Learning Communication Skills through Fun

by Lianne Kustes, Speech-Language Pathologist

Working with little ones means that you get to have FUN while teaching them effective ways to communicate and build language skills! Use toys in their “purposeful” way, but also in creative and different ways other than what they are “meant” for.

For example: use a bowling set to work on turn taking or counting, or try taping pictures on the bottoms of the pins and then talking about the picture on the bottom of the pin the child knocks down. Mr. Potato Head is one of my favorites as you can work on learning body parts, following directions, building vocabulary or simply for motivation to get older children to practice those target speech sounds!

For more ideas, go online – there are some great websites that have helpful parent info such as Teachmetotalk.com and mommyspeechtherapy.com. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) website has a ton of links and developmental checklists and charts for speech development. Happy learning!

Lianne Kustes is a Speech-Language Pathologist with Associates in Pediatric Therapy. If you have more questions and would like to reach out to Lianne directly, you can email her at: lianne@kidtherapy.org.