HOW TO GET A CHILD TO IMITATE WORDS: Help a Child Repeat Sounds, Words, Gestures & Signs at Home!

Kelli Meyer, M.Ed, CCC-SLP Licensed and Certified Pediatric Speech Language Pathologist

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Soooo you want your child to imitate words?! You've come to the right place!!

Let me help walk you through the steps of a child developing the imitation skills using a KEY therapy technique - Social Games and Activities!

// This skill is a pre-linguistic skill
Laura Mize's chart here -- https://teachmetotalk.com/wp-content/...)

That comes AFTER a child is able to Stay and PLAY (and ATTEND) to you, toys, objects or books for an appropriate amount of time! Typically 2x's in minutes of their age! (example: 1.5 year olds, = 3 minutes; 2 year olds = 4 minutes)

//Need help with ideas of how to build attention span?! Check out these videos first!
   • HOW TO INCREASE A CHILD'S ATTENTION S...  
   • HOW TO GET A CHILD TO LOOK AT YOU, IN...  
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// Now that your child is READY to imitate, WHERE DO WE START?!

STEP 1) Gross Motor Actions!

-Play TAG!
-Play Stop / Go (modeled in the video)
-Create an obstacle course on the floor using painter tape and race through it!
-Do jumping jacks!
-Crawl through a tunnel! https://amzn.to/2RGAjch
-MAKE IT FUN!    • HOW TO WORK ON SPEECH SKILLS AT HOME ...  

Step 2) Fine Motor Skills

-Play Peek-A-Boo
-If you're happy and you know it clap your hands (make up OTHER little SIGNS to go with this like pointing to your face every time the song says "happy!")
-HIGH FIVE! (FALL DOWN! Be dramatic!!) Over and over again, see if your little one will give EVERYONE a high five in the room!
-AH AH CHOO! Sneeze! (look for your hild to imitate, HELP them move their head to "sneeze" it off!
-Add a BELL!

Step 3) Consistently Model, Use, Show and HELP them (hand under hand) Use GESTURES/ SIGNS/ SPEECH SOUNDS / WORDS

-Use the same gestures over and over again (waving bye, doing a thumbs up, pointing, shaking head yes/no, holding hands out for "where'd it go?!") REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT! *Remember, typically developing toddlers need to hear something and see it up to 50 times before they make the correlation! Therefore, with out little late talking friends, they might need it modeled even TWICE as many times! HANG IN THERE! YOU CAN DO IT!

-Once your child is consistently using FUNCTIONAL signs and/or gestures (   • TEACHING FUNCTIONAL WORDS & SIGNS THR...  )
THEN start using SPEECH SOUND HAND CUES!
   • HOW TO HELP A CHILD MAKE NEW SPEECH S...  
-Need a FREE downloadable PDF?!
https://speedyslp.com/speech-resources/
-Use those SPEECH HAND CUES to get your child to imitate speech sounds
THEN we combine the hand cues and sounds to help them form WORDS!!!!!

See the progression?! YOU CAN DO IT!!

Additional Tips: Incorporate SENSORY PLAY and Sensory Integration into your games!
Use play dough! Grab a tunnel and crawl through it! Get up and DANCE! Play in the SAND BOX! Add RUNNING into each routine! Get those little guys MOVING so that they can process information quickly and more efficiently!
//DIY SENSORY BIN FOR LESS THAN $20!
   • How To Make a SENSORY BIN For LESS TH...  
// GRAB YOUR AMAZING MINI OBJECTS 10% OFF WITH CODE "SPEEDY"
https://www.speechtreeco.com/collecti...


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🔸LANGUAGE PLAYLIST:    • Early Language Development (Help your...  

Need more help on different sounds?!
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What other targets do you need help with at home?! Leave me a video idea down below! :)

Stay Blessed!