Children with language difficulties may find it more difficult to learn and remember new words, meaning that there are often ‘gaps’ in their vocabulary. They may need extra practice and repetition to understand new words and later use them. The following advice can support this learning: Name things for the child as you come across them in everyday situations, for example if you are

looking at a book, when you are playing together and even when you are in the car, for example “Lorry”, “Postman”, “Bus stop”.

Talk about what you are doing during the day so that the child is introduced to new vocabulary, for example “I’m cutting the paper”, “I’m stirring the mixture” etc.

Teach new words across a variety of contexts, for example the ‘cup’ at home is different to the ‘cup’ at grandma’s house but it still has the same label.

Repetition – repeat and reinforce the word many times in different situations and across a range of different activities. This will give the child as much experience of the new words as possible e.g. in books or written work, during cooking activities or art activities, when you are playing games, when you are spending time with family or friends etc.

Stress/emphasise the word when you say it e.g. ‘Bottle, it’s a bottle…a bottle of water’.

Use a gesture or the key word sign alongside the spoken word e.g. hold your hands wide apart whilst saying “big”.

Look at books together in order to develop vocabulary. Talk about all the things that you see in the pictures, modelling and repeating any words that the child is not familiar with. Ask the child what they can see in the pictures.

Start a scrapbook. Look through catalogues, magazines and newspapers and cut out pictures so that you can stick them into a scrapbook. Talk about the pictures that you stick in and see if you can split them into categories, for example having a page for animals, a page for toys etc.

Teach vocabulary in topics to help the child link words together, e.g. food, animals, clothes etc. Develop the child’s vocabulary by choosing a different category to work on each day/week and start a display corner with lots of items from that category in it. Talk about the names of all the items and play games with them.

Activities to develop vocabulary in younger school aged children

Choose topics which are motivating to the child or which link in with their interests and hobbies. Try and choose words which relate to the child’s everyday experiences, for example going to school.

Using everyday objects/pictures to play vocabulary games, for example:o Hide and seek – hide objects/pictures around the room and encourage the child to name

the item when they find it.o Feely bag – put the objects/pictures into a soft material bag and take turns to pick out an

item and name it.o Posting – make a postbox out of a used cereal box or shoebox and take turns to name

the object/picture and post it into the postbox. You can decorate the postbox in bright colours or turn it into a monster with the posting slot as the mouth!

o Fishing – make a fishing rod with a stick, some string and a magnet. Attach paperclips to the pictures and lay them out on the floor. Take turns to use the fishing rod to catch a ‘fish’. Name the picture.

o Pairs – make two sets of each picture and place them face down on the table or floor. Take turns to turn over two pictures and name them. If you find a pair you can keep it. The person with the most pairs wins.

o Lotto – Make lotto boards with 6-8 pictures on each board. Make a second copy of each board, cut into individual cards, and place face down in a pile. Take turns to turn over one card, name the picture, and match it to your lotto board

Pre-teach curriculum vocabulary to aid access to lessons.

Use real objects to help explain and define the word.

Let the child see and copy/trace/write the word in its written form. Talk about the initial sound and letter shape, what it rhymes with etc.

Relate new words to old words.

Review, revise and retest new vocabulary at gradually increasing intervals e.g. after five minutes, at the end of the lesson, the following day, the following week, the following month, at the end of term etc.

Don’t assume the child has learnt and is able to use a new word just because they have been exposed to it. It’s important to always check understanding of new words the next time you come across them, especially difficult classroom vocabulary.