At-home Activities to Support Speech Development in Children

Class­rooms across the region are oper­at­ing remote­ly, as schools have closed for the aca­d­e­m­ic year. For some fam­i­lies, this change extends beyond the class­room and impacts how their chil­dren receive sup­port ser­vices, such as speech ther­a­py, through their schools. With May being Bet­ter Hear­ing and Speech Month, Tana Mag­gart, speech ther­a­pist at Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG), offers some tips for par­ents and care­givers to sup­port their young children.

Through­out the day, Mag­gart says sim­ply talk­ing to your chil­dren is extreme­ly valu­able when it comes to their speech and lan­guage devel­op­ment. ​“Tell your child every­thing you are doing and why you are doing it,” she explained. The more you talk to your child the better.”

Mag­gart also sug­gests the fol­low­ing activities:

Use interactive/​basic toys (not electronic) 

Sim­ple toys with­out an elec­tron­ic com­po­nent are best when it comes to your child’s devel­op­ment, Mag­gart said.

“Lim­it the num­ber of bat­tery-oper­at­ed toys. The more the toy does, the less the child does,” she explained. ​“Choose toys that encour­age active play, such as balls, toy cars, toy trains, blocks, and toy ani­mals. Show the child how to use the toys or how to play with the toys and then play with your child using the toys.”

Read books

Read­ing to your child every day has so many ben­e­fits, Mag­gart explained. To start, choose devel­op­men­tal­ly appro­pri­ate books. These include cloth or vinyl books for babies or kids who put every­thing in their mouths, board books for tod­dlers, and sto­ry­books with paper pages for preschoolers.

To enhance the read­ing expe­ri­ence and increase the ben­e­fits for your child, Mag­gart sug­gests the following:

• Not only read the words on the page, but also talk about what is hap­pen­ing in the pic­tures, point out inter­est­ing details, and ask your child what they see in the pic­tures. You can play ​“I spy,” etc.
• Get on your child’s lev­el if they do not wish to sit on your lap.
• Use ani­mat­ed voic­es and make a vari­ety of inter­est­ing sound effects (your goal is to become the most inter­est­ing thing in the room).
• Reduce dis­trac­tions in the room by turn­ing off the TV and plac­ing oth­er elec­tron­ic devices (iPad, smart­phone) out of sight.

Play with objects around the house 

Every­day objects found around the house can serve as great learn­ing tools.

“Use cups as a micro­phone,” Mag­gart sug­gests. ​“Ani­mal or trans­porta­tion sounds are fun to make, and prac­tice say­ing ​‘my turn’ and ​‘your turn’ when play­ing. Try dif­fer­ent cups to see if they sound different.”

Oth­er sug­ges­tions include using pots and pans with wood­en spoons as musi­cal instru­ments and sing pop­u­lar kids songs, such as ​“The Wheels on the Bus” or the ​“Alpha­bet Song.” She also rec­om­mends grab­bing a laun­dry bas­ket and ask­ing your child to fol­low direc­tions to put in or take out items or using the laun­dry bas­ket as a boat and sing ​“Row, Row, Row Your Boat”.

Use dress­ing time and meal­time as learn­ing opportunities

Rou­tine times and activ­i­ties are valu­able times to inter­act and teach your child, Mag­gart said.

“When get­ting dressed for the day, offer choic­es on what to wear. For exam­ple, you could ask, ​‘Do you want to wear the green shirt or the blue shirt?,’” Mag­gart explained. ​“You can also name each cloth­ing item, which will help build vocab­u­lary, give sim­ple direc­tions such as ​‘get your shirt’ or ​‘find your socks,’ and sing while you get dressed. ​‘The Hokey Pokey’ song is a good one, so you can call out right arm, left arm, head, etc.”

Dur­ing meal­time, Mag­gart encour­ages you to involve your kids as much as pos­si­ble, no mat­ter how messy it might be. ​“Explain each food item and talk through with your child what you are doing with each item. Also, ask your child to describe how food looks, smells, and tastes.”

In addi­tion, Mag­gart points to sev­er­al online resources to help with ideas and sup­port at home.

She rec­om­mends Speechand​lan​guagekids​.com, Speech​bud​dy​.com, Allyall​need​.com, and Kid​slearn​lan​guage​.blogspot​.com

If you have ques­tions or con­cerns about your child’s speech devel­op­ment, Mag­gart sug­gests talk­ing to your pedi­a­tri­cian or call­ing the Pedi­atric Ther­a­py depart­ment at Quin­cy Med­ical Group at 217−222−6550, ext. 3418. To learn more about our pedi­atric ther­a­py ser­vices, vis­it https://​quin​cymed​group​.com/med….