Using Communication Temptations to Help Children Talk on Their Own

In our previous lesson we covered how communication temptations can help your child imitate two-word phrases. Now we're going to focus on using those temptations to help your child engage in spontaneous utterances. If you need a review of communication temptations, be sure to check out the previous lesson for a quick refresher.

Once your child is able to easily imitate two- or even three-word phrases, it's time to help them produce these phrases on their own, without your model. After all, our ultimate goal is to promote language development so your child can become an independent and confident communicator. Language development isn't black and white, so there will probably be some overlap between these stages. You may see that your child is easily imitating phrases and occasionally using spontaneous phrases but maybe not as often as we'd like. Fortunately there are many helpful techniques to help encourage your child to start using spontaneous phrases more often.

In our previous lesson we discussed that communication centers around a reward. In other words, it's important to put your child in situations where they will be rewarded for communicating. It could look a little like this: Put one of your child's favorite treats on the table, but don't say anything or offer it to them. Just pause and wait. They have to understand that they need to initiate a simple phrase to express their desire for the treat, such as "treat, please" or "I want the treat."

Here's another activity: Put your child's favorite book or toy in a clear container--one that they can't open themselves. Then place the container in front of them. You may get a funny look, and this may also be a tad frustrating for your child, but wait again. See if they initiate a simple request like "help, please" or "I want the book."

This may sound simple and obvious when it comes to speech development, and it is, but it's also a vitally important thing and too often gets overlooked: When your child imitates or produces a verbalization, shower them with praise and get so excited! Cheer, clap, sing--anything that will communicate how awesome they are. Why do this? Think about it this way: What if you were working your tail off to get a promotion at work, and when your boss finally offers it to you, there's no warm smile, no handshake, no "Congrats, you did it!" That would be a total letdown after all the hard work and countless hours committed. The same is true for children. When they meet a speech goal, it's important to let them know how proud you are. No matter what communication skill they're working on, they'll be more likely to continue practicing in various contexts when they feel that excitement and warmth from you.

Promoting language growth with skills like spontaneous utterances is easy and natural to implement into your child's daily activities. Be cognizant to give your child enough time to respond to a situation with a spontaneous production. However, sometimes you can't wait all day for a response, or maybe you just don't have time to pay attention to your child's production. That's okay! There are errands to run, school work to complete, and dinner to cook. You can't focus on your child's speech every second of the day. So just do as much as you can, where and when you can. At least 15 minutes a day of dedicated practice time is a great starting point.