Lesson 304


Lesson 304
Book
Imitating 4-5 Word Phrases and Sentences


     

     

Objectives

To teach your child to

a) listen and accurately say longer sentences
b) increase his ability to remember longer sentences

Points To Remember

1. Structured imitation of sentences should be done with meaningful language from the child’s experience.
2. In the beginning, do not worry about perfect articulation, but focus on getting all the words in the sentence. Your child may say some words perfectly, others not so well. All should be recognizable as the imitated words and the child should imitate the correct intonation pattern of the sentence.
3. incorporate different types of sentences such as questions, comments and exclamations to make your sentences interesting

Method

This is a structured activity based on an experience activity you have done with your child. You will need to have an experience book with pictures or photographs of the activity.

Watch the video clip to see how to use your experience book to practice imitation.

1. Use an experience book or a set of pictures/photographs of an activity you have done with your child.
2. Write the sentences you will use at the bottom of each photograph or picture. The sentences should match what is happening in the picture or photograph. Vary the length of the sentence and the type of sentence. Thus, your sentences will consist of questions, comments, exclamations, etc.
3. Use the ‘Listen’ cue to make sure your child is attending, then point to the picture you will be talking about. Say the sentence.
4. Use the hand cue and have the child try and repeat the sentence.
5. Continue until your child has tried to imitate all the sentences.
6. Now, say one of the sentences and see if the child can identify the correct picture. If he doesn’t, just tell him which one it is. This will help him understand the sentences more quickly.

Video Clips

CLIP 1




Modifications

Another way to do this activity is to say the sentence first without showing your child the picture, then show him the picture and have him try to imitate the sentence. You can do this with a story that has about 5-6 separate pictures. After your child has imitated all the sentences, always have him try and identify the picture by listening to you say the sentence.

What Next

1. Continue with Lessons 303 and 304 until your child is consistently and accurately able to imitate 4-5 word sentences 80% of the time.
2. Your child may master the skills in Lessons 301 to 304 at different rates, not necessarily in sequence. So continue with all these lessons until your child has mastered ALL the skills in these lessons. Then, move on to Lesson 305.