Labelling

Labelling is the act of naming an object, person or action. Learning to Label helps develop the vocabulary as well as makes it more efficient for the child to start using the words to express themselves better and for more effective communication. Avaz is a great tool to encourage labelling skills. Once the child learns to label a thing, it makes it easier to request for the object or activity or talk about things. Learning to describe makes it easier to talk about experiences and express oneself better. 


Start introducing a few words through labelling - once you teach around 20 words, you can move on to teaching other skills  and come back to Labelling for teaching more nouns. Labelling is mostly pertaining to nouns, which are not language builders. Hence it is important to alternate between teaching language through Core words and pragmatics, so that language development happens in parallel.


Given below are few of the basic vocabulary that can be introduced to develop this skill.  


Important: It is not required to teach all the words listed below sequentially, before moving on to the next skill. Labelling is mostly pertaining to nouns, which are not language builders. Introduce about 20 new words (from any category below)and then move on to language development using Core Words and pragmatics, so that language development happens in parallel -  How to use Avaz with my child - moving from single words to Language development


You can always come back to labelling for teaching more vocabulary as the child's language develops. 

 

Categories

Vocabulary that can be introduced under each category

Family members

Papa/daddy/dad, mamma/mummy/mom, brother, sister, grandpa, grandma, uncle, aunty

Body parts

Head, hands, legs, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, stomach and later move to fine body parts like eyebrows, lips, tongue, teeth, shoulders, elbow, knee etc

Common objects

Cup, spoon, brush, plate, fan, TV, shoe, phone, clock, mobile, computer, umbrella etc

Animals

Dog, cat, cow, pig, sheep, duck, horse, goat, lion, monkey, tiger, elephant etc

Food items

Biscuits, pop corn, rice, bread, chips, juice, milk

Fruits

Apple, mango, banana, papaya, grapes, orange, pineapple, pear etc

Vegetables

Tomato, onion, potato, eggplant, lady’s finger, green leaves, radish, cucumber etc

Vehicles

Car, bus, auto, aeroplane, cycle, train, truck, boat, ship etc

Clothing

Shirt, pant, socks, shoes, sweater/jacket, frock, skirt etc

Places/Locations

Home, school/college, therapy/clinic, park, zoo, beach, supermarket/shop etc

Action verbs

Eat, drink, sleep, sit, stand, touch, give, throw, pick, push, run etc

Adjectives

Big, small, happy, sad, clean, dirty, tall, short, hot, cold etc

Prepositions

In, out, on, under, open, close

Gender

Boy, girl

Furniture

Chair, table, shelf, drawer, cupboard

 

 



How to teach

Use the following methods to teach 

- modelling (for 1 week)

- many opportunities to model the word through the day

- ask the child to use the word, else use prompting (for 1 week)

- withdraw the prompt

- offer several opportunities through the day


Family members: 

  • Matching photographs of family members with the Avaz icons.

You could have a set of photos of family members and encourage the user to match pictures with pictures on Avaz as you name them.

  • Identify and point to a particular family member on the device when named:

Point to a particular family member in the room, ask the user to point to the icons on Avaz of the person when named. You could use the instruction by pointing at the family member- Who is this?. Pointing to a set of pictures on Avaz, you can ask - ‘Where is daddy?’/ ‘Where is mama’? Repeat this until the user identifies all members correctly. 

  • Generalization

On similar lines, encourage matching and identifying of friends, classmates, relatives etc in a natural environment. You could move on generalizing this by picking up mom’s shirt and asking whose shirt is this? And expect the user to choose the icon’mama’ on Avaz and label it appropriately. Similarly you can choose objects belonging to people and expect labelling using Avaz from the user.

 

Body parts:

  • Matching of pictures of body parts with the Avaz icons

You could have a set of photos of body parts and encourage the user to match pictures with the icons on Avaz as you name them. You could use instructions like “What is this?” or “Point to ______”.

