GUEST POST: Scaffolding Speech: A Mother’s Journey into Language Development Without a Therapist

By Salome Olajide-Buari

Salome Olajide-Buari is a Nigerian mother also known as The SENT Educator. She works with children and young families from different parts of the world as a life and soft skills coach. She's an author of Children's books. In the university classroom, she teaches Use of English. Her teaching integrates technology with practical and interactive, student-centered methods. Recognizing that language itself is central to all learning, she emphasizes clear communication, critical literacy, and collaborative inquiry as foundational to academic success. As a researcher, she's been interested in Accent perceptions, Nigerian English, Phonetics and Phonology but now, inspired by her son's journey, she hopes to do her PhD in Child Language.

A Hard Hit

It was a hard hit knowing that my second son’s speech was not conventional. I had done well with my 1st son, teaching him to read before age 3 but I didn't track his progress intentionally to know how many words he spoke at what age so, I was looking forward to doing that for my 2nd child.

I couldn't record the number of words at Age 1 but that didn't raise any suspicion in me because I felt that every child was different and I should give him some space to develop well at his own pace. But I noticed he did not respond to words like others. I couldn't exactly TEACH him to blend the sounds of the letters of the alphabet because he would not respond to instructions but he could read Phonics and Sight words at 2yrs, 3 months, even earlier than his brother had.

When a child's name is called, he should respond with a ‘Yes, Daddy?’ or ‘Yes, Mummy?’ but Charis wouldn't even respond with a ‘Yes?’ It seemed he didn't KNOW the name was his! We demonstrated name calling and response, instructed him, reminded him when he didn't respond but to no avail.

When he was 3.5yrs, I expected the usual explosion of words and quirky conversations preschoolers are known for. But instead of the chatter I hoped for, he mostly echoed phrases he’d heard from cartoons, Bible verses, or familiar routines. He wasn’t mute - his communication was just different. He could sing all the lines of a hundred songs and even recite the 'Sound of Music' movie in order. But he wasn’t forming original sentences spontaneously. He used the same exact phrases, in the same tone, regardless of context, I began to wonder - was this just a speech delay, or something else?

I wasn’t a passive observer. I’m a linguist, an educator, and a mother. And as curiosity mixed with concern took its course in me, it became a mission to understand what was happening inside my son’s developing mind.

Gestalt Language Processing

Through looking up information and reading books and peer-reviewed articles by experts, I discovered something called "Gestalt Language Processing (GLP)" (1) - a style of language development where children speak in chunks or “scripts” instead of building language one word at a time. The chunks are phrases/sentences stored in their memory, often from a cartoon or a conversation they’ve heard before. It's like their brain plays back full recordings instead of assembling original sentences. My son was doing just that.

And while GLP is often associated with autism or speech-language challenges, my son had no formal diagnosis. What mattered to me was to help him move beyond these scripts.

How We Used Everyday Moments as Language Lessons

We live in Nigeria, and immediately finding a professional familiar with GLP felt like chasing shadows. So I turned to something that didn’t require a clinic, a certificate, or expensive materials. I turned to our daily conversations and activities - and I began to "scaffold" (2).

Scaffolding, in simple terms, means providing just enough support to help a child do something they couldn’t do alone - and gradually removing that support as they grow. The concept was first related to scaffolding in building and construction. This is what Scaffolding looked like in our home:

Expanding: If he said, “Outside!” (scripted from earlier conversations), I’d gently reply, “Oh, you want to go outside? Yes, we can go outside now. Say: “Can we go outside, please?” I was showing him how to build his words.

Recasting: If he said “Food you eat!”, I’d say, “You’re hungry. Say: ‘I am hungry. I need to eat some food’ ” modeling flexible language. If he said: "Congratulations! See you next time!”, he was signalling the end of an activity. That statement scripted from the TV was used meaningfully each time. For instance,.during reading sessions, he said that when we got to the last page or when he was tired of reading. So, I would recast to relate it to the particular scenario.

Prompting: I’d ask, “What do you want to do? Do you want to draw or you want to paint? When he says “Draw!”, I guide him to say “I need paper to draw” encouraging him to use a full sentence instead of just nouns or verbs.

We did this during meals, playtime, car rides, evening strolls and bedtime routines. Every activity provides scaffolding moments which we employ. Over time, his language has begun to stretch. He still uses some chunks, but now he is combining, creating, and initiating speech in new ways.

Images courtesy Salome Olajide-Buari

What Changed - and What Surprised Us

Recently, (He’s 5years, 9months now), his sentences have been leaving me with pleasant surprises, the type that I just like to soak in and not rush to journal them. I was dressing up and needed to reach for my makeup bag. He said: “Yellow bag!” meaning I should get my yellow makeup bag. I told him the bag was out of my reach and I needed his dad to help me get it. I told him to go get his dad to help us get the yellow bag. I did not really expect him to but surprisingly, he came back with his dad smiling and feeling fulfilled. I asked his dad what he said to get him to come. He had said: “Yellow bag. Can you help?” That sentence had rhythm, creativity, and personality. It wasn’t a script. It was HIS! And he had used the pronoun accurately!

That same day, he was painting and he went over to his dad, looked into his eyes and asked: “Where is the green paint?” His daddy burst out laughing and immediately went to get the paint. The excitement was real.

He is still growing in language but he has made much progress. His idiosyncratic gestures, sounds, postures, pacing accompany his language.

Sibling Engagement

His brother has been a major part of his development as well. He knows he needs to recast, expand or prompt his brother's holophrases (3) so he looks out for opportunities when they are engaged in different activities.

What Caregivers and Educators Should Know

You don’t always need a therapy room to support language growth. Your presence will help you listen to what your child says and doesn’t say. The scaffolding techniques like recasting, expanding, and prompting, used gently would go a long way. Natural routines are the ‘sauce’ for turning everyday life into language lessons. Above all, the most important ingredient needed is patience because scripted language is a starting point, not the end.

Slowly building a bridge toward more flexible, expressive language is done through engagement in meaningful activities.

Final Thoughts...

This journey has taught me that language doesn’t always bloom in predictable ways. Some children don’t follow the typical path and that’s okay. What matters is that we meet them where they are, and lovingly guide them toward where they could be.

As a mother, as a linguist, and as someone committed to early education, I believe no voice is too quiet, too late, or too unusual to be heard. We just have to keep listening and keep scaffolding.

References

(1) Blanc, M. (2012). Natural language acquisition on the autism spectrum: The journey from echolalia to self-generated language. Communication Development Center.

(2) Wood, D., Bruner, J. S., & Ross, G. (1976). The role of tutoring in problem solving. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 17(2), 89–100. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1976.tb00381.x

(3) Bloom, L. (1973). One word at a time: The use of single-word utterances before syntax. Mouton. https://doi.org/10.7916/D8H995NS

(4) Tomasello, M. (2003). Constructing a language: A usage-based theory of language acquisition. Harvard University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv26070v8

(5) Prizant, B. M., & Rydell, P. J. (1984). Analysis of functions of delayed echolalia in autistic children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 27 (2), 183–192. https://doi.org/10.1044/jshr.2702.183

Oct 16 GUEST POST: Scaffolding Speech: A Mother’s Journey into Language Development Without a Therapist