Learn how you can help your child grow his vocabulary through reading.

1. SUPPORTING AND REINFORCING YOUR
CHILD’S LANGUAGE GROWTH:
VOCABULARY THROUGH LITERACY
Lois Kam Heymann, M.A. CCC-SLP

2. Originally presented at:
October 30, 2011
Center for Hearing and Communication ● 50 Broadway, New York, NY 10004 ● (917) 305-7850 ● www.CHChearing.org

3. A Language Model
 Language
 Semantics- vocabulary
 Dog
 Receptive- understanding
 Expressive-what is stated
 Syntax- grammar
 The dog is running
 Pragmatics- use of language
 Requesting
 I want a dog
 Commenting
 I see a dog
 Questioning
 Where is the dog?
 Asking for clarification
 Did you say “dog”
 Turn-taking

4. How a child’s vocabulary develops
 A brain of a growing child is always forging links
 Sounds
 Images
 Emotions
 Experiences
 Tastes Smells
 An infant’s mental development proceeds by linking new
information to old information

5. Semantics
 How do words “grow”?
 Vertically– word upon word upon word
 Apple
 Banana
 Grape
 Pear
 Horizontally
 Apple– red (green, yellow), round, shiny, grows on a tree, has skin,
seeds, stem, fruit, crunchy, apple juice, apple sauce
 The big apple, apple of my eye, sleeping beauty’s poison apple,
apple cheeks

6. Semantics
 Best ways to learn vocabulary
 Listening to others
 In context
 In variety of contexts
 Direct teaching
 Incidental language
 Being read to
 Reading yourself

7. Semantics
 We build vocabulary, vertically and horizontally, receptively
and expressively through:
 Categories
 Descriptions
 Multiple meanings
 Synonyms
 Antonyms

8. Semantics
When we build these “file
folders” well, the child can
store and later retrieve new
words and concepts.

9. Semantics
 Vocabulary learning is based
on listening
 Hearing
 Listening
 Sounds-words-sentences -
paragraphs

10. What is different for children who are
deaf or hard of hearing?
 Amplification or implants for hearing
 Therapy for developing listening
 Detection
 Discrimination
 Identification
 Comprehension

11. Why read to your child
 Best way to learn to listen, grow
vocabulary, and create a space for
interaction.
 Words, ideas and images in books
can take children to places outside
of their immediate experience.
 Increase imagination
 Expand perspective

12. Why read to your child
 It will take years for your child
to learn through reading a
book to themselves.
 Reading to your child can
begin at birth.

13. Why are you reading the book
 Therapy?
 Pleasure?
 How should we sit?
On the lap?
Across from each other?
Should she see the
pictures first?

14. Picking a book
 Is the book funny?
 Does it have interesting vocabulary words
 Does it have rhythm and rhyme?
 Does it encourage your child to predict what will happen?
 Does it relate to something your child is learning at school or in
therapy?
 Does the book give you something new to talk about?

15. How long should I read?
 Infants- as long as they stay
focused
 Preschool- 5-10 minutes
 Kindergarten- 10- 15 minutes
 First- third grade- 20-30
minutes

16. Reading ritual
 Try to establish a familiar routine
 Create a space
 Shared focus

17. Examples
Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
 Pointing to and labeling the things in the bunny’s
room: the red balloon, the telephone, the cow
jumping over the moon
 As your child gets older and becomes more
familiar with the story, she will start pointing to
the pictures (receptive language)
 Your child will then be able to name all the
things in the bunny’s room (expressive language)
 Once your child is talking you can practice
rhyming: “there were three little bears sitting in
__________”

18. Examples
The Three Bears by Burton Barton
 Talk about the things Goldilocks finds
in the bear’s house.” Look at Papa’s big
chair and baby bear’s little chair.”
 Make size comparisons between objects
that you see in your own home:
Daddy’s big shoe, your little shoe.
 Act out some of the scenes in the story:
setting the table, making oatmeal,
sitting on chairs, sleeping in the bed.

19. Examples
The Snowy Day by Jack Ezra Keats
 Discussion about winter
 Make a list of things you do in the winter
 Cut out pictures from a magazine of things
you wear in winter, make a collage and talk
about the season
 Create you own book about you child doing
winter activities

20. Books by age group
 Birth-3
 The Rainbow Fish- Marcus Pfister
 Hush Little Baby- Sylvia Long
 The Runaway Bunny- Margaret Wise Brown
 Brown Bear by Bill Martin, Jr.
 Rosie’s Walk- by Pat Hutchins
 I Went Walking by Sue Williams
 Old MacDonald Had a Farm by Colin Hawkins and Jacqui
Hawkins
 Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

21. Books by age group
 Age 3-6
 The Snowy Day- Jack Ezra Keats
 A Color of his Own by Leo Lionni
 If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
 Sam Who Never Forgets by Eve Rice
 Sadie and the Snowman by Allen Morgan
 Jack and the Beanstalk- Paul Galdone

22. Books by age group
 Age 6-8
 Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola
 Frederick by Leo Lionni
 Lentil by Robert M. McCloskey
 Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco
 Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes
 Freckle Juice by Lois Bloom
 James and the Giant peach by Poald Dahl

23. More activities available at ListenLoveLearn Blog
LOIS KAM HEYMANN, M.A., CCC-SLP, is a recognized leader in the treatment of
children with listening, learning and auditory challenges. As a private speech and
language pathologist, she has more than 30 years of experience working with families.
Visit her website at www.listenlovelearn.com