As your child begins speech therapy, he or she will start attending super exciting sessions where play time actually includes structured, systematic steps to increasing speech understandability! In the meantime, you might be wondering, what can I do at home to support my child’s communicative confidence as he or she begins a journey towards better speech? How can I help without calling attention to this difficulty, or making my child feel self-conscious?
With a little bit of prep and creativity, here are some techniques to help increase your child’s overall intelligibility at home:
1. Glossing
-Glossing is the use of an exact and immediate repetition of your child’s speech to allow for your child to confirm accuracy of the message. It is a great technique that gives your child a chance to share a message, and then provide feedback about what you heard.
-Here’s an example:
Child: “dog run with a ball”
Parent: “dog run with a ball?”
-This technique lets your child know that their message was understood, which leads to less frustrations and move conversations! You are focusing on what your child says, not how it was said.
2. Recasting
-Recasting is when an adult repeats the part of your child’s message that was understood, adds more detail, and then requests expansion of the topic. This technique lets your child know what portion of the message was received, and provides an opportunity to model more adult-like speech sounds, without requiring your child to repeat the exact sounds back.
-Here’s an example:
Child: “there was a dog XXX”
Parent: “there was a dog! Where was it?”
Child: “XXX yard”
Parent: “There was a dog outside in someone’s yard!?”
Child: “Yeah! Kiki’s yard!”
-Your child knows what part of the message is understood, and is given an opportunity to repeat or add more detail so more information is received by the parent.
3. Asking for more context
-Ask your child questions to add detail to a story rather than request repetition of the message. Requesting a repetition adds pressure for a child who may be aware of his or her speech production differences. Rather than ask your child to try his or her message again, use questions to guide your child to expand the information, and use this to piece together the message context.
-Here’s an example:
Child: “There’s a XXX!”
Parent: “What does it say?!”
Child: “Woo woo”
Parent: “It says woof woof!”
Child: “Puppy XXX”
Parent: “Wow, is the puppy going to a house?”
-Your child adds detail to his or her story in a relaxed environment, where your child’s message is valued and the parent pieces the story together.
Overall, it is important to praise your child for the value of his or her message, rather than the way the message was produced. Positive praise and a focus on the message content will facilitate longer conversations and bolster your child’s confidence!
Cleave, (05/2015). The Efficacy of Recasts in Language Intervention, Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Retrieved from: https://pubs.asha.org/doi/full/10.1044/2015_AJSLP-14-0105