Sauk Trail
Elementary School
2205 Branch Street
Middleton, WI 53562
608-829-
608-827-1805 fax
829-9050 attendance line
ST@mcpasd.k12.wi.us
School Hours: 8:10 to 2:52
Office Hours: 7:30 to 3:45
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Tips
for Developing Listening and Language Skills in Your Child
Parents play a key role in the development of their child’s speech and language skills.
Many parents want to help their child but are unsure what to do. The following
are some ideas:
Using Books to Develop Language and Listening Skills
Read to your child and/or have your child read to you every day. Ask your child questions
about what was read--use the wh questions who, what, when, where and why.
Have your child listen to a sentence or paragraph from a magazine, book, or newspaper
and retell what you have just read in his or her own words.
Change the story slightly at times, or substitute an incorrect word. See if the changes
are noticed and if your child can correct the errors.
Read a sentence or paragraph; then ask your child to tell you what might happen next
in the story.
Read part of a sentence and have your child fill in the missing words(s). For example,
“it was the largest insect in the whole wide____________”.
Create new stories together. You start a story; your child adds a related part;
you add the next part; etc.
Facilitating Language Development in Younger Children
Modeling refers to restating the child’s comment, adding a few words, and making
the utterance grammatically correct. When your child says “him running”, you model
“Yes, he is running.”.
Expansion refers to adding information to a child’s comment, thereby modeling
more advanced language structures and /or vocabulary. If your child says “Dog is
running”, the parent can expand by saying “Yes, the big dog is running quickly”.
Self-Talk refers to talking about what you are doing as you are doing it.
For example, as you are opening the grocery bags, you say “here is the milk, that
goes in the refrigerator. The orange juice goes in the refrigerator too. Where are
the apples? I will put some in the refrigerator and some in the bowl on the counter.
The cereal goes on the bottom shelf”.
Parallel Talk refers to talking about what the child is doing while involved
in the activity. As a parent and child play with trucks, parallel talk can include
comments such as “I want the blue truck and you can have the red truck. Be careful!
Don’t drive off the long ramp. Oh no! The truck crashed! We have to set up the
road again”.
Developing Communication Skills in Elementary Age Children
Listening is important. When you listen, your child will be encouraged to talk
more. When you listen you teach your child to listen. Show you are listening by
rephrasing what your child is saying or commenting on it. For example, your child
says “Jane is my friend”. You say “you like Jane, don’t you?” Look at your child
to show you are listening.
Talk with your child whenever and wherever you are--during a meal, on a walk, driving
in the car, doing chores. Watch a favorite TV show together and then discuss it.
If your child makes a mistake in his/her language, try not to comment on it. Simply
repeat what was said using the correct words. For example, your child says “I goed
outside”. You say, “Oh, you went outside”.
If you don’t understand what your child is saying, ask him/her to repeat it or ask
a leading question based on what you did understand.
Enjoy Language and Word Games
Make up stories to tell, play rhyming games, sing songs together.
Write letters to friends and family.
Play word games such as Tribond Kids, I Spy, Brainquest, Cranium Kadoo, Boggle, Scrabble.
Listen to books on tape together.
Use humor such as jokes, puns, riddles. Share cartoons.
Do crossword puzzles.
Do cooking projects. Read the recipe together, shop for the ingredients and follow
directions to make a tasty treat.
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