Expanding Your Child’s Speech and Language at Halloween!

Expanding Your Child’s Speech and Language at Halloween!

Kristin G. Park, M.S., CCC-SL

Boo!!! Halloween is just around the corner. There are lots of ways that you can incorporate your child’s speech and language goals into fall activities. Parents play a major role in the development of their child’s speech and language. Daily home activities can provide numerous opportunities to improve your child’s speech and language skills and ensure successful lifelong communication skills

Here are some ideas as you celebrate the fall

Pumpkin Faces/Decorating – This is a great time to practice spatial concepts and vocabulary. Start by describing the shape of the pumpkin, top vs bottom, inside vs outside, etc. You can label body parts (eyes, nose, mouth, etc.) while working on shapes as well. For even more descriptive language, let your child feel the “guts” of the pumpkin, do some finger painting, and explore with textures

Costumes – You can use a lot of descriptive language while talking about costumes with your child. Have your child describe a costume without naming it for a fun guessing game. Talk about costume categories such as scary, pretty, funny, characters, etc. When your child is in his costume, try some pretend play to really get into character and to practice pragmatic skills

Apple Picking/Tasting – This is another good Fall activity that targets descriptive language. You and your child can discuss similarities and differences between apples (e.g., color, shape, size, taste). Have a taste test in which you compare types of apples and pick a winner. Incorporate vocabulary such as sweet, sour, juicy, tart, crisp. For children with feeding goals, compare applesauce to apple slices to biting into full apples and talk about textures

Leaves – Talk to your child about the changing leaves when you’re driving in the car or walking through the park. You can use seasonal vocabulary such as autumn, fall, change, orange, red, yellow. Have your child label the colors of the trees. Find leaves and compare colors, size, shape, etc. For older children, collect the leaves in a small booklet and have them identify the trees they came from

I Spy – After trick-or-treating (and after you check the candy), spread some candies out on the floor or table and have your child guess which candy you’re describing. For example, “I spy a small candy with blue letters. It has peanuts in it.” When your child guesses correctly (Snickers), she gets to eat the candy! You can play I Spy just about anywhere – at the park, at a Halloween parade, during a Friday night football game, etc.

If you are concerned about your child’s speech and/or language skills,

please contact our office and ask to speak to one of our Speech-Language Pathologists about a complimentary consultation at 610-454-1177.