How to Support Your Child’s Language Development Through Self-Talk and Parallel Talk
Children learn language through everyday interactions with the people around them. Listening to others speak, observing how words are used, and having opportunities to communicate all contribute to language development. Everyday activities, such as playing with toys, getting dressed, preparing meals, and reading books, provide valuable opportunities for children to hear and learn new words.
Parents and caregivers can support their child’s language development by incorporating simple strategies into daily routines. Two helpful techniques are self-talk and parallel talk.
These strategies involve describing what you or your child are doing, allowing children to hear meaningful language in context without the pressure to repeat words or answer questions.
At Kurliand Speech Clinic, we recognize that small, everyday interactions can create meaningful opportunities to support communication development. Families looking for speech therapy in Vaughan and surrounding areas can also use these strategies at home to encourage their child’s early language skills.
What Is Self-Talk?
Self-talk is a language stimulation strategy in which an adult describes or narrates their own actions while a child watches or participates in an activity (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association [ASHA], n.d.).
By describing what you are doing, you provide your child with opportunities to hear words and phrases that are connected to real-life actions and experiences.
Examples of self-talk include:
During playtime: “I’m building a tall tower. I’m putting the blue block on top. Oh no, it fell down!”
During mealtime: “I’m cutting the carrot. Cut, cut, cut. Now I’m putting it on your plate.”
While getting dressed: “I’m putting on your jacket. First one arm, then the other arm.”
During bath time: “I’m pouring the water. Splash! The water is warm.”
Self-talk helps children connect the words they hear with the actions they observe. It also exposes them to a variety of vocabulary, action words, and sentence structures throughout the day.
What Is Parallel Talk?
Parallel talk is a language stimulation strategy in which an adult describes what the child is doing, seeing, or experiencing during an activity (ASHA, n.d.; Hadley et al., 2016).
Rather than directing the activity or asking the child to answer questions, the adult follows the child’s lead and provides language that relates to the child’s current interests.
Examples of parallel talk include:
During playtime: If your child is pushing a toy car, you might say, “You’re pushing the car. It’s going so fast! Now it’s stopping.”
While playing with animals: If your child is moving a toy dog, you could say, “The dog is running. He’s going outside. Now he’s sitting down.”
During snack time: If your child is eating a banana, you might say, “You’re eating your banana. It’s soft and sweet.”
While playing outside: If your child is jumping in puddles, you could say, “You’re jumping! Splash! Your boots are getting wet.”
Parallel talk allows children to hear language that is directly related to what they are doing and experiencing. Because the adult follows the child’s interests, the language is relevant to the moment and may be easier for the child to connect with the activity.
How Do Self-Talk and Parallel Talk Support Language Development?
Self-talk and parallel talk create opportunities for children to hear language in meaningful, everyday contexts. Rather than repeatedly asking questions such as “What is that?” or “What are you doing?”, adults can model words and sentences that relate to the activity.
These strategies may help support several areas of language development, including:
Vocabulary development: Children hear new words for familiar objects, actions, people, and experiences.
Understanding language: Hearing words alongside the actions or objects they describe can help children make connections between words and their meanings.
Sentence development: Children are exposed to different sentence structures, including short phrases and longer sentences.
Action words: Describing actions such as running, pouring, opening, building, and falling introduces children to useful verbs.
Everyday communication: Children hear language that can be useful when expressing their needs, interests, and experiences.
Research by Hadley and colleagues (2016) highlights the importance of the language adults provide during interactions with young children. Their study found that greater diversity in the noun phrases used in parent input was associated with enhanced early grammatical growth in the context of a parent-implemented intervention. This supports the value of providing children with varied, meaningful language during everyday interactions.
It is important to remember that children develop communication skills at different rates. Self-talk and parallel talk can provide valuable language-learning opportunities, but children who have ongoing difficulties understanding or using language may benefit from an assessment with a speech-language pathologist.
Tips for Using Self-Talk and Parallel Talk at Home
You do not need special toys, materials, or structured activities to support your child’s language development. These strategies can be incorporated into routines you already follow.
1. Follow your child’s interests.
Pay attention to what your child is looking at, playing with, or exploring. Use parallel talk to describe their actions and interests. If your child is interested in cars, for example, talk about the cars moving, stopping, turning, and crashing.
2. Keep your language simple and meaningful.
Use words and sentences that are appropriate for your child’s current communication level. If your child is using single words, you can model short phrases such as “big ball,” “ball rolling,” or “more bubbles.” As your child’s language develops, you can gradually introduce longer sentences.
3. Repeat important words naturally.
Repeating words during everyday activities gives your child additional opportunities to hear them. For example, while playing with bubbles, you might say, “Bubbles! Big bubbles. Pop the bubbles! More bubbles!”
4. Add information to your child’s communication.
If your child says a word or short phrase, respond by adding a little more language. If your child says “car,” you could respond with “Yes, a red car!” or “The car is going fast!” This provides a model of how to expand an idea into a longer phrase without requiring your child to repeat it.
5. Allow time for your child to respond.
Although self-talk and parallel talk do not require your child to respond, it is helpful to leave pauses during interactions. Your child may communicate through words, gestures, facial expressions, sounds, or other forms of communication. Acknowledge these attempts and respond meaningfully.
6. Avoid turning every interaction into a lesson.
The goal is to make language part of enjoyable, natural interactions rather than creating pressure to speak. Follow your child’s lead, enjoy playing together, and remember that listening is also an important part of learning language.
When Should You Consider Speech Therapy?
Children develop language skills at different rates, but some children may need additional support with understanding language, learning new words, combining words into sentences, or communicating their needs and ideas.
If you have concerns about your child’s speech or language development, a registered speech-language pathologist can assess their communication skills and recommend strategies tailored to their needs.
Kurliand Speech Clinic provides speech and language services in Vaughan, including in-clinic and in-home services in Vaughan and surrounding communities, as well as virtual services across Ontario. Our team works with families to support children’s communication development and provide practical strategies that can be incorporated into everyday routines.
Interested in learning more about how to support your child’s communication skills? Contact Kurliand Speech Clinic to discuss your concerns and explore whether a speech and language assessment may be appropriate for your child.
References
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (n.d.). Early intervention. https://www.asha.org/Practice-Portal/Professional-Issues/Early-Intervention/
Hadley, P. A., Rispoli, M., Holt, J. K., Papastratakos, T., Hsu, N., Kubalanza, M., & McKenna, M. M. (2016). Input subject diversity enhances early grammatical growth: Evidence from a parent-implemented intervention. Language Learning and Development, 13(1), 54–79. https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2016.1193020
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