Kid Talk for Project SPIES

How do I teach more complex talking?

You can respond to your child's talk by changing or expanding the meaning of his/her sentence, or by expanding his/her idea:

You repeat what the child says and then add to it with "and", "but", "so", "or":
Child: "I want that"
Parent: "you want the cup and I want the fork"

Child: "I like walk"
Parent: "I like walking but not in the dark"

Child: "want go"
Parent: "I want to go so I can see Daddy"

Child: "we jump"
Parent: "we jump or we run"

You can add a descriptive work
Child: "star"
Parent: "Yellow star"

Child: "my box"
Parent: "my big box"

Child: "running"
Parent: "we're running fast"

You can add another label
Child: "I play fireman"
Parent: "I'll play firetruck driver"

You can add more action words
Child: "the fireman climbs"
Parent: "he climbs and jumps"

You can use clear language to give your child more information
Not like this: "Go get them"
Like this: "please bring your shoes to me"

Not like this: "OK"
Like this: "Thank you for giving me your shoes"

When you add information or ideas to a child's utterance, you are using expansions. Expansions are good ways to teach your child more language.