Ways to Foster Language Development

Communication skills are very important to children. First, babies babble. Next, they practice making individual sounds and then string sounds together to speak words. As toddlers, they begin to string words together, eventually making sentences. Without language and speech, they can't let others know what they want and need, and what's important to them.

As caregivers and teachers, we play an important role in helping children learn to communicate with others, and, eventually, to read and write. But there's another reason why communicating is so critical to a growing child's development. There's more and more evidence suggesting that having a good command of language goes hand-in-hand with the ability to imagine and think up new ideas.

Some of the ways we can foster language development are to:

1. Read or say nursery rhymes to your child so they can hear the rhythm and flow of our language

2. Sing simple songs with them

3. Use body language in songs, stories, and in everyday activities (shrug your shoulders, shake your head, etc.)

4. Name objects as you both look at them and...

• Set out a group of common objects and have the child name them and discuss different attributes (size, color, weight, shape)
• Name and touch body parts using rhymes, games, and songs
• Group and name objects that go together
• Ask the child riddles - children love to guess the answer

5. Introduce new words...

• Through stories
• Through looking at magazines together and discussing them
• On neighborhood walks
• By making word cards with a word and its picture
• Through lotto games (picture Bingo games found at children's gift stores)
• On signs in your environment

6. Engage in one-to-one conversations between you and your child in which you...

• Model correct pronunciation to each other
• Model how to ask a question and how to answer

7. Engage in conversations about their likes and dislikes

8. Tell simple stories which involve the children responding

9. Read favorite stories over and over and then let your child tell them to you

10. Ask lots of open-ended questions (questions which cause them to think and which require more than a yes or no answer)

11. Play with your child and talk as you play...

• In the house
• Outside
• Using objects you have found to stimulate imaginative situations
• Fill a box with objects and ask the child to tell who might own them, and then play with them

12. Encourage writing activities...

• Record your child's favorite color, shape, animal, activity and reread their answer to them later
• Begin writing a poem and have them help you rhyme it
• Have children predict what will happen in a certain situation and record it later, follow up and see if the predictions came true
• Encourage your child to "write" a story with your help

13. Model using words with sounds your child has a problem saying...

• Play word games using the sound
• Each time you hear a word with the sound, you both repeat it
• Notice when the sound is used correctly; do not notice incorrect usage

Related Training:

Fostering the Development of Language Skills - 1 hour