If your child seems to be speaking quickly and running his words together then this post will walk you through some things to keep in mind as well as a simple game-changing tip that might help you out!
I’ve oftentimes heard from parents, “My child is incredibly talkative! I feel terrible because I don’t know what he’s saying.”
Or –
“My child is incredibly talkative! I feel terrible because I am the only one who knows what he is saying.”
Does either of these scenarios sound familiar? If so then read below for additional information.
Intelligibility
When a parent or professional informs me that they are having difficulty understanding what a child is saying, the first word that comes to my mind is intelligibility. What exactly do I mean by that?
Intelligibility is pretty much what you would guess it is: thinking about how intelligible a person is. In other words, you want to think about how much you can understand your little one when he talks. The following chart gives age-appropriate guidelines:
| Age (years) | Intelligibility (%) to unfamiliar listeners |
| 2 | 50 |
| 3 | 75 |
| 4 | 100 |
When reading this chart, you want to think about familiar listeners (family and close friends, for instance) versus unfamiliar listeners (strangers, for example). This chart caters to the least common denominator, or unfamiliar listeners in this case. So if you have a child who is 2-years-old, then familiar and unfamiliar listeners should be able to understand what he says about 50% of the time. This means that if your 2-year-old is not understood by others about 50% of the time, then that is technically considered typical for this age.
Now, if you are a parent or educator and you understand a 2-year-old 100% of the time, but notice that unfamiliar or even other familiar listeners only understand the child 10% of the time, then there is quite a discrepancy. This will likely result in frustration in the child and/or embarrassment. A child who presents in this manner would likely benefit from speech therapy, or at least some sort of home-program to aid in improving intelligibility across all environments.
That being said, keep in mind that it is completely normal for a parent or primary caregiver to understand the child almost 100% of the time and for familiar or unfamiliar listeners to understand the child only 50-75% of the time. Again, this chart is geared towards unfamiliar listeners and what they can understand.
Keeping Track of Conversations
If you think that intelligibility is an issue, start keeping track of your child’s conversations with familiar and unfamiliar listeners. He may be more comfortable around familiar conversation partners and therefore say more around them. Look to see how the conversation partner reacts. Do they ask your child to repeat himself? Do they dismiss what your child said? Nod and pretend as though they heard him? (I am guilty of this one sometimes with my kids!) Or, do they respond with an appropriate question or follow-up comment?
Once you’ve established approximately how intelligible your child is, look for where the breakdown occurs. There are myriad reasons that your child is not intelligible, and while this post will focus on bringing word boundaries to light, know that there are other reasons. Here are some questions that you can ask yourself:
- Is my child hearing me correctly? If there is a breakdown in what your child hears, then he will not be able to speak correctly.
- Is my child having a hard time saying certain sounds? For instance, is he saying “f” for th? Or “w” for l? (Tips for producing the “l” sound.) Errors such as this will certainly decrease intelligibility.
- Is my child speaking too loud or too soft? Using the correct volume will also help with intelligibility. Sometimes I let my older son when he is speaking quietly like a mouse so that he knows to adjust and use his “lion voice.” That way, I can understand him better.
- Is my child speaking too quickly or too slowly? Pacing is a vital part of communication. Running words together makes it hard to understand what is being said. Similarly, you don’t want your child to leave you hanging and speaking like a turtle.
- Is my child using a phonological process? For instance, is he saying “gog” for dog? There are many types of phonological processes which will be tackled in future posts. For now, just try to pick out any erroneous patterns that occur in your child’s speech.
Word Boundaries
This is the key issue that is addressed in this post. When parents come to me and tell me that they cannot understand their child because his words are strung together too quickly, the first thing that comes to mind is teaching word boundaries.
Sometimes children have a hard time understanding where one word stops and the next one starts in a sentence. In other words, they have difficulty grasping the concept of word boundaries.
