Using Storytime to Grow Your Child's Language Skills with 3 Easy Tips

Picture this: You have a baby, and along with a lot of other things, people give you books. Then that baby grows, and at some point along the way, storytime with that toddler likely becomes a part of your daily or bedtime routine.

As a parent and pediatric SLP who has worked with a lot of littles over the past 10 years, here’s one big thing I’ve learned:

It is our instinct as parents to ask our kids questions.

I’ll say it again:

So now picture this

You are reading a book to your toddler, and you end up sounding like this:

“What’s that?”
“What color is it?”
“Where is it?”
“What animal is that?”
“What sound does it make?”
“What shape is it?”
“What are they doing?”

Does this sound like you? If so – don’t stress. Again: It is our instinct to want to ask questions! Sometimes, in a very well meaning attempt to make sure our kids are on the right track, we end up constantly quizzing them when what we should be doing is simply modeling language.

Think of it this way: they have to learn it before they can use it or produce it themselves. Give it a few years and go with me – you do not hand your child a pencil and expect them to write their name or put your child on a bike and expect them to start riding it without support, time, and practice. same concept!

We give our babies a full 12 months of language exposure before we expect their first word. That’s because we are constantly teaching them without even realizing it – by modeling language!

Sometimes I ask my parents of littles to bring in one of their favorite books and show me how they read to their child. Most of the time, I get the same result – a very very well meaning parent who is concerned about and wants to support their child’s language development – but starts asking questions immediately.

I’ve been there too as a parent of young kids – even as an SLP! it is SO hard not to ask questions – especially when we want to know everything going on in those little heads.

But–when we are wondering how to support our children’s language development or working with a child who has delayed expressive language skills, questions are not the best approach.

Asking questions can put pressure on our kids and inhibit opportunities to naturally model language.

So what do we do? For a start, check out these 3 language strategies for analytic language processors and how we can use while reading books!

3 Language Strategies to implement during storytime

Decrease questions / Increase comments during storytime

Easier said than done! Instead of questioning, let’s model language by making comments. Here’s how this might look:

Plus One Word Strategy

An easy way to teach your child how to grow their language is to repeat what they say, then add one word. This is such a great way to model to them how to expand their language.

Adding one additional word to what your child says during shared book reading or storytime.

Fill in the blank sentences

Give your child opportunities to increase their communication naturally by providing them pauses with familiar songs, rhymes, or story lines.

These are some early strategies I recommend to many of parents of littles with an expressive language delay, and strategies I implemented with mine when they were younger. Need help on what this might look like specifically with your child? Feel free to reach out!