Expressing Ideas
1. Give your son or daughter an object found around your home. Ask your child to tell you everything about the item - size, shape, color, use, where it is found, and what group it is in. At first, ask questions to help encourage the description. As you present new items, ask fewer questions and expect more details from your child. You can also put objects in a bag and have your son or daughter describe it while feeling it.
Try counting the number of different things your child says that relate to the object. If s/he does "get off the subject," don't count those statements and ask him or her to tell you just about the one object.
2. Ask your child, "What is a ______?" Start with simple words, moving to harder concepts. Encourage multiple comments or definitions.
3. "What would you do if?" - Ask your child questions such as, "What would you do if you forgot your lunch money?" "What would you do if you lost your coat?" Help them verbalize the best answers and actions with which you feel comfortable.
4. Show your child a picture that has a lot of action in it. Ask him or her to tell you what is happening. See if s/he can make up a story about the picture. Ask Wh-questions to get the story started, i.e., "Who?', "What?", "Where?", "When?" and "Why?"
5. Ask your child to tell you the steps in making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or the steps for getting ready for school. Help them sequence the information in the correct order and include all of the necessary information.
6. "Guess What I'm Thinking Of?" - Give clues to your child and have them guess the answer. "I'm thinking of something that has a tail." " I'm thinking of something that has a tail and stripes." Keep adding clues until the child guesses correctly. You may use a deck of picture cards and take turns doing this.
7. Compare and Contrast - Show your child two objects or pictures. Have them describe how the items are the same and then how they differ. For example, "How are a refrigerator and a stove the same?" "They are both kitchen appliances." "How are they different?" "A stove is hot and is used for cooking." "A refrigerator keeps food cold so it doesn't spoil."
8. Story Retell - Tell your child a story and have them retell it to you. If you have sequencing pictures, say one sentence about each picture and then have your child tell it back to you. Depending upon the age and skill level of your child, it is easiest to start with three pictures and/or parts to the story and then add one more picture or story part at a time. Your child should be using similar sentence structure, and providing the details, characters and events that you used in your story.
9. Generating items in a Category - Do a one-minute timing and see how many different "animals" or "foods" or "toys" your child can name. This is a fun game for the entire family and it helps if one family member can be a scribe so you can see if any items are repeated. Set a goal to increase the number of items you named in the next round.
10. Category Inclusion - Name four items and see if your child can tell you what category or group you are talking about. For example, "Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday" are "days of the week. " "Giraffe, lion, zebra, and elephant" are "zoo animals."