Milton Keynes Speech and Language Therapy Service

29/04/2026

Top Tips for raising bilingual or multilingual children:

• Sing and tell stories in different languages – the rhyme and repetition help children to remember words and how they are made. Some families may find it helpful to add gesture alongside your words, as these are the same in different languages.
• Find social opportunities for your children to use their languages; they could join a group or visit relatives who speak them too.
• Spend time speaking with your child in each language, and set aside specific time to speak languages they are less used to. Don’t worry about switching between languages as this is normal, helpful and most bilingual or multilingual people do it without even realising!

For further advice, refer to this article - A speech therapist's advice on how to raise a bilingual baby - BBC Tiny Happy People

27/04/2026

Speech and Language UK have a range of resources to help professionals and parents promote children’s speech and language development. Take a look at their website

https://speechandlanguage.org.uk/

24/04/2026

Book reading supports children’s vocabulary, language, attention and listening skills and social interactions.

• Get face-to-face with your child, giving eye contact and letting them see your facial expressions
• Let your child lead, if your child points to something then model what they are pointing to
• Keep your language simple and on their level, e.g. model single words if they are using a few single words and model two-word phrases if they are using a lot of single words
• Repeat words, as the more a child hears a word the more likely they would then be able to use it

Children need to learn words in different contexts, e.g. modelling a pig in a book, when you see one at the farm, in play with figures and on TV. This helps with their understanding of what the word means.

Here is a link from Cbeebies parenting about reading books together:
Listen, watch and respond: Reading books with a toddler - BBC Tiny Happy People

22/04/2026

TOP TIP!

Modelling language is important for your child’s language development. Balance your comments and questions with your child so they feel less pressured to answer questions. For every one question you ask them, try to provide four comments before asking another question.

• Give your child a single word or short phrase that relates to what your child is doing or saying at that very moment…..and wait!
• Keep language simple.
• Avoid asking questions (e.g. ‘What’s this?’, ‘What’s that?’). Asking too many questions can cause the child to feel pressure to communicate.
• Interpret - Say it as if your child would if he could.

Examples of commenting:
• Single words – push, more, open, finished and up.
• Two-word phrases – blow bubble, big pig, more milk, small spoon and more puzzle.

Here is a link modelling commenting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVAoR5wd3Rg

20/04/2026

As It’s Spring this gives you the chance to model lots of lovely language about the weather and nature!

Think about:
• The sounds the birds and insects make
• The actions of the birds and insects, e.g. making honey, eating worms
• Describing birds and insects, e.g. loud/quiet
• Where the birds and insects are e.g. up in the tree or on the flower
• Describing the blossom and flowers, e.g. using colours, big/small
• Describing how flowers grow, e.g. they need water and the sun to help them grow big
• Describe the weather e.g. the sun and getting warmer

15/04/2026

National Early years teacher day

National Early Years Teacher Day on the 15th April, 2026 is a celebration of the invaluable role that Early Years Teachers play in classrooms and settings.

The formative years between 0-5 are crucial in a child’s development, laying the foundation for lifelong learning and growth. Early Years Teachers play a pivotal role in this journey, offering more than just academic instruction. They create nurturing environments that foster:

Cognitive Development: Sparking curiosity and a love for learning.
Social Skills: Teaching children how to interact, share, and collaborate.
Emotional Intelligence:
Providing a safe space for children to understand and express their feelings.
These educators are instrumental in guiding children through their first steps, words, and social interactions, ensuring they are well-prepared for the adventures ahead.

Let all celebrate and show how we appreciate our early years teachers

14/04/2026

A great activity to try with your child to support their speech and language skills is the listening walk

What is a listening walk?
Listening walk, is where you and your child listen out for sounds. There are a few things you can think about on your walk:
• What sounds can your child independently recognise?
• Talking about how loud or quiet the noises are
• Who is making the noise? Animals/nature/vehicles

You could make a checklist for your walk for your child to tick off too!

13/04/2026

It’s finally Spring and lovely weather is approaching! Activity idea – make a ‘Spring checklist’ to take on a walk with you and your child, searching for things that are related to Spring time such as bird, blossom, insect, daffodil etc. It’s a great way to learn new
words and develop their vocabulary! This example of a checklist is a free download from Twinkl and you can find it following this link - https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-t-5045-spring-hunt-checklist

08/04/2026

Some of our children may need some preparation to know what’s happening throughout the day….it may be useful to use some visual helpers to support your child to cope with the transitions. Take a look a now / next board and visual timeline that you could use.

TOP TIPS on using visuals:

Put them in places where they will be used e.g. on the kitchen fridge, on the bedroom wall etc.

Use simple language alongside the visual helpers.

Bring visual helpers to your child’s attention by placing at eye level and pointing to them.

07/04/2026

BBC Tiny Happy People shared a video of a child called TJ and his mum Carlie, and TJ has a diagnosis of Autism.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people/articles/z8k83j6

The video highlights how important Makaton can be to help a child show what their wants and needs are, if they have difficulty using verbal language. Adults can use signing alongside their language to support their child’s communication and understanding, for example, TJ uses and understands the sign for biscuit to request a biscuit. Ensure to model the word alongside the sign, e.g. saying ‘more’ as you do the sign.

How do you help children with speech and language delay? Meet Carlie and TJ, who has autism. Carlie tells us how Makaton has helped her and TJ to communicate.

06/04/2026

World Autism acceptance month

World Autism Acceptance Month is an opportunity for everyone to come together and raise awareness, acceptance, and create
a society where autistic people are supported and understood.
More than one in 100 people are autistic and there are at least 700,000 autistic adults and children in the UK.
People of all ages, genders and ethnicities can be autistic
Autism is understood as a spectrum. In the past, people thought the spectrum was a straight line between ‘more’ and ‘less’ autistic. This isn’t right. Today we understand
the spectrum to mean each autistic person has a unique combination of characteristics. Autistic people can be very different to each other, with different sets of strengths and challenges.
World Autism Awareness Day’s aim is to spread awareness of Autism. The National Autistic Society provides further details on these areas: What is autism

Here is a link for more information:

https://www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/acceptance-and-awareness/world-autism-acceptance-month

Please share information with your family members, colleagues and friends to help spread awareness of Autism!

02/04/2026

Easter is this weekend and there are lots of fun activities you could do with your children that can also support their language skills!

If you’re doing an Easter egg hunt, you could include your child’s language targets such as:
• Describing the eggs, e.g. big/small, spotty/stripy
• Prepositions (location words) e.g. hiding eggs on / in / under places
• Expanding on their own phrases, e.g. if they said ‘egg’ you could model ‘yes, there’s a big egg’ or ‘you found an egg’.

Cbeebies parenting…
Here is a link for some easter holiday craft ideas for your children. Has some great ideas

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/makes/easter-craft-ideas