Reading with your child is a wonderful way to support their language development. You don’t need to read every word, ask lots of questions or even finish the book for it to be valuable.
In fact, when speech pathologists use books with young children, we often spend just as much time talking about the book as reading it.
A child might point to the dog on the page, make a barking sound or tell you about the dog they saw at the park. Those little moments of interaction are where lots of language learning happens.
The good news is that you don’t need special resources or a perfectly planned story time to create them.
Here are some simple ways you can use the books you already have at home to support your child’s communication.
- 1. Follow your child’s interest
- 2. Comment more and question less
- 3. Add a little more to what your child says
- 4. Pause and give your child time
- 5. Use sounds, actions and gestures
- 6. Talk about the pictures
- 7. Connect the story to everyday life
- 8. Don’t worry about finishing the book
- 9. Read favourite books again… and again
- Keep reading enjoyable
- What if you’re already doing these things and still concerned?
1. Follow your child’s interest
You don’t always have to start on page one and work your way through to the end.
Watch what catches your child’s attention.
Maybe they’re fascinated by the tiny snail in the corner rather than the main character. Perhaps they keep turning back to the page with the truck. Or maybe they want to open every flap before you’ve had a chance to read anything.
That’s okay.
Use what they’re interested in as your starting point.
If they’re looking at the truck, you might say:
“Big truck!”
“It’s carrying dirt.”
“Brrrm brrrm!”
Following your child’s interest makes it more likely that they’re engaged in the interaction—and gives you something meaningful to talk about together.
2. Comment more and question less
It’s very easy for reading to turn into a series of questions:
“What’s that?”
“What colour is it?”
“What is the boy doing?”
Questions aren’t bad. But when we ask one after another, story time can start to feel more like a test than a conversation.
Pediatric Speech Pathologists will often use comments instead.
Instead of asking:
“What is the dog doing?”
you could say:
“The dog is digging!”
Instead of:
“What colour is the car?”
try:
“That’s a bright red car.”
Your child still hears the vocabulary and sentence structure without having to produce an answer every time.
A helpful way to think about it is: you don’t always need your child to show you what they know. Sometimes you can simply give them language to listen to.
3. Add a little more to what your child says
When your child says something during a story, you can build on it by adding one or two words.
If your child says:
“Dog.”
You might say:
“Big dog.”
If they say:
“Dog running.”
You might respond:
“The dog is running fast!”
If they say:
“Baby sad.”
You could add:
“The baby is sad because Mum left.”
This lets your child hear a slightly more developed version of their own message without asking them to repeat it correctly.
You don’t need to expand every sentence. Choose natural moments and keep the interaction moving.
4. Pause and give your child time
Adults are often very good at filling silence.
We ask a question, wait a second and then answer it ourselves.
But young children sometimes need more time to process what they’ve heard and work out how they want to respond.
Try pausing.
A familiar repetitive book is particularly good for this. You might read:
“Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you…”
…and wait.
Your child might finish the phrase. They might make a sound, point to the picture or look at you because they know what’s coming.
You don’t need to insist on a response. The pause simply creates an opportunity for them to participate.
5. Use sounds, actions and gestures
Communication is much more than words.
Animal sounds, actions, facial expressions and gestures can make books more engaging—particularly for babies, toddlers and children who aren’t yet using many spoken words.
A cow can say “moo”.
A car can go “brrrm”.
You can pretend to stomp like a dinosaur or tiptoe like a mouse.
If a character is surprised, make a surprised face.
If everyone in the story is waving goodbye, wave together.
These are all ways for children to participate in the interaction before they’re ready to say all of the words themselves.
6. Talk about the pictures
The words printed on the page are only one part of a book.
Pictures give you lots of opportunities to introduce language at a level that suits your child.
With a younger child, you might name what you see:
“Cat.”
“Ball.”
“Baby sleeping.”
With an older toddler or preschooler, you might add more:
“The cat is hiding behind the chair.”
“He’s wearing his gumboots because it’s raining.”
As your child’s language develops, you can also talk about things that aren’t explicitly shown in the picture—what a character might be thinking, what could happen next or how something relates to your child’s own experiences.
The same book can therefore grow with your child.
7. Connect the story to everyday life
Books give children opportunities to hear new language but connecting that language with their own experiences can make it even more meaningful.
If a character is going to childcare, you might comment:
“You take your backpack to childcare too.”
If there’s a digger:
“We saw a big digger near Grandma’s house!”
If someone is baking:
“We made cupcakes last weekend.”
You don’t need to make these connections on every page. Let them happen naturally when something in the story reminds you or your child of a familiar experience.
8. Don’t worry about finishing the book
Some young children will happily sit through a whole story. Others won’t. Your toddler might listen to two pages, jump up, come back, turn five pages at once and then decide they’re finished.
That doesn’t mean reading together hasn’t been worthwhile.
For young children, a short, enjoyable interaction is often more valuable than pushing through an entire story when they’ve lost interest.
You can always come back to the book another time.
9. Read favourite books again… and again
It can feel repetitive for adults, but children often love hearing the same books.
And that’s useful for language development.
When a story becomes familiar, children know what’s coming. They can pay more attention to the words, anticipate repeated phrases and begin finding their own ways to join in.
You may notice that your child gradually starts making the animal sound before you do, filling in the last word of a familiar sentence or telling you what happens on the next page.
So, if your child requests the same favourite every night, you don’t need to rush out and find something new.
Keep reading enjoyable
You don’t need to use every strategy every time you open a book.
Some days you might talk about every page. Other days your child may simply want to listen. And sometimes you’ll get three pages in before they’re off doing something else.
That’s okay.
At Happy Chatter, when we use books in speech pathology sessions, the goal isn’t to make children perform or answer a set number of questions. We’re looking for opportunities to connect, model language and help children participate in ways that suit their communication skills.
Our Speech Therapy for Kids guide explains more about how speech pathologists support children’s speech, language and communication development.
What if you’re already doing these things and still concerned?
Reading together can create wonderful opportunities for communication, but parents shouldn’t feel responsible for resolving a speech or language difficulty by finding the right book or using the right strategy.
We often meet families who are already reading, talking and playing with their child every day and still have questions about their development.
If you’re noticing that your child is having difficulty understanding what others say, learning or combining words, expressing their ideas or communicating in everyday situations, it can be helpful to speak with a speech pathologist.
Our When Should Speech Therapy Start? guide can help you understand when it may be worth seeking further advice.
Most importantly, keep books enjoyable. Follow what your child is interested in, give them opportunities to join in and enjoy the conversation that happens along the way.