Here are a selection of ways that you can support your child’s speech, language and communication. These methods are often used by Speech and Language Therapists to help with communication development. If you are worried about your child’s speech and language development you can speak to your child’s Health Visistor or teacher or you can contact Speech and Language Therapy Service directly (see the Additional Resources section). Many of these methods can be adapted for children of any age and with different communication difficulties.

Get your Child’s Attention

Use your child’s name when you are talking to them, especially if they are focused on something else! Using their name helps them to focus on you and what you are saying.

Listen to your Child

When your child talks to you let them see that you are listening. Look at them and stop what you are doing (if you can). Show that you are interested by nodding and smiling. Try not to interrupt them. Engaging your child in conversation where you both have turns talking and listening is good for their language development.

Comment and Prompt

Commenting on what your child is doing, watching or playing with encourages children to join in and talk. You can also prompt your child to add more information when they are speaking. Children need to hear lots of examples of language to learn to talk, so the more they hear, the better! It is good to ask questions too, but sometimes children are more likely to respond if you comment and prompt them instead. You can also add additional information to their responses and encourage turn-taking within conversation. If children make mistakes when they are talking you can repeat what they said correctly so that they learn the right way to say things. Don't make them repeat the correct version though. Children have to do lots of listening to good language models before they are ready to say them. Be patient with them! 

Check your Child’s Understanding

You can check if your child has understood what you are talking about by asking them to repeat back to you. This is good if you have asked them to do a task and you are not sure if they have understood or not. Encourage your child to ask for help when they are stuck or they don’t understand something. Don't ask them if they have understood, they will usually say yes even if they haven't! 

Tell Stories and Read to your Child

Telling stories and reading to your child often (daily is best) is really helpful for their language development. You can also ask them questions and make comments about parts of the story and the pictures. This helps their language development and increases their awareness of written words which is important for literacy development. Children will come across lots of new words and different ways of saying things through books. Depending on your child’s age you can read with them, sharing the story. You can encourage children to read different types of books such as non-fiction and stories. You can invite them to read to you too. Remember that Comic Books are also good to read, the pictures can support understanding of the written words. 

Bilingualism

If your child speaks more than one language, encourage them to use these different languages every day. If you mainly speak a language other than English at home that is absolutely fine. It is great to celebrate multilingualism. There is a growing body of research telling us that bilingualism is an advantage. If you are worried about your child's home language development you can ask to be referred to speech and language therapy. If their home language is developing well but you are worried about your child’s English you can speak to their teacher. 

Praise and Encourage your Child

Praise your child’s good listening, speaking and communicating. You can say you liked the way they said something or that what they said was interesting. Giving them lots of praise and encouragement will help boost their confidence and encourage more great communication. 

Labelling 

Providing spoken labels for things, feelings and actions can help your child to learn new vocabulary. Pointing out things in your everyday life as you go about your routine is one good way to do this. 

Make Learning Fun!

Get creative with games, rhymes and story-telling! Talk about the things that your child is interested in. Your child will enjoy learning more if they are interested in the topics.

Gesture and Sign

Signing systems such as Makaton can help promote understanding and communication. You can check out the Makaton Charity website here 

Visual Timetables/Timelines

If your child has difficulty following routines you can make a visual timeline with them. Include pictures or photographs of activities, places and people and the corresponding words. Use the timeline to plan out the day ahead with your child or even a short daily routine like getting ready to go out. This can help reduce anxiety about what is happening during the day and communicate things that might be hard for them to understand. Visual timetables don’t disappear like words do once we have spoken them, so can help your child to understand things if they struggle with spoken words or have difficulty remembering. 

Check out the Additional Resources Section for more advice and resources to help your child.