How to help your child say sounds clearly with the 4 Simple Strategies

Happy Fantastic Friday!

Today, let's talk about a parent's secret weapon for helping kids improve their speech sounds: the 4 Simple Strategies. What makes these strategies so fantastic? They're perfect for families on the move, require zero prep, and are so natural that most kids don't even realize you're using them. They're basically ninja skills every parent needs 🥷 

We all know the struggle: some kids just don't love practicing "speech." But here's the good news - you can work on this anytime, anywhere, without your child feeling like they're in a session.

Here are the 4 Simple Strategies that hide in how you communicate:

• Narration: Be the Morgan Freeman of their life, narrating what they do with a special emphasis on the sound you want to hear "You arrrrrrrre hanging upside down!"
• Direct Modeling: Casually show how it's done, by saying what they might say, with that swanky emphasis on the goal sound. "Look at me! I'm a pirrrrate!"
• Recasting: Gently echo with the correct sound. Child: "No, I'm a piwate!" You: "Aaaah! You ARrrrE a PIRrrrATE!"
• Expansion: Build on what they say to give them more opportunities to hear the target sound in action in a small window of time. Child: "Yep, I a piwate." You: "A pirrrrate? Arrrre you a pirrrate orrrr a buccaneerrrrr?"

These strategies are perfect for:

• Kids who are always on the move
• Children who dislike sit-down activities
• Little ones who get embarrassed when they know, that you know, that you are doing "speech practice."

The beauty is in the flexibility. Whether you're at the park, in the car, or getting ready for bed, you can tailor these strategies to exactly where your child is at in their speech journey. Once you've learned the strategies they come with you everywhere.

Now, there's more to each of the strategies (of course!!!) but hopefully this super sweet sneak peek has you encouraged that you could do something like that while doing your dishes or in the car. You know, the things you do all day?

Keep up the fantastic work, and enjoy those everyday conversations. They can be MIGHTY.

See you Monday!

Amanda