Incorporating language learning into everyday routines

Sounds all around us

Your home is filled with the sounds of everyday living. The vacuum cleaner and washing machine make loud sounds. The TV or dishwasher create a background noise, too. If you listen closely, you might hear birds chirping outside or your kitten purring.  It is important to help your child become aware and learn to recognise all of these sounds.

As you involve your child in routine chores, you have a perfect opportunity to help them learn the sounds of appliances. Put laundry into the washing machine together and then listen as you turn it on. Talk about how it washes clothes. As your child becomes older and their listening skills are being refined, listen to the different sounds the washer makes as it goes into the different cycles. Then listen to the dryer. It sounds different. Put clothes into the dryer and talk about what it does. Later ask your child to listen for the dryer. Can they hear it? Are the clothes still being dried or can you take them out and fold them?

Any routine that involves water is a time to practise listening, too! Together with your child, listen to water running into the bath. Listen to the soft sound of the sprinklers outside, too!

After another family member has had a bath or when ready to drain the water from the kitchen sink, talk to your youngster about the “glub, glub, glub” sound made as the water goes down the drain. Most importantly, think of routine chores and the sounds associated with these chores.  Then make a consistent effort to point those sounds out to your child every time you do that chore and your child is nearby.  Soon they might be telling you that the dishwasher is finished; the dryer has stopped; or the toast has popped up. These sounds now have meaning and are a part of your child’s life.

Also become aware of how constant background noise can interfere with the perception of the human voice. As much as possible, eliminate the constant noise of a television, radio, or lawn mower, while you are having conversations with your child.

Making the most of mealtimes

Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack time provide countless opportunities for language learning through conversations. Sitting at the table with your child allows you to be close enough for them to make good use of their hearing. You have their attention because they are hungry. Your child is ready to eat and ready to learn:

• Talk about the food. You might say: “Here’s your sandwich.” “Have some cereal.” “Do you want more milk?” “The apple is good.” “You ate all your soup.”
• You can talk about the utensils your child is using: “Here’s your plate.” “You need a spoon.” “You dropped your fork!” “You have a big cup.”
• Other common phrases you could use might be: “Yum! The pudding is good.” “You like milk.” “The jelly is sweet.” “Your hands are sticky.” “Do you want more carrots?” “Yes, you are hungry.” “Oh, what a face!” “You don’t like the soup.” “You don’t want any milk.”

These are just a few of the things you can say. Your child’s likes and dislikes will give you many more ideas. Encourage your child to use their expressive language to answer questions, to ask for more or to tell you that they are finished.

Before and after meals

As you prepare for the meal, you will have many chances to introduce and reinforce language. Try to include your child in some part of the preparation. Most children love to help. Setting the table, for example, is something even very little ones can do, and you can talk to your child at each step of the activity.

You can say: “We need some forks.” “Give Daddy a plate.” “Here’s Mummy’s plate.” “Put your plate on the table.” “We need two cups.” “You put the cup on the table.” “Put another cup on the table.”

As you take things out of drawers and cupboards, you can use new words such as “open” and “close” or “shut.” Things are put “on” the table before mealtime and taken “off” afterwards. You can point out that foods are “hot” and “cold.”

Cleaning up after the meal is also full of opportunities for language. You can introduce new words and use others again in a different way. You might say, “Let’s wash the table,” and “Wash the dishes.” You can take plates, spoons, forks, cups and bowls “off the table,” and put “in the sink” or “in the dishwasher.” Washing up water, like food, can be “hot” or “cold.” And when you have washed and dried the dishes you need to put them away. You probably store forks, knives (no sharp knives) and spoons in divided drawers. This is a wonderful chance for your child to learn categorising. You can show them how to sort the cutlery, and then reinforce the action with language: “Put the fork there.” “The spoons go here.” “This is for big spoons.” “This is for little spoons.”

Including your preschooler in either meal preparation or clean up (or both) is an opportunity to offer the important language of praise and recognition. As you acknowledge your child’s efforts in helping, you not only teach language but you also boost their self-esteem as you say things like: “Well done!” “You are so helpful.” “You put the cups on the table. Thank you!”

Snack time

Snack time is another fantastic opportunity for teaching language. As you show your child the food for the snack, talk about each item. Give them one at a time. If they want more, encourage them to ask. This is a great chance for continuing the conversation and reinforcing language as you ask, “Do you want another biscuit?” or “Do you want more milk?” Always give your child a little less than you think they will want. This will provide you with another opportunity to repeat the words and a chance for your child to once again use the words they know if they want more.

