Expressive/Receptive Language Development

SKILL AREA: Expressive and Receptive Language
EXPLANATION OF SKILL AREA: Children who need to increase expressive language skills and build receptive language skills can do so through simple practice during daily routines. Your simple daily activates provide many different opportunities to practice speech and language targets. There are easy ways to do this without preparing crazy activates or setting aside extended periods of time in your busy day to practice. Simple things like snack time, getting dressed and other daily school routines can be used to create habits of speech and language practice. Below are skill areas and how they can be incorporated during daily routines, on the go and at home!

SKILL AREA AND HOW TO FURTHER DEVELOP:

» Describing: Practice describing items that you and your student see while playing on the playground, going on a walk, or even reading your favorite books. You can encourage your students to name different objects then provide details on how it is used (function), the category it belongs in, identifying colors, size, etc. You, the teacher, can also do the describing and have your students guess which item you’re talking about.

» Categorizing: You can target this anywhere, anytime! Provide your students with a category and have him/her provide items that belong in the category. Some examples are different types of transportation, things you eat, things you see at school or the park, etc.

» Answering Questions: You can target all Wh- questions (who, what, where, when, why) by simply asking about your students’ day or what they want to do that day. Encourage their response and model correct responses. Ask things such as “What do you want for lunch?”, “Who did you play with at home?”, “Where is your mommy?”, etc.

» Sequencing: When practicing sequencing it is important to provide prompts or transition words, such as “First, Then, Next, Last, After”. In the morning you can tell your students the plan for the day and when it comes time for each thing, ask him/her if he/she remembers what comes next. For example: “First we’re going to have breakfast. Then we’re going to have circle”. “First we’ll have lunch, then we’ll play outside on the playground.” You can also incorporate sequencing when doing activates such as art activities or outdoor play (i.e. First we need to put on our shoes. Then, let’s get our jackets. Now we can go to the playground!)