Top 10 Ways to Build Speech and Language in Children

For the parents….

I get asked this a lot,  “What can I do at home to help my child with their language development?”  There are endless opportunities throughout your day to encourage language development.  And chances are, you are already using many of the strategies we as Speech-Language Pathologists use each day in therapy.  Understanding what those strategies are, however, can help you to capitalize on those small moments that you share with your child throughout your day and more effectively build their communication skills.  So in an effort to bridge the connection between iPads and language development for families, I plan to feature a strategy a week for the next 10 weeks.  I will pair those strategies with an app activity in hopes of providing a very applicable way of using the iPad to promote language.

STRATEGY # 1:

Modeling :Simply put, modeling is saying what you would like your child to say.  For example, consider your child’s language.  What is the next stage in their language that you are hoping they will reach?  Are they combining words to make phrases or sentences or using only single words?  Are they having difficulty with verb tense or word order?  Take for example a 3 year old who hasn’t yet started combining words.  Modeling targeted phrases throughout the day in child friendly language can help to promote this skill.  ”Blue truck” “Big elephant” “Run fast” 

LESSON PLAN:

Objective: Students will create grammatically correct simple sentences and demonstrate knowledge of nouns and verbs.

Strategy: Modeling in writing and orally.

Activity: Students will, as a group, create a mind map containing words related to summer and discussing which words are nouns and which ones are verbs.  Students will practice constructing simple sentences with the words they’ve used.  Students will use the  app Rainbow Sentences to create simple sentences.  SLP will model targeted responses as needed.  Students will record their own voice and listen to themselves model grammatically correct sentences.  The app is very straightforward and provides varying levels of difficulty in order for users to select appropriate targets.  Look for an app review shortly on this one…