By, Mary Williams-Anderson

1. Read, read, read! Find age appropriate books that have lots of pictures that your child can look at while you read, label objects and actions, etc.
2. Expose your child to new situations. This will provide you with an opportunity to introduce new vocabulary in novel situations such as, a trip to the zoo or a bike ride through a park.
3. Expand on what your child says, Ex. if your child says, “doggie”, then you could say, “Yes, the dog is running,” or something within the context.
4. Provide choices in order to create opportunities for your child to vocalize their wants/needs, Ex. “Do you want crackers or pretzels?”
5. Put desired objects in out of reach places to encourage your child to request, and ask for help.
6. Use fill in the blank statements. Set up a familiar phrase, and leave off the last word. Ex. “ready, set, …”
7. Self-talk. Talk about what you are doing, seeing, thinking, etc. “I’m washing my hands so I can make you a snack.”
8. Feign lack of understanding. Pretend like you aren’t sure what your child wants. Ex. If your child points to their juice on a high counter, but doesn’t vocalize the request, you can act like you don’t understand. I.e., “I’m not sure what you want? Do you want your juice or this paper?” Wait until a vocalization is made, even if it doesn’t sound perfect, then reward their efforts.