  • Matching of one’s own body parts with the Avaz icons

Point to the user’s body parts and ask the user to point the respective icon on Avaz. You can use the same instructions as in the previous step. Repeat this until the user identifies all the body parts correctly. 

You could also teach functions of body parts such as you see with your _______ and encourage users to choose the icon “eyes” on Avaz.

 

Common objects 

  • Matching of real (common) objects with the Avaz icons

Have a set of real common objects and encourage the user to match those objects with the icons on Avaz as you name them.

  • Matching of pictures of common objects with the Avaz icons

With a set of pictures of common objects, ask the user to match pictures of common objects with their respective pictures on Avaz as you name them.

  • Identify and point to a particular object on the device when named

Once the user can match various objects and pictures of the same on Avaz, instruct him/her to point to ___ or show me_____on Avaz. 

  • Encourage users to choose the appropriate icon in their daily activity. For e.g. requesting for a ‘spoon’ during meal time. 

 

Animals

  • Matching of animal models with the Avaz icons 

Have a set of animal models and encourage the user to match the animal models with the icons on Avaz as you name them.

  • Matching of pictures of animals with the Avaz icons.

With a set of pictures of animals, ask the user to match pictures/ line drawings of animals with icons on Avaz as you name them.

  • Identify and point to a particular animal on the device when named.

Once the user can match various objects and icons of the same on Avaz, instruct him/her to point to ___ or show me_____on Avaz. 

  • Identify and point to a particular animal when the animal sound is made.

You can also introduce animal sounds with each of the animals taught to the user. For example, cows say moo-moo, sheeps say baa-baa, cats say meow etc. Encourage the user to point to the respective picture on Avaz and match the animal cry with the picture of the animal. 

For young users, rhyme time is a great opportunity to use these vocabulary. You could use Old Mac Donald rhyme and encourage the user to choose the animal that the farmer had instead of following a rigid order or fill up animal cries as you recite the line……..he had some ducks , and a……… here and a …….there.  You could also visit a zoo and label animals as you comment on what you are seeing in the zoo.

 

Food items 

  • Matching of pictures of food items with the Avaz pictures 

With a set of pictures of various food items that the user is exposed to, encourage the user to match pictures of food items with their respective icons on Avaz.

  • Identify and point to a particular food item on the device when named

Once the user can match various objects and icons of the same on Avaz, instruct him/her to point to ___ or show me_____on Avaz. 

  • Request for desired food items using  the appropriate icon on Avaz.

Encourage the user to request for his/her preferred food by choosing the appropriate icon on Avaz. Reinforce the user immediately and accordingly. 

 

Fruits

  • Matching of fruits models with the Avaz icons. 

Have a set of models of fruits and encourage the user to match those fruits with the icons on Avaz as you name them.

  • Matching of pictures of fruits with the Avaz icons 

With a set of pictures of various fruits, encourage the user to match pictures of fruits with their respective icons on Avaz.

  • Identify and point to a particular fruit on the device when named

Once the user can match various pictures of fruits with the icons on Avaz, by using instructions like “Point to _____?” prompt the user to point at a particular fruit on Avaz without any visual cue. Repeat this until the user identifies all the fruits correctly. 

  • Encourage the user to request for his/her preferred fruit using the Avaz icon appropriately.

 

Vegetables

  • Matching of vegetables models with the Avaz icons.

Have a set of models of vegetables and encourage the user to match those vegetables with the icons on Avaz as you name them.

  • Matching of pictures of vegetables with the Avaz icons 

With a set of pictures of various vegetables, encourage the user to match pictures of vegetables with their respective icons on Avaz.

  • Identify and point to a particular vegetable on the device when named

Once the user can match various pictures of vegetables with the pictures on Avaz, by using instructions like “Point to _____?” prompt the user to point at a particular icon on Avaz without any visual cue. Repeat this until the user identifies all the vegetables correctly.

 

Vehicles

  • Matching of vehicles models with the Avaz icons.

Have a set of models of vehicles and encourage the user to match those vehicles with the pictures on Avaz as you name them.

