This handout includes book recommendations as well as fun activities that encourage interaction skills and will help with increasing your child’s imitation skills.
BOOKS
The best books to read to your child at this stage in their language development are books with repetition and sound exploration. Here are a few that I suggest:
· Goodnight Moon- by Margaret Wise Brown
· Moo, Baa , La, La, La- by Sandra Boyton
· Peek- a- Moo
· Brown Bear, Brown Bear (and other similar books) - by Eric Carle
· Goodnight Gorilla
*Read these books often so that your child begins to learn the story and anticipate what is happening.
THINGS TO WORK ON AT HOME
Sound Exploration
Play with sounds with your child. Encourage them to get vocal. Work on vowels, as they are easier and then play with consonants. The following consonants are the first consonants that most children produce first: m, b, p, d, t, k, w
Play with your intonation. Raise you tone up and down and repeat words and phrases with excitement. Some example words or phrases that are easy to produce with intonation: hello, bye-bye, more, ot-o, all done, don’t know, and so big!
- when you are encouraging your child to produce a sound make sure you get down to their level. Get face to face and bring attention to your mouth. Model the sound slowly, emphasizing how you produce the sound.
Oral Motor Fun
Your child is learning how to make sounds and manipulate his or her mouth. Some children have more difficulty developing the motor planning skills needed for speech production. These children need lots of practice “playing” with their mouths to master the correct placement of their tongues, lips, and teeth. To help these children learn how to manipulate their oral structures I suggest trying a few of these activities:
· *Blow bubbles (real bubbles, or practice blowing bubbles in the water)
· *Make a blow fish face by holding your lips together and while keeping them sealed fill your cheeks full of air
· * During meals and snacks expose your child to a variety of textures (e.g., crunchy, soft, smooth, etc.), please remember to make sure that the food is safe and that the child can successfully chew and swallow the food given.
· *Blow a tissue paper by holding it in front of your mouth. Your child will like watching it move back and forth. Encourage them to have a turn.
· *Make popping sounds by closing your lips together tightly and opening them
Imitation
One skill that is critical in developing oral language is imitation. To increase your child’s willingness to imitate you, you first must imitate them. Take a couple of minutes and copy what they are doing. You will be amazed at how this one simple act can increases your child’s attention and participation.
