A few ideas to facilitate pragmatic language skills at home:

• Play simple games to encourage turn taking

• Have conversations with your children to encourage topic maintenance (i.e., what the child did today is school).

Play GROUP GAMES that encourage skills in using and listening to language. Examples include

• Play Charades – use pictures in books, flash cards, etc. to take turns acting out simple objects or actions to guess – this reinforces understanding and use of nonverbal language (gestures, facial expressions, etc.)

Play simple turn-taking games (ex: Candyland, Memory, Don’t Break the Ice, etc.) – consider making the game shorter to keep your child’s attention for an entire game (ex: for Candyland, use only double colored cards and the pictured cards for spaces near the end of the board and ignore the rule about staying on a square with a black dot until the player draws a card of that color)

Encourage listening and talking to adults and peers in the activities. Consider this when making play dates, having parties, or planning other events, if possible. Think about how your child is with one or two peers versus three or four versus several children. In what situation or with whom will s/he be most likely to play interactively with the child(ren) independently and/or with a little support?