Working on pronouns (He, she, they, hers, his, theirs, etc.) are common goals in speech therapy for children with both language and phonological disorders. The good news is there are plenty of ways you can incorporate working on these goals into your daily routine! Here are some fun ideas to get you started:
- Storybook Reading: While reading books, highlight what the characters are doing after reading each page with phrases such as, “He is going to the park,” and “She is playing with her friends.” When your child is ready to use pronouns, ask them a question after each page, such as “What do you think they will do next?” When they respond, correct their pronoun use by modeling the accurate production.
- Pretend Play: Playing with dolls, action figures, or Little People provides a perfect opportunity to use pronouns within play. Model phrases like, “He is racing away!” Also, don’t be afraid of overusing the pronoun. You can fit in three quick phrases in 30 seconds, and it won’t sound weird to your child. For example, “He is racing away! I hope he goes fast! He has to hurry!”
- Family Pictures: Take some time with your child to look at family pictures and tell them about different people they know. For example, saying “These are your cousins, they live in California,” is a great way to model pronoun use with familiar people. Drawing pictures and having your child come up with phrases to write about each family member is a great craft to try as well. For example, they can make a sentence about what each person likes. “He likes cookies. She likes ice cream.”
- Movies and TV shows: Turning screen time into shared conversations is the best way to add learning opportunities to your child’s favorite shows. Pause the show periodically and ask them questions, such as “Oops, I missed it! What did she say?” or “What do you think they will do next?”
If you have concerns about your child’s speech and language development, call T.E.A.M. 4 Kids to schedule an evaluation with one of our SLPs.
Karen Adkins, MS, CCC-SLP