Your fingers can be powerful tools in helping your young child develop speech and language. The following are three ideas that I have found helpful in my speech and language therapy practice. I hope you find them useful too.
finger indication
Finger prompting will help your child watch the movement of his lips and tongue to see how sounds are made. Gently touch your lip with your index finger as you say words to your child. For short words, tap once for each sound. For longer words, tap once for each syllable.
marking the rhythm of the fingers
Finger rhythm will help your child: 1. Put more words together and 2. Understand more of what you say. As she talks, hold up one finger at a time for each word she says. This helps your child see how to put words together and see that her sentences are made up of separate words. The more you do this, the easier it becomes.
To mark rhythm with your fingers and point at the same time, use repetition. Say the individual word first with your finger, and then say the word in a sentence with your finger or vice versa. Either way, the more you repeat, the more your child will learn.
Expansion
Expansion helps your child put more words together. When your child says one word, she answers two words. For example, if your child says “ball,” she responds “red ball,” “my ball,” “lost ball,” whatever fits. When your child says two words, she says three, and so on. To make this more powerful, use your finger rhythm as you repeat the words.
I hope these ideas help. You will be amazed at what your fingers can do!