Praxis SLP Licensure Exam

What statement should an SLP use to expand a child's utterance, "Mommy go run," using an expansion approach?

1. "Mommy's going to run."

2. "Mommy's going to run to the house."

3. "Where is Mommy going?"

4. "Say 'Mommy is going to run.'

The correct answer is: "Mommy's going to run."

The statement "Mommy's going to run" effectively expands the child's utterance by providing additional grammatical structure and context while maintaining the original intent of the communication. This approach is beneficial because it models correct syntax and vocabulary without changing the meaning of what the child is trying to express. Incorporating the present progressive form "is going" enhances the complexity of the utterance, supporting language development in a natural and supportive way. This response retains the essence of the child's message and serves to validate their expression while also gently correcting and expanding upon their language use. By using complete and correct sentences, the child is exposed to more sophisticated language structures, which can encourage them to adopt similar forms in their own speech. The other choices involve either adding unnecessary details, asking questions that do not model language directly, or prompting the child to repeat rather than expanding on their original statement. These alternatives do not effectively model language use or provide the same level of linguistic feedback as the selected response.