Language strategies: Repetition

Language difficulties are nobody’s fault, but changing the way you talk can really help your child.

Repeat… repeat… repeat… repeat… Practise makes perfect.

• Say new words lots of times as you play or do every day activities.
• Most children with typically developing language skills only need to hear a new word a few times (about 6 times) before they can say it.
• Children with language difficulties need to hear new words lots and lots of times (sometimes more than 30 times) before they can learn and use it.
• Remember to follow your child’s lead. Watch what they are looking at or playing with, then add the word and say it lots of times.
• Remember to leave a little pause before repeating the word. Your child might want to have a turn to try the word, or to say a different word, or to show you something new!
• It may feel unnatural at first but repetition is really, really helpful!

Why use this strategy?

• Repeating a word over and over again allows your child many more opportunities to work out what it means and how it sounds. This way they feel more able to have a go at saying it.
• Imagine you are learning a new language. You would find it helpful if you heard a new word a few times. This would help you to work out what sounds were in it before you tried to say it. This is especially the case when it is a long or complicated word. This is how it can be for children with even the easier shorter words.