Words and sentences - repeating, recasting, extending
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Whatever our child's difficulties, once we have them looking up and influencing or inviting people to give them words we can automatically settle back in to what we are doing very naturally before we became concerned.
Now that our child has time to think and settle for longer, to experiment and explore and organise their play and thoughts they will be interested in looking for words. |
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When they give us the signal (eyes on our face) we give them a word and gesture (matching their thoughts). This helps with their understanding whilst showing how each word is made by the mouth (and hands).
Our child will start to try out sounds for themselves which in the early days of VERVE may sound similar to those of a much younger child e.g. babble, coo. This shows that they are starting to play with sound and melody. The more they do, the more able and precise their tongue and voice becomes, and the more their sounds are shaped in to meaning by the adults response.
Whatever sound they say, we read their body and repeat the word that we know they are trying to say. These may sound like complete gobbledygook or just be a grunt - the great thing is that they are starting to use their voice (and because it is new, can't yet possibly be like real words). By us nodding and saying the intended word (recasting them) we are praising them for having a try, whilst giving them a model of how the real word looks and sounds.
Remember they do not need to copy us, we just need to show them the word.
Often it is easiest to start with 'onomatopoeia' e.g woof, meow, oh no, vvvvvdm, because these are the easiest sounds to make.
As soon as they use a word that is understandable, we repeat it and add on another - either a new word for their vocabulary e.g. child says 'yuk' we nod and say 'yuk, dirty'
or as they find things easier we repeat and add on another word to make a simple sentence e.g. child says 'daddy' we say 'daddy gone' child says 'daddy gone' we say 'daddy's gone out'.
In this way we naturally help our child to build sentences when they want those sentences - making it meaningful and highlighting any bits they are not yet using.
e.g. 'daddy gone out car ' - 'yes daddy's gone out in the car''
Now that they are face watching if we need to provide them with additional means of communicating we can add them to the words we are saying e.g a sign, or a picture or a symbol.
We can organise their world so that certain vocabulary is used time and time again so that the vocabulary becomes very familiar .
We are providing props to help them whilst keeping the interaction natural .
This repeating, recasting and extending is something that the wonderful psychologist Vgotsky noticed all children do when they are acquiring language - the adult catches what their child is saying gently stretching it to the next phase in a way that their own language uses it.
It doesn't matter if their words aren't quite like the adults e.g. they may say 'aeey on ou' (daddy's gone out) All children 'simplify' sounds when they are first learning them. Each time we recast their word (when we have waited for face watching) we are helping them to develop their speech sounds.
Our child will start to try out sounds for themselves which in the early days of VERVE may sound similar to those of a much younger child e.g. babble, coo. This shows that they are starting to play with sound and melody. The more they do, the more able and precise their tongue and voice becomes, and the more their sounds are shaped in to meaning by the adults response.
Whatever sound they say, we read their body and repeat the word that we know they are trying to say. These may sound like complete gobbledygook or just be a grunt - the great thing is that they are starting to use their voice (and because it is new, can't yet possibly be like real words). By us nodding and saying the intended word (recasting them) we are praising them for having a try, whilst giving them a model of how the real word looks and sounds.
Remember they do not need to copy us, we just need to show them the word.
Often it is easiest to start with 'onomatopoeia' e.g woof, meow, oh no, vvvvvdm, because these are the easiest sounds to make.
As soon as they use a word that is understandable, we repeat it and add on another - either a new word for their vocabulary e.g. child says 'yuk' we nod and say 'yuk, dirty'
or as they find things easier we repeat and add on another word to make a simple sentence e.g. child says 'daddy' we say 'daddy gone' child says 'daddy gone' we say 'daddy's gone out'.
In this way we naturally help our child to build sentences when they want those sentences - making it meaningful and highlighting any bits they are not yet using.
e.g. 'daddy gone out car ' - 'yes daddy's gone out in the car''
Now that they are face watching if we need to provide them with additional means of communicating we can add them to the words we are saying e.g a sign, or a picture or a symbol.
We can organise their world so that certain vocabulary is used time and time again so that the vocabulary becomes very familiar .
We are providing props to help them whilst keeping the interaction natural .
This repeating, recasting and extending is something that the wonderful psychologist Vgotsky noticed all children do when they are acquiring language - the adult catches what their child is saying gently stretching it to the next phase in a way that their own language uses it.
It doesn't matter if their words aren't quite like the adults e.g. they may say 'aeey on ou' (daddy's gone out) All children 'simplify' sounds when they are first learning them. Each time we recast their word (when we have waited for face watching) we are helping them to develop their speech sounds.