners who have not yet seen some of the videos or looked at your blog, I’d love for you to just break down. Number one, how do you define a routine? What does that look like? Because I think a lot of people think, okay, a routine is like a bedtime routine. It’s like how we get from one place to another, right?
But I think what you and I define routines as is like a little bit, even smaller, right, breaking it down even smaller into literally what happens step by step within this process. And why that’s so important is because those tiny little steps help us get from one place to another, within even a two minute period, throughout our day. And they happen again, and again and again. And those become patterns that our children can familiarize themselves with. And those patterns can help to build language, words, phrases, and expectations and all of the things. So yeah, I’d love to just hear a little bit more about that, from your perspective.
Sydney: Yeah, I would totally agree with you. And to add on to that, anything can be a routine. I mean, oftentimes, people think of routines, as you said, as bedtime routine, or our bathtime routine. But anything can be a routine. If it’s your family routine, that everybody goes and takes a walk to the mailbox, then that’s the routine. You know, that’s, that’s an integral part of what you and your family does during the day. And so what we want to do is figure out all of those ways to capitalize on language within those moments. So before you’re heading out the door, what are you having to do? We’re going to make sure we’re dressed, you have to make sure we have our shoes on. Keys are important. If you’re going to lock your your house or if your mailbox is somewhere else, you need to have the keys to open that. So those are all those little, itty bitty moments, before we’re even out the door to get on that walk.
Ayelet: Or the dog is barking. And that’s the signal that we have to do it in the first place, right?
Sydney: Right!
Ayelet: And “wah wah, wah wah…” [imitates Charlie Brown’s teacher’s voice.] I was curious to hear your thoughts around… because there are there many of us who are parents or caregivers are naturally more introverted. And so even just speaking to your child, and I think oftentimes, the big advice is like just talk, just talk more to your child, just talk freely and doesn’t matter what you say. And like, yes, of course, that is a great thing to do. And again, it’s not always – we don’t want to bombard our children, and we don’t want to overwhelm ourselves in the process.
So do you have any hot tips about what you say to families who maybe are more introverted, or for whom that part doesn’t come so naturally, about that fine line between doing enough, you know, quote, unquote, versus not feeling like you’re not doing too little.
Sydney: Exactly. So figuring out all those little ways to capitalize. And the nice thing about a daily routine, or even if you do a routine multiple times within a day, you’re having all of these language exposures. But I never want families to feel as though they have to constantly just be talking. Because when you do that, we do end up sounding like Charlie Brown’s teacher, it starts to sound washed out, no one is listening. So you know, give yourself some room to grow. But give yourself some room to just connect with your child!
Every time you go to the mailbox, every time you go to do… you know, really any routine you do. It doesn’t have to be, oh, I’m narrating I’m giving information. I’m providing it, because that’s overwhelming for you. And sometimes you just don’t want to do it. So remember to keep things light to just giving your kid a hug. It’s building a connection with them. And I think when families realize that they can take a little bit of the pressure off of themselves, then it can come a little bit more naturally. Instead of feeling as though we’re constantly having to keep watering into this plant. Because at some point you’re going to overwater.
Families Are Stressed: Give Yourself Grace
Yeah, I always tell my families, especially my moms out there to give yourself a lot of grace and kindness. Because moms, especially, can be really hard on themselves when dealing with their kid, and trying to work on these skills. But then also recognize that that’s okay. You do not have to be extremely extroverted and jumping up and down and doing cartwheels and backflips. It is totally fine for you to still be 100% yourself. I think sometimes when we’re giving advice, and we tell people to do these things, if it’s not natural to them, they’re like, you know, they’re shutting it down, or they’re not wanting to do it. Or they’re trying to force themselves to fit into this box that they don’t really feel comfortable in – and we don’t want that to happen. The interaction is still supposed to be natural. So sticking with that, you don’t have to force yourself to be something that you’re not.
As long as you are engaging with your child in a way that is intrinsic and natural to you and your family, that is 100 percent okay, and realizing we’re all different, like there are some times that I can be the most obnoxious, I’ll claim it, I can be the most obnoxious person when working with a kid and they’re looking at me like you are crazy. And then there’s sometimes that I’m just like, Alright, cool, whatever, we’re, we’re sitting back, and we’re, you know, enjoying because that’s part of being human. Nobody is super happy, super overjoyed 24/7. That’s just not life.
Ayelet: Mm hmm. Yeah, well, I think that even just that message is so important and can be so liberating for parents and caregivers, because there’s just so much, so much pressure out there. And that big transition into new parenthood can be very overwhelming, and is huge, because it is a transition not only in that now you have this human around. And also you have to figure out who you are in relation to that human, and also who you are in relation to yourself. And all of those things can be very overwhelming and very intense. And it’s a lot to handle at once. And I just think the message of simplicity is so important. And and I’m so happy that we can share that message here today as well with these different things.
Another thing I want to just touch upon the idea of toys in general. Something that I like to say a lot lately is that the emperor has no toys, right? Just like anything can be routine. Most things can also be a play object, AKA a toy, as well. And what we attribute to being a developmentally enriching object, because we have purchased it from a specific aisle in a store, is not necessarily any better. And then often is not any better than a coaster, for an empty box, or most things in the kitchen or anything like that. So I wanted to just make sure that we touched upon this in terms of both the developmental benefits of play objects, whether or not something is a toy, and also just the access issues, and what that means in terms of whether you have a lot of toys, or just a couple, or zero.
Sydney: Can I just say, I was duped into buying all the toys?
Ayelet: As a therapist, right!
You Don’t Need All The Toys: What Is An Educational Toy?
Sydney: When I was in grad school, I had a supervisor who she’d be planning a theme. And I did it. And then she goes, Okay, I have a toy for that, and would pull out not just like a toy, but so many toys to all go with this one theme to the point that I was like, Wow, if I want to be a good therapist, and I want to do all my themed stuff, I need to have the treasure trove, the Toys R US of toys too, to the point now that I’m in private practice, my garage is looking like Toys R Us, because I constantly was buying all of the things! And the reality is yes, toys can be great. And they have a lot of benefit to them. But oftentimes, what people don’t realize, especially parents, is you want to do everything just right for your kid. No parent wants to make a mistake or buy something for their child that they don’t think is great. So marketers know that too.
Ayelet: The industry is capitalizing on that, yup.
Sydney: So in their marketing, thank you. So in their marketer brain, what are they going to put on there? “Developmentally appropriate, best toy for ages blah, blah, blah to blah, blah, blah, educational, must-have” you know. And then they hire all of their social media people that they want, so that they can constantly shove this toy down your throat. So that by the end of it all, the marketing that you’ve taken in for this one object, you are dashing down that toy aisle in Target to go get it. And the reality is, you can have that toy, but you can also do the same thing with a common object in your house. And oftentimes think about, you know, like they have the ball drop toys. So, you can do something very similar like that. If you take an empty toilet paper roll or empty paper towel roll, and you can like make a ball out of paper and you can put it in there. And when they go down, it’s that same kind of out of shape…
Ayelet: Out of paper, a cotton ball, out of tape, whatever. Yup.
Sydney: It’s the same concept. So I always encourage people, like it’s great to have some toys, right? Kids are gonna learn with toys, but it’s also okay to use things in your house, because what that’s really encouraging is that imaginative play. And what we oftentimes see happening with children, especially the toys of today are very battery operated, or they’re very fixated on, you know, if you push this button, I’m going to dance, sing, and do a whole jig for you. It’s going to be great. And so it’s not really encouraging kids to go beyond just like well I pressed the button and this thing lit up for me – that imagination is not developing and that imaginative play is important for language development as well.
Ayelet: Yep, right, and concept development, all of the cognition, I mean, all of the things, how something fits together, how heavy it is, whether it fits inside. All of those are concept development. And then when you see your child playing with something or wondering about something, or you do it and model it with them, then you can provide all of the vocabulary around that! And not all of it, just like one word at a time. In! On! Whoa! Big! That’s it! Very, very simple.
Yeah. For years, the only things I ever bring into therapy now are actual items of my own that I’ve seen them have in their home. So that it because to inspire them to use it in a new way. And then the next time I won’t bring it, and then the child will bring out theirs, for instance, it’s great, simple way to shift things. I love that. And not surprisingly, totally in agreement, there.
Sydney: Yeah, it is really simple. And I think we were… I mean, you and I have talked about this on several occasions about the equity issues that we see around toys and materials within not just the field of Speech Pathology, but really all over. Sometimes when we are using all these toys in therapy, we don’t know what people’s life is like at home. Even if we are a home health provider, even if we are in early intervention. And we think well, no, like I’ve seen, we have no, you have no idea what goes on behind closed doors when you are not there. So they might seem like they have all this stuff, because maybe they’re pulling it out because they know you’re coming. Or you might have the family who is breaking their bank, because they see you with all the toys, so they feel like they have to have them too.
And then there’s some people who, they quit services because they they feel pressure into doing all these things that they know realistically, is not feasible for their family. So when we help people figure out how to use what’s in their home, we’re meeting them truly wherever they are, we are taking those external influences out, and we’re working with what they have. And then what you’re also doing is you’re coaching the parent. You’re providing the model in real time, because not only is this in their house, but you’re using their materials. You’re not using something else to demonstrate the task and then trying to get them to scaffold it to this different object you’re providing. You’re basically given the YouTube tutorial right there for them.
Finding High Quality Resources New Families Can Use
Ayelet: I would love to hear, Sydney, because you’ve spoken a little bit, a few times about you are not the only one, you’re not like the sole place where this information is coming from, you know, you pull from resources, and you then help to break it down, of course, as you and I both do. But I would love to hear because I think a very valuable part of what we provide here on this podcast is not only the conversation, but also a little bit more, you know, suggested resources into delving further into what other things might be helpful. So please tell us a little bit about where people can find the resources that you have created. And also other things, whether it’s like podcasts, books, research, websites that you feel like might be helpful for families to know about, or other professionals, as well.
