“Hey, Look at me when I call you!”
- Call your child’s name frequently as you enter the room, call for his attention as you approach. Pause briefly in between, allowing him to time to process and respond.
- Accompany your child’s name with a physical gesture such as turning his head toward you, waving or clapping your hands.
- Early on, children begin to associate sounds with people, objects and even situations. Accompany your child’s name with a particular sound from a favorite toy or music from a favorite show or tape.
- Exaggerate your gestures, vocal pitch and melody when calling his name. Children begin to understand meanings of words by the tone of your voice and look on your face. Children gather information by looking, listening and touching. This helps them organize and become more aware of the world around them.
- Vary the distance between you and your child as you begin to teach this skill. Start by calling his name from a short distance then gradually move farther away and to different areas in the room.
- Gently guide your child’s face toward yours with your hand as you call him.
- Bring an interesting object (e.g., food, puppet, toy) to your face while calling his name.
- Use your child’s name when singing familiar finger play songs to him (e.g., “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Junior climbed up the water spout” or “The wheels on Junior’s bus go round-and-round”).
