Teaching vocabulary

All children learn new vocabulary throughout their school years as their knowledge increases. Vocabulary size is very important as it reflects the rate at which a child is learning new information about his/her world and it enables (or restricts) the child’s ability to communicate. For children with Down syndrome (and many other language delayed children in regular classrooms) teaching vocabulary should be an explicit targeted activity. Vocabulary development is central to language development, and speech and language delays will have an adverse effect on progress in reading and writing, and on all other aspects of school learning and social communication opportunities.

A core vocabulary

The vocabulary covered on the three vocabulary checklists is a core vocabulary of over 800 words. It contains a range of nouns, verbs and adjectives that are used in everyday communication and, perhaps more importantly, it contains the other parts of speech necessary to develop sentences and grammar. We therefore strongly recommend that you complete the vocabulary checklists in order to identify the gaps in your child’s vocabulary, even if they have good speech and language skills. Most primary age children will not have spoken vocabularies of over 800 words and the checklists will help you to identify the words that your child is not yet using in order to teach them.

Do not limit your vocabulary teaching to words from the checklists. Add any words for activities and events that your child is interested in, for project and subject work in class and for reading schemes, for example. In the primary school years it is important to teach children to link ideas and concepts together and to learn the vocabulary that links to places and events. This means that you might choose the vocabulary to work on a project on the farm or the hospital, or that you choose to work on the words in categories such as shapes, colours, animals, food or later, fruit, vegetables, birds, fish.

Choosing vocabulary to teach

[TODO] This topic offers guidance on how to ..

These guidelines for choosing vocabulary are based on the principles used in vocabulary teaching studies reviewed in the [TODO: link]. They have been successfully used with children with Down syndrome, late talkers and children who have had hearing difficulties due to middle ear problems (otitis media) similar to those commonly experienced by children with Down syndrome.

While vocabulary is being learned during everyday learning opportunities at home and at preschool and school, children with Down syndrome need more structured help to support their learning, using modelling (you name the object, picture, event or action) and imitation (you encourage your child to repeat the word with you).

Choose two sets of words, one set for comprehension activities from the words that your child does not yet understand and one set for production activities from words that your child understands but does not yet say.

Choosing vocabulary to teach

First complete the appropriate vocabulary checklists [TODO: trackers] to identify the words that your child understands and the words that they use in speech or in sign and complete the speech sounds checklist. (Start with Vocabulary Checklist 1 even for an older child, just to be sure that they do understand and use all these early words, and then Checklist 2). Choose to work with words that you feel your child will be interested in and that you can use naturally in play or daily activities - or by making a topic book.

Choosing comprehension targets

From the checklist, choose 5 words that your child does not yet understand and that you think that they will be interested in learning. As your child learns to understand the words on the list, mark their success on the checklists and choose new words to work with.

Choosing production targets

From the appropriate checklist, choose 5 words that your child understands but does not yet say. Choose words that start with sounds that your child can make or attempt to make. As your child learns to say the words on the list, mark their success on the checklists and choose new words to work with.

You may find that it is helpful to put the words up in the kitchen or on a noticeboard to remind everyone in the family to help you to use teach the words.

These lists of target words will help you to make a planned effort to extend your child’s vocabulary, but you will also be teaching them other new words during your daily talk with them at home and at school, so remember to update the checklist by reviewing it from time to time. If you keep a notebook handy you can note down words that your child is saying and understanding as you observe them.

Choosing vocabulary beyond the core vocabulary

The vocabulary covered by the checklists is only a core vocabulary provided for guidance. Even before they have all these words, many children will be learning other words related to their experiences and interests, therefore choose any additional words to teach that are relevant to children’s daily lives.

In school, new vocabulary will be needed for literacy and numeracy work and most of this can be anticipated in advance from curriculum guidance, and the school reading and number schemes. A ‘word box’ can be made to hold flashcards with the new vocabulary to be learned for reading or number or topic work that is planned. More than one word box may be useful, one for reading, one for maths and one for science or French for example.

