SMILE is an acronym for five strategies (sign, model, imitate, label, and expand) that have been found to improve communication skills for infants and toddlers.
The SMILE program which contains 12-concise sessions grew out of the experiences of four bilingual speech-language pathologists who provided services to many families enrolled in home-based early childhood intervention programs. The children in these families had many different disabilities, including Down Syndrome, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, and general language delays. The families came from different language backgrounds (English, Spanish, and bilingual), and high, mid, and low socio-economic groups. The generous input and concerns of parents, speech-language pathologists, and early interventionists have strongly influenced the content of this book.
SMILE is a comprehensive program designed to improve communication skills of infants and toddlers that includes:
A. Intervention Activities
B. Parent Strategies
C. Easy to use signing instructions
D. Parent Handbooks
E. Easy Data Collection
The program comes with the SMILE book (98 pages) and five, 48-page bilingual parent handbooks that contain all of the parents’ resources. The book and handbook contain the following 12 interactive sessions:
1. Daily Routines
2. Breakfast
3. Bathtime
4. Grocery Store
5. Getting Dressed
6. Lunch
7. Greetings
8. Dinner
9. Toys and Playtime
10. Outside
11. At Home
12. Transportation
Each session includes:
A. Session Focus : A communication focus (e.g. requesting) is included with each session as well as ways to increase the child’s ability to communicate better.
B. SMILE Pages : Signing, cueing, and gesturing techniques accompany important vocabulary for each activity.
C. Session Activity : Each session includes an activity for the parent to practice new communication skills in an interactive, fun way.
Signing Pages: Important signs and instructions accompany every lesion.
Click here to see a Sample Session (PDF)
Data Collection Sheets Print for Free (PDF)
Who uses the SMILE program?
A. Speech-Language Pathologists:
Each session is designed to increase the speech and language abilities of children up to three-years old. The entire program is based on research on child development, was field-tested by four bilingual SLPs, and is set up for easy data collection.
B. Interventionists : No photocopying, no extra paperwork, 12 sessions to use across 24 months, both Spanish and English. Interventionists were specific in what they wanted to see in new intervention materials. The SMILE program has delivered.
C. Parents : Parents have reported a great increase in their ability to work with their child when using the SMILE program. The book is easy to follow and contains developmental milestones for every age.
What research is the SMILE program based on?
1. The content of the SMILE program was driven by theory and research in the fields of child development, communication development, and early intervention. The lessons and activities in this book are based on Vygotsky’s social learning theories. Social learning theories view social interaction as critical to development. Therefore, the families involved in early childhood intervention programs are seen as the child’s guide and the child is the apprentice who learns from the adult models (Rogoff, 1995). Every strategy and every activity in this book incorporate the family as important social interactionists and as key models of communicative behaviors.
2. A recent study of Mexican immigrant mother’s perceptions of their children’s intervention (Kummerer, Lopez-Deyna & Hughes, 2007) found that most of the mothers in the study felt that therapists were just playing with their children. By helping families recognize the important role of play in cognitive and motor development, they can better contribute to their child’s speech and language growth by increasing their involvement in play. Additionally, teaching how individual cognitive skills contribute to language development, such as understanding that objects still exist when they are out of sight, will encourage families to work on those cognitive skills in play.
SMILE Program (Book & 5 Bilingual Parent Handbooks) BL101 $75.00
10 Replacement SMILE Program Parent Handbooks BL102 $17.50
50 Replacement SMILE Program Parent Handbooks BL103 $75.00
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