Descriptive Praise for Young Children

Question

Answer

We can deliver descriptive praise very simply to children at the 1-3 word phrase level. We as clinicians do it naturally with very young children. Instead of saying "Good Job" or "Good Boy", you can describe what you see:

For example, if the child points to something he/she wants, we can say, "You pointed!" or "You showed me you wanted juice!". In addition, we can use visual and tactile cues, such as taking the child's finger that he/she pointed with and show him/her the juice.

If the child says or signs "more". You can follow up with the phrase, "You said more!" or "You want more!"

If the child matches two objects, you can point to the pictures and say, "You found two rabbits!" or "You matched!"

This Ask the Expert was taken from the course entitled: "The Absolute Best Way to Motivate Your Clients" presented by Adina Soclof, M.S., CCC-SLP.

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Adina Soclof, a certified Speech Pathologist and Parent Educator for Bellefaire Jewish Children's Bureau. She developed TEAM Communication Ventures and conducts parenting, teacher and clinician workshops via telephone nationwide.