For many lessons, it is possible to identify target vocabulary and make words in advance of the lesson, but for some subjects this may not be possible and the new words that come up in the lesson need to be noted and added to the child’s word box. Picture materials may need to be devised to help children to learn the meanings of new words.

Games for vocabulary learning

All sorts of games can be played to support vocabulary learning, including finding, matching and sorting real objects, doing the same with picture cards and learning from picture books. These activities provide the opportunity to give children many more opportunities of hearing a word and associating it with the correct meaning than will occur naturally during the course of the day.

The natural opportunities for drawing the child’s attention to the language being used in every day interactions are equally important. Speak clearly to children at all times, describing what they are doing or interested in and involving them in the conversation.

When teaching vocabulary, remember to teach some verbs, adjectives and pronouns as well as nouns. If a child only has nouns, i.e. names for people and things, they cannot move on to put two words together. Two word combinations need nouns plus an adjective or verb - ‘red car’, ‘big car’, ‘car gone’, ‘baby sleeping’. At the two-word stage, symbolic play activities can be a good way to introduce more verbs, adjectives and prepositions, and to use them in two and three word combinations. For example, home games with dolls and teddies provide opportunities to ‘give dolly a wash - cuddle - drink’, ‘put dolly to bed - on the chair - in the pram’. Try taking turns with the child, so that they can have fun asking you questions and giving you instructions.

Remember that comprehension comes before production, especially for children with Down syndrome.

It is very important to continue to expand the number of words that children understand even though they cannot say them if we do not want to hold back cognitive development, that is world knowledge, thinking and reasoning and remembering.

The child’s understanding can be checked by asking them to choose the right picture or object from a choice of items for verbs and adjectives, place things correctly for prepositions and act out themselves or with toys for verbs. It is important to proceed at the child’s pace and to be sure that they are really understanding and responding at each step. Plenty of fun repetition from playing games, singing rhymes and reading stories will help the learning process.

Matching, selecting and naming

[TODO: update]

! DSE Picture Dominoes cards ! DSE Picture Dominoes cards

Figure 6. DSE Picture Dominoes cards

Teaching games that use matching, selecting and naming activities, with real objects, toys or pictures, are a very effective way to teach new words and concepts. These activities can be used for many years to teach new words and concepts such as colours, shapes and numbers.

Matching - This simply involves having two identical objects, words or pictures and showing your child how to find the one the same though we would not use that instruction at first. We would say “can you put the ball with the ball” or “the shoe with the shoe” [TODO: match wording in S&L Vocabulary] and help the child so that they get it right while they are listening to and learning the words. Most children with Down syndrome soon understand and learn to match pictures between 18 and 24 months.

Selecting - the next step is to ask you child to select the picture or object that you name, for example, “can you give me the ball”, “can you show me the shoe”. When they can do this you know that they now associate the word that they are hearing with the right object - they understand the word.

Naming - the last step is to ask the child “what is this” or “what’s this called” as you point to an object or picture. The child can respond with a sign or a word, though you should always say the word.

Your child will progress from matching, to selecting and then naming, maybe taking several weeks at each stage when starting to learn words. He/she will be able to show you, by selecting, that she/he understands many more words than they can name, during the preschool years.

! DSE Language Cards, front ! DSE Language Cards, back

Figure 7. DSE Language Cards, front and back

We recommend that you use real objects, toys and pictures of real objects or photos to teach vocabulary. We discuss the use of symbols systems later but most children with Down syndrome do not need to be introduced to picture symbol systems - they will learn in the ordinary way from everyday experiences, play with toys, pictures and picture books. However, if you have a child who is particularly delayed and having difficulty in learning words, then the use of symbols may help her/him to communicate.

Like signs, symbols need to be used with thought and with planning, based on individual needs, and not used indiscriminately and certainly not just because your child has Down syndrome. This applies to their use in school as well as at home. Many symbols have no advantage over pictures, which occur in the everyday environment and in books. Most symbols have to be learned, their meaning is not obvious, and at this point you are teaching another ‘system’ to be learned (rather like teaching Chinese symbols) and you need to be clear why this is helpful and why you are not moving straight to printed words if you need a visual language.

