Language Activities

Talk, Talk, Talk

    Children at the learn from experiences and from what they HEAR.  The important point is that it is not always necessary to have a child repeat what he has heard as long as he understands what is being said.

Language activities can be incorporated into any daily activity:

• While riding in the car, look for specific things, e.g. colors ("Let's find something red."  or "I see something .......")  Look for animals, restaurants, gas stations, etc. This is categorization.

• Use cooking or any household activity to increase language.  A child will usually participate in a conversation when you are simply talking about something you are doing at that moment.  "I think I'll cut up the carrots into small pieces for the salad."  "I need a big spoon to stir the ....."  "The water on the stove is boiling hot.  I can see the bubbles.  Time to put in the spaghetti."  You may feel like you are talking to yourself, but remember that a child develops his vocabulary from what he HEARS and experiences.  As his parent you are the primary source for this information.

• While watching television, discuss how the characters feel (scared, happy, sad, etc.); for example, you could say, "Vanessa is mad because she couldn't ........".  In other words, instead of  asking questions, just initiate the conversation.

• Reading books or television time is a good opportunity for the child to learn how to respond to "wh" questions.  "What happened?" "Who .....?"   "Where.....?"

• Say or do something incorrectly and give your child the opportunity to correct you.  He'll feel very smart and important!

• Name all the items you are using at a given moment:  vacuum cleaner, lawn mower, hose, iron, broom, etc.  When naming an item, use it in context, e.g. "I'm going to clean the rug with a vacuum cleaner."

• Categorize things into groups, e.g. foods, vegetables, fruits ("For dinner tonight we are going to have a vegetable (corn), a fruit (grapes), a meat (chicken), etc.

Of the utmost importance is building your child's self-esteem and self-confidence:

• Give him your undivided attention when he is speaking to you.
• Give him a special task that only he can do.  Let him know how important it is and  give him immediate praise when he finished it
• Just tell him what a wonderful kid he is and how happy and proud you are of him.

Ideas for Language Stimulation  by Ann Marie Schindler, M.A., CCC/SLP
http://www.caryspeech.com/Articles/Ideas%20for%20Language%20Stim.html

Language Stimulation Ideas(pdf file - n/a)

Indirect Language Stimulation Techniques http://www.tr.wou.edu/perc/documents/INDIRECTLANGUAGESTIMULATION.pdf