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The 7 Guidelines We Used to Find Ling Toys for Our 3-month Old’s Speech Therapy
How did we choose our Ling toys?
Through conversations with our team about their recommendations, and with each other about our family preferences, we came up with 7 guidelines to help our process.
1
Clear Association Between the Toy and the Sound
A clear association (such as AAH with an airplane in the sky) helps us and our instructor remember which toy goes with which sound. We don't want to confuse our baby by mixing it up.
2
Doesn't Make Its Own Sound or Light Up, and is Unscented
It's important to see whether our baby is reacting to the speech sounds. It's easier to figure out what baby's reacting to if the toys don't have other sounds, lights, or a scent.
Looking for non-noisy baby toys can feel impossible! We eventually removed a rattle from a toy we had.
Another idea is to ask an Etsy seller if they'll customize their product to exclude the rattle.
3
Infant Safe
We want our baby to really enjoy the toys. That means not worrying about which part she's putting in her mouth.
4
Variety Among the Toys
We often do multiple sound checks in a row. A variety of shapes, textures, and colors keeps our baby interested and engaged.
5
Travel Sized
To keep our routine, it needs to work in our life. That means toys we can toss into the stroller, or easily move from room to room.
6
Lasting Quality
We don't want to have to change toys after we've built an association. Quality toys will hopefully last us the full duration of our baby's sound-check years.
7
Beautiful
Beauty is not just for photos. Sound checks are routine, and the routines can start to feel like a chore. We find that when the toys are beautiful, we're more likely to keep them close by. We also enjoy revealing them to our baby more, and it generally adds to everyone's experience.
Fandom can also work! If our family loved a certain film franchise or sports team, incorporating that love into a Ling toy could bring positive energy into the process.
Not every toy we use meets all 7, but the 7 guidelines helped us make our choices.
