Building Speech & Language Skills at HomeHere are some suggestions for how you can help your child develop their speech and language skills at home:
Speech (Articulation):
➤ Practice your child’s sounds in the car. For example, if they are working on /r/ sound, you can point out the things you see that have /r/ in them and have your child repeat (e.g., red light, traffic, car, restaurant, etc.). You can also see if your child can say a word with their correct target sound five times at a red light before it turns green.
➤ Read a book, comic, magazine, etc. with your child, and point out the words that have their target sound. Have your child repeat those words. If there are pictures, you can use them to have your child practice their sound(s) as well.
Language:
➤ Go to the library. If your library has a summer reading program, sign your child up! As they read a book, ask questions like, “Who is the main character?” “Is there a problem that needs to be solved? What do you think [character] will do?” “How do you think it will end?” For younger children, you can read to them, and use the pictures to help them answer questions. They can also label what they see in the pictures.
➤ If your child can write or type, have them keep a journal about what they do this summer. Each week, they can jot down a few notes about what they saw, did, or experienced. If your child is not yet writing, they can draw a picture about something fun they did, and you can write down what they say.
➤ Play board games. This works on attention and maintaining the topic, turn taking, and being a good sport. You can encourage your child’s focus by purposely cheating: see if they catch you, and if they can describe what you did wrong and how you can fix it!
Adapted from: Daymut, Julie A. Maintaining Speech and Language Skills Over Summer Break.
