Preschool Readiness
From a Speech & Language Therapist's Perspective
As children get ready to enter preschool, there’s a lot of excitement and anticipation in the air. Parents often wonder how to best prepare their little ones for the classroom. One of the key areas that sometimes get overlooked in preschool readiness, is speech and language development. As a speech/language therapist, I’ve seen firsthand how crucial early communication skills are for a successful start in preschool. Preschool readiness isn’t just knowing the alphabet or being able to count to ten. It is also ensuring that children have the foundational speech and language skills to set them up for academic and social success. Let’s explore my top tips and areas of language development to focus on for preschoolers. And most importantly, discuss how parents can help support those skills at home.
Understanding and Following Directions
One of the most basic yet vital skills for preschool is the ability to understand and follow simple instructions. Whether it’s “please pick up your toys” or “can you put the red block on the shelf?” Following directions is essential for daily routines at school. Children who are able to listen, process, and act on verbal instructions will feel more confident in classroom settings and reduce frustration.
How to help: Practice simple, one and two-step directions at home. Start with one step (e.g., “Put your shoes on”), and gradually add more complexity as your child becomes more confident. (Put your shoes on and then put on your coat). Encourage them to repeat the instructions back to you to ensure they understand. Incorporating this into daily routines is one way to encourage more independence. Incorporating this into special times such as cooking together or making art projects together promotes social time and shared play while also working on directions.
Vocabulary and Word Knowledge
A robust vocabulary is a cornerstone of early literacy and communication. Preschool children need a wide range of words to help them express their needs, understand others, and engage in meaningful conversations. By age 3, most children should have a vocabulary of around 1,000 words, and by age 4, this can increase to 1,500 words or more.
How to help: Read books together and label things you see on the pages. See if you can find the same things around the room so they learn that the label applies to more than one thing. Take a picture walk through a book instead of reading the words. Have fun playing with vocabulary building flashcards by hiding them around the room and going on a scavenger hunt to find and label them. Play with themed toys and talk about the vocabulary related to the play. For example, farms allow us to label animals, foods the animals eat, and verbs like walking, running, swimming, flying. Playing baby allows us to label body parts, clothing, and verbs like hug, kiss, dress, feed, and play. Ask your children to hand you objects by adjectives (colors, shapes, size, location). For example, “can you give me the blue box?”, “Can you give me the big block?”, “Let’s do the square shape next” – when playing with a shape sorter. Build vocabulary and language into everyday play so that your child learns vocabulary in a natural environment. As a parent, be thoughtful about the word you choose to emphasize during a specific play schema and repeat the target words multiple times during that play.
Social Communication Skills
Preschool is often the first real experience children have with peers outside their immediate family. Developing social communication skills—such as taking turns in conversation, sharing, and using polite language—are all crucial for making friends and participating in group activities.
How to help: Start scheduling playdates several months prior to starting preschool. Provide other opportunities for your child to engage with other children such as playground play, music groups, and child gym classes. At home, Model appropriate social interactions, like saying “please” and “thank you,” taking turns in games, and helping your child understand emotions. Role-playing can be especially useful in teaching scenarios like greeting others, asking for help, or offering to share. Playing pretend is another great way to teach social scenarios. In my sessions, I will role play using mini characters from popular shows. I have a little playground and school sets that I use to prepare your children for preschool. We act out arrival, lunch time, recess, circle time.
Speech Clarity and Articulation
Clear speech sounds are important for preschoolers because teachers and peers need to understand what they’re saying. While some speech errors are normal at this age (like substituting “w” for “r”), it’s important to keep an eye on whether speech is becoming more understandable as they approach school age. See the chart below for guidance about which sounds should be acquired.
How to help: Encourage your child to slow down and speak clearly. If they mispronounce a word, model the correct pronunciation in a natural way—without interrupting or criticizing. For example, if they say “wabbit” instead of “rabbit,” you could respond, “Oh, yes, I see the rabbit too!” By repeating the word correctly, they’re more likely to catch on. Also, encourage them to look at your mouth when you are pronouncing a word that is tricky for them. Most children learn speech sounds by seeing how they are made rather than hearing them. Having them watch your model is a great way to bring their attention to the way they make the sound.
Pre-Literacy Skills
Preschool is a time when children begin to learn the basics of reading and writing. A child’s ability to recognize letters, understand rhyming patterns, and identify sounds (phonological awareness) are key components of literacy development. These skills help children decode words as they begin learning to read.
How to help: Introduce your child to letters and sounds in fun, engaging ways. Use flashcards, play rhyming games, and sing songs with repetitive sounds. Use foam letters or alphabet puzzles to use play and learning. Encourage drawing and scribbling to build fine motor skills, which are also important for later writing. In my sessions, I use whipped cream and we draw letters, shapes, and numbers in the cream with our fingers or other tools. Bunus, it’s edible! I also encourage parents to use bathtime to work on letters and sounds. You have their attention and they are a captive audience so use that time to creatively work on speech sounds, letters, and rhyming words.
Play Skills and Imagination
Preschool isn’t just about academics—it’s also a time for creative play, which supports both language development and social skills. Whether it’s playing with dolls, building blocks, or pretending to be animals, imaginative play allows children to practice using language in different contexts.
How to help: Encourage pretend play at home. Take on roles in imaginative games, narrate actions together, and let your child lead in the play. This helps them develop not only their vocabulary but also their ability to express ideas and take different perspectives. Encourage different kinds of play like independent play, parallel play and shared play. In parallel play, you play next to your child, but you are doing your own play schema. In shared play, you can use shared items such as building blocks or magnatiles. You can also work to make something together like building a tower out of blocks, or building a house out of magnatiles together by taking turns. The more well rounded your child’s play, the better they will be able to interact with their peers at home.
Final Thoughts
While it’s easy to focus on academic readiness for preschool, speech and language development is just as important. Children who are confident in their communication skills will feel more at ease in school, form better relationships with peers, and have an easier time learning new concepts. It also enables them to succeed across all the subjects. As a speech/language therapist, I encourage parents to monitor their child’s language milestones and seek support if any concerns arise. Early intervention makes a significant difference in helping children develop the skills they need for a successful preschool experience. By fostering strong speech and language abilities, you’re giving your child a gift that will serve them well not just in preschool, but through their entire academic journey.
Written by: Rachael Rose, Owner/Founder