Our therapy has ended or we can't access enough of it. What can we do at home in the meantime?
Written By:
Lisa Archibald, Ph.D.
University of Western Ontario
We know that speech-language therapy can help those with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), but what if speech-language therapy isn’t available? What can families do at home to support their child with DLD?
It is important to remember that family life, on its own, can provide a special kind of support to a child with DLD. Family members know their child best. The child with DLD usually has their best success communicating with their family members. Family members share knowledge about events and interests and can sometimes ‘fill in gaps’ so they understand what the individual with DLD is saying or can help them say it. Families also provide a safe haven for those with DLD. They provide the love and acceptance that those with DLD need to feel comfortable and to be vulnerable without judgement.
Of course, families always want to help their children, but especially when the child needs but is not receiving speech-language therapy or formal supports at school. In this situation, family members will sometimes take on the role of educator or therapist. It is important to watch how the child responds to this kind of work. Sometimes the child becomes frustrated when a family member starts correcting or teaching them. The child might feel the loss of their safe haven. However, it’s also possible that the child enjoys doing fun learning activities and having communication success with their family member.
There are lots of ways to create rich language learning experiences that fit seamlessly into your day-to-day life at home. These strategies can support the language development of an individual with DLD in a naturalistic way.
1. Set up for communication success – Remember that it can be hard work for the child with DLD to understand and use language. It takes lots of concentration and energy. You can create the best moments for communication success by reducing competing noise or other talk, not rushing, and giving your child lots of time to think about what was said and to come up with they want to say in return.
Of course, family life doesn’t always lend itself to quiet, slow moments! That’s just the way it is! You can try to save more important or in-depth conversations for quieter times. You can say,
I want to hear everything you have to say but just hang on a moment. I need a moment to sit down so I can really listen.
Why don’t we sit down over here so I can tell you what’s going to happen next.
2. Be language curious – As a family, be curious about words. Wonder aloud about the words you use. Highlight a word, repeat it, and say what it means or how it’s used. Here’s how that could sound,
Slide in there beside your brother. You know, sliding is an interesting word. You slid over on the bench. Yesterday you slid into home plate at the baseball game. At the park this afternoon, we’ll probably see a slide. Can you think of any other ways we use the word slide?
In turn, encourage the child to wonder about the words they use. Revisit the interesting words you find by talking about them with other family members or visitors, thinking about them at the end of the day, or finding a time to use them during the day.
Don’t overdo this kind of work. Keep it fun and interesting with a focus on how cool words are. Don’t let it feel like a quiz or a memory game. Lots of repetition of a few words will be more helpful for the individual with DLD than trying to talk about too many words at once.
3. Share books with stories or information about topics of interest – Books are a great source of language. The language used in books is a little different from the language of everyday talking so books are a great way to talk and learn about different words and sentences. No matter what the age of the individual with DLD, talking about stories and information in books is a great language experience. You can talk about how the information in the book relates to your own family’s experiences or to other characters or points in the book. You can make predictions about what will happen or talk about feelings related to the story or information you’re reading. Be as natural and curious as possible. At other times of your day, relate something you read about to what you’re currently doing. All of this will bring the story or information to life and help the child with DLD use the language from the book in their own talk.
4. Extend sentences and conversations – Supporting your child to produce longer turns and think more deeply are great ways to help with language development. Think about your child’s turn in a conversation:
Provide support if they need help choosing the right words. You can (1) give them a choice (e.g., we saw 1 duck or lots of ducks?) or (2) start a sentence for them to finish (e.g., we saw lots of ….).
If the child makes a mistake, model the word or sentence in the correct form, but do not make them repeat it. For example, if your child said, “we saw lots duck,” you might respond with “yes, we saw lots of ducks”.
Challenge them to think more deeply when they’re ready. You can ask them to (1) explain what they mean, (2) tell or describe more, or (3) wonder about things (i.e., why? what if?)
See how long you can keep the conversation going with your child. Together, you can plan for your child to tell their story, interests or ideas to another family member when they’re available. The child can get ready by drawing a picture or writing down a few key words in order to help them remember all the parts they want to tell that person. Remembering and retelling can be a great way of getting more experience with longer sentences.
5. Notice what helps and talk about what helps – As you and your child talk together, notice what helps. Does it help when you repeat things or move close to your child when you’re talking to them? Does it help when your child tells you to talk more slowly? Comment on what you notice to your child. You can say, ‘You really got that! Do you think it helped when I said it again?’. The better your child understands what helps them, the better they will be able to advocate for themselves!
Specific Practice?
Should you work on specific language structures at home if you don’t have the support of a speech-language pathologist? Here are some considerations:
· Will your child find doing this kind of work with you fun (as opposed to frustrating)?
· Will you have time to sit down with your child consistently and complete focused practice on a particular language structure?
· Is your child ready to learn the language structure? Is it fairly easy for them to produce it correctly when you help them?
If you answered ‘yes’ to all of these questions, then it might work to practice with your child on a specific language structure. Here are some tips for specific practice:
· Think of ways the language structure is used with lots of different words (e.g., for the plural marker: ducks, pens, cups, coats, books)
· Draw pictures or gather objects that will help you use the language structure. Use these to play card games, tossing games, or other games you make up. While you play the games, use the language structure you’re wanting your child to learn.
· Spend about 30 minutes each day in fun activities where you think about using the language structure. Be sure your child is paying attention and listening. You don’t need to ask your child to repeat what you’ve said or to say it correctly. Focus on them hearing you using the language structure many times in your activity session.
Are there any Apps to use?
Language is learned in a social context. Having a face-to-face conversation and jointly looking at and responding to things in your environment, these are the key ingredients to supporting language development. It can be challenging to re-create this kind of interaction in an app environment. There is also little evidence of a beneficial effect of app use on language skills. The most useful apps are those that promote children’s active engagement with meaningful learning material and social interactions. If the child is bored, not challenged to think more deeply, or distracted by sounds and visuals, they are likely to learn very little from an app. If a child is using apps, then talking about what’s happening and what the child is thinking in the same was as described above for sharing books would be the best way of promoting language learning.
References:Choi-Tucci et al. (2025). What matters when providing conversational recast treatment? A multilevel modeling analysis. AJSLP, 34, 469-486. https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_AJSLP-24-00138
Dore et al. (2019). Education in the app store: using a mobile game to support U.S. preschoolers’ vocabulary learning. Journal of Children and Media. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2019.1650788
McGregor et al. (2020). The challenge of rich vocabulary instruction for children with Developmental Language disorder. LSHSS, 52, 467-84. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_LSHSS-20-00110
Whitehurst et al. (1988). Accelerating language development through picture book reading. Developmental Psychology, 24, 552-59. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.24.4.552
Zosh, J. M., Lytle, S. R., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2016). Putting the education back in educational apps: How content and context interact to promote learning. In Media exposure during infancy and early childhood: The effects of content and context on learning and development (pp. 259-282). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Zucker et al. (2020). Asking questions is just the first step: Using upward and downward scaffolds. The Reading Teacher, 74, 275-283. doi:10.1002/trtr.1943
