Teachers, save “Speech Imitation: Be My Echo” to assign it to your class.

Sometimes, when we are learning to say new sounds, we need to be able to repeat what the teacher says. A teacher might ask us to say the sounds, words or sentences that she says. When we do that, we are “echoing” the teacher. Watch this video of Ernie and Elmo singing an echoing song. Then see if you can play an echo game with someone in your family. You can take turns being the speaker and being the echo. You can say words or make up your own sounds to say. Click on the to open your journal. Click on the and the to make a video of yourself playing the echo game. Then click on the when you are finished so we can see your video. Parents, this is a good game to play when you are in the car, giving your child a bath, waiting to serve a meal - any time your child has a few quiet minutes. Starting with imitating easy sounds and words with you in a playful way (as opposed to drilling), and taking turns, will increase your child’s willingness to practice more challenging sounds when we introduce them in speech therapy.