Speech and language is a part of everyday life- your child is practicing all the time! Be an active listener and a good speech model!
Speech and language is a part of everyday life- your child is practicing all the time! Be an active listener and a good speech model!
Children can be made aware of correct speech and language daily
How can you help?
Encourage your child to express himself/herself through conversation, reading and writing
Pronounce words clearly and slowly, when speaking to your child
Be very verbal around your child by narrating and describing day to day activities, events, and items, emphasizing different vocabulary, basic language concepts, verbs, etc.
Read with your child, asking questions about the story and encouraging him/her to ask questions, describe pictures, and retell story events when finished
Engage in everyday language-enriched activities with your child, (i.e. board games, arts and crafts, cooking, pretend play, daily routines, etc.) to allow him/her to practice skills in a more naturalistic and functional way
Language
Naming: Label various vocabulary during daily routines and play activities
Commenting: Talk about what your child is doing, looking at, playing with, etc.
Pausing: Pause in anticipation to give your child time to listen, process/understand, and respond
Gestures/visuals: Pair gestures and/or visuals with verbal communication
Choices: Offer verbal and/or visual choices to encourage responses from your child
Expanding: Repeat what your child has said and add additional words/details
Recasting: Repeat grammatically incorrect utterances back to your child correctly
Rephrasing: Rephrase abstract/difficult questions into more concrete questions
Questioning: Use questioning to probe more detailed responses from your child
Language explanation: If your child responds incorrectly, further explain the language concept to increase understanding
Vocabulary expansion: Expand on vague vocabulary by exposing your child to synonyms for words they use
Speech Intelligibility and Articulation
Repeat misarticulated words or unintelligible speech back to your child correctly to allow your child to auditorily hear clear articulation
Draw attention to your mouth as you model correct sound production to allow your child to visually see clear articulation
If you can’t understand your child, ask him/her to repeat it or show you and/or tell you in a different way
If you can’t understand your child, remind him/her to speak “louder” and/or “slower”
If your child makes specific sound errors, model and emphasize correct speech production of the errored sounds when speaking to your child
If your child makes specific sound errors, provide corrective feedback for the errored sounds
If your child makes specific sound errors, positively reinforce any time that your child produces these sounds correctly