How to Boost Early Communication With Common Items

In today’s post, I’m sharing strategies to build early communication skills using everyday items readily available this fall.

In graduate school, a professor once told me that a great therapist could do speech and language therapy with a box of paperclips and nothing else.

At first, I laughed. I thought she was kidding.

To a brand new clinician, the idea was daunting.

Doing therapy with something as simple as a paperclip? But how?

Although more than a little extreme, there was a bit of gold in this professor’s statement. Her message was an important one.

Nobody needs fancy, expensive toys or tools to effectively prevent and treat speech and language disorders. 

We can –– in fact, we should –– use everyday items in our home to boost early communication skills. Here’s why.

Why Use Everyday Items for Early Communication Success

There are five main reasons, ranging from practical to financial to therapeutic, to use everyday items in therapy. Today, I’m sharing three. (Check back for more!)

Generalize Skills

Remember that buzzword I told you about in this post? Naturalistic. In case you missed it, research in the therapy world tells us that, for children to benefit the most, interventions should be naturalistic. This means focusing on everyday people, everyday places, and –– you got it –– everyday items. And this is especially true for the little ones learning early communication skills.

Now, if you’re wondering why naturalistic interventions are the gold standard, I’ve got another word for you: generalization, also known as carryover. When we use familiar, everyday items to teach skills, a child will acquire these skills more rapidly and fully. This is because they are exposed to these items outside of therapy time. They naturally have more opportunities to practice targeted skills throughout the day. What’s more, these opportunities are meaningful and relevant.

Save Money

Using items around the house for therapy means that you can forgo the online shopping purchases you had planned. Advertisers of therapy tools and toys want you to believe otherwise, but you can encourage early communication and deliver plenty of high-quality therapy with the things you’ve already bought –– items you use frequently for eating, cleaning, cooking, gardening, and more.

Believe it or not, your home is already stocked with therapy tools. And, with some help, you’ll start to see the items you use daily for all their therapeutic potential!

Target Various Goals

Everyday items provide flexibility with regard to therapy targets. And this makes them efficient teaching tools. With limited space in our homes, schools, and clinics, I find there’s nothing worse than a therapy tool that only targets one goal.

Give me a spoon and I’ll show you how to target everything from sound imitation to sentence building. Show me a broom and I’ll give you tips for teaching everything from turn-taking to fluent speech to narratives.

How to Use Everyday Items in Therapy With Your Early Communicator

Start by thinking about the items that you frequently use in your house during the fall months. Even better: make a list. What things do you eat regularly? What kinds of chores and activities are fall-specific, and what items do you use for these? Be curious and observant.

Next, consider your child’s current goals. Write them down. Do you have an early communicator who is working on imitating skills and early play? Does he or she understand the language you’re using, or do you notice difficulties with comprehension? Is your child saying words, but struggling to combine them?

Finally, get creative. Think about each everyday item and how you might use it to meet therapy goals. 

Before long, this process will become a quick and natural one!

Here’s an Example: the Spoon

I can’t think of a more accessible therapy tool than a spoon. Every home has one! With the weather growing colder and soup season in full swing, this utensil gets its moment in the fall. Your child is probably seeing one on a daily basis, so make all these exposures count!

If Your Child Needs Help With...

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Imitation

Bring the spoon to your lips and make a smacking/eating sound. Say “mmm” and rub your belly. See if your child will imitate these sounds or actions.

Pretend play

Find a stuffed animal or doll. Will your child pretend to feed it with the spoon? Model this kind of play!

Following directions

Give your child a direction. Start with something simple and routine (“Feed the baby”). If your child is ready for something more challenging, try a silly direction (“Put the spoon on your head”) or a more complex direction (“Give me a bite and then put the spoon in the sink”).

Symbolic play

Play “doctor” with your child. Will he or she pretend the spoon is a thermometer?  

Word combinations

Practice combining words to make small phrases related to the spoon. You could say, “Mommy eat,” “Yummy soup,” “Eat soup,” “Mommy’s soup,” and more while you eat dinner.

Phonological Awareness

If you add a pot and pretend to cook food, you can play with rhyming words like “pot” and “hot” while you stir contents with the spoon. Add some extra ingredients and say “We got a lot!”

Plurals

Grab a second spoon from the drawer! Emphasize the /s/ at the end of the word when you say “Two spoons!”

Descriptions

Use as many words as you can to describe your spoon! Is it big or little? Long or short? What color is it? Does it feel cold? Is it hard?

“S” sound and “Sp” blends

A spoon is a great tool for teaching tricky sounds and blends. Use it as a tactile prompt while you practice the word “spoon.” Run your finger down the spoon while making the /s/ sound. When you reach the end, add the /p/ and the rest of the word. See if your child will do the same! Try other festive fall words with the same strategy (spooky, spider, spice, and spell).

Reinforcement / Motivation

Keep kids motivated in any therapy activity by making spoons tokens that can be exchanged for a reward. When your child hits his or her target accurately, they get a spoon. Five spoons (or however many you determine) earns them something motivating (e.g., a break, a treat, a toy, etc.).

We’ve Curated 36 Everyday Items and Their Uses for You

We know that brainstorming therapy strategies can take some time and energy that you don’t have. So we’ve done the work for you!

For a guide complete with everyday items and their therapeutic uses through fall (and other seasons!), check out this parent handout from Speech and Language at Home. You’ll get 36 everyday items and simple, effective, and meaningful ways to use each for building your child’s early communication skills.

(Remember to use items safely and always with a supervising adult.)