Sydney: Yeah, so all of my resources, you can find that thelisteningslp.com Pretty much all of the resources that are geared towards families are, I have them as free downloads, so that way, you’re able to easily access them, some of the ones that I really find helpful, and I’ve actually gotten feedback from parents that have loved them. I did one about like, how do you know that your child’s provider is the right one? That is a relationship that you’re going to want to foster and build. And it’s an investment, right? Like, it’s not just an investment of your time, it’s an investment of your money, it’s an investment of your feelings. And so making sure that you are really kind of screening this person, especially if they’re a private provider, schools are a little bit different. But private providers, you can do that and just kind of making sure that this is going to be a good fit for you and your family. So it’s a five question guide that you can just ask a provider and most people should feel pretty comfortable answering those. And based on those questions you can figure out like if this is a relationship that will be great, or if there’s one that you might want to adjust.
The other handout we have available is tips for building language at home. And so it just goes over some general language strategies that families can use along with an example and an explanation for why. And then, you know, we talked a little bit about toys. The list was originally created for children who are deaf and hard of hearing but it’s really a question guide for any child that a parent or even a extended family member can go through, and it’s five questions about when you are going down that toy aisle, these are the things that you should be asking yourself and it kind of gives some rationale behind why we should be thinking about these things before just picking something up and dropping it in our basket for purchase. So those are some of the ones that I have.
Some of my favorite, favorite child based resources is there’s Mommy and Me Milestones, which I find that she is wonderful. She breaks things down really well as well for families, and she has a lot of handouts and free resources available for professionals and for families. Her stuff is really, really amazing. And I really love anything pretty much that she puts out. It is really helpful. And then a lot of my other resources and things that I pull, I try to go directly to the research or the kind of the source behind it.
Sometimes that can be a little tricky as a parent to figure out where to find that. But if you ask the professional that you’re working with, they should be able to direct you to those things and then understood.org, I think is underrated. But there’s stuff is really helpful. And I love the way it breaks things down into smaller, digestible sections. So those are kind of some of my top ones that I like.
Ayelet: That’s great. Yeah. Thank you for that. I think that’s awesome. Sydney, thank you for this conversation. Is there anything else that you want to leave people with?
Sydney: Yeah, I think the biggest thing is just continue to listen to all parties, continue to learn from each other, and then form these partnerships to advocate.
Ayelet: Love it. Yep. Great takeaway. Thank you so much, Sydney for your time and energy today. And thanks to everyone who’s listening. We’ll see you next time.
Maximizing Natural Learning Opportunities Without Toys, with Joanne Cazeau
Jun 01, 2022
How do we provide new families with the skills they need to support their baby or toddler’s development?
This episode of the Learn With Less® podcast features an interview conducted by Joanne Cazeau, a recent guest another episode of the podcast, pediatric speech-language pathologist, owner of Koze Speech Therapy, and the brains behind the Instagram handle @thespeechpathologist.
The interview originally aired on her Instagram page, and we wanted to share it more broadly, here. I want to acknowledge that the sound quality isn’t perfect, but as always, the full transcript can be found here on the Learn With Less® website, and we know you’ll get a lot of good information, even imperfectly.
Toward the end of the episode, we also mention the Expand Your Impact Retreat, which is an event that already took place; however, you can access the recordings by going to learnwithless.com/expand and grabbing the workshop bundle!
We discussed:
Ayelet’s professional journey and how the Learn With Less® infant and toddler development curriculum was born
What Learn With Less® is, what makes it so unique, and the inspiration behind the program
The biggest misconceptions and challenges about toy-less learning
The biggest benefits of the Learn With Less® approach from both the parent/caregiver perspective, as well as the Learn With Less® facilitator perspective
The problems or challenges the Learn With Less® program seeks to alleviate and address
What professionals can expect from the Expand Your Impact Workshop Bundle (originally the Expand Your Impact 2021 Retreat), who it’s for, and who can benefit
Helpful Resources to Acknowledge For This Episode:
Expand Your Impact Workshop Bundle: for early childhood educators and developmental therapists hoping to serve new families in their community and support themselves, using their existing skills
Learn With Less® Bundle: our best infant and toddler development resources for families and educators alike, including our bestselling books Understanding Your Baby and Understanding Your Toddler, our acclaimed family music album, recorded Learn With Less® “caregiver & me” classes, and a caregiver handout featuring ideas for carryover in the home
Free Infant/Toddler Development Blueprint: what are the four major areas of early development… and how can you use the pillars of Learn With Less® to support that learning, using the time, energy, and materials you already have?! Download our free blueprint today.
Learn With Less® Stories: Testimonials from educators who’ve provided the Learn With Less® infant/toddler family enrichment curriculum and families who’ve experienced our programming.
Ayelet: I’m excited to chat with you today. Can you hear me okay?
Joanne: Yeah, I can hear you perfectly fine. I’m so glad to have you today. So is it okay if you just hop right in?
Ayelet: Let’s do it.
Joanne: Yeah, perfect. Hi, everybody. My name is Joanne Cazeau, I’m a speech language pathologist and I run the account at @thespeechpathologist, and I am here with Ayelet – Ayelet, can you let me know how you see your last name?
Ayelet: Yes. Yeah. So i-YELL-it Marinovich.
Joanne: Ayelet Marinovich? Woo! Ayelet, nice to meet you. Oh, my goodness, everybody’s here! Or not, not nice to meet you, Ayelet, we’ve talked a couple times? Nice to see you. So we’re hopping on today with Ayelet who is founder of Learn With Less®. And we’re going to learn a little bit about her program and also a little bit about a live seminar or live retreat that’s coming up on Saturday, and she’s gonna explain it. And I can’t wait for you to learn about what you can expect.
So Ayelet, not everyone who’s joining us knows you. So I just was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about yourself for the people who are a little bit newer to you and your program, and a little bit about your professional journey. Yeah!
Ayelet: Yeah, totally. So I’m Ayelet, she/her/hers, I came to the SLP world (I’m a speech language pathologist) because really, because I wanted to like find a profession that melded my interests in like child development and psychology and working with people. And I love that that’s the field offered flexibility to work with humans, like across the lifespan and like that it offered flexibility. At the time I was in my early mid 20s.
When I came to this field, I knew that I wanted to hopefully have a family at one point, at some point. And I loved that there was like potential for flexibility for balance, balancing career and family. And, and just like my grandfather had this phrase that he used as to “repot yourself” like every, you know, few, 10 years or whatever, to be able to shift gears in your career to reduce stagnation and that, our field, absolutely has that ability. And that was always something that really drew me in and I loved that idea.
So as far as I mean, I don’t know how much you want to know about like my own professional journey, but… yeah? Okay, so in grad school, I fell in love with AAC, and I did my CFY under Dr. Marilyn Buzolich who has an AAC consultancy. And I worked with preschool aged kiddos school aged kids and young adults using AAC. And that was amazing because, you know, you get to really, as the AAC specialist, and I was, right out of grad school, which was wild, and amazing, but you get to work so much with the whole team and really specialized in and bringing everybody together for the purpose of this child or person’s communication. And I mean, that was just totally amazing.
Also doing it all the time, full time, I did get burned out. And so a few years later, I realized, you know, over time, how much I love supporting early communication, and really the whole family. And so I started to shift gears slowly to work, you know, part time with my AAC clients, and then part time in early intervention, and then that went towards full time.
Then, in 2012, I got married, and then my partner was offered a job in London. And so when I was about 10 weeks pregnant, we moved to the UK. And then I spent really the bulk of my pregnancy waiting for my license to be approved through the Royal College of Speech Therapists for about, yeah, about nine months. And then finally, it was approved when I was 38 weeks pregnant. It Yeah, it can be… so, happy to chat with anybody who’s looking to go down that road because it’s quite an interesting set of paperwork that you get to fill out. But yeah, so you know, as that happened, and I gave birth and I had signed on to work very minimally with clients through a local practice. And I did that for a while.
Really, what I wanted to focus my energy on was building a community of support for myself because we were in a very new place with new systems and then suddenly navigating new parenthood. And I am a person who very much values community and friendships and so I had this idea, you know, like, why not invite the other like new parents or pregnant people that I’ve met in a prenatal yoga class and then like local childbirth classes and such to join me each week with their babies to sort of hang out, and have some activity geared towards stimulating and playing with our babies, have been a discussion about child development, and then tea and a chat as one does!
So I was, you know, very much in that stage of deeply vulnerable, extremely sleep deprived, lost and confused about a lot of things related to early parenthood, as is everybody who experiences that. And I could definitely see that we were all asking the same questions and experiencing very similar challenges.
In London, in a very diverse area, you know, I had friends from like, all over the world, from Singapore and Italy, and Australia, and India and Wales, and Seattle, and Malaysia, and blah, blah, blah. But in this time of, you know, new parenthood, we were very much all there in this like, am I enough? Am I doing enough? Who am I? Sort of transition from, like, individual personhood to parenthood. So like I said, I was very much struggling with many of those, like new parent things. But the one area that I did feel confident in was, how to play with my baby, right? How to connect with my child.
Since my storage locker of therapy, materials and toys, and such were halfway across the world, I improvised. And I knew that I could improvise, right, I knew that like play and talking to your baby and singing with your baby, and encouraging movement and all those things, are super important aspects of supporting development, supporting connection to your child. And so I started sharing about what that might look like, also using very simple materials. And that’s how Learn With Less® was born.
Joanne: And tell us a little bit more about I love to hear the journey about how you got to Learn With Less®, tell us a little bit more about learning with less, and you know, what you do through that program? And what makes it especially unique?
Ayelet: Yeah, so what is now the brand Learn With Less®, obviously, very much came out of that time, right, that need for like, new families to feel confident and capable and competent. Like that was obviously a huge part of it. And then for me, sharing information, creating community around me, being in community with others… that was so needed. So you know, I think basically, over time, I started writing down the questions that people had, and the challenges that we all faced, and I gained confidence myself, in understanding what my fellow new parents and caregivers needed, because it takes some time to like navigate how to put that kind of stuff into words to, especially when you’re sleep deprived. And then over a period of a few years, I had created a curriculum of sorts.
That really was born and grew up alongside my first child, and those children and families around me. And each element became very purposeful. So I knew that I wanted to take it with me, because we were leaving London and moved, we moved to Berlin for a year. And then we moved back to California. And so I was just experimenting with form, I started a podcast in February of 2016. Been a long time podcasting! And then, over time, published the books that are now the sort of DIY version of sorts of the Learn With Less® curriculum, and continued to deliver these classes, both in my various communities all over the world, and also virtually since 2017.
