Children have delays in talking for a variety of reasons: Autism Spectrum Disorder, developmental delays, and hearing loss. Simple fun with Playdoh can encourage speech.
Need a great recipe for homemade Playdoh?
The first article in this series addressed Building Handwriting Muscles with Playdoh
Build Vocabulary
Color Words
- red
- yellow
- blue
- green
- purple
- black
- white
- pink
Verbs
- look
- touch
- feel
- smell
- bake (pretend)
- cook (pretend)
- eat (pretend)
- squeeze
- roll
- pinch
- cut
- push
- poke
Things (Cookie cutters are great for these or create them yourself!)
- flower
- heart
- snowman
- tree
- bell
- train
- boy
- girl
- angel
- knife (plastic)
- cookie cutter
- rolling pin
Shapes
- circle
- square
- triangle
- rectangle
- oval
- ball
- star
Build Phrases and Sentences
- The __________ is ___________ (what color).
- The __________ is next to the ____________.
Practice Questions and Answers
Yes / No Questions
- Do you want blue?
- Is this a circle?
- Does the train have wheels?
WH Questions
- What color do you want?
- What animal are you making?
- Where are the eyes?
- Who wants this cutter?
Note: Not every idea is appropriate for every child. Activities represented here are ideas. Parents (not the author) are responsible for choosing an appropriate activity for a particular child and for the consequences of that activity.
My next article:
Enhancing Cognitive Skills in Mentally Retarded Children
The copyright of the article Encouraging Nonverbal Kids to Talk in Special Needs Parenting is owned by Lynn Moore. Permission to republish Encouraging Nonverbal Kids to Talk must be granted by the author in writing.
