🍂 Fall Into New Activities 🍂

Fall is in the air! This is a great time of year to create memories, experience new activities and discover new traditions. This October, as the temperature cools, make plans to put away the screens and nurture language during every day activities. Take a moment to enjoy your little ones inside and outside the home. Whatever you choose to do, remember that children learn from watching, playing, exploring and talking. Allow your child to see you doing things you want them to do later.

Below are 5-steps to help build functional skills.

1. Act (model): Let your child see you complete the skill you want them to perform. Show them what to do rather than expecting them to know how to do it.
2. Invite: Invite your child to take part in the activity. Explain or show them what the skill is and give them an opportunity to try it.
3. Engage: Let your child take part in the skill. Encourage them to participate with you as they practice.
4. Support: Help your child participate in the skill. Provide the amount of assistance they need—then gradually reduce your help as they become more confident.
5. Step Back & Direct: Give your child space to try the skill  independently, and provide support as needed. Step in with a reminder, cue, or direction when needed, but allow your child to do as much as they can on their own.

How does this look in real time? Let’s take reading as an example.

What can you do?

1. Act: let your child see you reading, on your own time.
2. Invite: ask your child to share a book with you.
3. Engage: read a book to your child.
4. Support: take trips to the library, have books available at home, set routine reading times, choose stories with repetitive lines allowing for your child to learn the pattern allowing him/her to participate with completing lines and filling in responses. While reading point out what you see, predict what
5. might happen, make  up/change the endings and ask questions.
6. Step Back & Direct (as needed): let your child lead, let them choose books, allow them to read to you and assist/direct as needed. times.

Note: 5 steps can occur at one time or over a period of time. So, have fun, try new things and bombard your little one with language and remember:

Act (model)→ Invite → Engage → Support → Step back. 

For more strategies, activities and information about speech & language development

download our October Newsletter 2026-2