So then, in February 2020, just in time for the pandemic, I launched the Learn With Less® Facilitator Training and Certification Program, which I’m happy to talk more about. But really the brand the philosophy and the whole idea is that it’s not about using any specific material. It’s not about following any particular parenting philosophy, right? Instead, it’s about identifying the value in the materials around you, those everyday and ordinary objects, and tweaking the routines and interactions that you have with your tiny human, whether that’s a diaper change, waking up, eating, putting a jacket to go outside, right, whatever you’re present for as the caregiver, regardless if you are a full time working parent or a full time stay at home caregiver, or somewhere in between, tweaking those things that you are present for, so that you’re just adding a little bit more joy, a little bit of play, maybe a little bit of rhythm or movement, and then using those moments to guide your family time and build that connection while supporting development. And that’s the key, right?
I think a lot of parents and caregivers feel like well, I might be doing this but that’s not child development, right? So it’s about like demystifying what it means to support a child. Because as we both know, Joanne, and everyone pretty much here listening, nobody needs to go out and buy a wooden box with a hole in it to support object permanence, right? We get tissue boxes right here, or shoe boxes or whatever it is lying around in plain sight. So…
Joanne: Yeah.
Ayelet: I think one thing that makes Learn With Less® unique is that it as opposed to like many programs for families out there that are like deeply locked into like a specific culture or some kind of specific material or set of materials that you have to go out and buy or some parenting philosophy, whether whether you’re buying something like musical instruments, or wooden climbing objects, or, you know, curated toys, subscription learning with lesson is literally just handing the parents the tools, the knowledge about the underlying developmental concepts that may be emerging, whether those are communicative milestones, or cognitive, or motor and sensory, or social and emotional, and then demystifying what that looks like, right?
You don’t need an organically stained wooden drum when you have a laundry basket or empty cardboard box like, the developmental value is exactly the same. And it’s about the interaction and not the object. And there’s a second… sorry, I feel like… Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Clearly a speech pathologist, love to talk. The second piece is that it’s about bringing people together. Learning and sharing and playing together, often letting your guard down as an adult, whether that’s by participating in singing and making up the words to a song or sharing some personal like high or low that’s going on in your life. And it’s about including anyone in the community who wants to be involved. Yes, Mecca, yes.
Joanne: Nope! Go! Mecca’s agreeing.
Ayelet: It’s about the interaction, not the object. Yeah. So and then obviously doing our best to center those at the margins. So like, for instance, you see that in our language, right? We don’t refer to our classes as “mommy and me,” instead, we call them “caregiver & me” or “caregiver and child” or “Baby and Me” or “toddler & me” or whatever classes. Because we would like to prepare the space and make it clear that like, this is for you, not just for this kind of mom.
Joanne: Right. Yeah. Because like parent and family models also look really different. So I liked that you’re being attentive to that, I’m sure families are very appreciative of that as well. And I like, and I liked how you talked about making it about the interaction and not the object. And I think that we had, I understand, like your mindset, I think that also we talked about the mindset shift that I had coming from a private practice in the homes where there was a clinical model of therapy that I was observing and following versus a more consultative model, where I’m getting the parents the tools to do what we’re doing in therapy, not necessarily focus on the activity, the billions of billions of toys that we bring and families might not have access to – by giving them the strategies to be able, to be able to target those developmental milestones that we’re targeting. But it’s within… it’s centered within a routine. It’s centered within the natural environment. And it’s not necessarily looking for you to have specific materials, but the materials can be what you already have home.
Ayelet: Yeah, whatever it is, right? Whether it is a toy, or something else.
Joanne: Yeah. And I like everything is a toy. Anything is a toy, really. So I like that idea that you’re kind of guiding professionals to be able to kind of broaden their, their horizon and their outlook on what therapy looks like, and also what parent education looks like.
Oh, I wanted to say one more thing. Oh, the thing that I wanted to highlight, which I love about the Learn With Less® program is I have come to this realization that whether we’re in the clinic, or whether we’re going in the homes, we are spending one or maybe 30 minutes, like one hour, maybe 30 minutes, or maybe sometimes two hours, right? If the kid needs more support, we’re spending like one to two hours that might be very generous, but one to two hours a week with the child, whereas the child is spending 80 or more hours in the week with their family.
And we already know that parents are you know, their child’s first teachers so why wouldn’t we equip that person to be able to carry over and to be able to so many opportunities to do what we’re, what we’re doing the natural opportunities versus… you went to clinic for 30 minutes and then you’re out the door and then the parents kind of feel like they’re leaving with nothing, or they feel like they have to get Potatohead just because you have it, or they have to get this toy just because you have it, but it’s not necessarily about those objects. It’s about ways to implement some of those strategies to use during routines. So I love that link.
Yeah, Yeah, I was gonna ask you what is one of the biggest misconceptions about toyless learning? Kind of what, what freaks people out? What do families, and even providers not understand about toyless learning?
Ayelet: Well, first of all, I think it’s funny because I get a lot of like, oh, do I… Like do I, from professionals, people are like, Oh, can I join this program, can I be a Learn With Less® facilitator if I use toys or if I like, like preparing the environment? It’s like, yes of course! I’m not anti toy, right? Yeah, this program is not being about anti toy, the whole thing, right?
We just deeply resent the baby industry’s notion that there is such a thing as an educational toy, right? Like, did you know that anybody can put those words on a box! I could, and probably should, packge a spatula, and write, “educational toy for toddlers” on it. I mean, it’s ridiculous. So, and also, I have plenty of toys for my kids. But I also have a deep pride in the fact that my five year old still won’t let me throw away an empty box without playing with it, and the salad spinner is his, and when he was three, and we went to a garage sale, I started scrounging through the kitchen items, and his eyes lit up and he screamed, “TOYS!”
Yes, marketing at its finest. And yeah, we’ve had to make that disclaimer so often, it’s not about being anti toy. And it’s totally about, you know, I think the point is, the big misconception about toys is that they’re for kids. Really, toys are for the adults. Kids are going to make anything into a toy. And they’re going to use objects imitatively, often, or we can encourage that more, right, by letting them play with objects, right. And these are fun things, right.
So it’s really, it’s more about helping the adults in the room see that there’s so much creativity there, if we allow it. And if we can create space for it. One thing that is very interesting is that I always tried to also, of course, integrate any toys or objects that a family has, or that parents come to learn with us class with. Like, we often will say, like, especially if it’s a virtual class, like you know, have next to, you know, something with print on it, something that’s soft and maybe like a pillow that’s fluffy or whatever, like those kinds of things, but they’re always things that they have with them and they can access.
And so it’s all about creating that shift and showing families that anything can be a play object and also in the way that we use it, it can support development, whether it’s an envelope with pictures in it, whether it’s a greeting card, whether it, you know, a shiny empty box, this is a new favorite of mine – look at that, look at all the fine motor skills, the drumming, you can use it as reverberation, mouthing and you know, “shiny!” so much vocabulary in this ridiculous, once nut container!
Joanne: Plenty of things just lying around the house and we aren’t thinking of it as toys. And I also just think from like a financial standpoint, also, how some families don’t have access to… toys are marketed… Toy makers and marketers of toys, they are brilliant people! They almost like generate a guilt families to provide these items for their children, where it might not be accessible, accessible to the family. So when you can grab the nut container, right, which does the same thing as this other actual toy, the family feels they can provide that interaction for their child, without it also generating guilt.
Ayelet: It’s all about the guilt. Yeah, I brought a few fun things to share with y’all. But yeah, it’s all about the guilt. So when we can show a family that actually, the developmental value of this object is exactly the same. Or we can look at that toy subscription box that shares this, like I said earlier, like the beautiful wooden box with the gorgeous pieces of fabric it’s like it’s called a tissue box, tissue paper, a mask, a handkerchief, toilet paper, come on people! I like to… I have this phrase, which I like to say which is the emperor has no choice, right? Like, hello!
Joanne: Yeah, yeah, no, but it’s true. Yeah, I wanted to ask you what the biggest challenge have been either for yourself or some of your facilitators or for families, about toyless learning.
Ayelet: Yeah, well, I will. And maybe like – Wordy Child is here, Ronesha, and she’s a Learn With Less® facilitator. I know we have a couple of people actually in there who are there. So feel free to chime in also because we want to hear from you because you can speak better to your own experience. But for me, I will say for me as things, as time has gone on, I will say that I am challenged not to see everyday objects as toys. And I tend to drive my partner a little wild because he’s constantly throwing away my treasures. I’ve created these little monsters who get very upset about him throwing out their things, right.
I guess part of it is like knowing when to call it quits with a cardboard box. Though like the same thing is true for actual toys, when all they want is that thing that they find in the box that’s going to Goodwill that they haven’t seen or played with for a year. But I think really, it’s just that shift. I mean, I think it’s a huge shift for people to see it in action of like, what can we do with hair rollers, right? Oh, my goodness, what an amazing, like, at first, you know, you see these things and you’re like, uh, okay, well, everybody starts with ok, well, they’re blue. Right? Okay, well, let’s What else can we talk about? They fit on our fingers, their finger puppets? Oh my god.
Joanne: Brilliant.
Ayelet: Look at that, right? We count them if we really want to, but we can do all kinds of things. So really starting to, they have kind of this nice sound.
Joanne: Yeah, right.
Ayelet: I mean, there’s so much we can talk about like, this is an SLP’s dream, right? But really, starting to shift. And oh, so I’ll say that it’s really giving people a framework for how to think about what it means to support a child’s development is really the key. So the challenge, I think, is not having a place to start from as far as the thinking goes. So what we’ve done at Learn With Less® is we have our four pillars that we integrate into every class, and that we talked about in all of our work, which is, they’re play, talk, sing, and move. So what could you do with this object? Or how can we organize activities around this kind of thing, or this kind of developmental concept to share, so that we can we can think about it right? So like, I mean, we can practice this right now, if we want.
I’ll ask everybody who’s here. How can we play? How can we use these little they’re like silicone baking cupcake things? How can we use these in play? How could we add more language to it? Or vocabulary? How could we add more music for sing, or rhythm or whatever? Like, POP! How could we add more movement? Right, sorry, what was that? I was gonna say, I didn’t even think about popping them. Yeah! That’s what my fingers want to do. But there’s so much there.
