Early Language

Therapy for young children at our center is play-based and fun. We strive to create a learning environment that provides the child with the opportunity to choose from among selected tasks, along with the structure needed to help her grow. We adapt our selection of therapy techniques and activities to each child’s personality and needs.  Such activities include bubbles, Mr. Potato Head,, transportation sets, puzzles, play food, toy animals, and games.  For some young children who have a stronger attention span, we may even present picture cards and papers designed to target their individual speech or language needs.

Of course, family involvement is crucial to a child's progress.  Some families opt to remain in the therapy room to observe during sessions, but for some children, their parent's presence in the room provides a distraction.  In such cases, the families are welcome to listen to the therapy session or wait for their child in our lobby to receive a report of the child's progress.  Families are provided with suggestions for helping to continue the child's progress at home.  

What can I do to help?

Following are some key concepts and suggestions, which we have found to be extremely helpful in developing the speech and language skills of young children:

• It is important that verbal communication be positive and desirable to children and not a source of struggle between the child and adult. A child will always win the “tug of war” when an adult wants her to speak but the child refuses. One reason a toddler will refuse to speak is that she has not experienced success with it. We all avoid things with which we have not been successful. While repeating a word may seem simple to us, the child may not yet have the coordination skills necessary for word production or imitation (i.e., We may be asking a child to do something that is physically impossible.)

• One way to avoid setting up a negative atmosphere regarding communication is to eliminate demands for a child to speak (e.g., “If you want it, you need to say it.” “Tell me what you want.” “Tell Grandma your new word.”) Instead, set up an environment in which the child would be encouraged to attempt to speak. This can be accomplished by significantly reducing the amount of adult talking, so that the child may have an opportunity to speak (i.e., “air time”).  Any sound a child makes (including a simple “uh”) should be naturally rewarded as a sign of verbal communication. When trying to encourage a child to speak, we need to bring our models down to a level within his reach. If a child hardly makes any sounds, we should begin at the single sound level. Following is an example of such an interaction as a child and parent are playing with bubbles:

Parent: “I have bubbles.” “Bubbles.” “Buh”. (The parent may pause for several seconds with the bubble wand in hand and a smile on her face, indicating to the child that she is waiting for a verbal attempt.)

Child: “Uh”. (This may have been an actual attempt to say “buh” or “bubbles” or it may have been a “happy accident” in which the child just so happened to say a sound. Whatever it may be, the silence in the pausing allows the parent to hear the sound and provide positive reinforcement, and it enables the child to begin to make the connection that, “I made a sound, and I got what I wanted.”)

Parent: “Good. Bubbles. Buh.” (Then blow the bubbles.)

In this example, we are helping the child to realize the power of his voice. By accepting any sound to start, the child also learns that “My best is good enough.” Eventually, the child will become more confident and willing to attempt the correct sounds and words as we model them. As the child’s comfort and ability increase, we can gradually “raise the bar” and begin to expect a bit more accuracy in his sound and word attempts. 

But what if the child does not make a sound as we wait in anticipation? At the beginning stages of remediation, we would provide the reinforcement after several seconds of waiting, without an indication of disappointment in the child’s lack of performance. This will help maintain a positive environment for speech, and the child will eventually become more willing to try. Once she realizes that “I have power when I use my words.” and “My parent and I are on the same team with this.”, she will soon be willing to attempt saying and imitating more and more sounds. 

• One approach for encouraging a child to produce and imitate sounds and words is to follow his lead. If he is engaged in an activity of interest, we can join the child and provide short simple labels and sounds to match the action.  For example, if the child is playing silently with a toy car on a track, we can say, “Go, go, go. Stop.” as he moves the car along the track. It is so helpful to provide such “routines” when playing with the child. He may not imitate us at the time of our model, but we may hear the words occurring when the child is engaged in the same task at a later date. Another way of following a child’s lead is to imitate his sounds as he babbles (i.e., He may be more willing to imitate us if we imitate him.)

• A more-structured technique would be to set up opportunities for the child to be motivated enough to speak. This could be done by taking a desired item (such as a toy, food or drink) and placing it beyond the child’s access. In order to obtain the object of desire, the child could be encouraged to use his “words”. It is crucial that such a situation not be presented as a power struggle, but as an occasion for verbal communication. Imagine in the following sample dialog that the child is pointing to a box of cookies beyond his reach:

Parent: “Do you want the cookies?”

Child: (Just points.)

Parent: (Takes a cookie out of the box.) “Here’s a cookie. /k/ cookie. /k/.” (Parent pauses with a smile on her face and just waits.)

Child: Option A—Child makes a sound (at this point, any sound will do). Parent responds as if the child said, “cookie” by saying, “/k/ Cookie, good. Here’s your cookie.” 
Option B—Child continues to point and does not say anything. Parent repeats the model /k/ and takes care to watch for signs that the child is becoming frustrated. It is important to head off a child’s aggravation by reinforcing his attempts (even just pointing) if he seems to be on the verge of becoming upset, as we want to avoid communication as being viewed as a negative experience. If the child continues to simply point, just say, “/k/ Cookie. Here you go.”, while giving it to the child. With this technique, we have not backed ourselves into a corner (i.e., “You can have the cookie if you say it.”) and can keep the interaction positive.

By using these techniques successfully, your child has a great opportunity to develop good communication skills. It may take time, but every bit of improvement along the way will be so exciting and encouraging to both you and your child. Enjoy the process!