Is your child ready for school?

Waimarino Bulletin, 26 July 1988, Page 15

Is your child ready for school?

By five years of age your child should be able to: Talk using full sentences and adult grammar; Understand and respond to a variety of questions; Ask questions; Express his/her ideas; Know the names of everyday objects and the names of categories e.g. food, fruit, vegetables, tools; Describe common objects according to use and appearance; Describe a sequence of actions e.g. making a cup of tea or cleaning your teeth; Discuss pictures and stories in books; Recite a nurscry rhyme or poem. If your child is having some difficulties with language it is important that you work at developing his/her language skills NOW. Here are some simple things that you can do each day:

Evcry morning - Ask your child what day is it? What month is it? What is the weather like? What are you going to do today? Make sure your child answers using the future tense e.g. Tm going t o play', or 'We will go to town' etc. After school you can ask 'what did you do today?' and check that they use the past tense in their reply. E.g. 'I played' not 'I play' etc. Talk about breakfast foods you eat and check they know that breakfast is the name of the meal eaten in the morning. Ask your child to describe the food they are eating. Ask 'what does it taste like?' or 'how do you cook it/eat it?' etc. Ask 'why' questions about things they do so that they have practise at reasoning and using

because responses. Many children do not understand 'why' questions so are unable to respond correctly to this question. Ask 'when' questions. Five year olds should begin to have some concept of time. However, many children Starting school are unable to answcr questions such as 'when do you go to bed?', 'when do you have breakfast?', 'when do you go to school?' etc. Check that your child can answer these questions using any of the following: in the morning; at night time; at 7 o'clock; at lunchtime; before dinner; after school; on Monday etc. Ask 'what kind' questions to develop your child's description language, talking about everyday things. E.g.

cornflakes, banana, pen etc. You can ask questions such as 'what is it like?', 'what kind is it?' etc. In answering these questions your child may use words. that portray colour, number, size, shape, texture etc, and so you are extending his/her language and vocabulary. Ask 'how' questions. Ask your child to describe how he/she does something. E.g. How do you make some toast? Your child should be able to describe exactly how the toast is made. In order to do this he/she must know the names of everything used and be able to explain exactly what is done. Ask 'where' questions. In order to answer 'where' questions, children nced to know words like behind, in front, next to, over, under etc. Many children who don't understand the meaning of these words simply respond by pointing or saying 'thcre'. By talking with your child everyday you are pproviding language patterns he/she can basc his/her language

on, extending his/her vocabulary and developing his/her understanding. If you simply ask questions that require no verbal response you are doing nothing to encourage your child's language development and his/her language will be limited as a re-

sult.

Alison

Anderson

Speech-Language Therapist w