Imitation...
to me imitation is the key for working on expressive language.
If a child comes to see me and doesn't have any words or has a limited vocabulary, I see if that child is willing to imitate me verbally. Even if it is a simple syllable (e.g., "ba"), I try to get them to repeat what i say.
I have found that once they start imitating, their speech starts to take off. Even if the child's imitation doesn't match my production, if they are willing to imitate and produce some kind of utterance i can shape it to match mine.
If a child doesn't want to even attempt to imitate me verbally i work on getting them to imitate a motor task (e.g., simon says).
A friend of mine in graduate school did a research project on imitation and she found that imitation was an essential aspect of a child development. So it makes sense that without the ability to imitate children's speech/language will suffer.
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1 comment:
I don't remember getting Andrew to imitate me when he was small, but I feel like he just did it and started talking so early. Now, Corinne babbles all the time, but doesn't try to say any actual words. I think I'm only worried b/c we are not reading or intentionally talking to her as much as we did with Andrew. I'll go through a whole diaper change and not say a single thing to her - its just not my nature to talk, talk, talk... something I need to be more intentional about for sure! We're all waiting to hear what Corinne has to say!
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