How to Support Your Child’s Language Development
- Posted by spectrum
- On February 21, 2023
- 0
A lot of questions we get asked as Speech Pathologists by parents relate to what they, as parents, can do at home to support their child’s journey in developing their language skills.
This is a great question to ask as it is very important that the strategies implemented in the therapy session are reinforced at home and within the community, ie. at preschool, at the shops, visiting family etc. This contributes significantly to the child’s success as there is consistency amongst the strategies they are exposed to.
Parents can apply the following strategies at home and within the community to enable and support their child’s language development:
- Commentating – using simple phrases or sentences to identify and label what you and your child are doing in play and/or what you see and what your child might be looking at.
For example, “I’m playing with the horses”, “Tom is feeding the sheep”
- Repeating and Recasting – repeating what your child has said with the correct grammar and speech sounds.
For example, child – “dog playing”, parent – “yes, the dog is playing in the yard”
- Repeating and Expanding – repeating what your child has said and adding an extra word or two to their phrase/ sentence.
For example, child – “a car”, parent – “yes, a red car!”
child – “go”, parent – “ready, set, go!”
- Practice praise and positive reinforcement strategies at your child’s attempt to use more words
For example, “good talking!”, “good try at putting those new words together”
- Set 10 minutes aside daily (if possible) to participate in shared reading activities for extra language stimulation opportunities
If you’re worried about your child’s developing language skills or would like to know more, call our clinic today and we can find a time for you to chat with one of our friendly and qualified Speech Pathologists.