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PATH FOR WORDS by Marie Martinez

PATH FOR WORDS

Five-Minute Language Learning Activities for Children Ages One to Three Years

by Marie Martinez

Pub Date: Sept. 9th, 2025
ISBN: 9798891381759
Publisher: Mascot Books

Certified speech-language pathologist and behavior analyst Martinez offers an easy-to-follow, research-backed guide to bridging communication gaps between toddlers and caregivers.

A young child wants milk but doesn’t know how to say the word milk—they simply point to their mouth, and their caregiver guesses at their needs by providing crackers and water. Frustrated with their inability to communicate, the toddler begins to scream and lash out. The caregiver feels hopeless, so they schedule an appointment with a local speech-language pathologist—only to hear it’ll be months to be seen. This sort of scenario is common in many households with a toddler, but in these pages, Martinez asserts that it doesn’t have to be that way. She presents a book of “preventive measures” so that caregivers can rest assured, knowing they have access to expert-backed knowledge and activities that can remedy miscommunications. Throughout, Martinez provides solid advice by drawing on the latest research as well as her own experience in her practice. For example, in a chapter on “concerning behaviors,” she notes that actions such as “tantrums, throwing, kicking, [or] hitting” tend to arise “in the toddler years as children learn to communicate, regulate emotions, and navigate life as a small human,” and she follows this observation with a real-life, anonymized example from her own practice—and presents the strategy used to address the problem, which involved teaching a few simple words. The bulleted lists, clearly organized text, and easy-to-follow symbols in the activities section (standing for “next steps,” checklists, and more) will allow readers to implement guidance as quickly as possible “while…waiting for consistent support.” Finally, her ideas about “visual cues,” “modeling,” and “Grandma’s Rule” (“Grandma wouldn’t let you eat a cookie before your dinner, would she?”) will aid a wide range of caregivers, no matter what specific communication problems they face. Websites are included in the text of each chapter, and an extensive bibliography of additional resources appears in a final “Notes” section.

A helpful and easy-to-use language-learning manual.