Supporting your child’s language at home
- Posted by spectrum
- On January 22, 2023
- 0
Often parents ask questions surrounding how they can support their child’s language outside of school and the clinic. Reading together or independently is the best way that we can develop your child’s skills at home. Reading approximately 20 minutes each day with a supporting adult will improve their ability to decode and develop vocabulary, fluency and comprehension when reading.
During reading your child will practice and apply their letter-sound knowledge. Usually your child’s class teacher will provide your child with books that are appropriate to the level of words that they can ‘sound out’. You will notice that the words in the readers will change as they learn different spelling patterns and the different letter combinations for a sound. For example, the long ‘i’ sound is made with many different letter combinations (i_e – kite, igh – night, y – my, y_e – type, ie – pie).
Often when your child is reading they will get stuck on a word. When this happens encourage them to sound the word out independently. You can demonstrate how to sound out the word initially and remember to provide verbal praise when they attempt to sound the word out. This will encourage them to build up confidence and allow your child to enjoy the success when they ‘sound out’ a word with your help. Within books your child may also stumble across a ‘tricky word’. These are words that can’t be sounded out. We can support your child’s reading by giving them the target word and getting them to repeat it. After this check that your child has understood the word that has been read.
There are also many informal opportunities that we can utilise to develop language at home. Talking about stories that you read together will develop their comprehension. You can use interesting vocabulary when you are talking to your child and explain the new words to them. If you are able to, joining a local library will encourage your child to borrow books and read a larger variety of books.
Sound games are a great way to develop your child’s curiosity of language. ‘I Spy’ can be used to create awareness of different sounds in their environment. Reciting nursery rhymes can expose your child to new vocabulary and rhyme. Playing rhyming games also allows your child to explore different sounds. For example, “Let’s think of words that rhyme with ____” (cat- fat, hat, mat, sat, rat, bat).
0Language at school age is typically quickly developing. Children are beginning to use different words to express their thoughts and feelings. It is a new and exciting milestone in your child’s development and by supporting them using a variety of activities you are promoting a positive language environment at home.