Back-to-School Speech Tips!

One of the biggest questions parents ask is, “What can I do to help my child’s speech and language development?”. There are many books, apps, and language learning toys that can be recommended; however, the most important way to expand speech and language skills is throughout naturalistic play!! It’s not about the toys you play with, but that simple act of engaging with your child in specific types of play to get your child reaching their goals! Here are a few types for engaging with our child and promoting expansion of their speech and language skills: 

1. Be present! Put the phone away and turn of the TV. The less distractions, the better. This allows for YOU to be the “spotlight” for your child to imitate, model, and learn from!  
2. Use your day-to-day routines! Whether you’re at the grocery store, during bath-time, or even during a meal with the family, everything you do with your child can be an opportunity for language learning. During these routines you can point to and label items to increase your child’s understanding, have you child point/label items, asking questions, and using descriptive language (i.e. size, color, action, sounds, etc.). These types of activities increase understanding, expand vocabulary, and provide positive models for sentence structures and increasing length of utterances. 
3. Use open-ended play! Time to re-think the toys your using. While your child may enjoy the colorful, dancing, and singing toys… more “simple” toys allow for creativity and expansion of play skills. These “simple” toys are things you likely have laying around the house: balls, stacking cups, pots/bowls and spoons, Lego, bubbles. These toys allow for multi-faceted uses and allow your child to use what they have and already know, while creating something entirely new! There is really no right or wrong way to use these types of toys. Try using these toys and incorporate the following language, social, and cognitive targets during your play: 
   • Discuss color, size, shape, and quantity/number concepts (i.e. one, all, big, little, blue, circle, round, etc.) 
   • Discuss locational/prepositional concepts (i.e. in, out, on, off, behind, under, etc.) 
   • Counting skills (i.e. one duck, three ducks, etc.) 
   • Problem solving (i.e. how to open, how to maneuver nesting cups via trial and error, etc.) 
   • Model novel play sequences (i.e. use the spoon and bowl as a drum, pretend to feed each other, wear bowl as a hat on your head)
4. HAVE FUN! Play needs to be fun for learning to take place! The more enjoyable, the more likely they are to attend AND engage. The play should be about doing things with them that they like. Let them experiment—with the spoon and bowl activity mentioned earlier, it’s not *just* for stirring or play eating, but can be an instrument, a ramp, a hat, a source to hide for peek-a-boo. Of course you can model how things work, but if they want to experiment, you should both let AND join them. During your child’s exploration and experimentation, you can use language during this preferred activity but describing and narrating their activity (i.e. “big bowl”, “orange bowl”, “spoon in”, etc.). 

-Taylor Kent

“Children learn as they play. 

 Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.”  

-O. Fred Donaldson 

Never underestimate the power of play! We hope these tips help to inspire you and provide ideas to expand your child’s speech and language skills through play and within your child’s daily routines.