Imagine playing peek-a-boo with your baby or singing a song with your toddler. You may not realize it, but each of these simple activities is an excellent way to encourage your child's speech and language development. Activities like these are commonplace at Sounds of Success Preschool and Learning Center in Aiea.

A quality day care center, excellent preschool, and child speech therapy programs all rolled into one, Sounds of Success is a non-profit education center for children aged two and one half to five years old. With a highly qualified staff of certified and licensed speech-language pathologists, this childcare is open to children with or without speech-language needs.

Many parents who watch their child struggle to acquire language or speech skills want to know what they can do to help. There are many simple activities and games to encourage proper development. Here are a few speech-language exercises to try with your toddler or preschooler at home, courtesy of The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association:

• Model Good Speech: Use clear and simple language your child can understand.
• Avoid “Baby Talk”: Only use baby talk if it's necessary to communicating and always accompany it with the correct word.
• Name What You See: When on a walk, in the park, or while driving, have your child name what he or she sees. Use the words in a sentence.
• Pay Attention: When your child speaks, give him or her your full attention whenever possible.
• Look At The Pictures: While reading a book, allow your child to name the illustrations. Name family members while looking through photo albums.
• Choose Between Two Things: Instead of asking your child “Yes-or-No” questions, give two options that require a choice. "Would you like oatmeal or cereal with your banana?"
• Repeat What They Say: By repeating what your child says, you communicate that you heard and understood the words. Trying using the words in a different sentence.

These exercises, along with many others, are just a sample of what you can do at home to reinforce what your child learns at Sounds of Success Preschool and Learning Center. This day care program also offers after school speech therapy to non-enrolled children. If you aren't sure about your child's speech-language development, check out the FAQs on their web site for helpful information about age-appropriate milestones. Learn more about their wonderful childcare and child speech therapy services by calling (808) 488-2211 today.