Could you please suggest some tips to improve my child’s speech and language skills?
- Speak clearly and slowly to a kid. When talking to a kid, use language they can understand, and explain any new words.
- Spend quality time with your child, away from distractions. Look at a book and talk about pictures.
- Children do not learn language and develop social skills just by watching TV and new evidence suggests that too much screen time during the critical development period can affect the listening and attention skills of children. Hence reduce the screen time exposure.
- Comment on what your child is doing and expand on your child’s words and sentences. If your child says ‘bus’, respond with ‘big bus’, ‘red bus,’etc.
- It is important to make every opportunity a language learning activity. For example, during bathing time you can teach many nouns and action words, give simple commands to the child, sing songs with your kid, etc. You don’t have to set aside a specific time of a day just to teach your child.
I have heard of people talking about PECS. What exactly is it?
PECS or Picture Exchange Communication System, is an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) system that uses pictures, reinforcements and specific prompting to teach functional communication skills to individuals who may find verbal communication challenging. It has six phases. In this PECS, kids (or any other PECS users including adults) are taught to approach their communication partners to give them a picture of a desired item in exchange for that item.
In this way, the person will be able to initiate communication with their partners. This can be tried out in any situations like home, classroom, therapy settings, etc. Several studies have shown that using PECS actually helps people develop verbal language.
Is it okay to use gestures when talking to my kid?
The earliest form of symbolic communication is the gestural form. Language uses symbols to convey feelings or express thoughts. Symbols are anything that is used to express a meaning to represent an object or idea. These symbols can be spoken or written, pictures or gestures, etc. Before they learn to talk, children use gestures to communicate.
When you use a gesture with your kid, say the word along with that (eg, when you use the gesture for ‘give’, say ‘give’ at the same time). Gradually, kids start to say the word along with the gesture they are using. The use of these gestures eventually drops out as speech becomes easier for the child.
If you think your child’s speech is developing slowly, don’t be hesitant to use gestures with him. Using gestures help the kids understand that they can be a successful communicator.
It is better to use a multimodal communication approach with your child by using verbal, pictures, gestures, sign language, etc. This helps reduce the frustration of not being understood. However, if a child is undergoing auditory verbal therapy, visual signs and guidance as well as lip-reading are not encouraged.
( If you have any queries, you can send it to [email protected])
Answers provided by: Merlin Thankam Thomas, Senior speech and language therapist QISH, Doha
