General Suggestions for Language Development

Things to Remember:

1) Get down to the child's level - Try to maintain eye contact if possible. This allows the child to see your mouth and also see that you are communicating with him or her.

2) Follow the child's lead - Initiate communication while doing something the child is interested in.

3) Repeat, Repeat, Repeat - This brings up the "Five Times Rule", where you use situations that arise during the day to teach and reinforce words and use it 5 times in three different situations a day, over a period of 10 days to two weeks.

4) Label, Expand, Imitate, Self-Talk - Labelling is just giving a name to an object. For example, when eating dinner, point at the cereal and say, "this is cereal."

Expanding is used in response to a child's interaction with you. Generally you add extra words to make the meaning of the sentence clearer. For example,
Child: Daddy. Parent: Daddy help.
Child: Doggie run. Parent: The doggie is running.

By imitating what your child has said, you are showing your interest. It is also a way of confirming that you understand what he/she said. When imitating, repeat back the sentence using the correct grammar and pronunciations. This will let your child hear the correct form without saying that he/she was wrong.

Talking about experiences as they are happening, since this is when they are most meaningful.

5) Pause - Count to 5 to allow the child a chance to respond.

6) Create a need for the child to communicate - You need to enable situations where to get what they want, they need to communicate. Some children don't see the need to communicate and so won't make and effort to. Clearly, you want to give them a reason to try.

7) Use your voice and facial expression to communicate to the child that you are interested - If you are enthusiastic and entertaining it makes communication more fun and keeps your child interested in the topic. Use facial expressions (e.g., smiling, nodding) and vary intonation in your voice.