4 Places You Can Increase Your Child’s Language… Outside of Therapy
You may begin to realize that receiving speech therapy for only 1 hour a week may not result in quick progress. But you have also realized that you are too busy to make the trek to therapy everyday in the week. Who has time for that!?
Here are FOUR simple, easy, and common places you can help build on the progress made during speech therapy without adding anything to your already busy schedule.
But first, here is a description of different language strategies that can be used at these locations.
- Expansion: Repeat what your child says, but add 1-2 more words
- Parallel Talk: Talk about and describe what the CHILD is doing when playing
- Self Talk: Talk about and describe what YOU are doing while you are doing it
- Pause/Wait: When playing, pause and give your child a chance to communicate. Try not to meet their need before they communicate their need.
- Offer Choices: Instead of giving your child the toy closest or the toy you know he wants, hold up two options while naming them both
- Sabotage: Purposefully break the routine or create a difficult situation
All of these language strategies will not be discussed in detail for each location, only a few. Therefore, it is your turn to use your imagination for how to incorporate these into your daily routines. Be sure to share your stories and let us know how you used them!
The Bathtub
Expansion: Your child says “splash”. You follow her words and actions with “big splash, small splash.”
Self Talk: While washing, describe everything you are doing. “I am washing Sara’s nose, and ears, and forehead. Now I am washing her shoulders, and arms, and fingers.”
Sabotage: Place the child in the tub, but do not turn on the water. Wait to see if the child says somethings such as “water” or “on”. Encourage the child by saying “What’s wrong? What do we need to do?”
Target Vocabulary: “water”, “hot”, “cold”, “on”, “off”, body parts, “wash”, “clean”, “dirty”, “wet”, “dry”, “in”, “out”
The Grocery Store
Pause/Wait: As the child reaches for a desired object/food, pause and wait to see if they name that food or state “more.” If they don’t use any words, say “What do you want?” Be sure to model the target word for them and see if they can copy it.
Parallel Talk: While the child is riding in the cart, talk about what they are doing. “You are eating a cookie. That’s a big cookie. Yummy!”
Offer Choices: Before putting items in the cart, have your child help you decide which items to choose. “Do you want red apple or green apple? Which one, big box or little box?”
Target Vocabulary: “eat”, “drink”, “soft”, “hard”, “sweet, salty”, food groups (vegetables, fruit, meats, etc.), “push”, “want”, colors, shapes
The Park or Backyard
Expansion: Your child says “swing” while swinging. Add a word to his by saying “swing please” or “swing high, swing low.”
Parallel Talk: When playing, talk about what the child is doing as he is doing it. “Up the slide, Down the slide. Woops! Fall down.”
Offer Choices: As you play with your child, offer two choices of activities to see if he will imitate and say one of the choices. “Do you want to play with the ball or the bike?”
Target Vocabulary: “ball”, “bike”, “slide”, “swing”, “run”, “jump”, “throw”, “kick”, “high”, “low”, “up”, “down”, “more”, “fun”
The Dinner Table
Sabotage: As you put food on her plate, put only a small amount at first (ex: one pea). See if your child comments or requests for more. If she doesn’t provide a model and see if she copies the target word. “Oh no! More peas?”
Pause/Wait: Act as if you are about to put food on her plate, but stop just before you do. Wait, without saying anything, and see if she communicates by saying “more” or something similar. If she reaches for the food instead, give a model of the word and pause again to see if she copies it.
Self-Talk: Talk about every action you are doing and describe the foods you see. “I am cutting Emmie’s chicken. One cut, two cut… I took big bite of chicken. Yummy!”
Target Vocabulary: “eat”, “drink”, “cut”, “yum”, “more”, “all done”, “juice”, “water”, food items, “plate”, “cup”, “chair”, “table”