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Expressive Language

Expressive language involves using words, sentences, gestures, and writing to communicate effectively. It is crucial for expressing needs, thoughts, and engaging in conversations. The document outlines modeling strategies to enhance expressive language skills in children, including self-talk, parallel-talk, and expansion, along with activities to practice at home.

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priyanka thiyagarajan
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6 views

Expressive Language

Expressive language involves using words, sentences, gestures, and writing to communicate effectively. It is crucial for expressing needs, thoughts, and engaging in conversations. The document outlines modeling strategies to enhance expressive language skills in children, including self-talk, parallel-talk, and expansion, along with activities to practice at home.

Uploaded by

priyanka thiyagarajan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Expressive Language

HPEDSB Speech and Language Team

Expressive language is the use of words and sentences, as well as gestures and writing, to convey
meaning and messages to others. Some examples of expressive language skills include: labelling
objects in the environment, describing actions and events, putting words together in a sentence,
correct grammar usage (i.e. “I am running” not “I run”), retelling a story, and answering questions.

Expressive language is important because it allows us to express our wants and needs, thoughts
and ideas, argue a point of view, and take turns in a conversation.

Modeling strategies for language growth


What is modeling: Modeling is using what your child can already say and using strategies to help it
grow. When we model, we are showing the child how to say things. You model the
words/language you would like your child to develop, rather than correcting or directly telling
them to say certain words, phrases or sentences.

How to model

● Self -Talk: Talking about what you are doing. For example: if you are cooking dinner you
could say “I am making dinner. Look! I am cutting vegetables right now. Chop, chop chop.
The Broccoli is green. Yum!”

● Parallel-talk: Talking about what the child is doing while they are doing it. If your child is
playing with blocks you could say “You are stacking blocks up, up, up!” “Red block on, blue
block on.” “Uh oh, blocks fell down, crash!” “Pick up the blocks, one, two, three…”

● Expansion/Addition: Restate the child’s words while adding to them with more detailed, or
more grammatically correct language. For example: if the child says “truck” you could
expand and say “big truck”. If your child can say “big truck”, you can expand and say “big
blue truck”. If your child can already say “big blue truck”, you can say “I see a big blue truck”
or “the big truck is going fast” or “look at the big blue truck” If the child says “me see truck”
you could see “I see a truck.”

● Using Familiar Phrases: If a child is familiar with a particular phrase (i.e. a book you read
together often, a familiar song) this strategy may be effective. This strategy works well with
repetitive and rhyming books. The adult says the first part of the phrase, and pauses before
saying the last part/word. For example “Brown Bear Brown Bear what do _______” and wait
for the child to fill in “you see”.
Some other things to remember when working on expressive language:

● Check that your child understands what you are saying and is familiar with the words
you are using.

● Comment, don’t question: Avoid asking your child several questions, instead comment on
what is happening. Often when we ask a child so many questions, the conversation
becomes more like an interview, and causes a child to feel under pressure to speak.
Commenting gives the child the words and phrases they might want to use. Leave lots of
pauses and the child may begin to fill them in.

● Offer choices: Often when faced with questions, a child may know the answer but can not
think of the words they want to say to respond. Offering a choice of two things reduces the
options and helps to cue them to the vocabulary they want. For example: “would you prefer
ice cream or cookies for dessert?” instead of “what do you want for dessert?”

● The Power of a Pause: Take time to wait and listen for a response from your child -
sometimes it may take a little longer than you think.

Activities you can do at home to help develop your child’s expressive language:

● Name/label items together around the house, outside, during play and even while watching
TV

● Offer your child choices so that they are encouraged to use words to make a request (rather
than relying on a gesture)

● Play something together and throughout the game model new words and phrases

● Look at books together and talk about what you see

● Ask questions about what is happening in a story and why

● Sing songs or poems/nursery rhymes together

● Use pictures or drawings to make a book or sequence of events and make up a story about
the pictures

● Have your child tell a story or compose a letter to a family member while you write it down for
them - or better yet - record a video!

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