Maximizing Your Child's Language Development

By Lisa Domas

The best way to prepare your child for school is to provide him with as many language experiences as possible. A child's ultimate resource for learning to read and write is his spoken language (Marie M. Clay, developer of Reading Recovery). There are many activities that parents can do to develop their child's language skills. For example:

• Talk and listen to your child. Have a conversation about his day. He should be doing most of the talking.
• Talk about everything you experience with your child in detail. Talk about where you are and what you see when you go to the grocery store, church, restaurants, museums, and family vacations. (Do not forget to talk about what you see and places you are passing whenever you are driving in the car.) Have your child retell the events of the day.
• Encourage your child to talk to adults. Have him order food at restaurants, greet people who he comes in contact with at home and while visiting others, and acknowledge people appropriately when he is out in public.
• Expect your child to speak in complete sentences. Do not accept one-word answers.
• Be specific when you speak and expect the same from your child. Do not talk in non-specific terms. Avoid words like stuff, thing, things, that one, one place, over there. Do not let your child speak in non-specific terms either.
• Play language games. Play category games, describing games, and/or board games.
• Read to your child every day. Show enthusiasm for books. Discuss the pictures, plot, and meaning of the books. Relate the books to personal experiences. Ask questions and have your child ask you questions about the books.
• Limit "screen time." Research shows that there is a relationship between increased amounts of "screen time" (time spent on the computer, watching TV, and playing video games) and lower academic achievement scores.
• Give your child a variety of hands-on experiences that encourage imagination. Have your child play in the sand/dirt, build with old boxes, cook, explore, and play make-believe.
• Establish a consistent home routine. Be consistent with family dinners, family prayer, reading time, and bedtime.

The above activities will help build the necessary neural connections for the preschool years. These connections are vital for the foundation of a confident and academically successful child.

Lisa Domas is a speech-language pathologist at Barnes Early Childhood Center and can be reached at 313.432.5537. She graduated with a Master's degree in speech-language pathology in 2006 from Wayne State University and has held a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association since 2007. Currently, Lisa assesses and plans therapy programs for the 24- to 36-month-old toddlers in need of speech and language intervention in Grosse Pointe. She also works with parents, empowering them to be their child's number one therapist. Three afternoons a week, she works in a classroom with preschoolers who have varying degrees of language needs. Her passion is giving very young children with delays in speech and language development the best possible start for their elementary school years.

SAVE THE DATE:
Making a Successful Transition into Kindergarten
A special follow up to The Family Center's past fall "Kindergarten: Get Ready!!" presentation.
Tuesday, Feb. 2, 7pm
Barnes Early Childhood Center
20090 Morningside Dr., Grosse Pointe Woods
$5/person
RSVP by Jan. 26 @ 313.432.3832 or info@familycenterweb.org

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