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Writer's pictureAlexandra Epstein

How to help a late talker elicit language

Is your child a late talker and you are unsure how to help them start saying more words at home? Here are a few simple techniques that Speech-Language Pathologists use to elicit language you can implement at home with your child.


SELF-TALK

Self-talk is when you narrate what you're doing in everyday life for your child. Children are little sponges and pick up so much language by just listening. Narrate the day-to-day tasks that you and your child do together. Use simple words in context for them to make connections between words, actions, and objects. Talk about what you are doing, seeing, eating, touching, or thinking when your child is present. For example: "I'm pouring the milk." "Now, I'm eating my cereal." "All done." Repetition is key. Try to use the exact words repeatedly during your daily routines. You can use animated voices, adjust your volume, and change your pitch to grab your little one's attention!


PARALLEL TALK

Narrate actions your child is doing. Describe what they see, eat, touch, and play with. You can do this through your daily routine and playtime. An example would be, "You're building a tower! Wow-what a big tower! Uhoh, the tower fell!" This is a great way to engage your child, work on joint attention, model, and introduce nouns, verbs, and simple adjectives to them.


CHOICES

Give your child the opportunity to make their own choices, whether it be choosing a snack, a toy, clothing items, or a movie. Doing so puts indirect pressure on the toddler by presenting him or her with a concrete choice. This can be adapted to meet your child's current level and is a fun way to model new vocabulary words using expanded utterances. Have your child point when given two pictures or objects. Practice saying and imitating what they have chosen!

"Do you want to eat crackers or grapes? Yay grapes" or "Do you want the cow or the horse? Cow, let's play cow."


OOPS!

Purposefully make mistakes! Children know the rules and norms of their environment or play scheme and love to point out the mistakes! For example, deliberately knock over a block tower or skip an essential step in a routine. See if your child notices and if they bring it to your attention. Are they pointing or gesturing to what you forgot? Model words " uh oh" and "oops" or gestures to see if your child will imitate. Some children may even flip the script and mimick your behavior to get your reaction, e.g., knock over the blockhouse you made. This is a great way to play and establish communicative intent.


PAUSING

Pausing when your child's turn to respond or interact in play or conversation can set the stage and give them the processing time needed to communicate or react. Children typically require 3-5 seconds to process and respond. This is great to practice in familiar play routines. For example, using a car or ball, say" Read Set....." then pause for a few seconds before your child says "go" or pushes the vehicle forward. Using pausing techniques can also be helpful with older children when asking a question or waiting for a response during a conversation. You can show your child that you are waiting expectantly by raising your eyebrows, smiling, and opening your mouth.


Want more techniques and activities to help develop early language skills? Check out this similar topic How Can I Help My Child Talk? Or to learn more, subscribe to our blog for regular updates and information on all things language, speech, feeding, and occupational therapy.



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