- Rankin Elementary School
- How You Can Help
Katherine Goodpasture
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Here are some tips to help families support their child’s speech and language development:
- Talk about what you’re doing, what your child is doing, and what your child sees. Use longer sentences as your child grows older.
- Communicate with your child in the languages that you are most comfortable using.
- Use a lot of different words with your child. Don’t worry about using big words. Children enjoy new and unusual words.
- Listen and respond to your child.
- Help your child listen. Give directions for your child to follow.
- Have your child’s hearing tested if you find yourself repeating a lot or using a loud voice.
- Tell stories to your child a lot. Read to your child as much as you can.
- Ask questions and talk about what happened in the story. Read to your child in the languages they are learning.
- Don’t interrupt your child to correct their speech sounds. It’s okay if your child makes some mistakes with sounds. Say the sounds correctly when you talk.
- Ask questions that need more than a yes or no answer. Encourage your child to ask you questions.
- Set limits for screen time. Use that time for talking, reading, and playing together.
- Don’t wait to get help if you’re concerned. You know your child best. Getting help early can stop later problems with behavior, learning, reading, and social relationships.
Learning at Home
Vocabulary and Sentence Development
· Learn colors, numbers and direction or place words such as up, down, beside, next to by playing board games such as Candyland or playing with blocks or Play Dough.
· Learn body parts by playing Mr. Potato Head, playing during bath time and getting dressed.
· Take learning walks. Talk about what you see. For example, “The bird is in the tree. The bird is red and bigger than a mouse.”.
Word Relationships and Meaning
· Label items, talk about what they look like. “It’s an apple, it’s red and shiny.”
· Shop by category – fruits, vegetables, meats, cold food, dry food, and non-food.
· Talk about the names of categories and items in a category with the child while you shop.
· Compare items while shopping: “An apple is sweet, a lemon sour.”
· The same comparisons can be done with clothing, toys and furniture.
· Talk about texture, shape and use of items.
Sequencing and Organization
· Use routines of daily care: List steps required for a tsk, have child list steps back to you. Talk about steps, using words such as first, next, last.
· Give the child instructions and then let them take a turn telling you what to do. Use words like on, under, beside and in.
· Help the child understand sorting and place when cleaning house. Put items in a specific place: pens and paper go on the desk, dishes in the cabinet, clothes in the hamper or basket.
· Use natural sorting during play or while taking walks. Sort rocks, leaves, nuts or any items found during play.
Listening and Understanding
· Play “Simon Says” starting with easy directions and move to 2 or 3 steps.
· Sing favorite songs.
· Encourage sitting still, eye contact and attention when your child is listening to stories or songs.
Talking About Events and Telling Stories
· Read with your child every day. Read words and/or talk about pictures.
· Watch a movie or cartoon. Point out details while watching. Ask questions during the breaks.
· After the show, talk about what happened, have the child retell the story to you with help for the correct sequence or to include important details.
· Use the same technique to talk about an activity or even the child has attended, such as a birthday party, paly with a friend or a visit to the store.
· After a story or show, try acting out the parts.
· Make books to encourage story telling. Draw or cut out pictures from a magazine or newspaper to create a new storybook. Have your child tell you the story with specific details, describing the sequenc3e of a story and characters.
Social Skills
· Model and teach, “please”, “thank you” and “I’m sorry”.
· Model and teach asking for help.
· Model and teach compliments.
· Model and teach appropriate ways to disagree, “no” or “I don’t want to”.
· Play games where kids have to wait for a turn. Play with turns that go around the group and then play with random turns with children raising hand or requesting a turn.
· Teach waiting until partner is finished with turn before requesting a turn or speaking. Waiting is part of taking turns in play and conversation.
*Adapted from Austin Independent School District’s School and Communication booklet titled: Preparing your child to communicate in school. This booklet was created by Penny McClard, MS, CCC-SLP, Kate Poueymirou, MA, CCC-SLP and Shannon Williams, MA, CCC-SLP