Speech and language development is essential during the early years of a child’s life. If you’re concerned about your child’s speech or understanding what is being said, don’t worry, you are not alone. According to recent studies, 1 in 4 U.S. parents who have children ages 0 to 8, are concerned with their child’s ability to communicate.
While children develop at different rates, if you suspect your child has a speech or language disorder it is important to take action. Hoping they will outgrow the problem can negatively affect other aspects of your child’s life. Such as their ability to learn, read, write, and even socialize.
Here are a few easy tips to encourage language building skills at home
Encourage conversation
Have storytelling sessions with your child. Ask open ended questions that will provoke thinking. Instead of asking questions that can be answered with yes or no. encourage them to express with thoughts and ideas without being concerned about being right or wrong. For instance, “What would you do if you could fly like a bird?” Or, “What would you do if you had a dinosaur in your backyard?”
Play games
Blowing through a straw helps develop strong mouth muscle. Whether it is drinking through them or playing a game. For instance, have them blow through a straw towards a ping pong ball to a goal on the other side of a table, or see how long they can suck in the air from a straw to keep the ping ball on the end. Remember to make learning fun.
Encourage conversation
Have storytelling sessions with your child. Ask open ended questions that will provoke thinking. Instead of asking questions that can be answered with yes or no. encourage them to express with thoughts and ideas without being concerned about being right or wrong. For instance, “What would you do if you could fly like a bird?” Or, “What would you do if you had a dinosaur in your backyard?”
Reading
Reading with your child is vital. Ask your child to point to certain things on each page, ask questions about the pictures or what’s going on in the story. For older children, ask them about similar experiences they may have had or what they think may happen next. Reading the same story over and over also helps build language skills, while fostering familiarity.
Team up with a speech therapist for success
Speaking clearly and good communication is key to your child’s success in the future. The most important things you can do to help is to consult with a speech-language therapist, be patient, have a conversation and speak clearly to your child.
