Late Talker Progress Tracking
When starting any late talker therapy program, I always provide parents with late talker progress tracking tools! I offer this right from the beginning!
This way, caregivers can track progress (obviously) but also have a guide on what/how to help their child in between therapy sessions. Keep reading to grab my tips.
Common First Words Trackers
This late talker progress tracking worksheet is for caregivers who need a bit of inspiration and guidance.
This sheet lists common first words and breaks them down by categories.
I encourage parents to model words from each category and cross off words as the child is able to repeat and say them. Pretty straightforward!
Category Trackers
I LOVE this tracker for first words. This customizable chart is just that....customizable!
It has space to record words in the following categories:
- nouns...objects, things
- verbs...actions
- prepositions...location words
- rejection...no
- adjectives...describing words
- social words...."hi," "bye"
- exclamatory words..."yeah," "uh oh"
- non-existence words..."all gone"
The best part of this late talker progress tracking worksheet is that it shows caregivers that they need to be modeling a VARIETY of words.
In order to put words together in phrases, a child needs more than nouns. As caregivers and therapists add to this page, it can help guide areas of need for future goals.
Speech & Language Milestone Tracker
Besides tracking expressive language skills such as first words, it is very important to track ALL speech and language milestones. There is more to communication than just saying words!
There are many different resources that track communication milestones. I am partial to the ones that I have created as part of Speech Therapy Talk Membership.
No matter which milestone tracker you use, I recommend that they are:
- easy to understand
- uses parent friendly language
- covers all areas of development including:
- sentence structure/syntax
- concepts
- listening skills
- pronouns
My favorite uses for these worksheet are:
- demonstrate the complexity of language development
- show what skills the child HAS! This can build confidence.
- track progress of ALL language skills
Create Individual Routines!
With most things in life, timing is everything! This rings especially true for late talker intervention.
Once these steps are completed,
- introducing & practicing late talker strategy
- provide appropriate progress tracker
- review milestones
I create a language routine plan!
First, I give the daily routines and activities worksheet if needed. This worksheet:
- brainstorms different times of day that might be best for language practice
- is individualized to each specific family
- reviews when late talker invention is best throughout the day
Second, I give the late talker daily routine worksheet. This worksheet:
- outlines which strategies the caregivers should focus on that week AND
- tailors practice to the times of day/activities that work best for each specific family
Access Materials
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