Lauren and I acknowledge that you are your child’s first teacher. With this in mind, we believe that you hold the keys to supporting your child to understand their spoken words.
Here are five tips to support you:
1. Make Connections – Engage your child in conversations about everyday activities. Whether you are making breakfast or cooking dinner, cleaning the car or your computer, exercising or relaxing, describe what you are doing and what you see. The ability to make connections between first hand experiences and the characters within fictional texts are the foundations for reading comprehension. Discuss what is going on in the local area and the wider world. As their understanding develops, this will provide valuable opportunities to talk, explain and discuss, as you create language rich experiences and pockets of quality time for mutual understanding.
2. Opportunities for visualising/imagining can be created in many different ways – create a scene and provide props, which include your child’s favourite toys and other household objects, and ask your child to describe what they think is happening or might happen. It’s important not to make anything wrong about what is said, as there is no perfect here just the opportunity to create. If you want to tell a different story, take a turn after your child. If this activity is difficult for your child, then demonstrate this first and provide encouragement until your child is ready. The more you do this, the easier it will become. An alternative activity is to provide descriptive language to support your child to imagine specific settings like a quiet beach, a busy supermarket or a beautiful garden filled with flowers. Do choose settings that are familiar to your child as well as ongoingly introducing your child to new settings through stories and pictures to discuss. Ask your child to imagine what it’s like to be in different settings.
3. Create a love of reading – Books allow for new possibilities to be created and experienced with windows to new words and ideas. Make reading a daily habit. Find your best time to share, whether at breakfast or at the end of a day. Ask questions about the story to assess understanding, making sure to explain any words that your child may be unsure of. Where relevant, do link any experiences to your child’s, making connections to support understanding. Allow your child to choose a book too, whether from their own selection or visit the local library to borrow books. Audio books also provide the option for you to relax and listen together.
4. Expand upon sentences – If your child says “doggy bark” you can expand it to “Yes, the dog is barking.” This provides a model and extends and enriches their vocabulary. Make sure to explain any words that your child may be unfamiliar with. Begin to notice when your child begins using new words, it will be in part because of this activity. Do extend the sentence as appropriate to your child’s development e.g. “Yes, the dog next door is barking loudly” etc. Similarly, if your child says a word incorrectly e.g. “I putted the pencils away”, do correct the error, remembering to provide praise when your child is able to apply the new knowledge.
5. Limiting screen time allows for more opportunities for creative, interactive play and conversation, all crucial for language development and socialisation skills. Screens cannot ever replace the value of human interaction. There is lots of information that highlights how screen time impacts children’s focus and attention. I always say – If Steve Job’s reduced the time his children used devices, then we ought to follow suit.
If there are any topics that you would like us to cover, direct message us and we will be happy to help.
Until next week,
