7 Strategies for Early Language Development

If your child is a late talker, there are many things you can do at home to help their early language development.

Below are some speech therapy strategies to use during your daily routines or during play to help increase a child's expressive language skills.

1. Self-Talk

• Talk about what you are doing (in play, in the car, etc). In particular, narrate things that you are doing that the child is interested in.

• This helps the child learn more vocabulary that within their everyday life.

• Ex. During Meal Time: If a child is interested in cooking, you narrate while you are preparing. ("I'm rolling the dough. Roll, roll, roll.)

2. Parallel Talk

• Narrate what your child is doing (in play, in daily routines like the bath, etc). Help them hear what they are doing by describing their actions and what is happening.

• This strategy is especially helpful for late talkers because it also reduces the pressure for them to speak.

• Ex. "During Play: You're pushing the train. Oh no it's stuck!"

3. Expansion

• If your child is working on making longer sentences, expand on what they are already saying. You can add adjectives, verbs, or other nouns.

• Ex. During Meal Time: If your child says "Milk," you can expand by saying "Cold Milk" or "Gimme milk"

• Ex. During Play: If your child says "Baby" for baby doll, you could expand by saying "baby sleeps" or "baby bottle."

4. Waiting Expectantly

• Give your child more time to process your question and respond. If they have trouble answering, you can repeat the question or model the answer.

• You can also give you wait for your child to fill in a word from a familiar song.

• Ex. The Wheels on the bus go round and round, round and (pause to see if child fills in)

5. Two Choices

• Providing two choices helps the child expand their language by learning and using new vocabulary.

• Ex. During meal time: Do you want juice or milk?

6. Model Exclamatory Phrases

• Exclamatory words (i.e. whoa, wow, ow) are engaging and fun for late talkers. The more engaging a word is, the more they will want to imitate it.

• These can be used in play or any routines

• Ex. During play: "Uh oh!" " Whee!"

• Ex. During meal time: "Yum!" "Yuck!"

7. Sign Language

• If the child doesn't have motor skills difficulties, teaching sign language is a great way to help late talkers express themselves. They will have a way to decrease frustration and be able to share their thoughts and ideas while learning verbal speech.

• Some signs to teach your child are "all done," "help," "eat," "stop," and "play."

It's hard to find time as a busy parent to work on speech and language at home. I completely get it as a mom to two young children. I hope that some of these strategies and examples can ease that burden and be woven in to your everyday routines. We are here to help provide speech therapy strategies and models, but you are your child's best (and most important) teacher!