Easy ways to support language development during daily activities
From birth to three years of age, children’s brains are developing at a rapid rate. The amount of language children are exposed to during these early years of life significantly affects their learning and language capabilities.
Research has proven that when parents/caregivers provide children with higher levels of language input and stimulation, children develop stronger language skills. In other words, the more you speak and interact with your child, the more opportunities, or as i like to call them “language opportunities”, you have to provide for your child.
Daily routines are the perfect time to provide these language opportunities for your child. Language can be divided into two components: receptive language and expressive language. Receptive language is the ability to understand and comprehend information that is spoken or written. Examples of receptive language skills are: following directions, answering questions, reading comprehension, understanding a story, identifying objects and pictures. Expressive language is the “ouput” of language, or the ability to express your wants and needs through either verbal (e.g. talking) or nonverbal communication (e.g. signs, gestures). Some examples of expressive language skills are: vocabulary skills, asking questions, naming objects, using gestures, making comments, requesting, semantics (word/sentence meaning), syntax (grammar rules), morphology (forms of words).
There are numerous opportunities where parents or caregivers can implement or facilitate early language learning. Below are some easy ways you can support your child’s language development during simple daily activities that you are likely already doing!
Bathtime
Label body parts on your child and/or ask them to name their own body parts (e.g. “Where is your tummy/head/toes?”)
Talk about the steps in your bath routine (e.g. “First we turn on the water, then we wash our hair”)
Narrate what you or your child is doing during bathtime (e.g. “you are splashing the water”; “I am washing your head.”)
Provide choices (e.g. “Do you want the blue ducky or the yellow ducky?”)
Mealtime
Mealtime is a perfect opportunity to offer them a little bit and give them the opportunity to ask for “more”
Name the foods you are eating
Model adjectives by describing the food, whether it is the taste, texture, temperature (e.g. hot; cold; yummy; crunchy; sticky; sour)
Get them involved in cooking/making the meal! Not only is this fun, but cooking is rich in language and full of language opportunities. You can target verbs (e.g. pour, stir), prepositions (e.g. put in, take out), nouns, and so much more. This is also a great opportunity to narrate what you are doing.
Following directions is another way to target language during mealtime (e.g. give me the spoon; put it on the table)
Bedtime
Read, read, read! The number one recommendation I give to parents when they ask me what they can do to help their child with their language development at home is to read, and bedtime is the perfect time in the day to do so. I always tell the parents that I work with that you don’t have to read the words on the page. Instead, talk about what you see, what the characters are doing, emotions on character’s faces, etc.
Ask various WH- questions (e.g. who, what, where) about the pictures in the book
Talk about the steps in your child bedtime routine (e.g. first let's brush our teeth, then read a book)
Sing! Singing not only can provide the opportunity to connect with your child, but there is a lot of strong evidence that shows how singing can support language development.
It should be noted you can use these strategies in any daily activity. They can be used across the board and in almost any setting!
If you have any concerns regarding your child’s speech and language development, contact SG Speech Therapy today for a complimentary consultation.
With Love,