So now what?

READ!  READ!  READ!!

Important skills to focus on when reading with your child:

• Talk about the pictures
• You don’t have to always read all of the words, sometimes you don’t need to read any!
• Go on scavenger hunts to look for words, letters, etc
• Encourage your child to “read” books to you.
• Talk about the title, author, and illustrator.
• Read different types of books for different reasons:
• Rhyme and Rhythm
• Alphabet books
• Narrative (story books)
• Use anticipation to predict what will happen next in the story
• Retell the story with a beginning/middle/end. Use middle/end. Use 
words “first, and then etc”

• Make up new endings, pretend like a character says or does something different and how will that change the story
• Read to your child’s interests

• Talk about reading when you
are not reading
• Talk about when your child
is reading-signs, pictures
etc.

• Carve out time in the day to have conversations with your child.
• Show your child what listening looks like. –look at them, nod, give confirmation
• Vocabulary!!! Tie new words to concepts they already understand.
• Use spatial relationships (next to, around, in between) and opposites (up and
down; on and off).

Great Websites:
? www.starfall.com
? www.brownsburg.lib.in.us
(Click on tumble books link)
? www.funwithspot.com
? www.pbskids.org
? www.goldenbooks.com
? Www.readingrockets.org

More Speech and Language Activities

• Play vocabulary guessing games
• “I Spy-something we use to cut paper (scissors), something that is blue that we use to drive to the
store (car)
• Help make connections for vocabulary concepts-
• Name all of the things you can drink.
• How are a car and a truck different, how are they the same.
• Give one, two, and three step directions. Play games or use these directions during daily activities. Take turns
to allow your child a chance to give directions.
• Use the TV! Know what your child is watching and use it to your advantage. Talk about “who” was in the episode,
“what happened,” “where did it happen,” was there a problem, did they work out a solution. What if you
changed the ending? Are their questions your child has about the program? Tie it to interests and help them
find the answers.
• What if there is just NO TIME???!!! Use daily activities-grocery shopping, talk about the food, the process of
how to pick things...if they are heavy/light. Count how many blue cars you see on the way while driving. Name
as many things you see that start with the “s” sound or that are bigger than the car.

-adapted from-Activities to Encourage Speech and Language Development (2008). Available from the website of
the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/Parent-
Stim-Activities.htm.