Language Strategies for Car Rides
Hey speech friend!
We know my love for Early Intervention, and with it, parent coaching. As a parent myself, I understand the importance of Early Intervention AND I understand how difficult it can be to incorporate language building strategies when they are only shown in the context of play.
By giving parents specific examples of how to incorporate language into our daily routines, we help them increase their opportunities for language. The best way to do that? Think of chores or necessary parts of life that parents use everyday. Today we'll talk about one that is so underutilized but can increase their child's language skills tremendously with little effort:
Car Rides! 🚗
Ready to teach this hack to your parents so they can continue to support their child's language development? Here's some of my best tips!
Language Strategies for Car Rides 👇🏼
Sing nursery rhymes and children's songs 🎶
Keep a selection of the child's favorite nursery rhymes or children's songs in the car and sing along together during car rides. This helps with rhythm, melody, and language exposure in an engaging way for the child!
Talk about your surroundings 🌳
Describe the scenery, weather, or landmarks you pass by during the car ride. Use simple language and point out interesting features to engage your child in conversation and expand their vocabulary. For younger children, simply naming the items passing by or the sounds they make ("beep beep" for cars and “HONKKKK!" for a truck always gets some giggles!) is a great and easy way to incorporate language into an otherwise boring activity for kids.
Sequence the Trip 🔢
Working on narrative development? Model how sequencing works, even in the smallest moments. For example, go step by step in strapping in the child into a carseat. Ex.) “First, we need to get your straps on. Next, we need to buckle them together-click! Now, we will snap our seatbelt in-SNAP! Finally, we are done!"
As you can see, it's SO easy to implement fun strategies that encourage language (and help pass the time!) in our daily routines and show parents how to do it as well!
Happy speeching!
Looking to give parents even more support for language development outside of your sessions? Check out my Language Facilitation Handouts and Home Carryover!
👇🏼 Save this image to Pinterest so you can refer back to it later! 👇🏼
