As your child begins to say the odd word or phrase, it's very likely they'll be making a few mistakes along the way. But what's the best way to help them to get their words right?
Watch the film below to find out.
What is 'recasting'?
Recasting is a term used by speech and language therapists to refer to a way of responding to children when they say words or phrases incorrectly or slightly oddly. It simply means repeating the sentence you think your child is trying to say back to them correctly, so that they can hear it as it should sound and see how you form the sound with your mouth.
This doesn't mean saying 'no, that's not right', or drawing attention to their error, but just saying the sentence back to them as it should be said. So for example, if they rolled a ball down a slide and said 'ball go down', you might say 'yes, the ball goes down the slide when you drop it.'
What types of words do children get wrong?
There are some common things that children tend to make mistakes with when it comes to their early language skills.
- Plurals - lots of children struggle with irregular plurals, e.g. mice instead of 'mouses', feet instead of 'feets'
- Tenses - often children will make mistakes with past tense words, using -ed on the end of a word when it isn't quite right e.g. 'it falled' instead of 'it fell'
- Some sounds are harder for children to distinguish. For example, words like 'yellow', which children often pronounce as 'lello'
Teaching irregular plural words
It can be helpful to set up a game to help teach some irregular plural words like 'mice' and 'feet'.
On one side of a sheet of paper, draw a single picture of something with an irregular plural, e.g. a mouse. On the other side, draw more than one of that thing.
Ask your child to name the single thing and repeat it back to them correctly. Next, flip the sheet and ask them to name the group of things. Whether they get it right or wrong, say the word back to them correctly, e.g. 'Yes, it's a group of mice'.
Some words you might try this with include mouse/tooth/foot/sheep/fish/person.