As a result, the child ends up speaking in garbled sentences. I oftentimes observe children saying phrases and sentences 1-4 words in length just fine. However, when the length and complexity of a sentence increases, the child’s intelligibility breaks down and he ends up speaking in gibberish. Perhaps bits and pieces of it can be understood, but overall, the sentence cannot be understood, perhaps barring a high level of shared context.
What can be done to help a child who does not understand word boundaries? I’m so glad you asked! You guessed it…
Let’s Water the Sponge!
Please keep in mind while reading that if your child is struggling with intelligibility that an SLP will likely implement a variety of goals. This goal may or may not be compatible with your child’s needs. As always, I encourage you to seek professional advice or guidance if you have specific questions about your little one!
I am excited to touch on one of my absolute favorite therapy techniques today. It is simple to implement at home or really any environment and does not require any tools, except for your hands and arms!
TAP IT OUT.
To be entirely honest, I am not sure how many times I have used this method with clients. However, I know that every client I have used it on has seen a marked improvement in his or her intelligibility! I use this with words, phrases, and sentences.
The great thing about this technique is that it is a multimodal approach. It uses tactile and visual input alongside auditory input to help little ones understand how words and sentences are broken down. This is particularly useful for little ones who cannot yet read.
The actual technique is quite simple! As a right-handed person, I use my fingertips on my right hand to tap on my left arm. I start by tapping my left hand, then work my way up to my mid-forearm, bicep, and shoulder. Finally, I “smooth it out” by running my right fingertips up my left arm, from my hand to my shoulder.
Thinking about a multisyllabic word, such as “helicopter,” I would tap: “Hel” (on my left hand), “i” (on my mid-forearm), “cop” (on my bicep), “ter” (on my shoulder). I would do that a few times, then smooth it out by saying “helicopter” while running my right fingertips along the length of my left arm.
Similarly, with a short sentence such as, “He is not swimming”, you would tap out “He” (on left hand), “is” (on mid-forearm), “not” (on bicep), “swimming” (on shoulder). Then smooth it out by running your right fingertips along your left arm when you say the sentence.
If the word/sentence is shorter than four syllables/words, then just tap out the first two or three spots. If the word/sentence is longer than four syllables/words, you can tap it out on a tabletop or clap it out using your hands.
Have your child copy you so that he gets the tactile input ingrained in his mind. This will certainly benefit him with understanding word and syllable boundaries. Read on for some ideas of how to implement this technique with toys at home.
Mr./Mrs. Potato Head
The potato head toys are always a favorite for children! Be it Mr. Potato Head, Mrs. Potato Head, or both, this is a fantastic way to play with children and make learning fun simultaneously. I recommend this toy for younger kiddos, approximately age 2 years and up. Take turns tapping out phrases such as, “She needs a hat,” “Put shoes on,” and “Your turn.” There are also multisyllabic words that can be tapped out, such as “earrings,” “mustache,” “sunglasses,” and “microphone.”
Tetris Puzzle
This problem-solving toy is great for kiddos ages 3 and up! This puzzle offers a way to interact with your child while building cognitive skills as well as intelligibility. Try using short and simple phrases such as, “Turn it this way,” “Where should we put i?”, “Square or rectangle next?”, and “Let’s use a blue piece.” For each phrase, be sure to tap out what you’re saying and have your child follow suit. There are many questions you can ask your child to elicit conversation and speech with this toy so practice tapping out your child’s answers as well!
Lite Bright
If you have an older pre-k child or early elementary school child, Lite Bright will allow for hours of fun while targeting intelligibility! This is a wonderful way to work on tapping out short sentences and phrases. Have your child select a picture and start putting it together. You can have him tap out phrases such as, “Put the blue one here,” “Put the peg in,” and “Turn it on.” Bonus – this toy is also fantastic for fine motor skills, following and giving directions, and building vocabulary.
Need some additional ideas for toys you could use for this technique? Here’s a short-list of toy ideas I have used with clients and at home with my kids. Try practicing this technique in conversation, when reading stories, talking about pictures, playing games – the options are endless!
Have questions about this technique? A success story to share or a question about intelligibility? Feel free to drop a comment below and I’ll get back to you. Cheers!
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