  • Matching of pictures of vehicles with the Avaz pictures 

With a set of pictures of various vehicles, encourage the user to match the pictures of vehicles with their respective pictures on Avaz.

  • Identify and point to a particular vehicle on the device when named

Once the user can match various objects and icons of the same on Avaz, instruct him/her to point to ___ or show me_____on Avaz.

 

Clothing

  • Matching of pictures of various clothings with the Avaz icons 

With a set of pictures of various clothing, encourage the user to match the pictures of clothing with their respective icons on Avaz.

  • Identify and point to a particular clothing on the device when named

Once the user can match various objects and pictures of the same on Avaz, instruct him/her to point to  or show me_____on Avaz. 

 

Places/Locations

  • Describe each location with what we do/see there, with seperate location pictures. For example, park, mall, school etc. Point to appropriate icons on Avaz as you take the user to these locations. 

  • Matching of pictures of various locations with the Avaz pictures 

With a set of pictures of various locations/places, encourage the user to match the pictures of those places/locations with their respective pictures on Avaz.

  • Encourage the user to point to ___ or show me_____on Avaz when he wants to go to a particular location.

    You can also discuss locations in different contexts. For e.g., you see a slide in the  ______________, while you buy fruits from the ____.

 

Action verbs

  • Physical imitation of various action verbs

You could imitate the action verbs with a partner or alternatively present an action card picture. For eg. If the picture depicts a boy eating a banana, you can label the action eating and simultaneously point to the icon ‘eating’ on Avaz. 

  • Matching of pictures of various action verbs with the Avaz pictures 

With a set of pictures of various action verbs, encourage the user to match the pictures of action verbs with their respective pictures on Avaz.

  • Once the user can match various actions and pictures of the same on Avaz, instruct him/her to point to ___ or show me_____on Avaz or choose an icon on Awaz to indicate a particular action as found appropriate.

        You could play games as in Simon says-Jump in which the action word is filled in by                     choosing the icon on Avaz and the partner performing the action.

 

Adjectives

  • You can begin with simple adjectives like big-small, clean-dirty and hot-cold.

Introduce these adjectives in real life situations using real objects. For example, let the user touch and feel a hot cup of coffee or show the user how dirty your hands are after gardening etc.

  • Introduce appropriate pictures on Avaz.

Everytime you introduce a new adjective or use an adjective, point to the respective picture on Avaz and model the user. Allow the user to point at the picture after you have modelled the adjectives.

  • Matching the pictures of various adjectives with the Avaz pictures 

With a set of pictures of various adjectives, encourage the user to match the pictures of these adjectives with their respective pictures on Avaz.

 

Prepositions

  • You can begin with simple prepositions like on-under and in-out. 

First, introduce these prepositions in real life situations using real objects. For example, whenever you are keeping an object on/under the table or inside/outside the box, stress on the preposition word as you tell the user what you are doing. 

  • Introduce appropriate pictures on Avaz.

Everytime you use a preposition, point to the respective picture on Avaz and model the user. Allow the user to point at the picture after you have modelled the prepositions.

  • Matching the pictures of various prepositions with the Avaz pictures 

With a set of pictures of various prepositions, encourage the user to match the pictures of these prepositions with their respective pictures on Avaz.

 

Gender

  • Introduce the gender concept with family members. For example, daddy is a boy, mummy is a girl, uncle is a boy and aunty is a girl etc. 

  • Have two picture cards of a boy and a girl each, representative of both the genders. Give the photographs of all the family members to the user and let him/her segregate them based on their genders.

  • You can generalize the same with other known people, friends and teachers.

 


Note:

  • If the user doesn’t choose the appropriate option, use prompt hierarchy or modelling to guide the user to tap appropriately. 

  • Generalize the learnt concepts by adding more items to it (eg. more fruits, vegetables, locations, verbs) with various partners and across various contexts. 

 

Courtesy:

This section has been compiled by Octave Centre for Speech and Hearing, Bangalore