What toys would people recommend to help speech delayed preschooler?

[confusedofengland]

Reposted from Chat!

DS2 is 3.7. He has a speech delay meaning that his speech is at the level of an average 2-3 year old. He forms sentences of 5-6 words, sometimes more, but doesn't use pronouns correctly & often copies speech until he is comfortable to use it spontneously. We had a SALT session today & we worked on recognising objects by the function (eg photo of a hat & of a bowl, which one do you wear?) & using the subject in a sentence eg 'The boy is on the bus' rather than just 'on the bus'. He is also a little delayed socially & is just starting to acknowledge his peers, both inside the classroom & out, and wanting to join in their games. His pronounciation is quite unclear, I can understand most of what he says, other people maybe 40-50%. His concentration span is maybe 15 mins on activities that interest him, 2 minutes on those that don't hmm

Preschool have been given some extra funding for him & they approached me today to ask if I have any ideas what it should be spent on. But I am struggling! So, if anybody has any ideas, please help me!

TIA

Speech is a tricky one as, really the only thing that helps is talking yourself! I don't know what their book selection is like? Could they use it to buy some of his favourite books or books on subjects that interest him?

This allows lots of room for the activities you were describing as well as a chance for him to sit down with his key person and chat. It's also an activity that lasts for around 15mins so perfect for his attention span.

This may have already come up but it's the only thing I could thing of!

Or maybe some fancy dress outfits that might appeal to him (again, if they don't already have some) Lots of opportunity for him to use a wider vocabulary (I'm a spaceman! I ride in a rocket! I need some more fuel) Things that don't necessarily come up in everyday conversation that might spark and interest. And also something that allows the staff to ask questions about what he's doing and why and prompt a conversation.

I was going to say the same as the previous poster. books but you can get book packages with have a toy that relate to the book which can be useful

There's a lovely book called You Choose which I've used when childminding a child who needed encouragement to talk. I has no words, just pictures full of choices. You can choose what you want to look like, what you like to eat, where you want to live, etc from dozens of choices on each page. It's great for stimulating conversation and I don't think I've come across a child who didn't love it.

While doing the link I noticed there is a new one in the same vein called "Just Imagine". Maybe someone who has it can tell us if that one is as good?