How to Enhance Your Child's Speech/Language Development 

Through Every Day Routines

Parents/caregivers are their children's experts and best language teachers/models!  They spend a great deal of time with them each day, which spans a lifetime.  There are so many opportunities to enhance language skills throughout the daily routines that everyone engages in anyway.

Here is a short list of ideas parents/caregivers can implement with their children 0-5 years to support optimal speech/language and social skills development.

Child 6-9 mos. Spend time close up to your child (e.g. face to face, on the floor), imitating their babbling, playing "tickle tickle" and peekaboo games.  Smile, look at, and talk to your child frequently.  Vary your pitch to sound melodic and higher pitch than when talking to adults.

Child age 9-12 mos.  Point to everyday items in your child's life while naming them.  Talk to your child about what you do with him/her in care taking (e.g. changing diaper, feeding, driving in the car, shopping at the store).

Child age 12-24 mos. Point to everyday items in your child's life while naming them.  Talk to your child about what you do with him/her in care taking (e.g. changing diaper, feeding, driving in the car, shopping at the store).  Use routine-bound words (e.g. on the slide, up-up-up, ready set go, weee). Read early books (e.g. board books) that have few and large pictures in them.  Talk about the pictures rather than reading the text.  Use short sentences (e.g. "The boy eats a banana.").

Child age 24-36 mos. Narrate what your child does (or others s/he observes) using the present tense in short comments, avoiding questions and pronouns (e.g. "Johnny is swinging," "Daddy is making eggs." etc.).  Include your child in every day routines such as grocery shopping, laundry, washing dishes. Ask and answer wh-questions about daily events and points of interest to support syntactic and semantic development of question asking, especially what and where. Play with your child on the floor using open-ended toys (e.g. animals, play food, blocks, etc.).  Describe your child's play and yours to him/her (e.g. "Johnny, your dinosaur is eating the tree").  Read early books (e.g. board books) that have few and large pictures in them.  Talk about the pictures rather than reading the text.  Use short sentences (e.g. "The boy eats a banana.").

Child age 36-48 mos. Share your daily activity schedule with your child, as you narrate the past, present, and future activities you do together to encourage development of verb tenses (e.g. "We're driving to school, and later we will go to your swim lesson." "You went to school, and now you are swimming.  Later we will eat dinner." etc.).  Ask and answer wh-questions about daily events and points of interest to support syntactic and semantic development of question asking, especially where, who, and why.   Use these teachable moments to stimulate concepts such as size, color, shapes, numbers.  Read books frequently, and make them routine in your life (e.g. before bed, during meals, during bath time with water-safe books).  Go to the library and/or bookstore, and include your child in the routine of checking out/buying books.  Play word/rhyming games (e.g. "Hop hop, now we [stop]").  Play board games/turn-taking games to encourage turn-taking, social commenting (e.g. "It's my turn, I got four.  I'm going up the ladder!").

Child age 48-52 mos. Ask and answer wh-questions about daily events and points of interest to support syntactic and semantic development of question asking, especially when, and why, and how.  Read books frequently, and make them routine in your life (e.g. before bed, during meals, during bath time with water-safe books).  Go to the library and/or bookstore, and include your child in the routine of checking out/buying books.  Play word/rhyming games (e.g. "Hop hop, now we [stop]").   Play board games/turn-taking games to encourage turn-taking, social commenting (e.g. "It's my turn, I got four.  I'm going up the ladder!").

Shirit Megiddo, M.S., CCC-SLP, BCS-CL

Flash Card Social Games

Many families have flash cards at home, either in hopes of teaching children words or because some children love looking at them over and over again.  Looking at flash cards on their own is not a very social engaging activity.  There are many socially engaging childhood games, however, that may incorporate a deck of simple flashcards with pictures of common items and/or animals.

Here is a list of such games that you may play with your child using just a deck of
simple flash cards.  If you don't have such flash cards, you can buy them in a department store like Target, CVS, or an office store (e.g. Office Depot) for less than $5 or you can make them yourself using index cards and newspaper ads or magazines (i.e. cut out/glue the pictures on the cards).  Some of these games may be played while traveling on an airplane or in the car.

Playing these games may improve receptive/expressive language skills, speech skills, and social
language-use/pragmatics skills! Most importantly, playing games is fun!

1) Category Memory
Each player picks a category (e.g. animals, foods, clothing, yellow things, round things, etc.).
Then lay out all the cards face down in a square. Players take turns trying to find cards that
belong to their categories. If they find such a card, they keep it. If the card does not belong,
the player puts it back in its original spot. The player with the most cards at the end wins.

2) The “It” Card
Pick one card randomly from the deck to be the “it” card. Then shuffle all the cards (including
the “it” card, which will be referred to by what's on the card, e.g. fork). Place all the cards face
down in a square. Players take turns turning over one card per turn to try to find the “it” card.
Each player should say during their turn “I got a________. It's not the [it card]” or players can
say to what category each item belongs.

3) Secret Card
Arrange all the cards face down in a square. One player hides a penny (or small piece of
paper) under one of the cards. Then the other players take turns asking yes/no questions to
try to eliminate as many cards as possible until they discover the secret card (e.g. Is it
something we eat? Is it a clothing? Is it something red? Etc.). Once a player finds the
penny, s/he may hide the penny next.

4) Hopscotch
Arrange the cards in a hopscotch-style board on the floor (i.e. vertical line with some
horizontal lines intersecting). Use a penny, small rock, or bean bag to toss on the cards.
Players take turns tossing the object, and hopping in one foot to that object. Then the player
names the object, and two things about it (e.g. A horse---it's an animal, and it has a mane).

