'Word retrieval' is simply fnding the right words for what you want to say. This can be tricky for young children.
As speech and language therapist Ruth Crampton explains, they may replace the word they want to say with similar sounding words or a word with a similar meaning.
What can parents do to help support their child's word retrieval? Ruth has some top tips below…
Ruth: Difficulties with word retrieval is when children can't always find the right word for what they want to say. They may replace it with similar sounding words or a word with a similar meaning.
Ruth (to child): Oh, I found something! It's a…
Child: Cully!
Ruth (to child): It's a hat! Hat!
Ruth (to child): I've got a great game for helping to decide which items go together and to help us to label the items correctly. So this is my big basket,
Ruth (to child): Two little baskets, one for toys and one for clothes! What can you find? Hmm, let's find some socks. Socks! They're clothes!
Ruth (to child): It's a… Car! Brilliant! Let's put it in our toy basket.
Mum: Can you get me the trousers?
Child: Thank you.
Ruth (to child): That's right, they're trousers or jeans. Good boy.
Mum: Can you find me a toy? A toy. And what basket does the toy go in? Good job Finn!
Ruth: These types of activities are brilliant for helping children to understand that we categorise words differently.
Ruth (to child): The basket is all empty! You sorted all of our items!
Why might a child struggle with word retrieval?
Difficulties finding the right words are very common, even in adults. Think of the times you've forgotten someone's name even when you know the person well, for example.
"Although children know the words - the difference between a cow and a pig, for example - they don't necessarily store it accurately in their brain."
"A pig has four legs and it lives on a farm, but so does a cow! So it's little things like that - children sometimes struggle to get those words quickly when they're formulating sentences.
"So we're teaching them strategies to be able to go into the right part of their brain."
You might ask them to, "tell me what it looks like. Where do you find it? What sound does it start with?"
"That will help children to pick those words out without us having to say the actual word itself."
Play sorting games
A game of what's in the bag? - or basket in the film above - is a perfect way to introduce your child to new words.
Help your child take objects out of the bag that they can sort into different categories - a great example is 'clothes' and 'toys'. Don't forget to name each object as they take it out.
"These types of activities are brilliant for helping children to understand how we categorise words differently," Ruth says.
