Supporting Early Communication Through Play: Inside Our Speech Therapy Group for Preschoolers

Group session

At South Coast Therapy & Support Group, our Early Communication Group is specially designed for preschool-aged children who are developing their communication skills. With a strong focus on play-based learning and parent involvement, our sessions offer a nurturing and engaging environment where children can thrive—and families can be empowered to support that growth at home.

Why Early Communication Matters

Early childhood is a critical time for speech and language development. For some children, this journey comes with challenges in expressing their thoughts, understanding others, or interacting socially. Our group sessions are designed to assist parents and carers to gently support these foundational skills through everyday play experiences that feel natural and fun for children—and incredibly valuable for their development.

Goals of the Early Communication Group

Each session is underpinned by clear developmental goals:

🗣️ 1. Enhancing Expressive Language

We encourage children to use words, phrases, or sentences to express their needs and thoughts during play. Expressive language helps children articulate ideas and emotions, forming the basis for confidence and connection.

👂 2. Improving Receptive Language

Children are gently guided to follow simple instructions and respond to questions. Receptive language is crucial for understanding what’s happening around them, supporting learning and participation.

🤝 3. Building Social Communication

Turn-taking, eye contact, and joint attention are modeled and encouraged throughout the session. These social skills help children connect meaningfully with others and succeed in group environments.

👨‍👩‍👧 4. Empowering Parents and Carers

Perhaps most importantly, we involve families every step of the way. By modelling techniques like modelling, expansion, and scaffolding, we help parents and carers feel confident in supporting their child’s communication beyond the clinic walls.

What Happens in a Session?

🔄 Play-Based Activity Stations

• Role-Play Area: Children play pretend in fun setups like shops, kitchens, or zoos. This kind of dramatic play is rich with opportunities for imaginative language and peer interaction.

• Story Time Station: Children and parents explore books together, chatting about the pictures and answering open-ended questions. This builds vocabulary, turn-taking, and comprehension.

• Interactive Games: Board games and matching activities that involve taking turns or sorting are great tools for practicing communication in a structured but fun setting.

• Construction and Building: Activities like Lego or block building invite collaboration and descriptive language as children work alongside their carers and peers.

Throughout these stations, the speech therapist moves between families, offering guidance, individualised support, and real-time feedback.

🎉 Pack-Up and Wrap-Up

At the end of each session, we celebrate each child’s participation and achievements. We also share updates, home goals, and announcements with families before wrapping up.

Tracking Progress—Together

Monitoring is a key part of every session:

• Clinical notes are kept for each child.

• Observation checklists help us assess progress in real time.

• Parent and carer feedback is actively sought to understand what’s working at home—and what new goals we can support.

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Why This Group Approach Works

This model creates a cost-effective, engaging, and practical way to support children’s communication skills. By mirroring real-world situations and involving families, the learning doesn’t stop when the session ends—it becomes part of everyday life.

If you're looking for a supportive space for your child to build their communication skills, or want to learn practical strategies to help them thrive, our Early Communication Group could be the perfect fit. More information here: Group Programs