Don’t expect things to always go smoothly and according to plan. After all, they are a preschooler! Often the unexpected and unplanned provide the best language opportunities: “You dropped your biscuit.” “The biscuit broke.” “Oh! The milk spilled.” “Let’s wipe up the milk.”

Some other commonly used mealtime language includes: “You’re hungry.” “You like juice.” “Ummm! That’s good!” “All done!”

As your child grows, the same simple snack can provide language that grows with her. When the time is right, you will provide opportunities to make choices: “Do you want milk or juice?” “Do you want a big glass or a little glass?” “Do you want an apple or a pear?”

While your child is young, your offering a choice between two equally acceptable options is a good idea. They will feel quite grown up! Additionally, as you say something like, “A banana! Mmm. Bananas are good,” you are sending your child a subtle message of your confidence in them. They can make choices of their own. This is another chance for your child to use their expressive language!

Bedtime routines and language

Bedtime is another daily activity that is rich in language-learning opportunities. As you help your child get ready for bed, you can use over and over again words and expressions you want them to learn:

• Talk about your child’s clothing as you help them get undressed and into their nightclothes / pyjamas: “Let’s take your shirt off.” “Now your trousers.” “Pull your sock.” “Pull hard.” “Let’s put on your pyjamas (or nightie).”
• As they undress and dress, talk about the parts of your child’s body: “Where’s your foot?” “Pull the shirt over your head.” “There’s your arm.” “You pushed your arm through!”
• As your child is undressing, there are many opportunities for you to use the word “off”: “Let’s take your shoes off.” “Take your trousers off.” “You took your shirt off.”
• And there are many other wonderful words and ideas to use when dressing or undressing and getting into bed. Think of some that fit your child’s interests and language level – here are some examples: “Open the drawer.” “Your pyjamas are soft.” “Your pyjamas are warm (blue, red, new, big).” “Your foot is stuck.” “Pull your trousers up (down).” “Throw your dirty clothes in the washing basket.” “Let’s button your nightie.” “Turn the covers down.” “Pull back the duvet (bedspread, blanket).” “Climb into bed.” “Shall we read a story? Which one?” “Get the book.”
• Washing before going to bed – even if your child isn’t taking a bath – can be a learning time, too. While your child washes their face and hands, you can say: “Get the soap.” “Rub it.” “It’s slippery.” “Oops! You dropped it.” “Rinse your hands.” “Here’s the towel.” “Rub, rub, rub.” “The towel is soft.”
• Learning to brush and clean their own teeth is an important self-help skill filled with language-learning opportunities for your child. Letting your child select their own toothbrush at the shop – their favourite colour or cartoon character – may make it more special for them. While you help your child brush their teeth, the “tube” is “squeezed”; the “water” is “turned on” and “off.” As your child brushes, you can repeat the words “up” and “down” to remind them how to brush.

Finally it’s time to get into bed. You might want to read a story or look at pictures together. If your child has more language, use this opportunity to talk about what you did during the day. Here’s another chance for your preschooler to use story-telling and recall past events through language.

Often the time just before going to bed is a quiet time, a reflective time, a time for parent and child to share good feelings. This is a great time to talk to your child about how special they are: “I love you.” “You’re such a big boy/girl!” “Give me a hug.” “Here’s a big kiss.” “Good night.”

Then it’s time to tuck your little one under the covers; to take off their hearing aids or speech processors; and to turn off the light.

Household chores

During household chores your child will hear the same words and phrases over and over again, in a variety of familiar situations, which will help them to understand and then spontaneously express them:

• You need to “dust” and “clean” the “chairs” and “tables” – and chairs have “arms,” and tables and chairs have “legs.
• “Dusters“ or “cleaning cloths” can be “clean” or “dirty” – they are “big” and “little,” “new” and “old”; sometimes they even have “holes.”
• You have to “open” the container of polish by taking “off” the “top” or “lid.”
• “Dirt” comes “off” as you clean the “table” “surface.”
• You have to “empty” the “waste bins” and “sweep”, “brush”, “mop”, “wash” or “vacuum” the “floors” or “carpets/rugs.”
• Sometimes you have to “rub hard.”
• You need to “pick up” dirt and dust using a “brush” to “sweep” it into a “dustpan,” and you need to “pick up” or “tidy up” toys and “put them away.”
• And you need to “open” and “close” the drawers and cupboard doors as you take things out and later put them away.

