Child Language Projects

In school this semester I've had the opportunity to meet with some little kids to either get a language sample to analyze or to do standardized language tests with them. Neither sound like much fun but it's actually been a lot of fun. I met with a little boy this morning who is almost three years old. We played with his toy tractors and blocks. He also showed me his Buzz Lightyear toy and told me about what he likes to do when he visits his grandma and grandpa. He has a great family and it was fun to hear him talk about them from his 2-year-old point of view.

A few weeks ago I met with another little boy who is four years old. My class partner and I took turns doing different parts of the Goldman-Fristoe test of Articulation. It was pretty fun too. For my part I told him a story (there were pictures to look and point at) and then he got to tell it back to me and point at the pictures. I was trying to get him to say target words but he thought I was being silly. He would say things like "and then the soap slipped out of his hands and fell on the ground!" The target word was "floor" instead of "ground" and so I asked, "it fell where?" He laughed and pointed and said "right there!" "Where??" (more laughter) "right there!" "Oh on the floor?" "yeah, right there on the floor."

I'm glad I have good friends around here who are willing to let me play with their kids.