Preschool

Using Pictures to Communicate (Alison)

Simple Directions (Megan)

Joint Attention & Play (Audrey)

Using Core Boards at Home (Amber)

Play with your children! Toys are wonderful, but the goal is interaction with you.

Require your child to use communication to request things. Understand the appropriate level of communication for your child: gestures, signs, pictures, speech generating device, words

Talk to your child! Narrate what your child is doing. You the appropriate level of language for your child. If you are playing with cars, you may say "Go!", "Car go!", "Car go fast!", "Look at that car go fast!".

Give simple, one step directions.

Use your child's name

You can use signs to build language

You can use pictures to build language. If your child doesn't have words yet, use pictures to communicate. Have your child point to or give you a picture of the item the want.

Sing simple songs that are repetitive such as Old MacDonald and Five Little Ducks

In this section we have also included some resources for social/pragmatic language skills. You can read a social story with your child and practice taking turns during a game or talk. Other themes to work on expected vs. unexpected behavior, big/small problems and feelings

Helpful Links for Parents:

• http://autism.sesamestreet.org/daily-routine-cards/

• Super Simple Songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE29EUeJAb0

• https://www.prentrom.com/prc_advantage/lamp-words-for-life-language-system

Vocabulary/Categories (Megan)

WH- Questions (Alison)

Following Directions (Audrey)

Increasing Length of Sentences (Amber)

Language is everywhere; in the car, while cooking and baking, playing and even watching TV

Here are some activities and suggestions to continue to target expressive and receptive language development while at home

Calendars offer daily strategies/activities

There are Do's and Don'ts to encouraging speech at home

There are suggestions for ways to encourage language through different activities at home (i.e. playing blocks, reading, playing with babies, etc.)

Helpful links:

• http://www.hanen.org/Helpful-Info/Fun-Activities.aspx

• http://www.hanen.org/Helpful-Info/Parent-Tips.aspx

• http://www.playingwithwords365.com/

• https://letsplaythespeechandlanguageway.com/

• https://www.expandingexpression.com/

Fronting/K & G Sound (Audrey)

Cluster Reduction/ S-blends (Amber)

Stopping/F & S sounds (Megan)

Final Consonant Deletion (Alison)

Target one of your child's speech sounds or phonological processes at a time. Select a target that they already know how to produce in isolation, syllables or words and then help them practice it at the next level.

Practice your child's sound at the word/phrase/sentence level by having them say a word before: taking a turn in a game, kicking/throwing a ball, between jumps, or during play with playdoh

Do a sound hunt around your house or outside and find objects that have your child's target sound

Point out words in books that contain your target sound: "There's a car! Car has your back sound!"

Use verbal cues ("say your back sound") along with gestural cues (touching your throat etc) to help your child remember to say their sound. You can reference the "speech sound bubble" handout for more specific tips about how to elicit each sound.

Clap out/tap out/jump out syllables in multisyllabic words to help your child say all the sounds in words and phrases

Helpful links:

• https://mommyspeechtherapy.com/ (check out free downloads section for sheets to work on by sound)