Things That Can Help

• Take time

  Pause when you are talking, playing or questioning your child. This gives them time to contribute and respond.

  Remember - it can take up to 10 seconds for children to process what has been said. 

• Reading

  Read books together. Looking at and talking about the pictures is just as good as reading the words of the story.

• Repeating back

  Repeat and expand on what your child says to you. If they say 'juice' you can say 'more juice', 'juice please' or 'juice gone'. This shows your child how words can be put together to make short sentences.

  Comment on and describing what they are doing during play in short sentences. For example, if your child is playing with a small world farm - you can say ‘horse eating’ ‘pig rolling’ ‘pig all dirty’.

• Opposites

  Talk about or play games involving opposites like 'on and off' or 'big and little'.

• Memory skills

  Make time to talk about the day. This will help your child with their memory skills. It will help them talk about things that have happened in the past that they can no longer see.