What can I do to promote language development in my preschooler?

 

The best thing you can do to encourage your child's language development, regardless of developmental differences or delay issues, is to fill your home with lots of communication and language interchange between yourself and your child. Talk to your child. Sing songs together. Read books and nursery rhymes. Talk about what you are doing throughout the day and what you observe around you wherever you are. Include your child in food preparation tasks and describe verbally what she should do as you demonstrate measuring sugar or stirring the fruit salad for instance. Use lots of facial expressions and gestures in communicating with your child. Listen to recorded music. Take a walk and talk about the sounds that you hear. Take your child to the park, the zoo, the mall, the store and church for more opportunities to see and talk about new sights, sounds and experiences. The richer your child's language experiential foundation iis at home, the easier it will be for him/her to transition to formal language development in the elementary years.