New to this topic? Start with our companion article: Is My Child Ready for Prep? A Communication and Language Checklist
The year before Prep is a gift. Your child is curious, chatty (or quietly watchful), and still spending a good chunk of their time with you. That matters, because the research is unusually clear on one point: when parents are shown how to build language into everyday moments, children's vocabulary and sentence skills grow in ways that show up on real measures (Roberts & Kaiser, 2011). You don't need flashcards or an app. You need the car, the bath, the dinner table and a few habits.
What follows is the kind of thing we coach families through across Brisbane's south side and Logan, adjusted for each child. Pick what fits your family and leave the rest.
Conversation games
Prep asks children to answer questions in front of others, add to a discussion and stay on topic. Those skills are learned at home first.
- One thing each at dinner. Everyone shares one thing from their day, grown-ups first so your child hears what a "thing" sounds like: "I dropped a whole tray of eggs at work."
- Swap questions for wondering. "What colour is that?" tests. "I wonder where that truck's going" invites, without the pressure of a right answer.
- Count to five in your head. After you speak, wait. Children often need longer than feels comfortable to find their words, and most of us jump in at about two seconds.
- Topic tennis. How many turns can the two of you keep one subject going? Dogs. The car wash. Why the moon is out in the daytime. Celebrate the rally, not the winner.
Following directions in daily routines
Your home is already full of instructions, which makes it the perfect practice ground. The trick is to be a little deliberate about how you give them. Our article on helping children follow directions goes deeper.
- Give real two-step jobs. "Put your cup in the sink and bring me the tea towel." When that's easy, add a third step. Real jobs beat pretend ones because the child sees the point.
- Say it once, then wait. If nothing happens, show rather than repeat louder. Repeating straight away teaches a child that the first telling doesn't count.
- Play Mixed-Up Mum (or Dad). Give deliberately silly instructions ("Put your sock on your ear") and let your child catch you out. It sharpens listening, and it's funny.
- Use concept words on purpose. Before, after, under, behind, the one with the stripes. These small words carry most of the meaning in classroom instructions, and children learn them by hearing them in real situations.
Vocabulary and concept play
Vocabulary isn't about knowing lots of nouns. It's about having precise words for actions, descriptions and relationships.
- Name the small words. In the bath, at the shops, in the car: next to, between, full, empty, heavier, fewer. Say them while your child can see what they mean.
- Choose a few rich words and keep them. Instead of "big", try "enormous" for a week, in lots of different places. Children learn a word by meeting it in several real situations, not by being told what it means. Our Tier Two vocabulary article explains which words give the best return.
- Sort and compare. Pegs by colour, spoons by size, socks by owner. Same and different, more and fewer, longest and shortest all get a workout.
Story time and retelling
Shared reading does a great deal for school readiness, and we've written about why it matters so much. A few tweaks make it work even harder.
- Read the same book many times. Repetition is how children learn the words, the rhythm and the shape of a story. A familiar book gives your child another go at the words and a chance to join in if they want to.
- Point to print sometimes. Where do we start reading? Can you find the letter your name starts with? Children who have print pointed out during storybooks build print awareness measurably faster (Justice & Ezell, 2002). Sometimes is the key word; keep it light.
- Retell with the pictures covered, or with toys acting it out. Prompt with "Who was in it? Where were they? What went wrong? How did it end?"
- "Tell Dad what happened today." A recount of the day, roughly in order, with first, then, in the end, is the seed of every story your child will write at school.
- Play with sounds. Nursery rhymes, "what rhymes with cat?", I-spy with first sounds instead of letters. Enjoyment matters more than accuracy.
Play dates and turn-taking
Friendships at Prep run on turn-taking, in play and in conversation. Small, well-planned play dates are where those skills get practised.
- Keep it short and structured. An hour or so, a snack planned, and an activity with built-in turns: a board game, a ball, a shared construction.
- Narrate the social bits. "Max is waiting for his go." "You both want the digger. What could we do?" You're making the invisible rules visible.
- Practise the scripts beforehand. "Can I play?" "My turn next." "I don't like that." Having the words ready means they come out when it counts.
- Stay close, then step back. Be nearby for the first few, then gradually give the children room to sort things out themselves.
Routines that build independence
A child who can ask for help and say what they need has a far easier first term. These are communication skills as much as practical ones.
- Pause before you hand it over. Create little moments where your child needs to ask. Model the words: "Can you help me, please?"
- Lunchbox practice. Pack the real lunchbox a few times before school starts. If a container won't open, the goal is "I can't open this, can you help?"
- A picture routine for the morning. Get dressed, eat, teeth, bag, shoes. Fewer instructions from you, more ownership from them.
- Rehearse the essentials. Their full name, their teacher's name if you know it, and a way to ask for the toilet. That might be words, a sign, a picture or their AAC device; what matters is that it's easy for them and the school knows what to look for.
When to seek help
Australia's early years framework describes transition to school as a shared process between families, educators and schools (Australian Government Department of Education, 2022), so your child's kindy teacher is a good first conversation. Talk to a speech pathologist too if your child's speech is hard for people outside the family to understand, if two-step directions are a struggle most days, if their stories are hard to follow, if they rarely ask for help or join in, or if frustration is building around communication. A hearing check through your GP is a sensible step whatever else you decide.
Because spoken language is the foundation that reading and writing are built on (Snow, 2016), the year before Prep is a good time to look closely. An assessment is careful data collection, not a verdict: a clear picture of your child's strengths and the areas still developing, and a report schools genuinely use to plan support from day one.
Speaking Speech Pathology offers mobile speech pathology across Brisbane's south side and Logan, at home, at your child's kindy or early learning centre, or by Zoom. If you'd like a hand, get in touch.
Alexandra Bouwmeester is a Senior Speech Pathologist (MSPA, CPSP), certified in Hanen's It Takes Two to Talk, with over 14 years' experience and a mum of two boys. She offers mobile speech pathology to families across Brisbane's south side and Logan.
This article is general information and not a substitute for individualised speech pathology assessment or therapy. If you have concerns about your child, please speak with a qualified speech pathologist.
References
- Australian Government Department of Education. (2022). Belonging, being and becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (V2.0). Australian Government Department of Education for the Ministerial Council. www.acecqa.gov.au
- Justice, L. M., & Ezell, H. K. (2002). Use of storybook reading to increase print awareness in at-risk children. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 11(1), 17–29.
- Roberts, M. Y., & Kaiser, A. P. (2011). The effectiveness of parent-implemented language interventions: A meta-analysis. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 20(3), 180–199.
- Snow, P. C. (2016). Elizabeth Usher Memorial Lecture: Language is literacy is language – Positioning speech-language pathology in education policy, practice, paradigms and polemics. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 18(3), 216–228.
