When your child is between 2-3 years they will typically begin to use “I,” “me,” and “you.” It is common to still mix “me” and “I” at 2 years, but this should correct itself by 3 years. “He” and “she” is also easily confused.
Children with language delay or diverse socio-cultural backgrounds often have difficulty with the “he/she” pronouns and call everyone “he” or “she” or “him” or “her”.
The first step is to make sure they know the difference between a boy and a girl. You can do this by asking them to point to real pictures and make associations. Find a book with girls and boys in it and talk about “he” and “she.” Gather toys with faces that can be identified as “he” and “she.”
Model the correct language pattern. This is one of the best and easiest speech therapy techniques to facilitate correct forms of pronouns.
Visual cues are also useful. So, for example if your child mixes up “I” and “you” and says, “You hungry” when he means to say, “I’m hungry”. Point to him and emphasis who is supposed to be hungry.
You can play games practicing turn taking: “me” and then “you.” You can then use short phrases to decide what belongs to boys or girls or who likes certain objects e.g. “he does,” “she does.” “he wants it,” “she wants it,” “he likes,” “she likes.” You can also use phrases with verbs e.g. “she is riding,” “he is swimming.” This can be extended to sentences and stories.
Prompts can be used to help your child:
· Repeat the error back as a question
e.g. Her is running? Is it a boy or girls? Oh, so she is running.
· Catch the error and gently correct e.g. So, you mean she is running.
· Fix the error without pointing it out e.g. Yes, she is running.
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