Early Interventions
Speech, Language and Communication
Support Materials
Area of concern:
Understanding – Receptive Language: 30 – 50 months
This will help the child to:
Understands the use of objects
Activities:
 Sorting activities – use objects from two categories and sort them into 2
groups/boxes, e.g. Spoon, pan, bowl (things we use to cook) and ball, hoop, bat
(things we use to play with outside). You can also use a random set of objects and
ask the children to think how the objects could be sorted – in this way there is no
right or wrong as they could be sorted in many different ways.

Object detective – Ask the children to be detectives for the day and find objects that
match what you are looking for e.g. ‘Find things that I can wear’. You could have a
table for the children to put these objects on and at the end of the session/day take
time to discuss with the children what things had been put on the table.

Mystery box – hide an object in a decorated box. Tell the children that inside is
something they can ….. (E.g. throw, hit, eat, cut with, use to draw, etc). Children
have a guess at what might be in the box. To make this easier you could have a 2
matching sets of a selection of objects – one set is kept out of the box for the children
to see and the other set is hidden – then one of these objects is put into the box. The
children can then look at the selection of objects and together discuss what they can
do with each object and decide which is in the box.
Adult Role:
 Use opportunities to discuss the use of objects as you play together. E.g. When in
the home corner talk about the things you use to cook with.
Look, Listen and Note:
How children make their decisions.
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Early Interventions
Speech, Language and Communication
Support Materials
Area of concern:
Understanding – Receptive Language: 30 – 50 months
This will help the child to:
Show an understanding of prepositions by carrying out an action or selecting correct picture
Activities:
Prepositions are words describing where things are eg: in, on, under, behind
 Look at a book together with good illustrations – as you look at the pictures together, point
out where things are using positional language. E.g. ‘Oh look – the cat is hiding under the
car.’ or ‘The duck is on the tractor.’ Emphasise the positional language in your speech and
point to the picture as appropriate.
 Use a large open room, or preferably go outdoors. Prepare the space with objects that are
safe for children to go in, on and under. Let the children design the course themselves; the
design may be linked to a favourite story. You could make it more exciting by turning it into a
bear hunt, or even a dinosaur hunt! As a group, go over the first sequence of directions (e.g.
crawl under the table, then jump over the cushion, step in the hoop). To begin with, make
the directions short and simple and be prepared to join in! As children get familiar with the
activity, sequences can be extended or reversed. Some children might like to give the
instructions to the rest of the group.
 Be a robot - ask children to follow the adult’s instructions. E.g. ‘Go and stand behind Sarah’,
‘Put the ball under the bench’, etc. Let them have a turn at hearing instructions from others.
 Use a favourite toy such as a car or doll. Show the child how to make the toy follow
instructions. E.g. ‘Put the car on the table.’ ‘Put the doll under the chair.’ As the child plays
with the toys talk about what is happening using prepositions such as ‘behind’, ‘next to’,
‘under’, etc.
 I Spy – play the game of I Spy but say where the object is rather than the sound it begins
with. E.g. ‘I spy with my little eye something that is under the water tray’. The child can then
go and find the object. To make this easier you and the child could put out objects together
saying where the object is as you put each object in a place and then play the game.
Adult Role:
 When introducing a new activity, use mime and gesture to support language development.
 Limit the number of words you use at first. E.g. ‘Cat under chair’ is easier than ‘Now put the
cat underneath the blue table’.
 Introduce new words in the context of play and activities.
 Use talk to describe where things are by providing a running commentary. Eg: ‘you’re under
the slide!’ ‘teddy’s in the sink’
Look, Listen and Note:
 How children show what they understand, by what they do and say
 How quickly the children follow instructions – are they waiting to see what other children do
first so they can follow them?
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Early Interventions
Speech, Language and Communication
Support Materials
Area of concern:
Understanding – Receptive Language: 30 – 50 months
This will help the child to:
Begin to understand ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions
Activities:
 Use everyday activities to ask simple ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions and model how to answer
them.
 Read books together – ask simple ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions and model how to answer
them. E.g. ‘Why has she got her swimming costume on? She is going swimming.’
 When baking look at the ingredients and ask, e.g. ”How are we going to make biscuits?”
Accept gestures and give appropriate language, such as “That’s right we’re going to mix it
all together.” After making the mixture, ask the children “Why are we going to put the
biscuits into the oven?” Again, help them with the correct answer if necessary.
Adult Role:
 Seek out opportunities to think out loud and ask ‘why’ and ‘how‘ questions and answer
these questions with the children. E.g. ‘Oh no! It’s all wet! How did it get wet? It was
raining and the rain got it wet!’
 Don’t worry about the children giving explanations at this stage as this is not expected until
40-60+ months.
Look, Listen and Note:
What responses the children give to questions that they are asked.
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