Falling Leaves, Building Language

Posted by Lynn Moore Oct 14, 2006

This is Down Syndrome Awareness Month. Down syndrome is characterized by delays in speech, motor skills, and cognitive ability.

Let's also think for a minute about the never ending task of raking leaves. Everyone in the family wants to be in the middle of the fun. . . Well at least some family members think it is fun.

Use the leaf raking chore to work on talking with your Down syndrome child. Here are some ideas:

• Talk about colors: The leaf is red (brown, yellow, orange, green).
• Talk about placement. The leaf is on the car (flowers, bush, fence).
• Talk about quantity. I see lots of leaves. Many leaves are on the ground. No leaves are on the tree.
• Talk about WH words. Who is raking? Where is the leaf? When do we rake leaves?
• Talk about action. Can you jump (run, walk, sit, stand) in the leaves?

Looking for more language building ideas?

• Language Delays and Halloween Fun
• Vocabulary Concerns with Developmentally Delayed Kids
• Encouraging Nonverbal Kids to Talk Using Playdoh
• Building Language Skills
• Building Language Skills - Part 2

I will leaf you to have a great day . . . L.