How can I increase my child’s language production at home?

We are often asked by parents are there any ways I can increase my child's language production at home? We encourage you to do five simple everyday activities and incorporate them into your everyday play and routines! 

1. Model carrier phrases! Using “I want  ___” , “I see ___”, and “I need ___” are great to increase overall MLU and can assist your child with communicating beyond single words.

2. Read books! Books are a great resource to target both expressive and receptive language skills because it exposes them to unfamiliar words and vocabulary.You can ask your child to locate and identify objects, describe what they see such as colors, animals, and descriptive qualities, and increase word awareness. 

3. Play! Interacting in play with your child is one of the best ways to engage in language building skills. You can boost their imagination to increase social pragmatics, critical thinking, and scripting. You can have them imitate environmental sounds such as animal and transportation noises and let their creativity soar. 

4. Sing songs and nursery rhymes! Music is a fun and upbeat way to incorporate language into your lifestyle. Songs that repeat phrases such as “wheels on the bus”. “if you’re happy and you know it”, and “head shoulders knees and toes” are great and also have gestures to move along and imitate. 

5. Self and parallel talk! Narrating anything and everything from routines to describe what you are adding to your grocery cart can expand language and put objects to their name. Parallel talk can boost your child's understanding of the actions they are doing, seeing, eating, etc. 

If you are concerned about your child's language please feel free to give our office a call for an evaluation of receptive and expressive language skills! 

Written by Alanna Kinney and Lauren Meffen