GRAMMAR DEVELOPMENT

Speech/Language Activities for Home/Classroom Use

Susan Bastardo, M.S. CC-Sp

Model the correct language target while engaging in the following activities:

Stories Young children often enjoy being able to tell a familiar story even though they cannot “read.” Show your child how to “tell” a story by just describing the pictures (a fun way to get through a book that may be too long to keep your child’s attention.) Then let him do the same with another familiar story.
Natural conversation: During conversation, if your child uses a grammatical structure incorrectly, you can model the correct form by just restating his sentence as part of your conversation. For example, if your child says “Him took my paper,” you can say, “He took your paper? What did he do with it?”

Expand your child’s statements into sentences or phrases just slightly more complex than his attempt. Use these expansions as an opportunity to affirm what your child has said rather than correct it. For example, if your child says, “Where doggie go?” you can say, “I don’t know! Where did the doggie go?”
Keep the thought process going with a side comment on the child’s statement. When your child provides a statement, add the next thought that comes to mind for you. For example, if your child says, “Truck broken.” you can say, “The truck is broken. It doesn’t roll anymore.”
Talk about what you are doing. Describe what you see. Describe what you are thinking. Keep your comments short and simple. For example, if you are picking up toys with your child, you might say, “Lets do all the blocks first. Where’s the container? There it is! Can you reach it? Put it here. Let’s take turns. My turn; your turn. Is that the cover? Put it on. Uh oh, too big! Maybe this cover fits,” etc. Your child may just enjoy listening and learning during these times and may not respond directly.
Parallel your child’s silent play with verbal description: “Language develops first in the silent thought of a child’s mind before it shows up in the speech we hear.” This is similar to the activity described above but now you are trying to put yourself in your child’s shoes. Notice his gaze, his facial expressions, etc. and try to put his thoughts into words.
Isolate small elements of language to build on. If your child is having difficulty using structures that are typical for a child of his age, and if he is beyond the age of 4-5, you may be able to go beyond modeling (as mentioned in item #1.) The next steps would be as follows:

Providing choices: If your child misuses a structure (e.g. “Her is too big for that!”) and you have spent time modeling and rewording the phrase correctly for him in the past, see if he can select the correct form given a choice: “Do we say ‘Her is too big’ or ‘She is too big.’?” This will give your child the opportunity to listen critically. If your child chooses correctly, be sure to continue the conversation: “You're right, she is too big. She might break that chair if she sits there.” If your child chooses incorrectly, say “It sounds better to say, ‘She is too big. She is too big for that chair. She might break it!’ ” Be sure to use the structure frequently in a variety of contexts. In the case of pronoun use, try not to confuse your child by using the incorrect word (her) correctly (“The chair is too big for her.’) Instead, just focus on the context that you are targeting and give your child the opportunity to hear and become familiar with it.

Providing cues: If your child has been given choices and consistently chooses the correct form, you can begin to provide a less direct cue. As with the example above, your response could be, “Do we say her is too big’?” and wait for your child to judge the accuracy of the statement. He may correct it or he may just indicate that it does not sound right. Affirm or model the correct form. If your child seems uncertain, go back to providing a choice.