Nurturing your Preschoolers Language Development

2. Conversations

Having a household where conversation is a core part of their day-to-day creates an environment that fosters language development. Engaging meaningful conversations with your child, whether it be during playtime or dinner time and asking open-ended questions sets the foundation for your child’s expressive language.

3. Narration and storytelling

Describing your daily activities throughout the day, whether it be bath time, cooking or going shopping provides the vocabulary for your child to understand the world around them. It also provides an opportunity to model appropriate phrases, words, and behavior. Sharing story time, reading, and observing books according to their age fosters a love of reading that impacts later years.

4. Encourage play

Pretend play encourages your child to use their imaginative play, which usually involves dialogue and storytelling even if they are quietly playing. Participating in pretend play allows the opportunity to expand their vocabulary, explain how things work and model appropriate expressive language while connecting their real-life experiences.

5. Playdates

Playdates with other children promote language development through communication and cooperation. Social interaction expands the world your child is experiencing, through playdates children can learn new vocabulary, experience new ways for things to work, and use social skills to interact with others. It also fosters children to engage in conversation with children their age.

6. Sing songs and nursery rhymes

Repetitive melodies create opportunities for children to recognize and remember words and phrases through practice. Singing songs and nursery rhymes together, as well as music creates new neural pathways that encourage language development. To songs, nursery rhymes, and music, adding hand movements, dances, and other fun activities helps your child understand and remember the words, as it becomes a significant experience.

7. Supervise and limit screen time

It is true that we live in a highly technological world, however, our preschoolers will have sufficient time to explore any and all devices available out there. To truly foster your preschool skills, supervising and limiting screen time will reap the benefits during this time of their development. When allowing screen time, choose high-quality, educational programs that will promote language development.

Conclusion

Every child develops at their own pace. Creating a patient, supporting and enriching environment will enable your preschooler’s language skills to flourish. Parent involvement is key, and creating a language-rich environment will create a strong foundation for your child’s future success. However, if you notice that the tips mentioned above have not yielded the results you expect, or observe significant language delays and difficulties, early intervention should be your priority. Seek the guidance of a professional, that will provide the necessary intervention for your child and at home to foster their communicative skills.