Teaching first words

! DSE Picture Lotto cards ! DSE Picture Lotto cards

Figure 8. DSE Picture Lotto cards

Importance of mixed vocabulary

Children need to be able to use a variety of single words before they begin to join two or more words together. For example, as well as naming objects and people, they need to be able to understand and use a variety of different action words (verbs); sleep, wash, eat. They also need to be able to use social and greeting words; hello, good-bye, yes, no, more, again.

In this section on teaching single words, the first part deals with specific activities, for comprehension and expression of the different types of naming, action, social and greeting words. The second part discusses doll play and the final part deals with utilising daily activities for language, teaching and learning.

In the first part some activities may have been suggested for teaching the names of objects and for teaching clothes and food names but the same activities can often be used for teaching other categories of words.

When you play these games, it is important to join in the game and to take turns with your child or a group of children. Set up a routine so that your child is familiar with the sessions and ready to engage. Support your child to play the game, prompting correct responses to encourage learning and avoid failure. Model the successful responses, take turns and make it fun. Try not to create a ‘lesson’ atmosphere, which may create anxiety and pressure for your child.

1. Teaching nouns - names of objects

Comprehension games

Gather together a box of common objects, e.g. cup, car, keys, brush, flannel, toothbrush, book, shoe, brick, ball, pen, spoon, plate, etc. (increase the choice of objects as the child shows he understands these verbal labels). Show the child each item and say what it is called as you place it on the box or on the table.

1. Place six objects in a box with a lid. Show the child inside the box and then shut the lid. Now ask the child to “find the car”. Either open the lid yourself or let them open it and find the object and remove it.
2. The same as (a) but use a large bag instead of the box to make a change.
3. When sitting at table, place some objects (say 3-6) in front of the child and ask her/him to “give me the ball”.
4. Choose several large objects and put them in prominent positions around the room while the child is looking. Then ask her/him to “bring me the car”. Your child has to go to the object and bring it back to you.
5. Names of furniture can be taught by giving the child something and asking him to “put it on the table” or “on the chair” or “on the bed”.
6. Picture lottos can be a good way to teach words, especially if they have realistic pictures, as you can start with matching games. Ask your child to “put the picture of the apple with the apple” and help them to do this correctly. Children usually get the idea of matching quite quickly and each time they do this you are saying the correct word. Once the child can match the pictures correctly, ask them to “give me the apple” or “show me the apple” to test comprehension for the words.
7. Using picture material may be more difficult for your child but if they are interested try cutting out pictures of objects and sticking them on to separate pieces of card. Place three of four on the table in front of your child and ask them to “find the ball”. This is the selecting game described earlier and it can be played with shop bought pictures or lotto cards. The child could then post the picture into a posting box.

Expression games

1. When you put toys away after a game or get them out for a game, ask your child to name them.
2. Hide two objects behind your back, putting one in each hand. Hold your hands in front of the child and let her/him choose a hand. Turn your hand over and show your child the object hidden which they then has to name.
3. Put a cloth on the table. Your child has to close his eyes while you place an object under the cloth. He/she then opens his/her eyes and has to find the hidden object and then name it.
4. Put some objects into a box with a lid or a bag. Your child has to pull out an object with and name it. You can also play a harder version by trying to name the object without looking at it.
5. Ask your child which toys she/he would like to play with and give her/him a choice; ‘would you like the car or the bus?’ Encourage her/him to tell you rather than pointing to the object he wants.
6. Have a selection of objects on your lap. Select one, the child names it and then posts it into a posting box or puts it into another container such as a bag or box.
7. Picture Lotto. Put the separate cards in a pile and take turns to turn one over, name the picture and match it with the picture on your board.
8. Using cut out pictures on card, make a pile and take it in turns to turn one over and name - you could win bricks if the word is given correctly, or you could post the card in the posting box. For both comprehension and expression a useful and interesting activity to try is to go through any old magazine or catalogue and cut out different pictures of an object. Then either stick the pictures on to separate pieces of card or into a scrap book. You could try a different object each week or every two weeks.

