How do I expand my child's language?
There are 2 basic ways to expand language. You can:
-
Expand when your child says something incomplete
or uses child grammar; or
-
Expand to add more information to what your child
says.
Examples
Expand to complete a sentence or to
model adult grammar
Child:
"he runned"
Parent:
"yes, he ran"
Child:
"there balls"
Parent:
"there are the balls!"
Child:
"I walk"
Parent:
"I am walking"
Child:
"I like play"
Parent:
"I like playing too"
Child:
"Me!"
Parent:
"you want the ball"
Child:
"Me drive"
Parent:
"I drive the car"
Child:
"car vrrrm!"
Parent:
"the car goes"
Child:
"three doll!"
Parent:
"I see three dolls!"
Expand to add words or more information
to what your child says or does
Child:
"I want that!"
Parent:
"You want the blue ball!"
Child:
"I like walk"
Parent:
"I like walking and looking at trees!"
Child:
"me drive car"
Parent:
"I drive the car to the airport"
Child:
"Give me the ball"
Parent:
"You want the big ball"
Child:
"I want two!"
Parent:
"You want two books"
Child:
"Put toys in!"
Parent:
"We put the toys in the box!"
Child:
(nods head)
Parent:
"Yes, Mommy!"
Child:
(points to door)
Parent:
"You want to go out!"
