How to Promote Speech and Language Skills with Toddlers!!
Tip #2: Language Expansion
Language Expansion is when you repeat the word your child says by adding on additional words. The focus is not for your child to imitate words on command, but to model multiple words together to expose them to more language.
So when can you incorporate this strategy into your every day life??
You can use this strategy across all activities throughout your day! This strategy is best to use with children who are using single words or phrases so you can expand upon their utterances.
Examples:
👉🏼Your child says, “more” while pointing to his/her snack. You can then expand upon this utterance by saying, “more snack!”
👉🏼For children using phrases, you can expand upon those phrases in order to model more descriptive words and multi-word utterances. Your child may point to a ball and say, “I want ball!”… you can then expand that utterance by saying, “I want the BIG ball!”
✨Modeling multiple word utterances and expanding upon your child’s utterances supports the use of word combinations. This strategy also exposes your child to new vocabulary!
