Reading Books to Improve Receptive Language

I love reading as a way to build a child's receptive language skills. Whether it is at home reading before bedtime, or in the classroom with a grade level text - reading is extremely important to building receptive language skills!

Key Way to Build Receptive Language by Reading:

1. Choose Engaging Books your child will be interested in.

   If your child is not interested in the book, you may have a hard time getting them to read with you. Give them a choice of 2-3 books before you start or choose books with interactive features.

   
   

2. Read and Reread.

   Yes it is okay to read a favorite book for what feels like the 10,000th time this month. This will help improve understanding and vocabulary.

   
   

3. Ask Questions

   Throughout reading, stop and ask questions. Use a variety of different sentence types such as "who, what, where" questions. More difficult questions are "when, how, why", so don't be concerned if you child has a harder time with those questions. You could ask questions like "who is in the car?" or "what is the bear doing?". If you notice your child answers a "who" questions with a "what" or "where" answer, then this shows they do not yet understand that type of question fully. Try giving them 2-3 answer choices that are all "who" next time. So if you ask "who is petting the cat?", you can give them choices of "mommy", "grandma" or "Alice". Another option is modeling - ask the question then immediately answer yourself. Ask: "Where is the bird?" Answer: "in the tree" or "The bird is in the tree".

   
   

   While asking questions is important, make sure to mix it up and don't ONLY ask questions. A good rule of thumb is to make 3 comments for every 1 question!

   
   

4. Label Vocabulary

   Label pictures on the page. You can just name the word or use a simple sentence "I see a _______". You can also highlight concepts such as "in", "on", "over" or "under".

   
   

5. Use Gestures and Sounds

   If there are animals, make animal sounds. If there are doors, knock on them! If there is an action such as jumping and spinning - stand up and having fun with your child while using the word "jump jump jump" or "spin spin spin". Label what you are doing because verbs are just as important as nouns!

Encouraging a love for reading will build essential language skills for your child in a fun and engaging way!

Karen Taylor, M.S., CCC-SLP, CAS

Speech-Language Pathologist

Founder, Universal Speech Strategies

"Helping parents and professionals build communication through practical, evidence-based strategies."