This is a continuation of how to work with your Speech and Language Early Intervention kids. Our focus with be the 24 month to 3 year old child. We’ll look at what this age child should know and how to target appropriate goals during your sessions.
What should they know developmentally?
Receptive skills for 24 months to 3 years
There are a ton of skills for this age group so I’ll be combining some into one for the sake of this blog post’s length.
- obeys 2 separate commands
- understands complex and compound sentences
- gives one out of many
- matches shapes (circle, triangle, square), then sorts shapes (toys)
- matches colors (black, white), then primary colors
- matches identical pictured objects, then similar pictures of objects
- understands many action verbs
- identifies objects with their use
- identifies body parts with their function, then points to 6 body parts on a doll
- completes a 4 piece puzzle
- stacks rings
- points to larger or smaller spoons
- understand the concept of 2
- plays house
- understands more adjectives
- sorts colors and points to several colors when named
- understands common verbs, most adjectives, and some prepositions
Expressive skills for 24 months to 3 years
- uses self-centered pronouns, refers to self with a pronoun
- uses at least a 3 word sentence
- uses past tense
- imitates spontaneously, then repeats words and sounds
- relates experiences in short sentences, then replaces jargon with sentences
- answers questions
- uses size words
- uses plurals
- verbalizes one preposition, then 3 prepositions
- names 8 or more pictures
- talks to self
- vocalizes all needs
- gives full name
- recites nursery rhymes
- vocabulary of 200+ words, then 300-1000 words
- begins to respond to opposites
- repeats a 5 word sentence
- asks questions with “what, where, when” (nearer to 3 years)
- intelligible about 80% of the time
Therapy Ideas
In the previous post (Part 1) I explained and gave examples of how to incorporate specific goals while using play therapy with this age child, so I won’t repeat that here. However, I have created several Boom Card™ resources that target many of these skills that I’d like to share with you. Each image is linked to the product listing for in-depth information about the product.
Colors
Nouns
Verbs
Object Functions
Adjectives
Prepositions
Bundle 1st Words
I have a few more things for Early Intervention such as Animal Sounds, Transitional Sounds-Exclamatory and Symbolic, and Where’s my Pet? I plan to create more materials in this area 😉
I’ve done the bulk of my EI resources in Boom Learning™ because these were created during the COVID-19 Pandemic and there was a need for products that could be used online in remote settings.
A second reason is because some kids attend better to a screen (TV, tablet, or phone). I am not recommending the use of devices with screens over play therapy but I can see them being used sparingly in your sessions with your kids and as a resource for parents, too!
If you have any thoughts or suggestions for something you’d like to see created for your wee littles leave a comment or email me!