Names of food

Comprehension games

1. Always tell your child what they are going to eat or what they are eating.
2. When your child has a few different foods on a plate, ask them to take a piece of potato or a piece of carrot as the next mouthful.
3. Make toy food with Plasticine or equivalent and ask her/him to identify the things you have made.
4. Put three different types of food on three different plates and ask your child to “point to the apples”, “point to the sugar”, “point to the tomatoes”.
5. Let them watch while you are cooking and to start with, name the things you are going to put into the dish. Later try asking your child to give you the things which you need.
6. Talk about things you might eat for different meals, e.g. breakfast, dinner, tea, etc. Cut out pictures of foods, or perhaps draw your own and stick them in a scrap book to talk about at bedtime or a quiet moment.
7. Pretend to go shopping - have a few packets of food on the table and ask your child if you can have the cereal/bread etc.
8. If you have any pictures cut out of different foods on separate pieces of card, place three or four of the cards in front of the child and ask her/him to “find the bread” and then post the card into a posting box or give it to teddy who is watching the game.

Expression games

1. Give your child a choice in selecting food. If, for example, you are offering fruit, show your child an apple and a banana and ask her/him which one she/he would like, encouraging your child to tell you rather than to point.
2. Ask your child what she/he is eating when she/he is having dinner.
3. Put three items of food on a tray. Ask your child to name them and then take one away and ask her/him which one has gone. Show your child the one you’ve taken away if she/he finds this difficult.
4. Using the cut-out pictures, turn the cards face down on the table (as in the game of Pelmanism). Your child then turns over a picture card and names it.

Names of clothing

Comprehension games

1. Make a toy clothes line. Choose some clothes, either dolls clothes or babies clothes and put them in a pile with some pegs. Ask the child to find the ‘vest’, ‘sock’, etc. Then help them to hang them on the line.
2. Using a mannequin with clothes that you can put on or take off, ask the child to take off coat, trousers etc. and once they are off put them in a pile and ask them to put them back on.
3. The same as above with dressing a doll.

Expression games

1. Name clothes as you put them on the toy clothesline and encourage the child to name them.
2. Ask the child which piece of clothing to put on the mannequin or the doll next.
3. When loading the washing machine, get the child to name the clothes as you put them in or to tell you which ones to put in.

Names of body parts

Comprehension games

1. Sing an action rhyme, such as “head, shoulders, knees and toes”, with your child and help her/him to point to his head etc. Then gradually stop doing the gestures with them and see if they can do them by themself.
2. In the bath give him a face cloth or sponge and ask them to wash his face, wash his feet, etc.
3. In doll play ask her/him to wash his dolly’s hands, face, tummy, etc.
4. Ask him to dry her/his face, etc. after a bath and to dry dolly’s face, etc.
5. Sit in front of a mirror with them on your lap and ask them to point to her/his eyes, your nose etc.

Expression games

1. Encourage the child to join in with rhymes (see Comprehension (a)).
2. Encourage the child to tell you which body part she/he is going to wash and when playing with a doll encourage them to ask you to wash dolly’s face etc. You say “what shall I wash?”

2. Teaching verbs - action words

Comprehension games

1. To begin teaching your child simple actions, do the actions together. Play a game where you say “let’s run”, “let’s sit down”, let’s sleep” and actually do the action with the child. Then gradually stop doing the action yourself and give the child a command.
2. With a favourite toy ask the child to make teddy sit down or drink or sleep etc.
3. Sing rhymes involving action words for example, ‘Here we go round the mulberry bush’. When you say “this is the way we wash our hands”, “this is the way we brush our teeth”, “this is the way we run …”, perform the actions and encourage the child to join in. Then gradually stop doing the action yourself and see if the child can do it alone.

Expression games

[TODO: verbs - these were from memory study cards which we still have and may be good for older children than current S&L pictures?]

