Grammar Rules! Part 1: Plurals

A child's grammar, especially starting from first grade, is a great indicator of language development. Of course, it is completely normal for kids to make grammar errors once in a while. However,several grammar errors - especially if there are patterns in the errors, which do not seem to improve over time - are worth looking into.

Grammar can tell us the following information : is your child keying into details in others' speech? (receptive language). Can your child then reproduce what they know, keeping that attention to detail when using sentences? (expressive language). And finally, is your child able to say particular sounds (especially the /s/ sound) effectively? (articulation).

Therefore, correcting grammar can actually boost language and articulation as a whole - which is probably why it is often a part of so many speech and language goals.

So, in this grammar rules series, we are going to be looking at grammar markers that indicate a child's language level, and how to boost it.

The first marker, for part 1, is plurals. For younger children (especially PreK-1) plural /s/ is an important grammar marker. Does your child say two cookie, or two cookies?

In older grades (1-3), irregular plurals become important as well. Does your child know, instinctively, that something does not sound quite right about "two sheeps" (vs. two sheep) or "two leafs" (vs. two leaves)?

The easiest way to work on plurals is to do some counting games with your child. You can count anything - from cars, to buses, to onions, to fish.

But when you do, make sure you emphasize the end of the plural word. "I see four fish! We don't say four fishes. Just four fish." Or, "Oh wow, look at all these shiny coinsss."

A week or two of targeted counting can make all the difference

You do not need to explicitly teach the plural "rules." Your child instinctively catches onto those, the more the hear plurals, over and over again.

However, there is the option of just finding some find worksheets that target plurals - especially if your child is older (1st - 2nd grade). Check our Smarter Speech's TPT worksheets on regular plurals and irregular plurals, if this seems like the route for you.

Happy Talking - and counting too!

Disclaimer : Smarter Speech is a pediatric speech therapy / speech-language pathology practice for toddlers and children providing in-home and teletherapy services in and around Mountain View, CA and Los Gatos, CA. Smarter Speech Blog aims to provide free speech and language tips for parents educators and therapists. However, this post is not providing speech-language pathology services. This is general information, not speech -language pathology or speech therapy. This article does not assume or create a client – SLP relationship. The author is not liable for any losses or damages due to actions or failure to act based on the content in this article. If you need assistance with a child’s speech or language needs, please contact a speech-language pathologist in your area.