Play can also be the perfect opportunity to create communication opportunities e.g. placing desired toy out of reach or in closed box to encourage child to request, building in pauses during songs and activities to encourage child to anticipate or to use spontaneous communication to request ‘more’ or ‘go’ using activities that encourage children to wait and take turns e.g. wind up toys, car or ball runs, pop up pirate, bubble, lotto games.
Offering choices, instead of asking open questions such as ‘what do you want?’ say “Do you want ball or train?” and encourage child to make their choice using preferred means of communication.
Using clear and simplified language to match the child’s receptive language abilities to label, comment and request. Also, copying and adding to child’s responses can help to support language development e.g. child says “Car”, adult responds either “red car” or “want car”.
Please watch the videos about typical play and communication development the different stages of play and the importance of messy play.
Go to Communication III