For his birthday last year, R's godfather, my husband's best friend, got him the LeapReader in hopes that he will start reading and writing soon. R loved it and started using it on the books that came with the present. His interest in the books waned soon, but strangely enough, his interest in the pen didn't.
R has also been taking notice of the things my husband and I do, especially when we talk on the phone. He even insists on being the one to hang up the calls on our cellphones. So I wasn't too surprised when he started putting the pen to his ears, turning it on and off, then waving to it with a "buh-buh" (his word for "bye bye" which he has pretty much learned how to say for quite some time).
However, he totally surprised me last night when he was playing with the LeapReader. He put it to his ear, and started to babble, as though he was making conversation. This went on for a good 3 minutes. And then, as if to end the conversation, I heard him say, "Ok. Buh-buh."
It took a solid ten seconds to dawn on me that he was pretending. He was actually pretending!
I know what you're thinking. Why is this such a big deal?
Remember one of my older posts where I mentioned the 5 signs that a child is about to talk? Well, I mentioned there that R only exhibits 4 of the 5. The fifth is symbolic or pretend play. Apparently, pretend play is an essential developmental milestone for a child to learn how to speak.
So how does pretend play affect speech?
