Language Stimulation
- Posted by spectrum
- On March 29, 2022
- 0
Parents often have questions about how to encourage their child to start communicating more with them and others. Whether your little on is just learning their first words or is starting to put short sentences together, you can encourage more talking with some super simple strategies! We call these ‘language stimulation’ strategies, and the best part is, they can be used at anytime and anywhere with your child.
Here they are:
- Repeat and recast – repeat what your child says (or interpret what your child might be trying to say if they’re new to talking) with the right grammar and pronunciation of words. (E.g., “Car top” -> “The car stopped!”)
- Repeat and expand – repeat what your child says and add a word or two to it! (E.g., “Dinosaur” -> “A green dinosaur”)
- Self-talk – Use single words/phrases/short sentences (depending on how long your child’s utterances are) to talk about what you are doing or seeing (E.g., “Mummy is building” or “Build it up”)
- Parallel-talk – Use single words/phrases/short sentences to talk about what your child is doing or looking at (E.g., “Bounce the ball”, “Max is bouncing”)
- Model new words in different simple phrases and sentences instead of repeating a new word on its own (E.g., Ball – “A ball!”, “Green ball”, “Ball up”, “Catch the ball”)
These are natural ways to respond to your child, so you might already be using these strategies without even realising it! Or if you haven’t, try them out during playtime with your little one today. It’s important to remember that although your little one may understand more than they can say, the language we use should be simple and at their level to make it easier for them to copy new words and phrases.
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.