Toys, toys toys! Do we see them as constant problems or endless possibilities? What if we looked at those toys as ways to improve speech and language development for your child rather than a huge mess in our house? You, as the parent, are your child’s best teacher. Today we want to talk about the farm. Almost every household with little children has some animals, a barn, or something similar laying around. Here are some ways to play with the barn and animals while investing in your child’s speech and language skills. These ideas do not replace therapy. These are just some extra ideas to do when you are home, playing with your child.
JOINT ATTENTION
Joint attention is one of the first types of communication we see from little ones. This is when there is a shared focus on an item, toy, person etc. Try to encourage joint attention by following the child’s lead and mirroring their actions. Shift your attention to whatever your child is focusing on. Use gestures, sounds, and short words while playing with your child.
FIRST WORDS AND SOUNDS
Farms are great for beginning speech sounds (m,p,b,d) as well as beginning consonant-vowel sound combinations (e.g. CV, VC, CVCV). For example, “moo” “baa baa” “cow” “eat” “up” “neigh”.
PREPOSITIONS
Work on spatial concepts such as, in/out, on/off, in front/behind, top/middle/bottom while putting the animals all over the barn.
WH QUESTIONS
Work on “who” “what” “when” “where” “why” and “how” questions to help expand your child’s vocabulary and language skills.
Thank you for reading! We hope it was helpful!
Please visit our website at www.granitebayspeech.com for more information
