Helping Your Child Understand Language in the Classroom and at Home

These instructions are for families of patients at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to improve their child's language comprehension.

Important information:

Problems understanding language can make learning activities at home, school, and in the community a challenge for your child.  

A language delay or disorder can make it hard for your child to:

• Understand vocabulary words, concepts, and sentences

• Answer questions

• Follow directions

• Follow daily routines

• Follow along with books and songs

• Understand what they read

It is important that teachers and other adults know about your child’s unique challenges with understanding what they hear. This way they can take steps to support your child so they can do their best.

Instructions for strategies to improve listening and learning activities:

Learning environment

• Your child’s physical location within the classroom is important and can affect their ability to learn. Request that your child sit close to the teacher and away from anything that is distracting, like a noisy vent or fish tank. Your child may also be more sensitive than other children to normal noises in a class, such as shuffling feet, moving papers or coughing.

• It may be helpful for your child to sit near another student who is a good listener so that they can ask questions about missed or misunderstood information or directions.

• Give your child a quiet space for finishing work so they can concentrate. They may need to take tests in a quiet room at school or do homework without background noise, such as away from the TV.

Communication strategies

• Before giving directions, the teacher or adult should stand close to and make eye contact with your child.

• Get your child’s attention before giving important directions. Examples of ways to get your child’s attention include:

  • Use starters, such as, “class” or “children.”

  • Use ready phrases, such as, “listen,” “get ready to listen,” or “look at me so I know you are listening.”

  • Touch your child’s shoulder before beginning to talk.

• Have your child repeat the directions back to you or ask you questions about what you said to make sure they heard you and understand what to do.

• Say the key part of the message louder to show it is important. For example, “This is not a spelling word.”

• Encourage your child to communicate with teachers and other adults when they do not understand, cannot remember something, or need something repeated.

• Shorten long directions into clear, simple steps. Take a break between the steps in the directions. Say the directions twice exactly the same way to help your child know what to do. Do not rephrase directions.

Supportive strategies

• Use pictures, charts, and written words when giving instructions and new information. Some children find that taking a picture in their minds of important information can help.

• Help your child learn to put steps in order for a task by having them describe the desired result and the materials needed. Then, use pictures or written words to explain the order of the task with steps and materials needed. This will help your child get organized to get something done.

• Talk or read about a topic before your child learns about it in school. This is called “pre-learning” and it will help your child know new words and concepts so they can take part in the lesson at school. Request important vocabulary words ahead of time and share with your speech-language pathologist.

• Ask teachers to write assignments and materials needed on the board so that your child can copy them into an assignment book. Another student or the teacher can then check to make sure that your child has written them down correctly. At home, make written lists of chores or activities.

• Plan out homework so that your child completes the most difficult subjects first or in study hall where they can ask the teacher questions. Your child may feel better if the hardest work is done first, which can make homework time more productive and less stressful for everyone.

• Children who have problems with learning language can become more tired than other children. Your child may have to use more energy to keep up with learning and their work. Your child may learn better if given periodic breaks to move around, such as stretching, walking across the room to get a tissue, or get a drink.

• As your child gets older, they may need to get notes from a classmate or the teacher or a lesson outline from the teacher so they can listen more carefully and fill in notes.

• Provide your child with additional time to complete tasks both at home and school, such as reading, working on projects and homework, or taking tests.

Contact your speech-language pathologist with any questions or concerns.

Center for Childhood Communication
1-800-551-5480

For non-urgent issues, send your speech-language pathologist a message in the MyCHOP portal.

Reviewed August 2023, Kimberly Bradley, MS, CCC-SLP