“Beds” need to be made every day:

• Here’s a chance to talk with your child about “pillows”, “blankets”, “sheets”, “bedspreads” and “duvets.”
• Your child can help you “pull up” sheets and blankets when making beds.
• You can talk about the colour on the bed sheets: “white”, “blue”, “yellow”, “green”, and so on.
• When your child can tell the difference, you can point out if they are “checked” or “stripy” or “spotty,” and sometimes there are “flowers” or other pictures on them. You can talk about these, too.
• Beds can be “big” or “little”; they can be “soft” and “warm.”
• As you make the beds, talk about their size and who sleeps in them: “This is Mummy’s and Daddy’s bed. It’s big.” “This is your bed. This is where you sleep. This bed is little.”

Laundry

Doing laundry is a task that is constantly repeated. As you and your youngster sort or fold clothes, you have a great language-learning activity. Even very young children can help with this:

• Clothes get “dirty.” You “wash” and “fold” them.
• Here again you have opportunities to use words such as “big,” “little,” “Mummy’s,” “Daddy’s” the name of your child and any siblings.
• And every article has a name: “trousers,” “shirt/Tshirt,” “sock,” “skirt,” “jumper,” “jacket” and “underwear.” 
• When your child has learned the names for these pieces of clothing, expand their language and teach them new words:
  • “Trousers,” for example, might be “shorts,” or “jeans.”
  • Talk about whether they are “new” or “old.”
  • They might have “pockets,” “buttons,” “zips,” “belts” and even “holes/rips”
  • You can talk about what colour clothes are, and whether they have “stripes,” “checks”, “patterns” or “prints.”

You can sort laundry and place it in piles by article – trousers in one pile, shirts in another. Or you can sort them according to their owners – Mummy’s clothes in one pile, Daddy’s in another, and your child’s in another. And you can sort “white” and “coloured” clothes – especially before you put them in the washing machine!

After you have folded the laundry, you have to work together to put it away. Using your child’s help will allow you to reinforce language used earlier.

Working in the garden

Most young children delight in helping with outdoor chores, such as digging in the garden, cutting grass, shovelling snow, raking leaves, and watering the lawn. A small snow shovel, rake or toy lawnmower makes it even more fun. Words and expressions like “push” and “push hard” come up over and over again while mowing or shovelling. Leaves fall down and you need to rake them, pick them up and sometimes put them in bags or containers. And, of course, kicking or jumping in a pile of leaves is great fun for children of all ages! You can also talk about their colours: red, green, brown and yellow. Don’t forget to talk about their size! They are big and little. They are brittle and sometimes they break. You might use leaves to practise counting with your child: “One, two, three, four.”

If you enjoy gardening, allow your child to help you. They will enjoy digging, planting seeds, seedlings or bulbs. Talk to them about the growing plants. Talk about weeding and watering and how that helps the plants. You can encourage your child’s interest in gardening by providing them with a small shovel or hoe and, if possible, even a little garden patch of their very own. Talk about your child’s hard work. Spend a few minutes each day talking about your child’s garden with them as you help them water and watch their garden grow.

Perhaps your family lives in a flat that has a small patio. This is a great place for pots or containers of plants that need “water” and the dry leaves or flowers need to be “picked” or “cut.” You need to “sweep” the patio and “wash” the furniture, too!

Odd jobs

Many families carry their rubbish to the pavement or roadside outside their house each week or fortnight for it to be picked up and taken away. Let your child help by carrying a small box or bag to the pavement. Let them help lift the “lid” and put some rubbish “in.” You might say, “Listen! Here comes the dustbin lorry. It’s a big lorry.” After the lorry has left, “The lorry has gone. It has taken away our rubbish.”

Cleaning the garage, tool shed, basement or workshop can provide many topics for conversation. Sorting the recycling or bundling up old papers and magazines is a good job for a little helper and there is a lot to talk about: “Where are the papers?” “Put the magazines on top.” As you tie a knot in the string that holds the papers together, you can say, “Put your finger there.” “What a big helper!” “Thank you!”