And when we add those, when we think about it through a lens, right, then we are given the tools to be like, oh, right, right, if I add that, and I’ll share that, like one of my, one of our facilitators recently had a, she shared a sort of realization and in our group, about like, “pre-Learn With Less® certification,” she’s like, Oh, well, this child like she’s very quickly wants to change activities has a short attention span. Maybe she’s bored. So we’ll change the materials… Post-Learn With Less® certification, she’s like, well, maybe she needs to move, how can we add more movement? Blah, blah, blah, right?
Just giving people a framework can be a big mindset shift to address that, that challenge. And then of course, for families, seeing it in action, seeing how, let’s sing about these objects, let’s make up the words to it. Let’s do that thing, even if I don’t feel confident singing, in general, and would never do that, how can we add some rhythm to it? How can we, like those kinds of things, that’s what like, makes a huge difference for families. And they see that it doesn’t have to be so complicated. It’s all about keeping it simple, right? And literally, if they say something, you can just add that exact word or set of words into a song, right? And that’s it. So a lot of times we find that our Learn With Less® facilitators tend to move in the direction of more bagless therapy and parent coaching models in their therapy practice, in addition to leading more community based groups or classes, as well.
Joanne: Yeah, yeah. And I find that the consultative model of therapy is just so foreign, compared to a direct clinical, because we’ve got to give the parents the strategy so that they can use it in the home. And I love the fact that the Learn With Less® program teaches us a way like so important. Especially coming from like a clinical model. Like we think about, alright, we have these toys we know what to do. Whereas when we don’t have a blueprint of what to do with something, we get creative really quickly.
Ayelet: Yeah. We get stuck very easily. Yeah.
Joanne: Exactly. I wanted to ask you what, I know, when people create something, it’s usually because there was a problem, right, and then seek to, to find the solution to that problem. So what problem is Learn With Less® a solution for?
Ayelet: Yeah, great question. I love this. Yeah. So really, for families, we help, really what we do in the end of the day, is we help families, new families feel confident that they can support and connect with their babies and toddlers, without having to buy a single toy. Because we know that parenthood is amazing, miraculous time, yada, yada, yada, right? It’s what we see here on social media all the time. And it’s also incredibly hard, and it’s ok for it to be both! It’s all about the but/and, right? I mean it’s creating that space.
So really, helping families see that they already have the resources to give their little ones the “right” stimulation, play, and interaction to thrive, and that you can do it with the materials you already have, no extra time or energy required. That’s a big key of it, right? And that there are ways to get gentle support so that you don’t want to pull your hair out, and to get that reassurance that you’re doing a really good job, and insight into how others are playing with their little ones. Like that’s huge! That’s, that’s a big part of it.
So I can share a quote from a mom who participated in a Learn With Less® class who said, and I think this is the key, right? Like, she’s like, I just don’t have the internal resources in me. She said I, of course, I have a desire to connect. But I don’t have it in me to do anything extra. This is a working mom, right? So this helps, it’s helpful, because it’s literally showing you what you’re already doing, or how to maximize that opportunity, or how to think about what you’re doing in a different way, and maybe alter it a bit so that it’s more enriching, instead of having to do a completely new separate thing to create a whole activity for your child, for instance.
Joanne: Yeah. And also, I know that we kind of like briefly touched on it yesterday, but Mecca, at @meccatheslp [on instagram], she had made a really good point, too, that a lot of the times parents feel like they have to carry out this activity, and it has to be an activity, and it has to be targeting something developmental. But really, it can just be that you’re connecting with your child. And connecting with your child, like, that is the biggest goal, is connecting with your child. And in connecting with your child, you also are doing strategies that are targeting development. So it doesn’t, you don’t have to sit here and do XY and Z to target this. But it can just be that I want to connect with my child. And I get the added benefit of, you know, like targeting some different milestones as well.
Ayelet: Yes, exactly. So really, like the problem that we solve at Learn With Less®, for families, is we help to build family capacity. And community.
Joanne: Yeah. And community.
Ayelet: And thinking, on the other side, because for facilitators, for these educators and therapist-types that we serve with our program, and so that they can then turn around and share the program with others. It’s really a big piece of it is creating lasting impact on your own life, right, that reflexive impact, as far as how it can help you support yourself, diversify your own income streams, improve or alter your own therapy practice potentially or like, again, we also have a lot of early childhood educators in the program, and other kinds of developmental therapists, and social workers, and those kinds of people – all kinds of people! It can really helped to shift gears and also create a huge impact, social impact on families in their communities, human impact in the general community of like, what does that do, to create more connected families in your community? What problem does that solve?
Man, that’s, that’s pretty amazing when we can create a more connected set of families and more confident caregivers and more connections between caregivers in your community. I don’t know about where you are in Jersey, Joanne, but like it is… So for me, the US is so fractionalized, or it’s very hard for new parents to, to find other people who they want to be in community with, and who are at a place that’s like creating a space that is built for anybody to join.
It’s very hard and early parenthood can be a very divisive time for families as well. Right? Like, Well, I’m a breastfeeding mom and I’m a co-sleeper and I’m a cry-it-out mom or you know, whatever, like parent, caregiver. And it’s very, it can be very difficult to navigate and it can be very ugly. So creating a space that is specifically especially during the pandemic and doing that virtually is freaking amazing. And there’s I will say, there has always been a need, like I said, I’ve been leading virtual classes since 2017. And that’s… there’s always been a need, there always will be a need. But my goodness, did the pandemic clarify that need to be even bigger and rip it wide open, like it has done with so many pieces of our society.
People need connection. And it is quite amazing that you can create that in a virtual space. And it’s about setting the stage, it’s about creating a space, you know, creating that in your marketing, in your – in your whole message. And that’s what we’ve done in my own brand, and to share it with other facilitators as well. And that that’s very powerful. And, of course, that not having to reinvent the wheel piece is huge!
Joanne: Exactly. And Claire brings up such a good point. And I had just written down “pandemic” in my notes just now while you were talking. Not only is it a benefit to parents, because they get feel like they’re part of a community without having to step outside of their house, which is pretty darn hard there are restrictions on everything, restrictions on being in groups, how big the group can be, etcetera, etcetera. And we’re like, in the middle of a very big wave. But they still get to feel like they’re part of a community, they can do it virtually and be safe.
But also from the provider standpoint, we aren’t going out to houses where you have to worry about toys, and then you have to worry about what is their chance of transmission, that it’s you know, it’s based on the fact that you can be effective in the work that you’re meant to do, and the need to do parent education. But you can do it virtually! That’s really helpful. And just, for people who are going into the homes, inside the homes and for providers who are doing EI, they’re still going into the homes, it just teaches them because we’re not supposed to be bringing toys anyway. Right.
Especially with the pandemic, we’re definitely not supposed to be bringing in our toy bags. So it just teaches them a new way of thinking about how they’re going to do their therapy. And it forces them to involve the parents a little bit more. Because it’s like, we’re going to switch gears, we’re going to play with what you have. And that doesn’t have to be a toy, which… it makes parents feel really good. A lot of times when I walk into homes for the first time, parents are expecting me to be walking up with like a huge, backpack full of things. And I’m just walking in with my coat and my cell phone. I’m like, Hey, I’m here. I’m ready to play.
Ayelet: Yeah! And by the way, everybody go check out Mecca’s… was it a reel? I think she made she was like, you don’t think I’m gonna bring toys? Yeah.
Joanne: Yeah, exactly, everybody, definitely check out meccatheslp’s post from yesterday, that was really awesome. But yeah, families think we’re gonna come in with, you know, a whole bunch of toys. And it’s like, we’re coming in, just ourselves. We’re gonna empower you to be with your child. But also a lot of parents feel guilty because they don’t have anything. And we’re not bringing anything. But they feel like they have to have more… If they’re like, we don’t have much. And it’s like, okay, but what do you have? What can we… also, oh, you’re gonna go make a sandwich? Or some some parents have time poverty, right? In addition to, you know, like poverty in terms of finances, they have time poverty, there might be multiple children in the house that they need to attend to during that time where, you know, you’re sitting down, and they’re expected to sit down and play.
They could be making sandwiches for like, you know, their other child who it’s lunchtime for, and neither, like the two of them don’t have to be separate, right, we can still go into the kitchen, we can still make that sandwich, we can still target so many skills. While you’re getting what you need to get to do done it’s part of a routine and you can focus on learning, obviously.
Ayelet: Absolutely. Another thing that I love to do, especially in our like virtual classes, when if there is a sibling, like an older sibling who’s, I don’t know four or five, and you have a parent with, or a caregiver with an infant or young toddler… Getting that sibling involved and modeling for – showing the caregiver how to get the sibling involved, and how to model language, or model, you know, developmental concepts for the younger child, is so valuable and so powerful for that caregiver to see – like, oh, yeah, gosh, this is great, because all we need is a colander and a spoon and look, everybody’s going to be involved. Because, you know, my bigger kid is going to be showing the little one what they might do, and then providing the language, and all that, you know, just it’s this continued approach. And it just, it’s great.
Joanne: Yeah, it’s great. I hope that everybody was able to get a lot of information about what the Learn With Less® program looks like. And this was just a sneak peek. We’re giving people an idea of what to expect because the retreat is on Saturday! Yeah. So what should we expect from the Expand Your Impact retreat?
Ayelet: So really, the whole point of this day is to bring people together, share ways and get ideas and sort of vision, ways to you know serve your community, support yourself, using your existing skills. So whether you are an early childhood educator, a speech pathologist, an occupational therapist, physical therapist, somebody with a sort of a background in early child development-related stuff – SLPA! If you have an interest in, you’re in a helping profession, yeah.
And if you have an interest in building other ways to guide and support families, and really facilitating that connection between caregiver and child, finding new ways to do that. And so we have four workshops that we’re going to be hosting. One is all about new ways to serve new families. So really thinking outside of the box about service delivery. We’ll be helping you to sort of refine your own inspired goal or vision. And then consider the role of like community and connection. Discover the importance of being able to identify that smallest next step to help you actually move forward into that goal.
