Language

Language is made up of socially shared rules that include the following:

    • What words mean (e.g., "star" can refer to a bright object in the night sky or a celebrity)
    • How to make new words (e.g., friend, friendly, unfriendly)
    • How to put words together (e.g., "Peg walked to the new store" rather than "Peg walk store new")
  • What word combinations are best in what situations ("Would you mind moving your foot?" could quickly change to "Get off my foot, please!" if the first request did not produce results)
    • When a person has trouble understanding others (receptive language), or sharing thoughts, ideas, and feelings completely (expressive language), then he or she has a language disorder.

Language Activities:

  • Talking with your children at home is the most important thing you can do to help their language development. Reading stories, talking about pictures in books, pointing things out on the road while you are driving, providing language to go along with day to day activities, will all help your child's language development. It is also important to provide them with models of good language, for example, if your child says "juice" expand on that and say, "Oh, you want juice?", or "Yes, yummy apple juice."
  • For older children when reading more difficult texts have your child stop after short passages or sections to discuss what was read. Ask questions to facilitate greater understanding (i.e. What is the main idea? Who are the main characters? Where does the story takes place? What are some details?). Another activity would be to give your child two to three verbal directions to follow and have them repeat the directions back to ensure his/her understanding.
  • Barrier games are another activity that can be used to help your child understand the importance of using precise and clear language. To play a barrier game, two people sit across from other with some type of visual barrier between them. The first person creates a picture. He or she must give exact instructions so that the other person can create that picture without looking over the barrier.
  • Prompt your child to elaborate on answers to questions. When your child gives a short response or says "I don't know" provide him/her with multiple choice answers to help them to remember the information you are requesting.
  • Have your child help out in the kitchen- have him/her follow simple directions for making a recipe. Then have your child retell the sequence of the steps.
  • Strengthen your child's reasoning skills by giving clues or descriptions and have your child identify what you are describing (i.e. "We drive it to the store. Ours is blue.")
  • To build and enhance vocabulary, introduce a new word and offer its definition, or use it in a context that is easily understand.