Using experience books to support your child’s language and understanding

Providing a focus for discussions about everyday routines

Each day you talk to your child about activities in your family life. He is beginning to develop some language but his ability to anticipate and to express himself as he participates in these activities, may still be limited. At this stage your child needs lots of help to support his understanding and spoken language.

We have talked a great deal about listening environments, repetition, appropriate language levels and visual clues. The experience book is a fantastic way of doing all of this in one book! If you have completed the Let’s Listen and Talk Toddler programme you will perhaps remember that we used them in some of the activities, but as your child progresses through their preschool years, your child is likely to continue to enjoy using experience books.

Put simply, the experience book records an activity – be it a game, a familiar routine, a cooking activity, an outing, anything at all – in a simple visual way that your child can then return to again and again to help them develop their language and speech skills.

How to make an experience book

What do you need?

All you need to make an experience book is:

• a camera of any sort – it’s often easiest just to use the camera on your smartphone or iPad/tablet
• the ability to print pictures off either at home or in a print shop – if this is not possible you can put the pictures in the correct order in a folder on your ipad or phone and use them to swipe through but pictures are definitely preferable.
• if possible a laminator – the experience books last much longer when the pages are laminated!
• glue and a way to make the book by putting holes in the pages using a hole-puncher and using string or keyrings to create a book from the individual pages

How do you make the book?

1. Take photos during a game, familiar routine, cooking activity, or an outing to record the different stages or steps involved.
2. Print the photos, then with your child, stick the pictures on to paper in the order that you did things – talking all the time with your child and using the vocabulary you used during the activity.
3. Under each picture write (or print and stick in) simple words or a short sentence that describe what you were doing – be sure to use the words you used during the activity.
4. If you have, or have access to, a laminator, laminate the pages before making the book. It helps the book last longer! But this is not a necessity.
5. Collate the book in the right order and then put holes in the pages and keep them together using knotted string or perhaps rings. Please note: We do not recommend you using staples with small children as they can be sharp and easily come loose, which can be very dangerous.

How do you use experience books with your child?

You don’t have to make an experience book each time you do something but we would encourage you do so whenever you can. At The Elizabeth Foundation we find the children return to these books again and again. They love seeing themselves in the pictures and they love “reading” them both to themselves, and sharing them with others. Each time your child chooses to look at a book again, it provides another opportunity to go over the vocabulary, think about the order things happen in, use the descriptive language, count and talk about whether they like something or not!

Whilst your child is young, you can use experience books in so many different ways to:

• Reinforce your child’s topic-related vocabulary.
• Support your child’s communication with others:
  • Your child will almost certainly find telling others what they have done during the day very difficult.
  • Experience books provide a superb way of helping your child share what they have done during the day with other loved ones, mainstream nurseries/carers and friends.
  • Many of these people might be nervous or concerned about how best to communicate with your child. If so, they will be delighted to have such a great tool to help them talk to your child.
• Empower your child!
  • Experience books are another way your child can tell you when they enjoy something and perhaps when they would like to do a particular activity again.
  • By keeping experience books in a familiar place your child can go and get one that they enjoy and use it to “tell you” when they would like to do something.
• Support your child’s early literacy (story telling) skills:
  • Children with delays in their language often have problems describing events, telling stories, keeping events in the correct order, predicting what might happen next and many other important early literacy skills.
  • Experience books provide wonderful opportunities to develop these skills in a visual, fun way using familiar pictures of themselves and people and places that they know well.

Examples of different experience books

You can make experience books about almost anything – including:

• special people books: pictures and names of loved family and friends
• holidays, trips and outings: such as walks, shopping, visits to friends and relations, special trips perhaps to the zoo or seaside.
• special occasions: such as birthday parties, weddings, or festivities such as Christmas, Diwali, Chanukah, and so on
• activities and games: such as cooking together
• familiar routines: such as bed time, swimming lessons, dinner time.
• to support situations your child finds worrying or tricky such as going to the dentist, a trip to the hospital