Life can be busy and fast-paced, which makes it hard to find extra time to work on your child’s language goals throughout the week. Here are a few routines you might experience every day with your kids that provide some easy ways to target language development.
Car Rides
Riding in the car can be the perfect time to work on language since your child is seated and possibly attentive. A few examples of language activities include targeting colors by taking turns naming the color of cars you see or play rainbow cars- start with finding a red car, then orange, then yellow, making your way through the rainbow. You can also work on labeling items outside with single words, or expanding to phrase use by modeling repetitive phrases and changing only one of the words for your child to imitate- “I see bus… I see tree. Your turn, what do you see?”
Meal Times
Getting ready for meals is a great way to target language. Your child can be in charge of setting the table. Give them one or two-step directions to include what to bring from the kitchen to the table- “put your cup on the table” or “get a fork and put it next to your plate.” You can also work on answering wh- and yes/no questions- “what do we use when we eat cereal?” or “do you drink from your plate?”
Brushing Teeth
When it’s time to brush teeth you can ask, “what do we need for brushing our teeth?” to elicit answering wh- questions and following directions to get everything that is needed in front of them on the counter. When working on using single words and simple phrases, you can model actions and objects as you’re interacting with them- “toothpaste”… “brush, brush, brush”… “water on.”
Story Times
Book reading provides endless language opportunities. You can work on making choices by bringing out two books for your child to choose from. While working on choices, you can also target phrase use by modeling, “I want (book name) or I want (book name).” Don’t read the words. Label objects and actions in pictures for your child to imitate or just point to a picture and wait for your child to spontaneously label. Using books with repetitive, predictable phrases or words provides your child with the perfect opportunity to “read” along.
Bath Times
Taking a bath can be a fun way for your child to work on language goals. You can model the language related to what you’re doing while performing the actions. This provides your child with words and phrases to imitate, and words and phrases to associate with an action- “I’m turning the water on… warm water… pour bubbles… in the tub… splash!” You can also work on receptive and expressive language related to cleaning up bath toys. Tell your child one toy to clean up at a time. You can also model repetitive phrases such as “bye duck”… “bye cup” for each bath toy when cleaning up.
It can be difficult to find time to add one more task to your to-do list into an already busy schedule, but with a little creativity, your child’s language goals can be targeted during any daily routine!
Written by Alexandra Gantner, M.A., CCC-SLP
