Hints for Parents

Hints For Working With Your Child At Home

Working with your child at home can be challenging.  It is important to create a positive and fun atmosphere for "speech time" at home.  Involve your child in making materials and games.  Have them choose the first activity or days/times you will practice.  Charts and stickers motivate some children.  Feel free to develop a reinforcement tool that works for your child. 

Try not to punish wrong responses by saying "no, that's not right." The major point is to encourage and reward their efforts and cue them so that they can produce the word correctly. 

**Some ways to do this are:

Modeling:  

• Demonstrate how to make the sound for your child.
• Describe how you make the sound; where to put the tongue, lips, or teeth.

Verbal cueing: 

• I need to hear your new sound in that word.

• Is that word incorrect or correct? (i.e. Is that "wain" or "rain"?)

•  Is that word ______? Let me hear it again. 

• I can see you are trying, let's try it again this way.

• Nice try, remember to....

• Good effort, don't forget to...

• I like the way you made that sound!                        

Non-verbal cueing:   

• Point to the part of the mouth that you use produce the sound.

• Make up a secret signal or a gesture that you can use to remind your child to correct the sound without saying it aloud. (i.e. thumbs up, tap on the arm, tug your ear)