Figure 9. Pictures to illustrate verbs

1. Let the child take a turn at asking you to run, walk, sleep, etc. It may be a good idea to involve another child or another adult so that you can each take it in turns to make it more of a game.
2. When your child is playing with a favourite toy, you should have a toy as well and ask the child what you should make your toy do.
3. Encourage the child to join in with the nursery rhymes.

Teaching verb particles (‘on’, ‘off’, ‘up’, ‘down’, etc.)

Although specific activities could be suggested for teaching verb particles, it may be more meaningful for the child if you concentrate on one or two verb particles and try to use them as often as possible in relevant situations throughout the day. If you were concentrating on ‘on’ you could use it many times throughout the day, e.g. when dressing in the morning “put your pants on, socks on”. If you go out “put your coat on” and the same with ‘off’. If you choose ‘up’ to concentrate on then talk about going up the stairs, pick the child and say “up”, going up the slide at the park and so on.

Use of social words (‘hello’, ‘goodbye’, ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘more’, ‘again’)

With this type of word, the times during the day when opportunities for your using the word arise are plentiful and should be exploited. For example, ‘more’ could be used in brick play if you were building a tower, when you could say “put one more on”, or “more bricks”. At mealtimes, the child can be encourage to say “more juice”, “another biscuit”, “another apple”, etc. The same applies to names of people in that constant use and exposure to the words will help the child learn their meanings and hopefully encourage him /her to use them themself. If you are going to teach the names of animals and you have pets of your own start with their names. Point out dogs and cats as you walk along the road and try and find pictures and perhaps cut them out. Look for models of animals and if your child is able to play with miniature toys use them in his doll play.

Doll play (Teletubbies™, Tweenies™, favourite ‘doll’)

This type of play is vitally important for children to experience, and offers many opportunities to extend the child’s understanding and use of language. Playing with toys such as these means that your child can enact everyday situations in a play sequence. The language you and your child are using is then related to everyday activities and is therefore functional for him. You do not even need special toys, ordinary household objects (unbreakable!) can be used equally well. You can also use your child’s own brush and flannel and perhaps a box for a bed and an old nappy for the doll’s blanket.

Listed below are some ideas:

Tea Party

Equipment - dolls and teddies, crockery and cutlery.

Talk about the objects being used and encourage the child to describe what he is doing (action words). Try and follow the child’s lead in the activity and avoid imposing too many of your own ideas. However, it may be that your child will initially need more guidance which can gradually be reduced. Describe what the doll and teddy are doing, sitting down, drinking, eating (action words). Describe what they are drinking and eating (names of food). For checking that the child understands dolly and teddy names, you could ask them to pass a cup or a plate to the dolly or teddy.

Bath Time

Suggested equipment - washing-up bowl, sponge, flannel, empty shampoo bottle, soap, toothbrush, hairbrush, doll and teddy.

Talk about the objects and encourage the child to use their names. When bathing the doll you can check the child’s comprehension of body parts and also whether she/he is able to use the name of any of them. Check her/his understanding and use of verbs like wash, brush, splash, swim. Ask her/him to make the teddy do these. You could also include the use of some social words and perhaps ‘more’ and ‘again’ - “Make dolly splash again”, “Dolly needs more soap” etc.

Dressing

Suggested equipment - doll and teddy with some clothes.

Here you can use names of clothes and also verb particles because you can put things on and off the dolly and teddy. This kind of dressing play follows on well from the washing play at bath time. You could talk about dolly and teddy getting up out of bed, having a wash and getting dressed like the child would do himself.

Bedtime

Suggested equipment - toy bed (boxes), doll and teddy, something for a blanket, something for a pillow, perhaps a book.

The language you could include in this could be the names of the items listed above and you could use verbs such as sleep, lie down, read, wake up. Talk about putting the dolly and teddy into bed, getting undressed, putting night clothes on etc. Perhaps get the child to show the doll or teddy a picture book and encourage them to name the pictures for the dolly.