The second workshop we’ll be hosting is entitled Community Impact Begins With You, which is all about really how to become that person that your community needs. So really, considering what role community plays for you and for your ideal clients, defining the various ways that you want to create lasting impact. And then, of course, combating things like perfectionism and impostor syndrome, which tend to come up for people when they want to start or create something new that’s like outside of their box, right?
Then the third workshop will be about how to put magic in the mundane. So really sharing more about that four pillar framework that I shared about today a little bit, what that looks like, and why it works for both like parenting and supporting families, and also starting or creating something new, whether that’s a small business, or a side, hustle, or a whatever. And we’ll sort of outline all the ways that busy and tired families can still support their little ones via everyday tasks and everyday items, and you’ll get to experience our curriculum, surprise! That will be really fun.
The last one is about time hacking, because I know we are all busy professional, and how on earth do we fit even the time in to do those things and work towards those goals that we have, in terms of expanding the impact that we want to have on our communities. So really helping you envision and shift your sort of perspective, and reframe what’s possible for you, and sharing just simple, practical, and very powerful tools that can really keep you moving forward without feeling like you’re doing it wrong, or really not doing it at all.
And then the best part of this whole four workshops is that we have a ton of amazing speakers. They are early childhood providers, they are physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, all kinds of amazing, amazing people who are doing these kinds of things in their communities. And so they will be sharing their own experiences and their own takeaways. I don’t like saying the word “advice,” but their thoughts, really, their thoughts about, and just their experiences about how they came to do the work that they’re doing. I just think that’s so powerful to hear from people who are doing the things that you want to be doing.
So if you want to do things like serve families in your communities in different kinds of ways, with what you already know. And to provide parent education, and support that connection between caregiver and child. Learn to or discover how to believe that you can become a trusted authority in your area and finding that confidence to try or start something new. Whether you are a totally brand new baby business owner or a seasoned small business owner, or you don’t even consider yourself wanting to have a business, right? Yeah, trying something new. And then just discovering ways to serve families, where they’re at. And how to, I like the phrase “time hack,” your way towards making the impact that you want to have.
So it’s a one day live virtual retreat, you do get access with your ticket to a replay period, as well as an invitation to apply for our free bonus day the following day, should you want to learn more about you know, creating lasting impact using an evidence based on high quality program that can have families lining up and wanting to come back again and again. And then of course, a ton of Q&A opportunities within the day itself to really… our whole goal is to really make this very interactive and very fun and, and to really model the things that we, that our company values, uphold! Things like community and playfulness and education and inclusivity and simplicity. So you’re welcome to learn more about the retreat, and I know with a great affiliate link, which means that she gets a cut of anybody who signs up through that link, but it’s no cost to you. Yeah. And I just really appreciate your support.
Joanne: Yeah. So everyone can get their tickets and register. The thing that I do love about this retreat, which I think I told you, is that not only is it virtual, but it’s on a Saturday and I think lots of PD’s and retreats are usually in the middle of the week. And they’re usually like in the middle of your day, it’s kind of like hard to take the time off to be able to attend.
So the nice thing about this is it’s only one day, and it’s on a weekend, and it’s virtual, so you don’t even have to leave your house. It’s going to be a really awesome retreat. I’m really excited. I’m gonna be there. And I do have an affiliate link. So you guys can go ahead and register through there. And hopefully, we can see you guys there.
Ayelet: Yeah! Joanne, thank you so much for having me. This was fun. I love talking talking nerd talk about all this stuff.
3 Myths Holding You Back From Leading Caregiver/Baby Classes
May 05, 2022
Empowering Parents is the Key
As an educator or therapist, you recognize that empowering parents and caregivers is the key to supporting the families you serve. They’re the ones that are “doing it” everyday.
Maybe you work primarily with children, and you want to expand to serve the family more holistically.
Maybe you’re a therapist who believes in the parent coaching model and routines-based intervention. You’re curious to expand into serving families in a resource and support role.
The idea of serving families in a new way in a parent education or parent support role can be daunting! To make a whole curriculum, to teach parents language (and other) strategies, to work with the whole family unit, outside of a classroom or therapy setting.
You know this work is needed, and is an amazing expansion of your own skill set and knowledge. In my work both delivering caregiver/baby classes and training other professionals to create these programs in their own communities using the Learn With Less® Curriculum, I see 3 myths that tend to get people stuck, holding them back – often before they even get started.
Now, before I get into these 3 myths and why they’re just false assumptions, I want to encourage you to fill out the short application form over at learnwithless.com/certification right now. You’ll gain access to my private training, which will teach you all about the ways to create lasting impact leading “caregiver & me” classes with a high quality, evidence-based, plug & play program that will have families coming back again and again. When you do, I’ll review your application, then I’ll send you limited time access to this training! In addition, I’ll be gifting you free Caregiver/Baby Classes Roadmap, wherein you’ll discover all the pieces to help you become successful with a family enrichment program that every infant/toddler family can access.
3 Myths That Are Holding You Back From Leading Caregiver/Baby Classes
I find that many people believe you have to have children of your own or be an “ideal caregiver” yourself to lead Caregiver/Baby Classes in your community…
First of all, I personally would pack up my baby and things, and leave the room if I walked into a group where the facilitator claimed to be the best parent ever or to know everything there is about early child development. Of course parents and caregivers want to be led in community by a facilitator who has knowledge, someone who has experience…
But let’s stop for a second and think. Do you like learning from a perfectionist? Especially in one of your most vulnerable states (i.e., early parenthood)??
When parents and care givers come together in a group setting like this to gain support, education, and ideas about how to help their child thrive… they’re often not looking for a rigid parenting philosophy. They’re looking for a place where they can feel heard. Where they can connect with each other, with their babies, with a community that understands what they’re going through.
So it doesn’t matter whether you have kids of your own, or whether you regularly fall short of being an ideal caregiver yourself.
What matters is: do you love being around kids? Do you interact well with kids? Do you love empowering and coaching parents? Because when it comes to wearing your teacher hat or therapist hat OR a family enrichment facilitator hat… what you’re doing matters… but it doesn’t matter as much as how the parent feels their child is doing. The goal is to help the parent or caregiver feel supported, empowered, and curious about discovering something new about themselves or their child.
What matters is whether you have empathy, whether you can learn to create community so that you can help parents and caregivers feel empowered to try new strategies or new ways of playing with their kids.
Myth #2: You have to perform for the parents & caregivers or expend energy so they’ll participate & engage with your “caregiver & baby” classes
I find that many people considering leading parent education and support classes believe that you have to perform for the parents and caregivers or spend a lot of energy to get them to participate and engage with your classes.
Professionals with whom I’ve spoken often share with me that getting adults to participate can be difficult, or that they seem conditioned to approach the class as if you’re doing a service or performance for them.
Now, I have certainly seen this happen.
And I think a lot of it comes down to a few things. First, the primary objective is to lead with trust building. Parents are often confronted with divisive topics and opinions on every single topic, whether it’s how they choose to feed their babies, hold their babies, or put their babies to sleep… The primary objective when building community for parents and caregivers is to ensure that you are creating a place where everyone – regardless of the social identities they hold – can feel included and heard.
Now, that’s no small order.
That’s why I highly recommend that you ensure you are in a practice of understanding more about the systems that uphold certain social identities over others, and where you fall in terms of the identities you hold. I also recommend that you stop looking at these groups with a “therapy” or “teacher” hat on. You’re not leading them. You’re not telling them how to parent. You’re not telling them what to do. You are facilitating.
That means that you need to be modeling, you need to be sharing, you need to be asking them what they need, you need to be setting the tone. You don’t need to solve their problems. You don’t need to give them “one-size-fits-all” solutions.
I also think there is a lot here to do with the fact that often, when leading a group of parents and young children, the greatest challenge for you as the facilitator is actually meeting the needs of the group versus the needs of the curriculum. This is why ensuring that the content you share needs to be flexible. It needs to allow for and accommodate the needs of the group.
As a facilitator, you may not know how to address everyones’ questions. Please know: you don’t have to. The knowledge of other families in the room may be useful, and when you are the person in the room with access to more resources, there’s nothing wrong with saying, “let me look into that and share some information with you later.”
Myth #3: You will have to spend lots of money and time on marketing, ads, logistics, etc. that may or may not work
I hear from many, many professionals who believe they’ll have to spend lots of money and time on marketing, ads, logistics, etc. that may or may not work.
When you have a plan, when you know how to address the challenges your families are sharing – within your marketing…
When you make time to create systems around logistics like finding spaces, communicating with your potential audience through things like email and social media, building relationships in your community, and build self-reflection measures into your entire process…
It all becomes much simpler.
When you know the value of your program, know what you’re presenting, have a plan for promotion, create partnerships with existing organizations and businesses in your community… you have a roadmap.
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
You can create a system that works.
You can be intentional about where you put your energy. You can do more of what you enjoy – which, of course, is the actual service to families.
Don’t Reinvent The Wheel
So if you want to discover how to show parents and caregivers what play is all about: helping them learn to let their infants and toddlers explore, experiment, fail, and persist.
If you want to find out how to get parents to try new things – even if they haven’t been willing in the past.
If you’re looking for ways to establish a relationship quickly and get buy in for your families.
If you want to logistically enroll for economic diversity in a fiscally responsible way – even if you’ve considered various avenues before.
If you want to discover new ways to offer your knowledge to young parents in your community – even if you don’t have a clear plan!
If you want to figure out what to present, how much to charge, how to promote, and how long to make your workshops…
Start by registering for my FREE on-demand training,
Then head over to learnwithless.com/certification and fill out the short application so I can share with you the private training helping you create that lasting impact on new families in your community.
Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.
The Ultimate Guide to Supporting Infant & Toddler Families
Apr 27, 2022
What are the kinds of things we as educators and therapists can do to support young children and their families? What are the things we can show parents and caregivers that can help them infuse every single interaction with more connection, more opportunities for interaction, more vocabulary, more modeling?
