One of my favorite things about being an SLP is working with parents to empower them to increase language development at home. For working parents Saturday and Sundays are usually the days they get the most time with their kids and also the days they have to get everything else done. I don’t like to add any extra stuff to my bag and my kids are old enough now that I don’t always need THINGS to keep them entertained. So my focus here is to give an example of how you can increase language while out and around your own town.
Children learn language best in natural situations. In speech therapy we teach skills in a structured environment and then we train parents to carry out those skills in the natural context of their child’s everyday.
We have a lot of trains in Wheaton, Illinois. A lot of trains. This is something we did not have in Texas. My kids are fascinated by these trains. Any day we leave our house we cannot avoid driving over, or under, the tracks. So to get my kids talking I ask them questions that target their senses. This sensory approach can be made harder for my older one and a little easier for my younger one.
How do you feel in your car seat when we go ‘bump, bump’ over the tracks?
Do you hear the crossing signal? Why do you think it’s so loud even with our windows closed?
Look at that train! Is it a Metra carrying people in to the city? Is it a freight train? How can you tell?
Usually I only need to ask a question or two and before I know it we’re a mile or two away from the train but still talking about it.
Every area has a thing that is specific to their region in terms of transportation. In Houston it was the flyovers on the freeway. I could get my kids talking about those for miles.
So what is it about your area that gets your kids talking? What starts as labeling what they see can quickly turn in to using 2 and 3 words to describe the world around them.
Happy Weekending!