Activities for Early communication skills
 

These two pdfs from ASLhealth.scot.nhs.uk are great for identifying some day to day activities that help Children's with their early communication skills ..

Quote:
PDF 1 - Early communication Copyright NHS Lothian 2006

There is a lot involved in learning to communicate. In the early stages, children have a lot of different skills to master, for example:

• Looking
• Listening
• Copying
• Taking turns

You have an important role to play in helping your child to develop these important early communication skills.

REMEMBER:

• Try to play face to face with your child
• Follow the child’s lead. Try imitating what the child chooses to do
• Give the child plenty of time and lots of opportunities to repeat things
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PDF 2 - Early Communication Copyright NHS Lothian 2006


ACTIVITIES TO ENCOURAGE LOOKING:-

• Peek-a-boo: Hide your face and then peek out. Try hiding behind sunglasses, furniture, or the curtains. Young children usually enjoy watching and may join in.
• Squeaky toys: Hold a squeaky toy near your face and press it. Stop and wait for the child to look at you before making it squeak again.
• Funny faces: Make funny faces or try winking. Wait for the child to look – they may try to copy.

ACTIVITIES TO ENCOURAGE COPYING:

• Action songs/rhymes: Try singing simple actions like:
o “wave your hand”
o “shake your head”
o “clap your hands”
Keep doing the action and the child may join in.
• Copying sounds: If the child has started to make sounds, respond to this. If you copy them, they might copy you back.
• Toys: Copy what the child does with his/her toys. For example, if he/she bangs two bricks together you do the same. You could try to extend this by doing something different with the toy for the child to copy.

ACTIVITIES TO ENCOURAGE TURN TAKING:-

• You and me: Sit opposite the child and send a car, ball, wind-up toy back and forth.
• Building games: Take it in turns to put a brick or beaker on top to build a tower. You can then knock them down and try again.
• Puzzles: Each take a turn of putting in a puzzle piece or posting something into a jar.

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ASL Health - Additional support learning site is an excellent site

Motor Skills - Physical play activities resource page