August 20, 2026
Twinkle, Twinkle Little ________
Building Language with Songs
This week I listened to one of my little friends fill in the words at the end of phrases in “Twinkle, twinkle, little star”, which his mom sang to him. It was precious! We are working on his verbal imitation through the imitation hierarchy.
We are now at the Verbal Routines level. At this level, a powerful strategy is leaving off the last word in songs like “The Wheels on the Bus”, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”, or the “ABC” song. Another verbal routine idea credit to Laura Mize is to use a counting book and, instead of counting, use the repetition as an opportunity to provide a repetitive model: “star, star, star, star, it’s a _____” Lastly, a classic “1, 2, 3, GO” or “ready, set, GO” to fill in the word “GO” is a great one to use with a ball, car, or a child’s body.
It is in my experience that once we get a child to fill in at least eight verbal routines, he is ready to imitate single words consistently. Enjoy the power of verbal routines this week!