What Can I Do To Help My Child?

Birth - 1 Year

* First of all have your child's hearing checked and pay attention to re-occuring ear infections.

* Reinforce your baby's communication by repeating his or her laughter, facial expressions, imitate his or her vocalizations, etc.

* Lable everything from objects to your actions (e.g., "Tommy's car"; "Mommy washing Tommy's hair").

* Teach animal sounds (e.g., "A cow says 'moo' ").

One - Two Years

* While doing things and going places, talk! Label things you see and things you are doing (e.g., "I see a dog. Big brown dog.").

* Keep your sentences short and use grammar that your child can understand.

* Expand your child's utterance. For example, if you child says "big dog," you can respond by, "I see a big, brown dog."

Two - Three Years

* When giving directions, asking a question, or giving a statement, keep your speech clear and simple.

* Let your child know that you are interested in what they have to say and expand on it. If your child says, "big car," you can respond by saying, "Yes, that is a big red car. The car goes fast. Do you like the big red car?"

* Have your child label items in a magazine, a book, or objects you put together in a bucket. After the child has labeled the object, expand on it and also use this as an opportunity to identify categories: "Yes that is a shirt. A shirt is a type of clothing."

* Point to text as you read your child a story. They will begin to understand that the letters and words have meaning.

Three - Four Years

* Cut pictures out of magazines and help your child sort them into appropriate categories. Then discuss why certain items belong in a certain category and not another.

* Expand your child's utterances and vocabulary by reading stories, singing songs, making rhymes, and talking about things that you see and do.

* While reading a story or looking at a magazine, have your child explain in his or her own words what is happening in the pictures.

Four - Five Years

* If your child does not understand a direction, word, or concept, encourage him or her to ask for an explanation.

* Begin talking about spatial (first, middle, last; right and left), quantitative (big, bigger, biggest) and opposites (up and down, first and last).

* When reading with your child, have him or her predict what will happen next in the story.