Recently, I shared how you can turn almost any game you have at home into a language game, often without your child even realizing what you’re doing! The example I provided used the game “Pop the Pig” and I thought it would be helpful to actually show you via video what this looks like. Click the video to watch (if that doesn’t work, follow this link to the video).
When you’re watching the video and considering how you might adapt a game for your own child, take note of a few things at different points in the video:
- At around 0:50, note that during my turn, I can either model the expected language or allow my patient another chance to use the skills he has learned.
- At around 1:09, you’ll see that because my patient is able to use the previous skills easily, I add in some different questions.
- At 1:21, notice that I am expecting something different from him. If he was unfamiliar with the new skill, I would need to demonstrate it first. Since he was familiar, I did not need to.
- At 1:45, you should note that although repetition is important, it is also important to change the question in order to be sure that the child has learned the skill and not just memorized the pattern you are using.
- At 2:17, since he is familiar with this skill, I did not follow sequential order. If he was unfamiliar, I would have asked him to identify first, second, and then third.
As you can see while watching the video, my patient viewed the activity as simply a fun game that he enjoyed. I was able to interact with him in a way that promotes the development of his language without it seeming like work…and you can do the same with your child and his or her games!
Jessie Nelson Willis, M.Ed., CCC-SLP
