Children with word finding difficulties often experience frustration when trying to get their message across. They know the word and has used it correctly before but for some reason cannot recall or retrieve the word. Children with language difficulties are frequently found to have word retrieval difficulties.

What strategies can I teach my child when he/she is having difficulty during a conversation?

There are effective strategies to aid word finding difficulty that can help improve your child’s ability to communicate:

• One strategy is called ‘circumlocution’. Circumlocution ‘is the act of describing many features of an object, event, or action without saying the exact word for the object, event, or action’. It is a common strategy used by individuals with word finding difficulties. When at a loss for an intended word they will often describe the word to get their message across (and at the same time try to cue the word they're looking for). For example, if an individual with word finding difficulty couldn't think of the word, compass, they might say; “north, east, south, west” or “it’s for finding your way when you are lost at sea”. Circumlocution can be useful in that it may help us think of the missing word. It also helps keep the flow of conversation going.

• Another useful strategy is to use a different mode of communication, e.g. ask your child to mime the word or to use actions/gestures. Drawing the word can also aid word retrieval.

• Ask your child to think of the initial sound of the word. If the target word is ‘car’, your child can use an alphabet board to find the initial sound of the word (c or /k/).

• Ask your child to think of the category this word belongs to (e.g. target word: ‘apple’  category: fruit).

• Think of a word that sounds like or rhymes with the target word, e.g. car  bar.

• Think of a word related to the target word (e.g. target word: car  bus).

• Describe the attributes of the word (e.g. its components, what it looks like, what it sounds like, where you find it, etc.)

What can I do to help my child when he/she is experiencing word finding difficulties?

Reading

• Choose books that contain silly rhymes like the Dr Seuss series.
• Choose books the rhyme (The Cat and the Hat, by Dr Seuss)
• Books about word classification e.g., vehicles, animals and their young, tools, occupations (involving knowing the names of objects or entities within a class).
• Books about opposites.
Play ‘word categories’ games
These games might include ones such as: “name as many animals you can in one minute.” Other categories that might be fun or interesting include:
• Foods people eat
• Jobs or occupations
• Makes of cars
• Vegetables
• Tools
• Sea animals
• transportation

Play “name the category” games

This can be done as a sentence completion task, for example, "apple, pear, banana and grapes are all ..."; "lions, tigers, monkeys and elephants are all ..."

Pick the word that does not belong
For example, "Which one is the odd one out: red, blue, square

Which two words go together?
For example: "bus, dog, car"

Play games involving words with the same meaning (synonyms)
For example, “Can you think of another word that means small?" (little) "Can you think of another word for chair?"(seat)

Play games involving words with the opposite meaning (antonyms)

Example: “What is the opposite of big?” (small).  You can also do this as a picture matching task using pictures in which the child has to match "opposites pictures" (e.g., hot cold, wet dry, big little, fast slow).
Play word games involving similarities and differences

For example, “What is the same about a cat and a dog? (they are both animals) What is different about a cat and a dog? ( the one barks and the other one meows).

What comes next?

For example:
• 1,2,3...
• Twinkle, twinkle little...
• Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday ...

© Marinet Van Vuren,  DSC 2009

All rights reserved. No part of this work can be reproduced in any form, or by any means without the express permission of the author or by Down Syndrome Centre info@downsyndromecentre.ie

Got a question for Marinet vanVuren? If so, drop her an email here.