Creating Inclusive Spaces For Families, with Lindsay Teitelbaum
Apr 04, 2022
Creating inclusive community spaces for families can require consideration. Families deserve more so they can build capacity & confidence. #inclusion #inclusivespaces #inclusiveplay #neurodivergence #neurodivergentchild #birthtothree #playbasedlearning #parentcoaching #parenteducation #parentsupport #toddleractivitiesforlearning #inclusiveplayspace #earlyintervention #learnwithless
How Families Can Support Gender Identity, with Mason Aid
Mar 22, 2022
How can families support gender identity? How do we create inclusive communities for families who may hold LGBTQ identities? We share basic vocabulary, how language is shifting, some top tips from Mason Aid, an LGBTQ educator, and additional resources for families and educators in the community. #genderidentitysupport #lgbtqsupportiveparents #whatdoesnonbinarymean #lgbtsupport #cisgenderdefinition #allyship #transgenderchildparenting #parentingpodcast #lgbtinclusiveclassroom #learnwithless
Why is Parent Coaching Important in Early Intervention, with Joanne Cazeau
Mar 10, 2022
Why is parent coaching important in early intervention? Working with caregivers directly to support their infants & toddlers when providing early intervention services can make a huge difference. Clinicians must partner with parents to help families learn to follow their child's lead. #birthtothree #parentcoaching #parenteducation #parenteducator #pediatricslp #childledlearning #baglesstherapy #toddlerdevelopment #toddlerdevelopmentactivities #learnwithless
How To Use Sabotage To Help Your Young Child Communicate
Feb 14, 2022
If you're looking for strategies to help facilitate communication in infants and toddlers, the technique known as "sabotage" is a great place to start.
How This Bilingual Parent Supports Bilingualism in Early Childhood, with Diandra Morse, LCSW
Feb 02, 2022
How to support bilingualism in early childhood. Want to raise bilingual kids? How growing up bilingual shaped this mother's desire to raise her children in a bilingual environment. #raisingbilingualkids #growingupbilingual #bilingual #bilingualbabies #bilingualkids #bilingualearlychildhood #minoritylanguageathome #learnwithless
Supporting Parents With an Early Childhood Educator’s Knowledge, with Miranda Zoumbaris
Dec 14, 2021
All new parents deserve to experience joy with their babies and toddlers, even when new parenthood is challenging. Sometimes learning and sharing experiences in community is what helps new families feel confident. #newparents #birthtothree #earlychildhoodeducator #smallbusinessownerteacher #privatepracticeowner #parenteducator #parentcoaching #infantandtoddlercurriculum #mommyandmeclasses #learnwithless
One Therapreneur’s Journey to Becoming a Parent Educator, with Rebecca Hernandez
Nov 24, 2021
As an experienced therapist, you know you could serve your community through parent education. This parent educator and occupational therapist shares her journey to become a facilitator for baby development classes. #parenteducation #parenteducator #therapreneur #babydevelopmentclass #mommyandmeclass #parentandmeclass #parentsupportgroup #parentcoaching #earlyintervention #learnwithless
Why Become A Parent Educator? Ask These Learn With Less® Facilitators
Nov 01, 2021
Why become a parent educator? How to build community and support new families, serving families holistically #parenteducator #parenteducation #newparents #parentcoaching #routinesebasedintervention #earlyinterventionspeechtherapy #mommyandmeclasses #parenteducationclasses #parenteducatorprogram #learnwithless
What are the developmental benefits of using music with babies and toddlers? Why should new parents sing? Explore the connection between early language development and music. #musicforbabies #babymusicclass #musicandmovementforbabies #musicandlanguagedevelopment #earlyintervention #toddlerspeechtherapy #mommyandmeclass #babiesandmusic #earlylanguagedevelopment #learnwithless #parentingpodcast
Enrich Your Practice as a Parent Educator, with Sara Moreno
Sep 16, 2021
New parents often struggle with "enoughness," but so do therapists and educators working with families. Today, we discuss how to enrich your practice as a parent educator, with Learn With Less® facilitator, Sara Moreno.
What is Trauma and Trauma Informed Care? With Michelle Hardeman-Guptill
Sep 01, 2021
This episode of the Learn With Less® podcast was recorded as a live, virtual event featuring a very special guest, psychotherapist and trauma-informed transformational coach, Michelle Hardeman-Guptill, and was aimed at both parents/caregivers as well as professionals working with infant/toddler families.
What Are Your Values as a Parent or Professional in Early Childhood?
Aug 19, 2021
When we get clear on our values, it helps us clarify what our motivations, and see the path forward to the life we want to create. As a parent or professional in early childhood, what are your values?
Simple Ways to Connect With Your Baby or Toddler
Aug 03, 2021
Simple ways to connect with your baby or toddler! Use simple learning materials to support your baby or toddler's learning and development. #babydevelopment #toddlerdevelopment #mommyandme #parenteducation #parentsupport #newparents #childdevelopment #toddlerlearningactivities #babydevelopmentactivity #learnwithless
Self-Advocacy in Birth: One Mother’s Birth Story and Shared Lessons, with Val Pitaluga
Jul 21, 2021
Looking for birthing stories? This birth story is one of self advocacy, identity, and the importance of understanding what you want and need for your birth. #birthadvocacy #birthstories #selfadvocacybirth #birthingstory #privilegeinbirth #racisminbirth #birthjustice #learnwithless
Educating Parents To Be Their Child’s Best First Teacher, With Rachel Kammeyer
Jul 08, 2021
How do professionals support parent education in early childhood? It's often said that parents are a child's first teacher. Find out how this parent educator and speech-language pathologist supports new parents in her community with an infant and toddler curriculum. #newparents #parenteducationearlychildhood #pediatricspeechtherapy #toddlerdevelopmentactivities #parenteducator #infanttoddlercurriculum #mommyandmeclass #birthtothreeactivities #learnwithless
How to Deal With Picky Eating in Babies and Toddlers, with Melanie Potock
Jun 22, 2021
Do you have a picky eater? How to deal with picky eating in babies and toddlers. We cover the stages of eating development from a feeding specialist, plus tips for parenting picky eaters and resources for families who are dealing with eating challenges.
Is My Baby or Toddler Delayed? Tips for Navigating Early Intervention Services, with Crystal Sanford
Jun 08, 2021
What is early intervention… and why is it important? On this episode of the Learn With Less® podcast, Ayelet spoke with Crystal Sanford, M.Ed., M.A., CCC-SLP, a pediatric speech-language pathologist, parent educator, advocate, mother of a child with special needs, and owner of Sanford Autism Consulting. Her work focuses on providing a place where other […]
What is Early Intervention Speech Therapy, With Grace Bernales
May 20, 2021
What does an early intervention speech-language pathologist do, anyway? Parent coaching and speech therapy for infant and toddler families, birth to three years old. #earlyintervention #pediatricspeechtherapy #birthtothree #earlylearning #parentcoaching #pediatricspeechtherapy #speechtherapyideasfortoddlers #learnwithless
Parent Coaching and Routines for Early Language Development, with Cari Ebert
Apr 15, 2021
How can new parents support baby and toddler development through everyday routines? The purpose of parent coaching, parent education, and routines-based intervention. Early language development tips for parents. #parentcoaching #earlyintervention #earlycommunication #earlyinterventionspeechtherapy #earlyinterventionactivities #speechtherapyfortoddlers #learnwithless @carislp
What Conscious Parenting Is and Isn’t, with Brandi Jordan
Mar 29, 2021
What are conscious parenting and gentle parenting - and who are these parenting philosophies for? How can new parents and caregivers become more conscious about their own parenting choices? Tips and resources for parenting in a more conscious way, self-care strategies, and asking for what you need. #consciousparent #gentleparent #newparents #selfcarefornewmoms #consciousparenting #gentleparenting #parentsupport #postpartumcare #learnwithless
What is a Play Schema and How Can it Help Me Support my Baby or Toddler, With Lina Richards
Mar 08, 2021
What is a play "schema" and why is it useful for new parents to understand these? Simple play ideas to support baby and toddler development. #babydevelopment #playschema #play #earlychildhood #toddlerdevelopment #birthtothree #babyplayideas #toddlerdevelopmentactivities #learnwithless
5 Reasons Why You Should Lead “Parent & Me” Classes For Infant & Toddler Families
Jan 14, 2021
Promote parent education in early childhood about play/development, facilitate parent support, be a resource and leader in your community, and earn an income helping families! #parenteducationearlychildhood #earlychildhoodeducator #earlyintervention #slp #parentsupport #mommyandme #learnwithless
How to Prepare For Baby’s Arrival: The Postpartum Plan, with Mercedes Thomas
Jan 04, 2021
How to prepare for baby's arrival? Tips on creating a postpartum plan for the new mom, from a board certified pediatric nurse practitioner and doula. How to find postpartum support, and make sure you're set up for success with your brand new baby.
Tips to Create A Toddler Tantrum Toolkit , with Sonnet Simmons, Veronica Morales Frieling, and Bryana Kappa
Dec 08, 2020
On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, we were joined by Sonnet Simmons, Veronica Morales Frieling, and Bryana Kappa. Sonnet and Veronica are hosts of the “Not Your Mother’s Podcast.” and co-creators of the parenting online course “Raising Children You Like” with Bryana Kappa. We chatted about: Each of our guests’ backgrounds and […]
How to Provide Nurturing Environments That Shape Your Young Child’s Brain, with LaDawn White
Sep 28, 2020
How to support baby or toddler development by organizing a play space and having open ended toys and materials for learning. Baby development activities from an early childhood educator. #earlychildhoodeducation #babydevelopmentactivities #toddlerdevelopmentactivities #looseparts #openendedplay #learnwithless
Tips for parenting a child with medical needs, with Parijat Deshpande
Aug 19, 2020
Building Empathy and Capacity for Families with Young Children With Medical Needs On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet sits down with Parijat Deshpande, of parijatdeshpande.com. Parijat is a leading high-risk pregnancy expert, mind-body health specialist, trauma professional, speaker and author who teaches women how to deactivate their stress response before, during […]
Postpartum Care and How to Get Your Mental Health Needs Met, With Arianna Taboada
Aug 04, 2020
Navigating Postpartum Care Can Be Tricky… In this episode of Learn With Less, Ayelet sat down with Arianna Taboada, a maternal health consultant for businesses and entrepreneurs. Arianna holds a Masters of Social Work and Master of Science in Maternal & Child Health, and was introduced to the maternal health field as a public health professional […]
How Lesley Took Her Existing Skills as an Educator, and Started Serving Infant/Toddler Families in a Holistic, Meaningful Way
Jun 30, 2020
She envisioned more for herself – beyond the classroom Over the last few weeks, I’ve been sharing a lot with you about the value and benefits of leading caregiver / baby “mommy & me” style family enrichment classes or workshops. We use the term “caregiver & me” classes to describe our programming, as it describes […]
From Pediatric Occupational Therapist to Surviving The NICU with Three Under Three, with Jennifer Russell
Feb 12, 2020
Surviving the NICU with micro-preemies... while she had a toddler at home. What this pediatric occupational therapist and mother did to support her babies. Featuring Jennifer Russell
How To Change Your Child’s Behavior (And Why You Might Need To Change Your Own), with Sarah Reppenhagen
Jan 30, 2020
How do we support our child's behavior by understanding their emotional state? We do it through a process of "co-regulation." Our kids' regulation and behavior is often a mirror of our internal state. In this episode, we explore how the "stories" we tell ourselves about what our children's behavior means... actually affects our ability to support them!