Using everyday activities for language teaching

Language learning happens throughout the day in every situation. It’s important to use simple language and familiar phrases and sign as well if you are teaching your child signs. The following are some ideas on how you can utilise daily routine activities to encourage your child’s language development.

1. Washing You could play with a doll at bathtimes and as you wash the child’s face they could do the same to the doll. Ask the child to wash her/his own face and hands etc. and encourage her/him to tell you what you are washing or perhaps what you are going to wash next.
2. Dressing Place his/her clothes out in the morning and ask them to find his/her socks, shirt, trousers, etc. to put on, and once they have selected an item correctly, tell them to put his trousers on, socks on etc. Encourage her/him to name the items of clothing. Perhaps when you have asked your child to select one, try asking her/him to tell you what she/he is going to put on next.
3. Mealtimes Lay the table, talk about the knives, forks, spoons, plates and ask them to put them on the tables, perhaps saying whose spoon it is, e.g. “That’s mummy’s spoon - put it in mummy’s place”. Encourage them to name the cutlery and tell you where to put it, whose it’s going to be. Talk about the food that you eat and encourage them to make a choice between items if possible. Use simple language; “eat peas up”, “dinner all gone”.
4. Housework and washing-up Talk about what you are doing and how you’re doing it and encourage the child to describe what you’re doing and ask them what you’re going to do next.
5. When on an outing, point out things of interest and get them to talk about them, e.g. if you see a bus, a big bus, a red bus, a cat; if you meet people talk about them.
6. Bedtime When getting undressed, ask which clothes is she/he going to take off, talk about them as she/he takes them off and whether they are going to be washed or worn again. Talk through her/his bedtime routine. Bedtime is also a very good time for having a story!

The importance of books

One of the most valuable activities that you can engage in with any young child, to assist their language learning from the first year of life, is reading books together. Reading books together is one of the most valuable activities that you can engage in with any child to assist their language learning.

Books provide pictures to help you to teach new words and ideas but they also give practice at sentences. As you read even short stories you are using grammatically correct sentences with expression and intonation. Favourite stories are read over and over, allowing your child to learn from the repetition (as they do from favourite games and singing rhymes). Many people who study children’s language learning emphasise that children learn language embedded in familiar contexts with all the familiar emotions and associations that go with them. We cannot over emphasise this point - it also applies to the language you use at bathtimes, mealtimes, when greeting and so on. The language is learned because it is experienced over and over in situations where the child can see what you mean. Stories in books provide another opportunity for learning in a situation of emotional warmth, closeness and sharing enjoyment of the story together. New information and the activities of characters outside daily experience can be shared from books.

Please find time to read with your baby and young child daily. If you can, join a children’s library. Children’s librarians are experts on the current books available for babies and children of different ages and stages. Here we are stressing the benefits of being read to and listening to language in the context of reading together. Later, we will discuss the benefits of teaching your child to read. Your child will probably have preferences, but it is an idea at first to choose books that are not too long and have clear simple pictures.

You can teach vocabulary from books but do not do this instead of reading the story together or your child may miss out on the pleasure of the story, and the flow of the language as the story is read. Perhaps go back to talk about the pictures after reading the page first. At this point, try asking your child to point to certain objects or to people doing activities. In addition, you could try asking them to point to people, events or activities in the pictures. It is also important to give your child an opportunity to initiate speech as well as doing things as directed by you. So as well as asking them to name pictures and tell you what people are doing, give them space to comment without your direct questioning. Expand any verbalisations. Books are also a way of seeing that they are generalising the language they are learning in other situations and adapting them to this new situation.

Please find time to read with your teenager daily, at home and at school. If you can, join a library. Children’s librarians are experts on the current books available for young people of different ages and stages. Here we are stressing the benefits of being read to and listening to language in the context of reading together. Later, we will discuss the benefits of teaching your teenager to read. An excellent guide to involving all students in the enjoyment of literacy, whatever their level of learning difficulty, is Literature for All by Nicola Grove. [TODO: references 57]