Expressive language is putting thoughts into words and sentences when speaking and writing that are grammatically accurate and make sense. If children have a speech and/or language impairment, it might affect their expressive language.......
Some ideas to help your child with his/her expressive language:
- When speaking to your child, keep your sentences simple and to the point (approximately three to four words per utterance: “Are you hungry?” versus “Are you ready to go have some sandwiches for lunch?” Expanding utterances will come along a bit later!
- Speak slowly because it may take your child additional time to process the information.
- Do not require your child to look you in the eye when you are speaking to him/her. A glance at your face, especially at a young age, should suffice. Toddlers are busy-bodies and need to keep moving and exploring.
- Allow time to just play with your child. Let the child direct the play. Have a few toys out to choose from and follow his or her lead.
- Make simple remarks about what is going on, but avoid asking questions to probe for an answer like “What color is your truck? How about that car? What is this part of the car called?” This is play time, not teaching time.
- Model out loud how to think about items: “You have a big, blue truck! Wow! Mine is small. I have a small, yellow truck. “
- Model out loud how to problem-solve (over-and-over-and-over again): “Oops! The wheel came off my truck. Hmmm. How can I fix it? {looking over the whole truck while thinking….} If I get something to help the wheel stay on, I should be able to fix it. If I use glue, the wheel may not spin.”
- Allow some “quiet” play time as well and let your child do the talking (or not if he so chooses). This is a great opportunity to just sit and listen to what your child is saying (to you and/or the toys).