The Benefits of Music For Babies and Toddlers, with Nancy Kopman
Jan 21, 2020
How can music help to foster social/emotional development? What can parents and caregivers do to use music with their babies when they don't consider themselves musical? We'll chat with Nancy Kopman, early childhood educator, musician and music educator, about the benefits of music for infants and toddlers.
Choosing Books for Infants and Toddlers, with Sara Rizik-Baer
Jan 08, 2020
What's important to look for when choosing books for infants and toddlers? How to actively engage infants and toddlers in early literacy experiences, and my guest Sara Rizik-Baer's top tips and resources for choosing excellent books for your infant or toddler.
How to Use Music To Support Early Communication
Oct 31, 2019
In this session, we discussed different ways that music and singing promotes early language development in infants and toddlers. We also discussed research that supports the use of music as a framework to support communication development. In addition, we explored different strategies to help keep a young child engaged in musical activities.
Learn With Less: For Families With Infants And Toddlers… or Why Strength In Words is Getting A New Home
Oct 04, 2019
Looking for a new parent survival kit? The parenting resources at Learn With Less can help. With new parent tips, information about infant and toddler development, learning activity ideas for babies and toddlers, and tips for combatting new parent overwhelm. #newparent #parentsurvivalkit #learningactivitiesforbabies #toddlerlearningactivities #parentingpodcast #learnwithless
How to Stop Yelling At Your Kids, with Amanda Rueter
Sep 11, 2019
How to stop yelling at your kids! You don't want to yell at your young kids, but it takes emotional regulation practices to help manage stress for parents. Positive discipline techniques for discipline with infants and toddlers. #toddlerdiscipline #stopyellingatyourkids #positiveparenting #positivediscipline #selfregulation #parenting #birthtothree #learnwithless
How do babies and toddlers learn? We hear from parents about what resources for baby and toddler activities actually moved the needle for their families.
Where to Find Baby and Toddler Development Toys
Aug 15, 2019
We know we're supposed to support our babies, but what are the right developmental toys for babies and toddlers, and where's the best place to find them?
Creativity Outlets For New Parents, With Beryl Young
Jul 24, 2019
We speak with Beryl Young about why having a creative outlet for oneself is important (even/especially in early parenthood), and how to incorporate room for small moments of creativity into your life, whether you work full-time or home is your work.
Thriving In Modern Motherhood, with Sophia Salazar
Jul 03, 2019
Thriving in modern motherhood: Ayelet chats with Sophia Salazar about how to create a sustainable lifestyle that integrates self-care into life as a new parent
Things New Dads Should Know, with Anton Marinovich
Jun 12, 2019
What do new dads need to know? The transition into fatherhood is different to motherhood. We spoke with one dad about his challenges and wins in early parenthood. #newdad #newparents #firsttimeparents #newdadsurvival #newdaddytoolboxbaby #firsttimedad #parentingpodcast #learnwithless
Support and Community For New Parents
Mar 26, 2019
New parents need support in early parenthood. We need communities that help new families feel confident they can support their new babies and understand baby development. Parent support and new parent coaching and education is crucial for confident caregiving. #newparenthacks #parentsupport #parenteducation #earlychildhood #mommyandme #newparentcommunity #newmom #newmomlife #newparents #babydevelopment #learnwithless
Find developmental activities for your toddler and baby - support and play with both your toddler and baby at the same time.
Strategies used to keep afloat as a mother of “two under two,” resources when searching for developmentally appropriate, simple play activities for babies and toddlers, and simple ways to engage two young children at the same time (without feeling guilty)! #twoundertwo #babyandtoddleractivities #toddlerlearningactivities #toddlermom #parenting #newmom #toddlermomlife #learnwithless
How to Understand and Support Your Toddler
Feb 26, 2019
How can parents learn to understand a toddler? Learn how this father came to understand toddler development and connect with his child with simple toddler activities.
How Infants and Toddlers Learn About Emotions
Jan 21, 2019
How do babies, toddlers, and young children learn about emotions? How to help babies and toddlers develop emotional skills, and top tips and resources for best practice when it comes to healthy emotional development and emotional regulation for toddlers. #emotionalskills #emotionalregulationfortoddlers #emotionactivitiesforkids #emotionaldevelopment #socialemotionalskillstoddlers #learnwithless @drlauramarkham
How do I support my infant or toddler's language skills? How do I ensure my young child is on track with early communication milestones? Baby and toddler language activities and play with your baby to support speech and language. #babydevelopmentactivities #toddlerlanguagedevelopment #babylanguageskills #earlyintervention #slp #learnwithless
Build confidence for new parents, gain access to simple play activities for baby that support baby development and learning. #babyactivities #babylearningactivities #babydevelopment #newparenthacks #babyplayactivities #simpleplayideas #learnwithless
How To Find Baby Development Activities By Age
Oct 30, 2018
How to stimulate baby brain development by age, without breaking the bank: two new parents talk about how they learned to understand and play with their baby. #babydevelopmentactivities #babydevelopment #babyplayideas #simpleplayideasforbaby #openendedplayideas #montessoribaby #learnwithless
Developmentally Appropriate Toys For Infants
Oct 23, 2018
Simple developmentally appropriate baby toys for your infant. What everyday materials can you use to play with your baby and support baby development? Simple play ideas for babies. #simpleplayideas #babyplayideas #0-3monthsold #3-6monthsold #6-12monthsold #babydevelopmentactivities #newparenthacks #learnwithless
What is a postpartum doula? How can new parents take care of themselves and their babies, receive parent support after welcoming a new baby? #newbaby #postpartumdoula #whatisapostpartumdoula #newparent #newmomsupport #parentsupport #newmomgift #learnwithless
Going Back To Work After Baby, With Lisa Abramson
Oct 10, 2018
What can new parents do to prepare for a smooth transition back to work? New parent tips on going back to work - a calm and successful return to work from maternity leave. #newparents #maternityleave #newmom #returntowork #postpartum #goingbacktowork #learnwithless
The One Phrase New Parents Actually Want To Hear
Oct 02, 2018
What if you already had everything you needed, right there in our home? What if the "best" toys for your baby were hidden, in plain view, right there in your home (or attached to you)? What if you were given the recipe: exactly what you needed, instructions for what you might do, the developmental impact of the activity, and sample "scripts" to get you started actually implementing the activity - so you know exactly what you're doing...? What if you realized you were already doing so many of the "right" things to support your baby's development?
Raising Emotionally Intelligent Kids Through Play
Sep 11, 2018
How do we raise emotionally intelligent children? On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet sits down with Kelli McCarty, a marriage and family therapist and founder of Toys With Intent, to discuss the ways in which we can raise emotionally intelligent children, how play factors into emotional intelligence in our young children, and Kelli's top tips and resources for integrating social/emotional development and social cognition into play. The basic takeaway? So much of it comes down to intentionality in the tools we choose to use in our parenting and in our homes.
Perinatal Mood Changes and Postpartum Mood Disorders
Aug 15, 2018
What is a postpartum mood disorder? On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet sits down with Dr. Katayune Kaeni to address the topics of postpartum depression, anxiety and OCD. Dr. Kat is a psychologist and specialist in maternal mental health and perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. She works with moms and families to heal from the difficulties of depression, anxiety and other mood changes that can happen during conception, pregnancy, miscarriage, loss of a baby, birth and postpartum. In addition to her professional training, she also draws from her own personal experiences with the challenges of postpartum to discuss this topic.
We'll hear about her own professional and personal background, and how it is she came to do the work she's doing now. There are so many misconceptions about the various ways hormones can affect our postpartum experience (and beyond!). Dr. Kaeni gives us a brief overview of the differences between the "baby blues," postpartum depression, and postpartum anxiety, dispels some of the common myths about postpartum mood disorders, and tells us what, in her opinion as a professional who works with families struggling with the transition into parenthood, are the best places to start for new parents experiencing postpartum mood disorders.
How does development influence baby and toddler sleep habits and sleep changes? Ask any new parent and sleep struggles are a top issue! If you want to know how to get baby sleep through the night, and you're curious about a baby sleep schedule, learn more from a sleep consultant! #babysleepconsultant #babysleeptraining #babysleepthroughthenight #babysleepschedule #toddlersleepregression #toddlersleepthroughthenight #learnwithless
What is it like to grow up with multiple languages? Raising bilingual children has become a hot topic over the last few decades. We are starting to understand more about the brain benefits of being bilingual or multilingual, but what does it actually look like to raise a multilingual family?
Positive Discipline and Brain Development
Jun 13, 2018
Positive parenting, positive discipline, and parenting infants and toddlers. We know there is no "correct" way to parent, but how do various parenting styles impact our child's brain development?
Pairing Process Art and Early Literacy Experiences
Jun 04, 2018
Open-ended art activities for infants and toddlers. Creative development ideas for families: pairing child-directed art activities with book appreciation never felt so easy. On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet sits down with Julia Linsteadt, one half of the brains behind KidArtLit, whose goal is to make it easy for families to ignite creativity and a love of reading in their children.
In our conversation, we discussed the inspiration behind KidArtLit, what process art is and how young infants and toddlers can partake in it, and tips and resources Julia has for parents of infants and toddlers who want to pair early literacy activities with art making.