5) Bean bag Toss
Arrange the cards in any design desired on the floor or a large table. Use a bean bag, ball of
socks, penny, or small ball to toss on the cards. Players take turns tossing the object, and
naming the card. Then the player can name two things about the card (using category,
function, color, size, shape, etc.).

6) What's on my forehead?
Use a ring of scotch tape to tape a card with the picture facing out on each player's head
(alternatively, you can use a strip of paper as a crown with the card attached to it). Players
take turns asking questions of the other players to try to guess what's on their cards. You can
ask yes/no questions or wh-questions (e.g. who, what, where). E.g. Where do you find me?
What do you do with me? What color am I? Etc.

7) Road Race
Arrange the cards in two long vertical lines like roads. Use two small toy vehicles (or dice and
two small objects) to “race” along the cards. If using toy cars, the two players should take
turns pushing their cars along the cards. Each player names the card and something about it
for the card where the car landed. Then remove the card from the road. Play progresses
until all cards have been removed. If playing with dice and pawns, players take turns rolling
the dice to see how many spaces their pawn should move (and then name the card and the
facts).

8) Go Fishing
Put a paper clip on each card. Then attach a small magnet from your fridge on a small stick,
fork, or disposible chopstick using a piece of string. Place all the cards in a bowl, box, or hat.
Take turns going fishing for cards. Name the cards, and something about each card. Another
option is to try to create a story using card in a sentence to build on the previous card.

9) Twister
Arrange all the cards face up on the floor two to three inches apart. Players take turns giving
directions to the other players where to put their feet and hands (and maybe other body
parts!) on particular cards (e.g. Put your right foot on the rabbit, and your left hand on the
bed). You can practice one-step, two-step, or three-step directions by deciding how many
actions to do. You can also make the game more complicated by giving clues to the card
instead of the actual object name (e.g. Put your left food on something yellow that swims and
quacks).

10) Hide and Seek
Players play traditional hide and seek by taking turns hiding the cards around the room, and
looking for them. You can also give clues to hide or look for the cards (e.g. Put the pencil
under something you sit on; The pencil is hiding behind something you sleep on, etc.).

11) Bowling
Use empty drink bottles or even toilet paper rolls and a small ball. Place the bottles on the
cards, and roll the ball to knock them down. Take turns, and say the name of the cards you
got or something about the cards. For more challenging play, you can also give clues to the
other player to try to get the target card.

Shirit Megiddo, M.S., CCC-SLP, BCS-CL

How Can a Speech/Language Screening Help Your Child?

What is a Speech/Language Screening?

A speech/language screening is a cursory look at your child's speech/language development to determine if s/he is developing as expected for his/her chronological age. It is carried out by a licensed/certified speech/language pathologist, and takes about 15-20 minutes to complete.

Who should undergo a speech/language screening?

Any child whose parents, teachers, and/or pediatrician suspect is not developing speech/language and/or social communication skills as expected or as compared to his/her peers (please see speech/language milestones posted on this site).

What is the difference between a speech/language screening and a speech/language evaluation?

A screening provides an overview of the child's speech/language development, including skills that are delayed for his/her age and those developing as expected. Informal assessments are used (e.g. language sampling, tasks designed by the speech/language therapist, parental report, etc.). Since the time spent on the screening and report writing is shorter, the cost is lower than for an evaluation.

A speech/language evaluation uses standardized testing in addition to the informal assessments in order to provide standardized scores that show where your child is with respect to other children at his/her chronological age. More time is spent to delve deeper into the specific areas of speech and/or language in order to determine the extend of the delay/disorder that may be present. The report provided is longer and more detailed. The cost is typically higher given the time spent on the evaluation and report.

When should I choose to have a screening, and when should I choose to have an evaluation?

A screening is recommended when your concern with your child's communication skills is straightforward, and you simply want to know whether or not speech/language therapy is necessary. The results of a screening would be recommendation for speech/language therapy, recommendation for additional evaluation in a particular area, or no services are recommended at that time.

An evaluation is recommended when your concerns are more involved (i.e. several language and/or speech difficulties exist), and/or you require a detailed report to share with your child's school district or other professionals). The results of an evaluation would be recommendation for speech/language therapy, a referral to another professional, or no services are recommended at that time.

If you are unsure which to choose, or you would like a free screening, please consult with Shirit Megiddo, M,S., CCC-SLP, BCS-CL by emailing at shiritm@gmail.com or calling (650)814-6866.

Shirit Megiddo, M.S., CCC-SLP, BCS-CL

Speech-Language Pathologist

Board Certified Specialist in Child Language

(650) 814-6866

shiritm@gmail.com

Shirit is a speech/language pathologist who is Board Certified Specialist in Child Language by the American Board of Child Language and Language Disorders. She is bilingual in English and Hebrew, and is licensed and certified in CA with 14 years of experience.

Shirit evaluates, treats, and consults about a variety of communication disorders in children and adults, including but not limited to:

• Receptive/expressive language delays/disorders
• Articulation/phonological delays/disorders
• Social-language use/pragmatics disorders (such as those associated with Autism)
• Fluency disorders (e.g. stuttering)
• Auditory processing difficulties.

Shirit holds a masters degree in Speech/Language Pathology and Audiology from California State University, Hayward and a bachelors degree in Biology with a minor in Linguistics from University of California Santa Cruz. She holds a Speech/Language Pathology license of California and the Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC). Shirit has been a member of the American Speech Hearing Association (ASHA) and the California Speech/Hearing Associlation (CSHA) since 2003. Shirit also has limited skills in Spanish and American Sign Language, which she uses in her therapy when necessary.