Play is Not Just Play: 'Time to Build the Future' for Children with Hearing Impairments
▪️ 'I don't know how to interact with them'
'They are playing happily on their own, so is it okay to leave them be?'
Have you ever felt lost like that while watching your child with a hearing impairment?
Actually, I have stopped and wondered that many times myself.
But then, one day, I realized something.
Play is not just play.
It contains everything:
the seeds of language,
the power to connect with others,
and the foundation for the future.
▪️ Play was a 'language classroom'
Because children with hearing impairments receive less information naturally through their ears,
they learn language through 'experience'.
The greatest opportunity for this is—play.
During play,
・making eye contact
・reading facial expressions
・waiting for a turn
・conveying feelings
・feeling the other person's reaction
All of these
serve as practice for communication.
▪️ Start by 'imitating'
If your child claps their hands, clap yours the same way.
If they make a sound, respond with the same tone.
If they tap blocks together,
try tapping yours together with them.
Just that much.
But the child feels it.
'They are looking at me'
'They are here with me'
Being imitated is a message that says,
'I accept you.'
This is the beginning of a rapport.
▪️ Building the foundation of language, starting from age zero
Age zero is the time for 'copycatting'.
Yawning, mouth movements, hand movements, the sound of a voice.
When an adult imitates them,
the child will then start to imitate the adult.
This is the beginning of 'interaction'.
Once interaction is born,
language naturally begins to ride on it.
▪️ Ages 1 to 2 are when 'interaction' grows
Rolling a ball
Passing it over saying 'Here you go'
Drawing together
Playing pretend
What is nurtured here is:
✔ The ability to be aware of others
✔ The ability to wait for one's turn
✔ The ability to try to communicate with words
Though it may look like just play,
it is actually practicing
the 'back-and-forth of conversation'.
▪️What is important is 'together'
'It's okay because they are playing with their siblings'
'It's okay because they can play happily by themselves'
Of course, those are wonderful times too.
But when you add
'together with you'
to that, the meaning changes.
Time spent playing with someone they love
is the best environment to develop language within a sense of security.
Because it is precisely within the fun
that a child thinks, 'I want to tell you'.
▪️Play is an investment in the future
Things that grow through play:
・Vocabulary
・Expressiveness
・Self-esteem
・The ability to connect with people
It might not be visible right away.
But it is certainly piling up.
Today's imitation
becomes tomorrow's 'I want to tell you'.
Today's laughter together
becomes the future's 'ability to engage with others'.
▪️To the mom who is feeling anxious right now
'Are they growing up properly?'
'Will their language skills develop?'
'Is this way of interacting correct?'
It's okay.
The time you spend facing them
is already becoming their strength.
Play is not just play.
It is
time that builds your child's future.
Let's continue to stack up time
where we can laugh together again today.
That is surely
the best shortcut.
🌱Thank you for reading
until the end♪