Learning, Executive Functioning, and Play
May 16, 2018
On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet sits down with Renee Peña Lopez, a special education and early childhood educator, to discuss how executive functioning is related to foundational learning and play in early childhood? We got the scoop about how to make play more purposeful to support this important part of brain development in infants, toddlers, and beyond.
We speak about Renee’s journey into the kind of work she does and why she’s so passionate about it, what executive functioning is and how it’s related to learning and play in early childhood, Renee’s favorite ways to make play more purposeful, and additional resources she recommends to families interested in seeking out resources about executive functioning, learning and play.
Surviving And Thriving In The First Year of Motherhood: One Mother’s Celebration Story
May 01, 2018
How to survive and thrive in the first year of motherhood: one mother's celebration story. On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet sits down with Rachel Kammeyer, a speech-language pathologist, long-time listener of the Learn With Less podcast, active member of the Community LAB, and mother to William, who has just celebrated his first birthday at the time of this recording.
How Babies Learn And Develop – Resources for Parents and Caregivers
Apr 23, 2018
How do babies learn and develop? What do new parents need to know about how to support their new baby with learning activities for babies, or simple play ideas? Resources for new moms and dads, about how to support a baby's learning. #babydevelopment #babydevelopmentactivities #simpleplayideas #babyplay #newbaby #newparents #parentingbook #learnwithless
Managing Relationships In Early Parenthood
Apr 17, 2018
It's not uncommon to have relationship problems after having a baby... having babies can put a strain on any relationship! On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet sits down with Julia Wenegrat, a licensed marriage and family therapist. We spoke about Julia's journey into her work with families, the ways in which her experience as a mother of two young children has changed her practice as a marriage and family therapist, Julia's favorite tips for new parents and caregivers trying to manage relationships (with a partner and with additional primary caregivers) during those early infant and toddler years, and additional resources she recommends to families who are seeking information.
Ayelet sits down with Wendi McKenna, a pediatric physical therapist, family coach, and founder of the website Move, Play, Grow. Ayelet and Wendi's discussion centers around the fact that young children learn through movement. Even though our culture often places a strong focus on cognitive and social/emotional development, these areas are most efficiently addressed through movement! The episode also covers Wendi's journey into providing education for new parents (and her strong belief in the power of play), the reasons why movement is so important for infants and toddlers, Wendi's best tips for incorporating more movement and play experiences into our lives with our young children, and her favorite resources for more - and deeper - information about the benefits of movement and play, and how these impact learning. This episode was recorded live and followed by a Q&A Workshop with members of the SIW Community LAB.
Family Wellness and Self-Care for New Moms
Apr 03, 2018
We all know the importance of self-care for mothers, but what are some realistic solutions? On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet speaks with Shannon Shearn, a health and wellness coach and personal trainer.
A Story of Raising and Working With Children With Autism
Mar 28, 2018
Looking for resources about autism spectrum disorders in the early years? In this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet speaks with pediatric physical therapist, Leslie Hayden about her experience as both a professional working with children on the autism spectrum, as well as a parent of a child with an autism spectrum disorder.
Ayelet and Leslie discuss Leslie's personal journey into her son's autism diagnosis, some of the basics about early indicators of autism spectrum disorders, the ways Leslie's professional background influenced her journey as a parent of a child with autism. In addition, we discuss Leslie's tips and resources that have been helpful in her navigation of the world of autism spectrum disorders and that she references as a professional working with children on the spectrum.
Using the Language of Listening with Infants and Toddlers
Mar 22, 2018
On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet speaks with author Tracy Cutchlow about one of the most difficult and important areas of raising young children: when our little ones are driving us crazy, how do we keep it together ourselves to raise a "good" human beings and support their development?
Ayelet and Tracy discuss the basic principles of Language of Listening®, ideas and research behind positive parenting strategies (and why these are often effective), and when parents can start using Language of Listening® strategies should it resonate with them.
Bringing Up A Child With High Sensory Needs
Feb 27, 2018
Every child has different sensory needs - but what happens when those needs aren't being met? In this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet sits down again with speech-language pathologist Carrie Clark - this time to talk about a more personal topic: her home life, and her experience raising a toddler with sensory processing disorder. Carrie and Ayelet discuss Carrie's personal experience as a mother of a young child with high sensory needs, the ways her son's diagnosis manifests in her family's life (and the ways in which they are also a completely typical family!), and tips and resources that have been helpful in her navigation of the world of sensory processing disorder.
This episode was recorded live, and followed by a question and answer session, made available to members of the Learn With Less Community LAB. To learn more about our live workshops and other virtual events (and to take your FREE 1-week trial!), visit https://community.strengthinwords.com
In this, the 50th episode of the SIW podcast and also the celebration of Learn With Less' two year anniversary, host Ayelet Marinovich reflects about what she's created, what community means, and how we can create more of a sense of togetherness! Plus, a special announcement about a BIG giveaway! Don't miss this episode!
How To Provide Early Literacy Experiences for Infants and Toddlers
Feb 06, 2018
How DO you provide early literacy experiences for infants and toddlers? In this episode, Ayelet sits down with Kayla O'Neill of Parenting Expert To Mom. Kayla and Ayelet discuss the term "early literacy," what kinds of experiences fall under that term (and how they foster and support early development), skills involved in the development of early literacy, and some wonderful tips and resources for integrating early literacy experiences into your everyday life.
In this episode, Ayelet sits down with Montessori Parenting Mentor and Home Consultant Jeanne-Marie Paynel. Jeanne-Marie is founder and CEO of Voila Montessori. She guides expectant parents and caregivers of young children on how to prepare their homes for their young children to thrive during the first years of life. Jeanne-Marie and Ayelet discuss the Montessori philosophy, some of the ways we can bring it into our home, and how we can apply it to our littlest of humans, infants and toddlers. Jeanne-Marie offers specific tips and resources for families with infants and toddlers to use when deciding how they might want to bring Montessori home.
Support Your Infant Or Toddler’s Development Without Going Crazy
Dec 05, 2017
How becoming a mother influenced this professional's approach to working with new parents. We discuss introduction to solids, play, and early learning!
5 Strategies to Promote Communication in Your Young Child
Aug 16, 2017
This week, we speak with Carrie Clark, a pediatric speech-language pathologist and the creator of speechandlanguagekids.com. Carrie offers 5 simple strategies families can implement into their everyday lives to get young children communicating. These include: use of Sign Language, shorter utterances, parallel and self-talk, and expansions. Carrie and Ayelet go into detail about how to use each strategy, discussing specific examples and useful ways to implement each one with a child at different communication levels.
Ayelet: So, today I would like to introduce a very special guest to you. Her name is Rachel Coley, she’s a pediatric occupational therapist, and creator of CanDo Kiddo, a really wonderful online resource for parents, caregivers of, and professionals working with infants and toddlers. She’s also the author of several books, including my personal favorite, “Begin With A Blanket.” Welcome, Rachel, thanks so much for being here on Learn With Less!
Rachel: Thank you, Ayelet! I love the podcast – I’ve been enjoying it with my little one during nap times for her brother lately.
Well, it has been quite a week here at the Learn With Less headquarters, as my family and I welcomed a new baby into our home. This is my second baby, but my first time becoming a mother to a new baby while living close to two sets of grandparents. I feel incredibly thankful to have the benefit of lots of extra help and very happy distraction for my toddler so that I can enjoy a few moments with just my new baby. I am also lucky to have had a VERY straightforward birth the second time around, and my physical self already feels better after a week than I did after 6 weeks with my first baby. I can see how that affects my emotional self, my ability to “roll with the punches,” and enables me to write down little thoughts and musings to be shared with you today
A cursory search for family holiday songs turns up very few reasonable results. Find a great selection for holiday songs for the family, regardless of creed!
Find out how and why Suzanne Flint is helping to make libraries into family-centered spaces that support early development and new parents with babies.
Baby Sign Language: Tips and Research
Sep 30, 2016
Why use Sign Language with infants and toddlers? Using gestures and Sign Language with young children is a tool to support the development of verbal language. We discuss the evidence that supports this practice and great tips and resources for parents.
Babies and toddlers learn through observation, imitation, and interaction. We explore the notion of experiential learning and the research to support its importance.
One of the ways to facilitate play in early childhood is through movement. Infants and toddlers learn through movement: there's nothing more fundamental
Emotional Intelligence in Early Childhood
Jul 22, 2016
We all struggle to see from another’s perspective. Believe it or not, we start learning that ability in infancy! Discover how babies develop theory of mind.
Bonding With Baby – Infant and Toddler Social Development
Jun 24, 2016
The first years of life are dedicated to building a secure bond and attachment. When we know more about how to bond with a baby, we feel more equipped to do it ourselves!
Are you looking for toys for open-ended play? Look at the materials already in your home: how to use what you already have to support your child's learning
What Does A Pediatric Speech Pathologist Do?
Jun 10, 2016
What is speech therapy for infants and toddlers? Pediatric speech therapy is broad, but what does an early intervention speech therapist do for toddlers?
Infant & Toddler Math Concepts and Activities
May 27, 2016
Wondering how children learn? Early math skills for toddlers start with categorization, patterning, sorting, and classification. Learn how to support these!
Doing all you can to teach your baby or your toddler to talk? Not sure how to talk to toddlers? This simple trick will help you respond to early communication
Can Infants & Toddlers Learn About Music and Math?
Apr 01, 2016
How does music help baby brain development? Making and playing music with babies during playtime and before bedtime helps cognitive development: here's how.
An Introduction to Early Development and Developmental Activities
Mar 18, 2016
An introduction to early development and early learning activities for infants and toddlers. Learn With Less provides parent education and parent support.
Holistic Learning: infants and toddlers are learning “all at once” – learning in one developmental domain cannot be separated from learning in another!
How Playing With Language Helps Your Baby Learn To Communicate
Mar 04, 2016
It is said that play is the work of children. When we play with language, our infants and toddlers pay attention. In the context of music, this kind of play is extremely powerful.
How Routines and Rituals Support Infants and Toddlers
Feb 26, 2016
Babies thrive on routine. Routines and rituals help organize our life with young children: here's how to use caregiving routines to support development.
Music is often used in early childhood settings: why music is involved in early communication development and how you can use it with infants and toddlers!
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