{"id":22114,"date":"2019-11-22T00:01:30","date_gmt":"2019-11-22T05:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=22114"},"modified":"2019-11-22T12:40:02","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T17:40:02","slug":"tips-for-talking-to-littles-in-the-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2019\/11\/tips-for-talking-to-littles-in-the-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for Talking to Littles in the Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all know how important it is to engage young children in lots of conversation and talk, but sometimes it is difficult in practice. Sometimes adults don\u2019t know how to start a conversation with a young child or how to talk to a child before they are able to talk back. If kids could tell us how they wanted adults to talk to them, they may come up with some tips like these:<\/span><\/p>\n

For Pre-Talkers<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Me first!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I may be teeny tiny, but when you speak to me right away, you are showing me that conversation is for me too.<\/p>\n

Look!<\/em><\/p>\n

When I show you that I am really interested in something, talk to me about it. I am more receptive to language at those moments.<\/p>\n

I’m talking too!<\/em><\/p>\n

Even if I haven’t learned to say any words yet, I am talking with you when I move my body, smile and make sounds. Tell me you like to talk to me too!<\/p>\n

For Kids Just Starting to Talk<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I like big words!\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I am able to learn WAY more words than the average adult so I like interesting words. Using two words to describe something is a great way to show me a new, interesting word. “Your bag is so full of books, it is bursting!”<\/p>\n

Perfect the pause!<\/em><\/p>\n

If I am still new to this talking thing, it might take me a while to answer you. I have to hear your question, understand it, figure out what I want to say and make my mouth say it. That might take a while. Silently and slowly count to eight to give me time to answer you.<\/p>\n

For Talkers<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Ask me about this cool thing!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I am way more likely to want to talk about something interesting so ask me about my light-up shoes, the robot I played with in the program or the horses in the book I picked out.<\/p>\n

Repeat after me!<\/em><\/p>\n

If I am two or three, I’m probably still figuring out how to put my thoughts together to tell you something. If you repeat the last thing I said, I may tell you more. “There was a big slide!” “A big slide?” “Yeah…I went down fast.” “You did?” “Yeah, and then BOOM!”<\/p>\n

Help me say goodbye!<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m four and SO excited to tell you all about my pet, the time I saw a lizard in the yard, all about my green socks which are better than my yellow socks which are itchy, and… I’m still learning about conversations and I need help ending them sometimes. It is ok to tell me that you love my stories and can’t wait to hear one next time.<\/p>\n

For All Ages and Stages<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Look at me!<\/em><\/p>\n

Do your best to make eye contact so I know you’re talking to me. If you can get on my level, even better.<\/p>\n

Don’t pressure me!<\/em><\/p>\n

I may be feeling shy or just trying to focus on my play and not want to talk. It’s ok to be friendly, but please respect my feelings.<\/p>\n

Of course, these aren’t just important for youth staff – share them with your non-youth staff coworkers too to make sure everyone is empowered to talk with littles at your library!<\/p>\n

Stephanie Smallwood is the early literacy specialist at the Springfield-Greene County Library District in Springfield, Missouri. Smallwood wrote this piece as a member of the <\/span><\/i>ALSC Early Childhood Programs and Services committee<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

This post addresses the following ALSC Core Competencies: Commitment to Client Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all know how important it is to engage young children in lots of conversation and talk, but sometimes it is difficult in practice. Sometimes adults don\u2019t know how to start a conversation with a young child or how to talk to a child before they are able to talk back. If kids could tell us how they wanted adults to talk to them, they may come up with some tips like these: For Pre-Talkers Me first! I may be teeny tiny, but when you speak to me right away, you are showing me that conversation is for me too. Look! When I show you that I am really interested in something, talk to me about it. I am more receptive to language at those moments. I’m talking too! Even if I haven’t learned to say any words yet, I am talking with you when I move my body, smile…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":207,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[493,96,1],"tags":[591,245,1873],"class_list":["post-22114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger-early-childhood-programs-and-services-committee","category-early-literacy","category-uncategorized","tag-early-childhood-programs-and-services","tag-early-literacy-2","tag-language"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22114\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}