Language Skill Activities for Special Needs Children

When developing activities for special needs children, an important skill to work on is language development and improvement. Daily activities that help improve language skills are necessary for all special needs children, especially when they are young. The earlier you work with your child on language skills and development, the more his language skills will develop in the following years. Working on language skill activities for special needs children can be the most challenging and frustrating, so be sure to pick activities that are fun, too.

Memory Match

All children can partake in a game of memory match. Depending on your child's learning level, start off with only a few picture cards to match. Get children to say the name of the picture on the card each time they flip it over. You can gradually add more cards and replace the pictures with simple words, such as "dog" or "ball." Practice your child's writing skills by asking him to write a chart of the cards he or she flips over.

Remember, if your child has attention disorders, it is best not to make the game too long. A memory match game with too many cards can become overwhelming and frustrating.

Feelings and Colors

Associate different feelings and emotions with different colors. Start off with simple emotions, such as "happy," "sad," "afraid," and "angry." Assign them each a color on a color wheel or chart. Next, give your child pictures of different faces showing these emotions. You can cut them out of a magazine or just draw different emotions. Help your child to put the faces in the right color spot. Do the same activity by having your child place the words with the color and faces.

Gradually add more emotions and colors. Ask your child about the emotions and his emotions. Have him demonstrate each emotion with non-verbal communication, such as showing you a sad or happy face.

This activity is one of the greatest for special needs children because several special needs children struggle with non-verbal communication, as well as how to identify emotions and non-verbal communication cues from others. This activity can also be a helpful tool to see what emotion or feeling your child is feeling at a particular moment or in a particular situation. This activity can be frustrating at first since it takes practice and time for your child to develop their language skills.

Activities for special needs children are a fun way to interact with your child, as well as to help them developmentally. Try using simple board games, such as Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders to help develop a child's language skills. While it can be frustrating to work on language skills with your child, the results do pay off after many months of continued practice.

Photo by Growing a Green Family