Practicing Pronouns
Did you know there are different types of pronouns? It’s important to chat with your speech language pathologist to identify which pronouns your child is working on. Parent involvement is a huge factor in achieving progress towards goals. But if family members don’t know what specific pronouns are being targeted how can we expect them to practice correctly? For more information about the various classifications of pronouns, see http://thewordofjeff.com/2015/08/19/pronoun-chart/.
Subjective Pronouns act as a subject in a sentence (e.g., I went to the library).
Objective Pronouns receive the action in a sentence (e.g., Jacob gave me a toy truck).
Possessive Pronouns tell you who owns something (e.g., The baseball bat is his).
Reflexive Pronouns refer back to the subject of a sentence (e.g., They should divide the fruit among themselves).
Now that we understand the different variations of pronouns, let’s review how you can practice during daily routines.
Model - There is an abundance of opportunities to model pronouns during activities (e.g., the park, grocery store, school). Don’t be afraid to make comments and overuse pronouns. Children learn from repetition. Remember to change your prosody so that it grabs their attention!
Photo Album - Enjoy reminiscing through happy memories! Flip through family pictures and model pronouns with familar people (e.g., “ I see dad. He is playing in the sand”). Go a step further and ask your child, “Where should our next vacation be”? You can target langauge development while bringing out their creative side. Get out some crayons to make it into a coloring activity. You and your child can draw pictures of where you would like to go and what activties you would like to do. Include family members so you can talk about what each person will do on the trip (e.g., We will go swimming in the pool).
Story Time - Highlight what the characters are doing after reading each page with phrases such as “They are jumping on the bed” and “He is flying away”. After a few pages, let your child lead the activity. Point to a picture, pause, and wait for them to comment. Do they use the correct pronouns?
Pretend Play - Learing through play is highly motivating for children. Use action figures, animals, and dolls to model phrases like, “I am baking cookies” or “Give me the dinosaur”.
Movies - Turn screen time into a learning opportunity. Let your child choose their favorite movie and pause the screen periodically to ask them questions like, “What did Anna say?” or “What will Anna and Elsa do next?”. Listen for their response. Go a step further and summarize the move at the end by modeling phrases (e.g., Elsa wore a blue dress. She was so beautiful).
Ask Questions to Elicit the Correct Response - Does your child mix up their pronouns and often substitute “he” for a girl? Instead of correcting their response, provide your child an opportunity to think about their language. Ask them a question such as “Is Anna a boy or a girl”? It’s important to pause to give them space to think. Once they recognize who they are speaking about, they may correct the pronoun themselves.
With Love,
RM Studio
Reference: W, J., & on, P. (2015, August 28). Pronoun chart. The Word Of Jeff. Retrieved May 16, 2022, from http://thewordofjeff.com/2015/08/19/pronoun-chart/
