How do teachers react with preschool children to encourage speech and language development?
Teachers understand that there are things we can do to get to know children better and to encourage them to grow. We start off with: • Observing • Waiting • Listening Observing means paying close attention to children so we know what each is interested in and what each is trying to tell us. Waiting can be hard to do! But we know when we wait for a child to initiate a conversation we are giving him the time he needs to communicate. Then we know what it is he is interested in. Listening means paying close attention to what the child says so that we can respond appropriately. When we listen well, we give the child the message that what is said is important to us. This gives him a good reason to continue the conversation. We know we can be good models for children when we: • Play face-to-face • Respond with interest • Join in and play • Recognize the child’s feelings III. Speech and Language Goals in the Classroom Many of the children in our classrooms work with the speech-language patholo
