Speechy Life

By Brooke Heinz, Speech-Language Pathologist | Mom of 2

I spent several years working as an early intervention specialist, and I built up a massive ‘toolbox’ of strategies to help my families build their child’s language skills. As a parent, I still use most of the strategies my toolbox, but there is one that I find myself using all the time with my 18-month old. That strategy is: recasting.

Recasting is when you repeat what your child says, and use correct pronunciation and add more words. You do this without changing the overall message and without expecting them to repeat it back to you. 

For example: if your child says, ‘wa.’ You say, ‘Water? Want some water?” This is so excellent for language development because 1) there’s joint attention –it ensures you and your child are talking about the same thing, 2) it provides a clear model for your child of what they can say, and 3) it builds communication skills between you and your child. 

There are so many interactions between my daughter and myself that go like this:

Her: ‘Sing’

Me: ‘Swing? Want to swing?’

Her: ‘Ya’

Me: ‘Okay, let’s get our shoes on and we’ll go swing’

The goal with recasting is to model just a few more words than what they are saying. That way, the model doesn’t get lost in a word salad. I’m a professional word-salad maker, I’m working on it 🤦. Try for simple, clear, communication and modeling. 

I also use this strategy with my three-year old, but it’s more with the purpose of teaching grammar/manners:

Him: ‘Yes, sir’

Me: ‘Yes, Ma’am’

Or

Him: ‘Her went outside’

Me: ‘She went outside’

What are your favorite ways to build your child’s language? Let me know in the comments below!