Editor’s Note:   This great article written by Sherry Artemenko, one of our great PediaStaff Columnists appeared on Love That Max earlier this week.   Congratulations on a great post with an excellent blog!

If you have a child who has challenges with speech, you’re always up for a good tip… or trillion! I’ve got ten great ones here from Sherry Artemenko, a pediatric speech-language pathologist in Southport, CT who’s the founder of Play On Words and the PAL Award (Play Advances Language). She’s also a columnist for PediaStaff. Says Sherry, “These tips to encourage language development apply to children delayed in learning to communicate whether they are using gestures, sounds, words or an augmentative communication system such as PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System), PODD or others. Our goal is for children to experience the joy of being independent communicators, and have a voice.” A-men!  


DO talk a lot to your child as you go through your day, describing your activities as well as his. Whether you’re playing at the park, grocery shopping, walking through a museum or making dinner, talk about what you see, feel, taste and experience. Children take in more language when it relates to what they are doing. For example, you could say “I’m getting out the big pot to fill it with water. Let’s open the end of the pasta box and empty it!”, demonstrating words like “open” and “end” as you speak to them. Multi-sensory experiences reinforce learning—seeing, describing, feeling, smelling the pasta.
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