| Modeling back good speech is a powerful way to help | | | | bad about their talking. |
| children learn speech sounds and good grammar. In | | | | - Once your child has gotten fairly good at saying the |
| some cases it can even decrease the need for | | | | sounds you could draw their attention to problem |
| speech-language therapy. | | | | sounds a bit more by asking if they heard the right |
| For sounds: | | | | sound when they say a word. If he tried to say |
| - When your child says a word and "misses" a sound | | | | "spoon" and it came out "poon", you could say, |
| say the word back to them in a very positive way | | | | "Hmmm, I didn't hear the snake (s) sound, did you? Lets |
| placing emphasis on the sound that they had problems | | | | try again." Giving sounds labels such as "the snake |
| with. Place emphasis by saying the sound louder, | | | | sound" often helps younger children understand what |
| longer, by tapping your finger on the side of your | | | | you mean. Make sure to also point out times where |
| mouth when you say the sound and by repeating it. If | | | | your child has gotten sounds that he is working on right. |
| he said "The tat is nice" you could say "Yes, that is a | | | | Especially praise times where your child goes back |
| very nice cat. I like cats. I think the cat likes you. Look | | | | and "fixes" sounds on his own. For grammar: |
| the cat has a brown foot." By repeating the word | | | | - Use the same modeling idea of going back and |
| several times you are adding power to the modeling. | | | | saying words over in a very positive way, placing |
| Of course you would never want to correct your child | | | | emphasis on words that were missed. For grammar |
| in a way that would make them feel bad about how | | | | place emphasis by saying the word louder and by |
| they are talking. Saying "No that's not the right sound. | | | | repeating it. If you child said "Him is nice" you could say |
| Say it this way, say cat.", only makes your child feel | | | | "Yes he is nice. He is fun to play with. |