Communication milestones at 30 months continue to expand. Toddlers begin to show how many words they understand by the way they respond to what adults say to them. They are able to answer questions meaningfully and accurately, and they can follow simple suggestions. Toddlers love being read to and participate during story time by pointing to pictures or commenting appropriately during the story. For example, seeing a cow and then mooing. At this age, toddlers also show increased understanding of basic concepts including position words: up and under, as well as descriptive time concepts such as: soon, after, and right now.

Expressively, toddlers this age are using words for a variety of purposes. They use words to express needs, make demands, and indicate possession. They also use words to comment about things in their environment or tell about something that happened a short while ago. During these months, some toddlers use primarily one to two words to label and make requests, while others say four and five word sentences.  Toddlers at this age also want to be included in family conversations such as those that occur at meal time or while riding in the car. They begin to express their own thoughts, even if these thoughts are not related to the current topic. Including your toddler in conversations encourages their language development and helps them to develop a sense of self.

By 30 months of age, toddlers should:

• Point to associated pictures as adults read to them
• Pass the salt shaker when someone asks for it
• Put lids back on markers after being reminded to do so
• Show understanding of position words, such as, “Put your chair next to mine,” or “Put your shoes under your bed”
• Turn pages at the right time of the story without being prompted to do so
• Understand more complex statements such as, “When we get home from our walk it will be time to take a nap” or “We have to clean up first, then you can have a snack”

Expressively, 30 month olds should:

• Use pronouns (I, he, she, me)
• Sing simple songs
• Include social conventions such as please and thank you into their speech
• Ask questions related to an activity or story
• Use words to describe the function or purpose of objects, for example saying “Talk to dada” when shown a phone or asked what we do with it
• Describe actions in pictures as easily as they are able to label/name objects
• Use action words including –ing ending to describe activities (running, washing, sleeping, etc.)
• Use sentences that are 3-5 words long

Your toddler may need additional support if they:

• Seem to not pay attention to requests or suggestions, such as picking up their shoes, or throwing away their napkin
• Do not point to associated pictures on the page when asked about them
• Do not show interest in listening to a story
• Only repeat words they hear instead of using their own words to create thoughts and ideas
• Avoid using words to express their wants and needs
• Mumble and run their sounds together making it hard to understand most of what they are trying to say
• Seem uninterested in the talk at the table
• Ignore questions people ask them

If you have questions about your child’s communication milestones at 30 months, check out MOSAIC’s speech therapy services here or call (406) 388-4988 for more information. Learn more about what your child should be doing from 2 months to 5 years of age by checking out Milestone Moments from the CDC.

Early intervention (EI) is a general term used to describe services that are offered to support babies and young children with disabilities or developmental delay, usually from birth to 3 years of age. Often, early intervention includes physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.

Why Is Early Intervention Important?

There are a ton of skills and milestones that children meet in the first 3 years of life. Each of these skills serves as a building block for other, more advanced skills, to develop from. Without the base set of skills, children will be unable to learn more complicated skills. For example, if a child is unable to make developmental sounds, they will be unable to say words. If that same child cannot say single words, how will they be able to use sentences? The longer a child goes without early intervention services, the greater the delay in their skills. Therefore, the more intervention they will require and the longer it will take for the child to learn those skills.

Who Should Seek EI Services?

MOSAIC recommends that any child who is born at 36 weeks or earlier be screened periodically to ensure milestones are being met. The first one should occur around 4 months of age. If the child is having difficulty with feeding or parents have concerns, it should occur immediately. Babies who have experienced birth trauma or who spent time in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) after birth should also be screened. Children under 3 who are not meeting milestones, whose parents have concerns, or who have a diagnosis that could cause developmental delays should seek out early intervention services. Children can have delays in one or more areas, therefore, an evaluation can identify all areas that need to be addressed. If you have questions about whether or not your child is meeting their milestones, the CDC has an excellent comprehensive resource called Milestone Moments that you can check out.

To learn more about MOSAIC’s early intervention therapy services, click here. Finally, if you have concerns, call MOSAIC today at (406) 388-4988 to schedule an evaluation. 

Here are 4 easy science experiments that you can do with your kids at home. They use (mostly) common ingredients that you already have on hand. Allowing your kids to play and get messy will activate their sensory system. Additionally, if you are interested in more ideas, Learning Resources has hundreds of free activities you can do at home to keep kids learning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For additional ideas, check out our Ideas to Keep Kids Busy page for fun activities and links to tons of sits that offer free activities, virtual tours, and more!

