1. Face to face: Always try your best to face your child whenever you are speaking to him/her. You are the model for your child’s speech! When facing your child, this not only allows your child to hear your speech more effectively, but you are also providing them with a visual of how sounds/words are formed. When speaking to your child, make sure that you are speaking slowly, clearly, and simply. It is important to use simple phrases/sentences when speaking to your child!
2. Expand words/phrases: Learn to expand your child’s utterances. When your child is labeling or requesting items/actions using one word, expand that utterance to two words (ex: child- car, adult- car please). When your child is using two words to label/request items/actions, expand that utterance to three words (ex: child- want car, adult- I want car) and so forth. It is okay if your child does not imitate your expanded utterances right away! Just continue modeling phrases over and over to encourage imitation to occur!
3. Provide two options: During routines/activities throughout your day, you can provide two choices while encouraging your child to verbalize his/her desired choice! You can ask your child “Do you want _____ or _____?” If your child is not verbalizing many words just yet, you can encourage him/her to point to their desired choice. As your child’s communication skills improve, encourage verbalization of his/her desired choice! Giving your child the independence to choose an activity, food, toy, clothing item, etc. (by either verbally stating or pointing) will encourage him/her to want to express more of their wants and needs!