If you do minor repairs on your car, or if your are trying to assemble some flat-pack furniture your child may want to help by handing you tools. This is another chance to introduce language: “Pass me the spanner.” “I need the screwdriver.” “Thank you.” Choose safe activities that allow your child to share some responsibility. Choose tasks simple enough for them to succeed – success will make your child feel good about themselves.

While you are washing the car, mention the names of various parts of the car to your child: the steering wheel, the boot, the bonnet, the windscreen wipers, the horn, the wheels, the doors, the windows and the tyres. Talk about getting “in” the car and “under” it as you work. Your child may not understand at first, but all this conversation is another step in helping her learn language. The same word can be used in different situations. For example, the door of the car looks quite different from the door of the house or the door to the cupboard. Yet all doors are “opened” or “closed.”

Thinking ahead

Spend a few minutes in the evening to think about tomorrow:

• What are you and your child likely to do?
• Which of the many things that you could do will be of most interest to your child?
•  How can you make your everyday tasks enjoyable for both of you?
• What sort of language is likely to come up?
• How many times will you and your child be able to use the language?
• You might be planning to do the laundry or go to the doctor.
• Will the weather be nice enough to go outdoors? It might be a good day for a picnic in the garden, or to take a walk to the shop to buy some bread.

Ask yourself these questions. As you think about “tomorrow” tasks, will there be times when you can reinforce the language your child has been learning? Can you use in a different way some language that your child is learning? If mashed potatoes have been a topic of conversation at mealtime, going shopping for potatoes provides another situation for talking about potatoes – baking them, frying them or boiling them.

Think of new activities to have conversations using “old” language, and think of new language to be used with “old” activities. Whether activities are new or old for your child, opportunities for new language will come up.  For example, when working in the garden, “bug” can be expanded to “ladybird.” When making the bed, you can “fluff” the pillow.

You will find that you will enjoy including your child in many of the things you do. You will discover what fun it is to share with her all the experiences and language that make up everyday life.  Plan to do things that are fun for you, too. Baking cakes is fun for most children, but if you simply do not like to bake cakes, choose another activity to do with your child. It will be more fun for your child if it is fun for you, too.

The routines of daily life are the perfect opportunity to reinforce and encourage speech skills and continuing to write and review notes will help you to assess your child’s progress.

Even cleaning up can be fun!

You can encourage your child to enjoy cleaning up or tidying away toys by helping them and even making up a a little “Clean-up Song” which you sing while putting away toys. You can make up your own using any melody.  It might go like this:

“Time to clean up. Time to clean up.
Everyone! Everyone!
Time to clean up.
Now we’re done. Now we’re done.”

Remember to think about intensity as you sing loudly and softly. This is a challenge for any young child. Demonstrate for your child as you sing first and then encourage them to try. Then practise duration and make some of the sounds short. “Clean up, Clean up.” Make other sounds long, “Everyooonne!” Pitch is part of any song and you move from high to low notes. No matter how your child sounds, tell them they are doing a good job – and also remember to praise their tidying as well as their singing!

Other opportunities to learn speech sounds

As you follow the same routine each day, you can repeat many of the same words. For example, “Brush your teeth.” Soon your child will begin to use these same words, although at first only you might understand them. They might say, “Ba eee” in an attempt to imitate, “Brush teeth.” You can help with your child’s speech development by repeating these words in natural conversation. Do not exaggerate the sounds or make them look at you while exaggerating them as this will only confuse your child. When you exaggerate sounds, they become distorted, not only as your child hears them, but also as they see them in speech-reading / lip-reading. Instead, put yourself at your child’s level and say the word near to the microphone of their technology. Speak clearly and naturally.

Listen carefully to your child’s vowels. Are they clear and natural sounding? Are there lots of variations? Remember that children with normal hearing learn to produce vowels through listening, and that their beginning attempts may not be perfect. To encourage variety, continue to introduce speech sounds during play and everyday living. How is your child’s speech on vowels such as /ee/ in “peep-peep” and the /oo/ in “boo-boo?” Listen carefully, especially for anything unusual, such as nasality.

How about these sounds?

• /a/ as in mama
• /e/ as in wet
• /I/ as in hit
• /o/ as in no
• /ae/ as in pat

Make a note of sounds you feel aren’t quite right. If you sometimes find it difficult to describe the speech sounds your child produces, ask someone in your family to help. Remember, therapists and teachers will come and go in your child’s life. YOU are the constant. You can learn to listen to your child’s speech and language and make a difference.