Language Processing

Language processing refers to the ability to attach meaning to the language that has been heard, analyze that information and then to respond verbally.  

Some children with language processing disorders have difficulty understanding what has been said to them  (receptive language impairment).  Some children with language processing disorder have difficulty verbalizing their thoughts in a concise and straight forward manner (expressive language impairment).   Some children experience difficulties in both receptive and expressive language processing.

Language processing skills are typically thought of as occurring in the following hierarchy:

Strategies

Take advantage of everyday activities to work on these skills:

*Have a child assist you with putting away groceries.   Take time to label food, describe the food, and talk about the colour, shape, feel, taste of food.  
*When reading books, take time to label pictured items, describe pictured items, identify similarities and differences.
*Using the theme of the book, have conversations about related items.  For example, if the book is about a tiger, talk about other wild animals and their characteristics.   Make up your own story using a different animal.
*When in the car, pick a category and see who can find the most items looking out the window.   Example: "Let's find vehicles." " I see a truck,  I see a bus, etc."
*Use playhouse items, toy animals, etc. to target different language processing tasks.  For example, "Let's put all the wild animals over here."
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*Change and adapt songs to include other themes. For example:

• "Old McDonald" can include other themes:   zoo animals, vegetables
• "And on his farm, he had a potatoe.  With a munch, munch, here…."
• "Wheels on the Bus" can include other themes:  airplanes,
• "The wings on the plane, go zoom,zoom, zoom.  The pilot on the plane goes "come on board".
• "I'm a Little Teapot" to include other items:
• "I'm a little apple on a tree.  Here is my stem.  Here is my core.  When you get hungry, pick me off. Take a big bite and munch me down."

See the list "Songs" on this page for links to YouTube videos of the original tunes!
_{*Using books with a theme are excellent choices for working on these skills. Themes could include seasons, holidays, vehicles, construction sites, animals, etc.}