Module 12: Let’s Talk!
In this module, we will talk about how to teach your child to say many of the words you have taught her to understand. At the end of this module, we will talk about how to teach children to make simple sentences. Has your child learned to imitate sounds and words and to ask for some of the things she wants using a word or two? Then she should be ready to start working on some of the skills addressed in this module. Start with Teaching Beginning Expressive Language Skills, found below. Then, work your way through each of these sections in the order listed. When you reach the end of each section, you will find a link to the next. We go from teaching the simplest words to say, then to labelling colors, shapes, people, and actions, then body parts. Then we go to more advanced language, starting with labelling categories of things, and forming very simple sentences.
Colors, Shapes, People, and Actions
Teaching Beginning Expressive Language Skills
We’ve been mainly talking about teaching your child to understand spoken language. We refer to this as receptive language. In this module, we are going to talk about how to teach your child to say words, which we call expressive language. Sometimes a child can’t yet say the whole word but they can say the first sound or two. For example, they may say, “buh” for bottle or “buh-buh” for bubbles. That’s fine to start with.
Expressive language is one way to communicate. But communication includes other things, like pointing or using pictures to ask for things. Any method of communication is good and should be reinforced.
When teaching your child to ask for things, whether talking, pointing or giving you a picture, it’s important to teach your child that she can be the one to start communication. She should learn that she can always ask for the things she wants. She doesn’t have to wait for others to offer her things. But even if a child has learned to use picture exchange and pointing to ask for things, if a child has the words to ask for what she wants, it will be easier for her to get what she wants.
In Module 9 we talked about how to teach your child to imitate sounds and words. If that was hard for your child, or if she has not yet learned to imitate sounds and words, we suggest that you continue to work on those skills and save this module for later. Trying to teach your child to say words that she is not yet ready to learn, will not work. And it may lead to frustration and make your learning sessions unhappy.
You should also be comfortable using prompts and knowing when to give her reinforcement. Your child should be able to sit with you and follow simple instructions. Finally, it is important that your child looks at you when you speak to her. If your child is not able to do most of these things, it is best to continue to work on those skills until she is able to perform them well. You can also move on to modules dealing with picky eating and toilet training. And you might want to review the module on prevention of problem behavior. That is an especially important module.
It is important to know that not all children are able to learn speech. Also, children are ready to learn speech at different ages. For some children, speech comes easily and early. If you think back to the section on Expected Development, you might remember that many babies, even before their first birthday, may try to imitate the sounds and words that others make. However, for many children, learning to speak will require specific teaching. Some children will need specialized speech therapy. If you can see that your child is missing some of the basic skills that come before speech, or if you see that your child has a lot of difficulty learning to say the names of a few familiar objects, see if you can get her assessed by a professional speech/language therapist. Such a therapist may find that your child needs this kind of therapy. Even with such therapy, however, there are children for whom speech will not be their main way to communicate.