Clinician Modeling to Expand Language: How You Can Use This at Home
One of my favorite strategies for helping children grow their language skills is clinician modeling—a simple yet powerful way to expand a child’s vocabulary, sentence structure, and overall communication abilities. But here’s the best part: parents and caregivers can use this strategy too!
What is Clinician Modeling?
Clinician modeling is when an adult provides clear, intentional language examples for a child to hear and absorb. Instead of directly correcting errors, we model the correct way to say something in a natural, encouraging way.
For example, if a child says, "Dog run," you might model: "Yes! The dog is running!" This keeps communication positive and engaging while exposing the child to richer language.
Why is Modeling Important?
Modeling helps children:
Hear correct grammar and sentence structure in a natural way
Learn new vocabulary in context
Feel confident in their communication without fear of being corrected
Develop stronger expressive language skills over time
How Can You Use Modeling at Home?
Here are some simple ways to incorporate modeling into everyday interactions:
1. Expand What Your Child Says
If your child says, "Big truck!" you can respond with, "Yes! That’s a big, red truck! It’s driving so fast!"
Adding just a few extra words helps your child learn new concepts naturally.
2. Repeat and Rephrase
If your child says something with an error, instead of correcting them directly, repeat it the correct way.
Example:
Child: "Him want cookie."
You: "Oh, he wants a cookie! Let's get him one."
3. Narrate Daily Activities
Talk about what you’re doing as you do it.
Example: "I’m cutting up an apple. First, I’ll wash it, then I’ll slice it into little pieces. Here’s a crunchy piece for you!"
This gives your child repeated exposure to words and sentence structures they can later use themselves.
4. Use Parallel Talk
Describe what your child is doing as they do it.
Example: "You’re building a tall tower with your blocks. Look at that blue block on top! Wow, it’s getting so high!"
5. Be Playful and Engaging
Use silly voices, fun expressions, and lots of enthusiasm when modeling language.
This keeps communication fun and interactive, making children more likely to engage and learn.
The Takeaway
Language learning happens best in a natural, supportive environment. By using modeling at home, you’re giving your child countless opportunities to hear and absorb new words and structures—without any pressure. Keep it fun, keep it engaging, and know that every conversation is helping your child’s language skills grow!
Want to learn more about how to support your child’s speech and language development? Feel free to reach out—I’d love to help!
Helping Children with Autism Build Conversation Skills: Turn-Taking Made Easy
At Little Sunflowers Speech and Language, we know that conversation is more than just words—it’s about connection. For many children with autism, turn-taking in conversations can be a challenge. Whether it’s knowing when to speak, when to listen, or how to stay engaged, these skills take time and support to develop.
The good news? With the right strategies, children can learn to take turns in conversations, strengthening their communication and social skills along the way.
Simple Strategies to Encourage Turn-Taking
💡 Use Visual Supports – Turn-taking cards, visual schedules, or conversation scripts can provide clear, structured guidance.
🎲 Make It a Game – Board games, rolling a ball back and forth, or storytelling games naturally encourage turn-taking in a fun, low-pressure way.
📖 Social Stories Work Wonders – Short, personalized stories help children understand conversation flow and expectations.
👀 Build Joint Attention – Engaging in shared activities (like pointing out interesting things or playing “I Spy”) helps children learn to tune in and take turns.
👏 Reinforce and Celebrate Progress – Praise and positive reinforcement, such as “Great job waiting for your turn!” can make a big difference in motivation and confidence.
Every child’s journey with language is unique, but with patience and the right tools, they can develop stronger communication skills and meaningful connections.
#SpeechTherapy #AutismSupport #TurnTaking #ChildCommunication #MerrickNY #SpeechPathologist #LanguageDevelopment #LittleSunflowersSpeech
Vocabulary Milestones Reference
12 months - 2 to 6 words
15 months - 10 words
18 months - 50 words
24 months - 300 words
30 months - 500 words
36 months - 1,000 words
42 months - 1,200 words
48 months - 1,600 words
54 months - 1,900 words
60 months - 2,500 words
6 years - 7,000 words
12 years - 50,000 words
Pragmatics aka Social Language Skills
A few examples below of each time frame…
Birth-6 months:
•Startles to loud sounds
•Varies responses to different family members
•Stops crying when spoken to
6-12 months:
•Responds to “no”
•Tries to “talk” to listener
•Copies simple actions of others
1-2 years:
•Engages in parallel play
•Exhibits verbal turn-taking
•Talks to self during play
2-3 years:
•Watches other children and briefly joins in their play
•Requests permission for items or activities
•Makes conversational repairs when listener does not understand
FAQs
One of the most common questions I am asked as a private practitioner is if I take insurance?
I am private pay and do not take insurance at this time but I can provide a superbill for the initial evaluation and following treatment sessions, if requested. You then would submit the superbill to your insurance provider as an out-of-network claim. I try my best to help families get reimbursed whenever possible.
Phoneme Development
According to research there poses some variability in overall criteria based on studies completed yet general agreement yields a few overall conclusions about the acquisition of individual sounds (phonemes):
•Nasals “m, n, ng,” Stops “p, b, t, d, k, g,” and Glides “w, y” are typically acquired earliest.
•Up next include Fricatives “f, v, s, z, sh, zh,” Affricate “ch” and Liquids “l, r.”
•Previous studies also note voiced/voiceless “th” and “zh” were generally the latest phonemes to be acquired.
Acquisition of Pronouns
An approximation for the acquisition of pronouns - Research indicates that children use most subjective/objective pronouns by age 3 and possessive pronouns by age 5.
Approximate Age Pronouns
12 – 26 months I & it
27 – 30 months my, me, mine, you
31 – 34 months your, she, he, yours, we
35 – 40 months they, us, hers, his, them, her, him
41 – 46 months its, our, myself, ours, their, theirs
47+ months herself, himself, ourselves, yourselves
Expanding Toddler Vocabulary
Here are some tips to boost your toddlers vocabulary:
Read together.
Talk with versus at your child.
Sing songs.
Encourage them to use their “words” in lieu of frequent pointing/gesturing.
Model language for them.
Expand on their language, i.e., “ball” to “yes, that’s a small red ball.”
Explore new items and environments together.
PROMPT Training
What is PROMPT?
•PROMPT stands for Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Target. PROMPT is “a tactile-kinesthetic approach that uses touch cues to a patient’s articulators (jaw, lips, tongue, vocal folds) to manually guide them through a targeted word, phrase or sentence.”
•PROMPT was developed to treat children with motor speech disorders including apraxia, speech/language language disorders. It can be used for children ages 6 months and older.
•At Little Sunflowers Speech and Language we are committed to and prioritize continuing education and plan to be PROMPT trained by the end of this year.
Speech Intelligibility Expectations
Did you know that children’s speech intelligibility can be classified into the following age groups? Is your child speaking unclearly to familiar and unfamiliar listeners? Quite frankly, it could be developmentally appropriate depending on their chronological age. Check out my chart below for corresponding age to intelligibility levels.
19 – 24 months 25-50% intelligibility
2 – 3 years 50-75% intelligibility
4 – 5 years 75-90% intelligibility
5+ years 90-100% intelligibility
If you’re interested in discussing your child’s speech please fill out the contact form and we’ll set up a free consultation.
We’re Open!
We are happy to announce that Little Sunflowers Speech & Language is available to begin seeing clients! We are a private practice specializing in speech/language delays, social skills development, expressive/receptive language disorders, and articulation disorders. If you think your child may benefit from speech and language therapy please fill out our contact form for a free phone consultation. Referrals are welcome!
