Two Strategies for Teaching Language during Free Play

Abstract

Two strategies for teaching language in a social context were compared in terms of their effects on the rate, variety, and spontaneity of two-word requests produced by a severely language-delayed preschool child. The strategies were: a) incidental teaching, which consisted of systematic prompting and delivery of materials contingent upon verbalization and b) the question-label procedure, which was based upon strategies already used by teachers who were subjects of the study. The question-label procedure consisted of questioning and labeling objects and events in the environment but without prompting or contingent access to materials. The procedures were implemented by two preschool teacher assistants in daily 20-minute free play sessions, in an alternating treatments design. The results indicate that the incidental teaching procedure was more effective in increasing the rate of two-word requests and that a variety of two-word requests were used by the child. Two-word requests were produced spontaneously but at a lower rate than expected. Neither procedure had differential effects on the overall rate or complexity of the child's language.