Incorporating Language at Home- Cooking
I often get asked by parents “what can I do to help my child progress at home?”. Language and communication happen ALL. THE. TIME. Incorporating language strategies at home is an important piece to the speech therapy puzzle! Your child needs to learn how to generalize the skills they learned during the their speech/language sessions each week. We want natural, fun experiences — not apps, worksheets, and drill cards. My advice? Start small. Choose one new strategy or routine in the day and really focus on the skill. Over time, these practices will become more natural and expand throughout your whole day.
So, let’s do a series on different routines! First up— cooking! Put your aprons on and get in the kitchen with your kids. Remember, start small. Choose an easy recipe and do this on the weekend when you have time and ability to get a little messy. As parents, it can be so easy to anticipate your child’s wants and needs so my challenge to you is to let them explore. This is often where more language comes into play….let’s breakdown how:
Try to let your child take the lead when possible. Do not get all the ingredients out first, do it together! The hands on experiences helps all of the knowledge “stick” better in their brain. Have them look for the ingredients and get them out. Do not automatically open containers— let them try and then ask for help! “Do we need to look in the refrigerator or the pantry?”
Model and narrate the process throughout. “Hmmm our recipe says we need one cup of water. Let’s get our measuring cup out, can you find it? Great! Now we need to fill it up! Look it’s full. Let’s pour it in. It’s time to mix it up. What should we use to mix it? ” Try to avoid only yes/no questions (do you want to pour? is this milk?)— this limits the conversation and language.
Don’t put too much pressure on your child to repeat things back or use 2 words together -- even if that is their speech goal! Acknowledge their attempts at communication (eye contact, imitating you, reaching for help, using one word) and then MODEL. As time goes on, these words and routines and vocabulary become more natural and they begin to initiate more. This should be FUN :)
Now let’s recap all of the language skills this incorporates, because you may be surprised at how much we can get out of it!
identifying/labeling vocabulary- “that’s a whisk! Don’t forget I need oven mitts!”
sequencing and following directions- “first, next, last” Follow that recipe!
object/function- “what do we use to cut/mix/scoop?”
basic concepts- “hot, sticky, gooey, messy, wet, dry, yummy, soft, crunchy, full, empty, clean, dirty”
categories- “fruit, silverware”
requesting- “help, let’s open it, I need a spoon”
action words- “pour, measure, mix, blend, eat, scoop”
compare/contrast- “These are both desserts, but one has frosting and the other has sprinkles”
Does your child need visuals to support their learning? Check out these cool recipe cards from Kristine Deworocki at Live Love Speech!
Happy cooking!!