Pune: Jumpstart pre-school, a revolutionizing child development center organized an ‘Edumeet’, a platform for the parents to express their doubts, issues, concerns related to child development. Ashvini Toley, Director, Helen O’ Grady Speech & Drama Academy, was the speaker at the session who addressed many aspects of language development of children.
Over 100 parents attended the event who had queries like- “How do I teach my kids the right pronunciation?”, “Will talking in different languages confuse the child?”, “Will story-telling method enhance my child grasping power?” and many more. Ashvini very diligently discussed several strategies to tackle these issues:
- Talk actively about daily routine activities like getting dressed, packing the bag, eating food etc
- Ask a lot of questions to your child
- Make up elaborate stories with characters, conflict, adventure and a happy ending
- Expand on the gestures, words and ideas expressed by your child
- Engage in a “high interest” activity – ball, wind-up toy, balloons, bubbles
- Never criticize your child’s articulation or speech patterns. Instead, repeat his statements back to him with the correct pronunciation or word usage
- Appreciate even the most subtle attempts to communicate
- Use television and computers sparingly
Commenting on the occasion, Sneha Tapadia, Founder & CEO, Jumpstart said, “Jumpstart believes in partnering with the parents through various informative programs and ‘Edumeet’ is one such platform. We feel honoured to have the best of the industry experts come and address the doubts and concerns regarding child development. We believe in child’s holistic development and hence consider that it is very essential for parents to understand and elucidate their doubts during their child’s growing years.”
It was a really enriching event for the parents with lot of new learning to take home and imply on their children.