Not everyone is prepared to be at home with our kids instead of sending them to school. Do you need something to keep your kids busy while school is closed? Here are some ideas, including some ideas that are NOT screen time. We will add to the list as we get more. Stay safe, be kind, practice social distancing, and wash your hands!

30 Day LEGO Challenge

Read At Home Bingo

Writing Bingo

Yoga Pretzels

Cincinnati Zoo Home Safari

The Cincinnati Zoo has an amazing Home Safari page where they highlight one of their amazing animals and include an activity you can do from home.

Montana Outdoor Science School

The Montana Outdoor Science School is posting educational videos and activities for kids to watch and do at home on their Facebook and YouTube pages.

Lone Mountain Gymnastics, Swimming, and Dance Videos

During the closure of Lone Mountain they are providing some fun, instructional, and learning videos to keep your kids moving.

Museum of the Rockies

The Museum of the Rockies is offering tons of online learning opportunities for adults and kids. Check out their website or follow them on social media to see what they have to offer.

Skyhawks

Skyhawks has some virtual sports and agility lessons online to get your kids moving as well as links to lots of other activities.

LEGOLAND

LEGOLAND has tons of activities to keep the kids busy, such as how to builds, coloring pages, mazes, word searches, stories, and more!

SCIENCE! Here are 4 easy science experiments you can do at home.

Animal Foot Print Molds When I was young I loved making molds of animal prints I found with my sister using plaster of paris. We made molds of moose, bears, deer and even our dog and cat. Check out the link as she takes you step by step on how to make your own molds using only a few ingredients.

Virtual Field Trip List by Carly Hallman 

Check out this article for a huge list of virtual tours of museums, zoos, historical sites, and more. And, shoutout to Erin and Trey for finding this link. Thank you!

Wow! A lot has changed since I first started writing this article about fitness. COVID 19 is changing all of our lives. People are working from home. Schools are closed. We are all trying to maintain our social distance. We talk a lot about taking care of our kids in this newsletter. But, we also need to make sure we take care of ourselves so that we can be the best version of ourselves for our kids. Now, more than ever, this is especially true.

A lot of us are feeling the strain of having kids at home. We are having more anxiety and uncertainty about the future. If you are like me and a lot of people around our country, you are focusing on fitness. So let’s take a look at what fitness really means. The dictionary defines fit as being sound physically and mentally; healthy. Using that definition, many “fitness” routines fall short of the goal. If you don’t enjoy running and dread every workout, you’re probably falling short of the “sound mentally” portion. Exercise should be enjoyable, reduce stress, and leave you feeling better, not worse.

No Pain No Gain?

Exercise should also leave you feeling better physically. If you can run a good time in a 5k, but have aches and pains for days after, you’re not “sound physically.” If you are increasing your personal record in the squat rack, but your joint pain is increasing right along with it, you’re not “sound physically” either. Sure, some muscle soreness and fatigue after a hard workout is normal. But if you’re having pain that doesn’t go away, sore joints, or trouble moving after exercise, you’re probably developing movement dysfunction along with your fitness. A new ache or pain will not make chasing after a child any easier.

Movement Dysfunction

Go back to the dictionary. Dysfunction is impaired or abnormal functioning, so movement dysfunction is impaired or abnormal movement. When someone has a movement problem like a sore joint, limited range of motion, or strength loss the brain finds a way to get the body to do what it wants. That usually means moving in a way that is less than optimal. For awhile, it works. But eventually it leads to injury.

As a concrete example, think of someone who has trouble bending one knee doing squats. When one knee bends further than the other, it will cause one side of the pelvis to drop lower than the other. Now that the pelvis isn’t level, the spine bends towards the high side to stay balanced. When that one side of the pelvis drops lower than the other one, it also usually rotates. Now the spine has to bend to the side and twist to keep you upright. This works for a while. However, as the amount of weight and the number of repetitions increase, so does the risk for a back injury.

Preventative Medicine for Fitness

Pain during workouts, or pain and soreness that don’t go away after, can be warning signs of a movement dysfunction. If you’re experiencing any of these, your physical therapist (PT) is a movement expert who can help. Physical therapists are trained to analyze movement and can figure out the root cause of your problem. They can then design a program to treat the cause and correct the abnormal pattern. There is no need to wait until you’re injured to see a PT. In fact, it’s preferable not to. Fixing minor problems early means fewer visits to the PT, less pain, and not having to put your workouts on hold because of injury. Click here to learn more about how physical therapy can help you. Or call MOSAIC today at (406) 388-4988 to schedule an appointment with one of our skilled adult physical therapists. Get that minor problem fixed now!