A Word from Speech: Tips for literacy and utterance length

For those of you with Preschool-age children, we wanted to share a few tips to improve literacy as well as increase their utterance length (number of words they use). This allows them to be more expressive and engage in more success conversations with adults.

PEER is a technique that allows the child to become the teller of the story and the adult becomes the listener, the questioner, and audience. Use this strategy when you want your child to tell you a story or a personal experience

Prompts the child to say something

Evaluates the child’s response

Expands the child’s utterance.

Repeat the phrase.

Example of PEER use: 

Adult: What does the pig want with his pancake?  

Child: Wants syrup 

Adult: That’s right, the pig wants syrup.  

Child repeats: The pig wants syrup.

SEER is a strategy that is used to teach new words.

Say the word in context

E Provide a child-friendly explanation of the word using Tier 1 (basic) vocab

E Give an example from your experiences or the child’s experiences.

R Ask the child to repeat the word after you.

Use these techniques to help your child grow their expressive vocabulary and ability to engage in storytelling. Watch your child’s language grow!