Encouraging Language Development

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• Preschoolers (age 3-4)
• Encourage your Child's Language Development- Part 1

Part 2

By Sharon R. Gainforth

Today, I would like for you to take a moment to reflect on the concept of repetition. First of all however, let's review. In the last article, we looked at the significance of following your child's lead. Your child is more apt to talk about topics that interest him/her. In addition, we discussed the importance of modelling the words that clearly delienate your child's focus of attention.

THAT'S TOO COOL!!...is my adopted expression. Is this utterance a 'Sharon original'? ... absolutely not. It definately is an act of forgery. How then is this saying nicely nestled into my assortment of expressions? The answer can be found within the concept of REPETITION. During a season of camping with good friends, this expression was frequently heard. The second important ingredient that solidified the adoption was the JOVIAL ATMOSPHERE for which it was embedded.

Now, let's apply this information to our children and language development. A child's liklihood of imitating a word is enhanced when repetition is involved. Consider the following scenario...a child is playing with a variety of farm animals. This child pretends that the cow is eating hay. A golden opportunity for repetition is at your fingertips. Suddenly you notice that all the animals have become very hungry. In a playful manner, the horse says "I want to eat." The pig jumps in repeating "I want to eat." Of course all the barnyard animals don't want to be left out so one by one they make their request "I want to eat ". Notice that I put the emphasis on the pronoun "I". This activity would work well especially for those children who substitute the pronoun "me" for "I". Your language goal might be different yet the play need not be. For example , if your child is at the beginning stages of language development, you might repetitively model the word "eat". ie. "cow eat"; "horse eat"; ect. If your child was especially interested in the hay....well that would be the word that you could repeat. Please don't forget the second important ingredient mentioned above...the jovial atmosphere. Playfulness allows the repetition to happen. In fact, it will be this atmosphere that will keep your child requesting the activity again and again and again!

In summary, repetition embedded in playfulness is a powerful ingredient for enhancing your child's language development.

Sharon R. Gainforth, B.Sc.C.D.M.A.SLP(C) Speech Language Pathologist, Private Practise, (506) 849-5368

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