How to Boost Your Child’s Language with These Strategies

“Is there anything I can be doing at home to support my child’s language development?”

Yes! This is one of the best questions you can ask to begin getting involved in your child’s language development. Speech therapy treatment is effective, but it is essential that language be supported outside of the clinic as well. In fact, using language strategies at home can make a huge difference in the progress your child makes.

There are a number of strategies that you can use now to support your child’s language growth. These strategies can be used throughout your child’s day to supplement his daily activities with language-rich content.

If your child is already getting speech therapy treatment, speak with your speech language pathologist to learn more ways to support your child at home.

A few language strategies for home:

• Recast
• Expansion
• Aided language stimulation

Recast – To use this strategy, repeat back what your child says but with correct grammar and language structure. For example, if your child says “I goed store,” you would say, “Yes, I went to the store.” If your child says, “He swimming water,” you would say, “Yes, he is swimming in the water.” By using this strategy, you give your child a correct representation of the sentence the he is creating. In this way, you provide language examples based on what your child produces.

Expansion – Use this strategy by adding to what your child says with new words and phrases. For example, if your child says, “The dog is barking,” you might say, “Yes, the big brown dog is barking at the cat.” If your child says, “I see a bird,” you might say, “I see a yellow bird flying in the sky.” This strategy gives your child exposure to and examples of adjectives, verbs, prepositions and other words in use.

Aided language stimulation – If your child uses an AAC device, this strategy will support his language growth. To use this strategy, create messages using his device in play activities and daily activities. For example, when he is playing with blocks, you might make the message, “Put on” and then say, “I put on top,” as you put a block on top of another. Also, you might make the character, “go up,” and then say “He goes up,” as a toy figure goes upstairs.

How to introduce these speech therapy strategies

Use narrative to make your child’s play a language-enriched experience. Narrative means talking about what you and your child are doing in play and in other activities.

Question asking should be only 10-20% of what you say in play, while narrative (talking about what is happening) should count for 80-90% of the language you share with your child in play. Try using the above strategies as you create a narrative in play. If your child is playing with a toy, talk about what the toy is doing and if you are engaging in pretend play too, talk about what your toy is doing.

As you talk about the characters or toys, add in language techniques. See below for an example of what this kind of an exchange might look like.

Child: She go store bananas apple.

Caregiver: Yes, she is going to the store to buy bananas and apples. Oh now she is getting a pizza. Yum! Does she like pizza?

Child: Yes she do. It good.

Caregiver: Yes she does. It tastes really good! Oh I see the boy is getting some juice and a bread. He puts them in the shopping cart.

Child: He like ice cream too. It go in cart!

Caregiver: He likes strawberry ice cream too. It goes in the cart with the bananas, apples and pizza. The girl is still shopping too.

What kinds of activities?

There are many kinds of activities that will allow you to use speech therapy techniques. As you and your child go about your day, look for activities that are rewarding. Also, think about what kind of language you may use. If you and your child bake a cake together, you might talk about mixing the batter. You might also talk about what ingredients will go in the bowl. When you are at the beach, you might talk about what you and your child make in the sand.

While there are many opportunities for language growth, it is up to you to spot them and make the time as rewarding as possible. Whether at home or outside, see in what ways you can use language and support your child’s language use. Furthermore, listen to your child’s speech and see in what way they use language already.

As you support your child’s language and listen to what they share, you will gain a sense of their progress.

Now We Can Try These Language Strategies at Home

By using these strategies, you make play and other activities throughout the day rich learning experiences. As you go about your day, try using these strategies in different situations and settings. Listen to what your child is saying and keep play child-centered.

When you engage with your child in play and use these strategies, always ensure that the activity is enjoyable and preferred. Since these strategies can be used anywhere, try to look for opportunities for language use at home and in the community.

If you are concerned about the progress your child is making in their language development, you are welcome to contact us and speak with a licensed speech therapist. You can use this link to get your free consultation with a speech therapist today.