Speech Therapy for 4 Year Old at Home | Tips From a Speech Therapist

Speech therapy for 4-year-old children should start at the table. At this age, no matter what their language ability is like - he should be able to sit down with you for at least 10-15 minutes at a time.

Use this time to introduce toys that are age-appropriate. If she's still loving those baby toys, start teaching her how to play with pretend-play toys like doctor's kit and also some board games like shoots and ladders, funny bunny etc...

Once your child can sit down with you to play with age-appropriate toys, the next step is really to teach!
Is your child's problem in speech, language or both? Choose the 1 goal only, that will help your child the most. For example, if most of the time you cannot understand his pronunciation, then target his speech sounds. If you're not sure, please consult a qualified speech therapist for home therapy guidelines specifically for your child's case.

If it's language - meaning there's a problem with your child's ability to understand you or express his feelings appropriately... Then you need to determine at what level does his language operate.

Age does not determine what language goals you should target, children, develop language at their own pace. So it comes down to how much language he's using already and teaching at a slightly higher level.

Is your child non-verbal? This means that she's not using any meaningful words to communicate with you. Can he copy what you say? If not, then target some gestures and teach some sign language.

If your child can already speak, then teach sentences that are slightly harder than what he can say already. Use board games to give you and your child some structure to learning. If your child doesn't understand certain questions, then teach it through structured play with said board games as well!

It's very important that you should keep things as simple as you can at home. 10-15 minutes of structured learning - targeting only ONE goal. This will keep you and your child sane.

Comment below for specific questions! thanks!

[laliju]

This video has helped me a lot. Sometimes I change some parts of a story, for example I say little green riding hood instead of red, or I tell her she finds a fox instead of a wolf and this makes my daughter try to correct me and that's how I help her to form a new sentence. Now she can say new words and say some longer sentences, there's still a lot of work to do though, but I'm amazed how much she learned in a few weeks.

[Boudicaisback]

Thank you so much. My son finally started talking at 3, we tried speech therapy but with covid we had to do the meetings over zoom and they were almost worthless. You are super intelligent and knowledgeable 👍👍👍

[Sodainspace]

My kid only started talking at 2 years old and barely, he started saying full sentences at 3 years old. However since then he struggles with stuttering, the doctor said no need for speech therapy but he didn’t get better, he’s 4 year old now and considering speech therapy very soon

[karlasnyder]

I got more information about "speech delay" from this video than my 4 year old's school's therapist. Thank you!

[TheFwsh]

THANK YOU FOR YOUR VERY HELFUL AND INFORMATIVE VIDEOS YOU SHARE. I HAVE a 4 yr old son but never been diagnose hes 4 yrs old but cant talk or use words . but he do understand what im saying and i understand what he really wants and what he is trying to say to me. i hope i can talk or consult someone like you to assess my child.thank you so much!

[LikhanyeMaketha]

My daughter is not talking but she can count 1up to 10 and sings A up to Z. If she want something she hold my hands and directed me what she want.

[NoStressSLP]

MAN SLP I'm so excited you are on this platform. Very excited about this fellow SLP channel.

[ambitiousuro]

Thank you. From Pakistan. My son is 4 years old and we couldn't find any proper help here in our country

[dimplepandya]

Hi Ming, Thankyou so much for your video. My son is 3.5 years old and we live in Germany since 5 yrs but we are basically from India so at home we speak Hindi to my son and in kindergarten they talk in Deutsch .we noticed my son is not speaking well he only says the key words or some time. Ann..ann..ann if he can’t express . When he was 2 .5 years old people said not to worry as multilingual kids speak late but now he is 3.5 and we see little improvement in words charts but that’s not at all enough for a 3.5years old and coz of this we realise he has not many friends in kindergarten and when I see him he is mostly not talking to other kids just playing with them’

Also another imp thing we noticed when we ask him to repeat something like say A for apple
B for Ball etc he don’t repeat after us instead he says something else or he goes away from that place .

He just says the 2, 4 keys words he doesn’t use joining words. This lack of talking leads to his frustration 😢

Our Pediatrician tell us to wait till he is 4year old but my mother brain is worried and doesn’t want to wait .

Kindly guide❤

[hazelsakupwanya]

My 4year old doesnt speak he just say one word and i am in a foreign country hence i am not fluent in their language so at home i use my venecular language and at cretche they use the venecular of this country we now reside in... Might it be language or speech delay i really dont know how to start please help me. But he understands everything and he respond to everything though some of the words are only understood by me only

[joyceliu]

thanks for this helpful video! My son is 5 year and 4 months, he has only "yes" and "no" words, he babbles a lot and mimics actions and sounds sometimes when prompted by toddler songs on youtube, but he doesn't form words by himself, he won't say a word by himself. We taught him sign language since 1 year old, he knows gestures like eat, drink, but he only uses them out of blue or when he is really hungry or thirsty, otherwise, he will grab food or drink or grab our hands to get it. Almost like, to him, language is not a tool for him and he doesn't need language at all. He doesn't pay attention to learning speech or reading or listening to story, he only likes non talking kids cartoon or songs. He just doesn't get it, and it has been like this forever. We keep on talking to him, which does help his understanding, but he just doesn't have a word and we really don't know what to do. Very little improvement or response to our help or speech therapy. I would really appreciate if you could let us know what could be wrong, and what is going to be our next step or help him. Thank you so much!!

[larajoy]

Can you give us some advice for speech theraphy at home for 5 years old. Thanks in advance

[Oshin]

You have explained what can be done at home so well.. My daughter is 5 and I am working with her on parts of speech, sentence formation, answering questions. She is progressing well, but it will be a long journey for sure. The SLP says that my daughter's receptive language is good but she is lagging in the expressive language part. Can you please suggest how long it takes usually for kids to be on track?

[ShayOkaii]

So it’s kind of confusing with my son, he just turned 4 this month and he had trouble saying letters like F And P but he is able to say pizza or fish clearly and he says sentences to he also still say gibberish sometimes like he is rambling

[mansurabamanga]

My 4 year old is not speaking at home and at school she is too hyper how she communicates she drags your hand when she wants to go to the toilet if she wants to eat and also she says a word when she eagerly wants something and she keeps quiet for atleast 4 months - 5 months b4 she says something

[minniemouse]

Thank you for sharing your video. My 3 yo toddler speaks well at home or outside with parents. But at school he won't say a word. Do you have any advice? Thank you.

[sirishalolgu]

Hi Mr Ming, your videos are really helpful during this Co vid times when we can not see speech therapist in person. My son is 4 years old and speaks mostly in one word requests. He doesn’t pay attention to what outsiders are asking him. At home he is fine. He doesn’t know how to respond to other children and ends up playing alone. How do I help him?

[efraimhacham]

thank you my girls is 4 not speak no word, , i will follow your channel

[jocelynlee]

Thanks for this video. You have explained things better than my son's speech therapist! I have a question though, should I use the same approach as my 4 yo still struggles with telling 'what' happened during the day - the 'What' question.
Mommy: What did you do in school today?
Son: Teacher - upset - ABCD....
I had to call his teacher to get the whole story. :(

[clairesherman]

My daughter is 4. She says words correctly but then lots not. She’ll miss saying some sounds like “s” “n” “r” & “f” she can say ss no but then when asked to say snow she goes stow her speech therapist after two minutes chalked it off to a hearing issue, but she hears perfectly fine I worry it’s just a habit we have to get her to learn. Any tips? I’m so worried I’m failing her. She didn’t start talking till 2. But now is very talkative just not every word is always understandable to others.