In my previous posts, we have already discussed about the following two -
Building vocabulary – where we worked on teaching Nouns, like - CURTAIN, SHOES, etc.
Building language – where we understood techniques to use two word phrases by adding verbs with nouns, like WEAR SHOES, OPEN CURTAIN etc.
In this post, we will we will continue towards sentence formation techniques…
BEGIN WITH
Have a clear decision over your primary and secondary language for the child. Although your mother tongue could be something different, but the child would first need English to cope up with academics and other day-to-day activities. So choose wisely.
Now when you are clear with primary and secondary language selection, let us use a simple
One-Down Rule with the secondary language.
If English is your primary language and Hindi secondary, then we proceed as follows-
English – sentence formation
Hindi – Introduce Verbs (Kriya) for 2 word phrases for the ones your child already knows in English.
Before we move ahead and get the language a little advanced for our child, we need to ensure the following skills are developed -
1. Good listening/ Attention
2. Compliance
3. Eye Contact
4. Confidence
5. BONDING with you – This is one important thing we need to work upon as our children lack the desire to communicate or interact with the outside world, so we got to make it really fun and let them lead. We only need to follow their interests in a play way to achieve our small goals.
Between the age 3-5years, a child masters on language the most –
Starting from
Phonology (speech sounds)
Morphology (word formation)
Syntax (sentence formation)
Semantics (word and sentence meaning)
Prosody (intonation and rhythm of speech)
Pragmatics (effective use of language).
START
We now want to move further to Sentence Formation (Syntax)
It is not an easy thing to move ahead with building language in a very systematic way or grammatically correct way, but for a child to pick up easy on language, and understand to use it correctly, it is always good to split the language development in small pieces.
What I mean here is –
We are trying to introduce the word THIS…. And you have a door in front of you, which is
open or shut…
The child should first know – DOOR
Then he should know – OPEN, SHUT, DOOR OPEN, DOOR SHUT
But if the child doesn’t know that this huge thing in front of him is called Door, then no point moving ahead building on the sentence -
THIS door is shut, or THIS door is open.
So have a huge collection of words in the child’s word bank first.
DON’T RUSH
We tend to rush on bringing out the language once the child has started to speak and start bombarding them with Leading Questions, and then WH questions, but that doesn’t work well.
We first need to teach the possible answers to any YES/NO and WH questions?
Example:
What is THIS?
THIS is a CURTAIN
Or
IS THIS a CURTAIN?
YES! This is a curtain.
The sentence used in the answer first needs to be taught as a comment.
So we move further to introduce –
1. Pronouns
2. Adjectives
3. Prepositions
Start with very simple ones and only 3-4 words under each category, and gradually add more.
Avoid use of any Past Tense words (was, were) for now as that may confuse the child, and we do not want him to lose on his confidence.
Pronouns
Use very simple ones and don’t jump onto the complex ones like – itself, herself, myself, etc.
Introduce - This, That, He, She, They, Me, My, I, etc.
Later add – These, Those, All, Nothing, None, Somebody Some, We, Yours, Ours, Hers, Mine, etc
Adjectives
Again, use simple ones like –
Good, Beautiful, Nice, Bad, Happy, Huge, Hot, Dry, Noisy, Wrong, Sweet, Like, etc.
You may introduce some Emotions as well.
Prepositions
On, In, Under, Above, Near, Far etc. are the simple ones to begin with
HOW TO?
Split your goals for the week, and then for a day and apart from the Floor Time and Table Top, keep implementing the same in your routine activities, throughout the day.
Introduce the same words in visual form too, like visual cards, PECS, Let Me Talk app, Writing on Board or Communication Book. This will foster the development.
Talk less and exaggerate your gestures and don’t stress the child to meet up to your expectations. e.g.
Say ‘Look’ – you point with your finger
Say ‘Yes’ – you nod your head.
Important - when your child is communicating through gestures, don’t miss out on even one of those to respond and add words for the same.
Reinforce and keep your child motivated enough.
Never use Negative words, like No, Not, Don’t, instead encourage him by using………….
Play & Pretend Play should be an integral part of your routine.
The internal Environment of your house, and its Aura should be stress free and with a lot of positive energy.
Give your child Space & Opportunity to Talk - pause for however long needed if u feel that child can speak up, while you continue giving him an expectant look.
Be Prompt – If there is any little expression of communication from your child, u respond to it promptly to make him feel confident to communicate.
Simplify your Language to make it easy for your child to imitate your words.
Follow your child’s Interest and plan your day such that it is lead by the child and you direct it towards achieving your goals.
In my next post I will share more ideas around speech, language and communication building and how do we go ahead from here.