Play to Teach: Promoting Language Through Play in the Classroom

This webinar will provide early childhood personnel with evidence-based strategies for facilitating language among young children with developmental disabilities (DD) during play-based activities in early childhood settings. These strategies include:
Following the child’s lead;
Noticing and responding to all types of communication;
Contingent imitation;
Modeling and expanding language according to each child’s skill level;
Environmental arrangement;
Prompting procedures.
 
Participants will learn practical strategies for:
Naturalistic assessment of language skills;
Selecting individualized language goals;
Embedding naturalistic language instruction into play-based activities with multiple children at a time with varying language skills.
 
Video models on the use of naturalistic teaching strategies during play will be provided to facilitate learning. Participants will also be provided with access to printable materials to use in their classroom to aide with assessment and embedded instruction.
 
Participant Outcomes: Participants will understand how to implement naturalistic teaching strategies to promote language with multiple children with varying levels of language skills during play- based activities; understand how to conduct naturalistic assessment of individual child language skills; understand how to select individualized language goals among children with varying levels of language skill.
 
Presenters: Rebecca Frantz, PhD

Rebecca Frantz, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow (Family IMPACT) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests include supporting natural change agents, or individuals the child interacts with in their daily lives, to use evidence- based practices in real world settings to promote young children's social communication and decrease challenging behavior.