As a pediatric speech-language pathologist working on early language development, one of the most impactful strategies I share with my clients’ family members is called “wait time.” It’s as self-explanatory as it sounds – wait several seconds for your child to respond or initiate. However, it’s often a difficult strategy to master. 

As adults working together to support a child’s early language goals, we can often fall into habitual question-asking or “jumping in” to answer. We mean well, we’re trying to help! Unfortunately, a series of questions back-to-back or having an adult re-frame their question or comment several times can increase the language processing load, particularly for children with delayed language expression and/or developmental disabilities. Consider that each question you ask, phrase you repeat, or even the single word label that you model is a “chunk” of information to be processed. If the child does not have adequate time to take that information in and process it before the next” “chunk” of information comes in, it can create a sense of input buildup that gets stuck or clogged. Additionally, it becomes difficult to tease out what your child can respond to independently when adults are quickly jumping in with prompts or repeated questions. The ultimate goal of speech therapy intervention is for the child to become an independent communicator. If we do not give them time to respond independently, we can’t determine the appropriate time to fade out support and risk the child becoming dependent on our prompts when they express themselves.