Tag: speech practice

Do you have a child with speech and language delays? Are you a home school mom wondering how you can help? Are you looking for fun, easy ways to practice at home? Did you know embedding practice throughout the day is the best way to work on carry over? Interested in learning more? Check out these Tips on when and how you can practice speech and language at home. For the best results talk to your child’s speech and language therapist to prioritize the goals you want to address! If you don’t have a speech therapist please feel free to message you and I will help you with the process of finding one!

1. Model Speech and language: Use grammatically correct sentences and speak clearly at an appropriate rate. Use simple vocabulary words they are familiar with or remember to explain the meaning of a new word. If they say a word wrong model the correct way rather than correcting them. 

2. Meal Time:  During meal times, talk about everyone’s day or something special that will be happening. Ask your child about their favorite food and use descriptive words to talk about what they are eating. You can also use words that start with the speech sound they are working on.

3. Verbal Routines: Say the same thing each time you play with something. For example, while playing with a car you could always say “ready, set, go” or you can count steps as you go up or downstairs. 

4. Trick Them: When you put out materials for them “forget” something so they have to make a request. For example, put out coloring books, but forget the crayons to provide practice requesting. 

5. Read Books: This impacts language development so much! Using the same daily book is okay and repetitive books are great! If your child is working a specific speech sound find words in books so they can practice their sounds.

6. Sing Songs: Songs and Nursery rhymes are awesome ways to build language. You child will be more willing to participate and will learn new words. If your child is just starting to speak you can sing and pause so that they can fill in words.

7. Narrate Life: Talk about routines as you are doing them. Comment and expand on what they say using modifiers. The more you model the more they learn.

8. Have Fun: Learning language through play is the best! Outdoor play, board games, and playing with toys will all provide you with many opportunities to work on speech and language skills!

I participated in a Podcast sharing these tips! Check it out!

Want to connect? Join my group https://www.facebook.com/groups/3311410002281605/

Looking for additional ideas on how to embed skills development into everyday activities? Join my email list for my monthly newsletter!    

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Tina Williams, M.A., CCC-SLP

Does your child make errors on speech sounds? Do family and friends have trouble understanding what they are saying? Do they get frustrated when they aren’t understood? Are you looking to help your child work on Speech over the summer?  

Let’s explore 5 Fun things to do to build those Speech skills!

1. Bubbles, horns and whistles- are all great for oral motor practice. Build mouth strength, control and coordination in a fun way! Your local dollar store will have a variety of fun choice that come in multi-packs so the whole family can join in! Take it outside and have parades or just have fun blowing and popping bubbles! Reminder the best bubbles are the ones they are blowing.  An extra tips, popsicles and ice cream cones are also fun ways to work on oral motor skills-get those little tongues moving with control!!

2. Books and Reading- have your child repeat words and phrases form their favorite story. Repetitive books are great especially if you want to focus on certain sound or words!  Some of my favorites for speech practice include “Moo, Baa, La La La” by Sandra Boynton, “Old McDino had a Farm” by Becky Davies, and “Hi Pizza Man!” by Virginia Walter, but any book that your child loves will work! Bonus tip, if your child is working on a certain sound find a book that has a lot of words containing that sound, listening to it will provide auditory bombardment (hearing the sound a bunch of times) and then they can practice it!

3. Nursery Rhymes and Songs- practice those simple words in a fun way! Pause to give your child time to say the word on their own! There are so many songs and rhymes to use while practicing speech- Old McDonald, Wheels on the Bus, the Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed,  and the ABC’s! Teach them your childhood favorites and give them lots of opportunities to practice speech. 

4. Verbal Routines -say the same thing each time you play something. Does your child like playing with cars? Practice “Ready, Set, Go” as the car goes down ramps or as you push it back and forth or set up a tower and use “crash” as the car knocks it down. This can also be done with balls, on the slide, or as they jump into a pool! Counting is another great way to practice words- count as you go upstairs or downstairs, count houses or rocks as you take a walk,  or count pushes on a swing. There are so many opportunities to practice sounds and words!

5. Narrate Life- Talk about routines as you are doing them. “We are going outside!”, “Let’s make lunch.”, “Yum, we are eating goldfish crackers”,  “Let’s take a bath.”,  “Washing your toes.” -the possibilities are endless! You can also comment on what your child says by using modifiers. For example, if they say “ball” respond “Oh you want the big ball” or “Here’s the blue ball”.  The more you model, the more they learn!

Bonus Tip-  Have Fun!! Playing and spending time together is the best way to practice Speech!

Want to connect? I would love to help you find more games to Laugh and Learn Through Play with your family!  https://www.facebook.com/TinaWilliamsSimplyFunIndependentConsultant/

or join my group https://www.facebook.com/groups/3311410002281605/

Looking for additional ideas on how to embed skills development into everyday activities? Join my email list for my monthly newsletter!    

https://forms.aweber.com/form/67/1854092667.htm