Milieu Teaching
"Milieu Teaching is a strategy to teach functional language skills in the natural environment" (Hallahan, Kauffman, & Pullen, 2015). This strategy can also be defined as manipulating a child's social environment for his or her own benefit. It is commonly used with pre-linguistic children as an intervention to increase language development in children with language delays. Prelinguistic communication can be a good indicator of a child's later ability to use language, which is why this strategy can be an important one. Something to note about this strategy is the effectiveness also depends on the parent or parents involvement.
There are three main factors or principles that Milieu Teaching focuses on according to McCarthren, Yoder, & Warren. The first principle is to build on a child's interests. This involves observing student play, and then building on what they seem interested in and attempting to communicate with them and discuss the item or play. Another principle is to prompt the child to communicate when they are requesting an object, action, or activity from adult. The final principle is using social games with communication to increase use and motivation of the child (1995). As you can see, a parent or parents be a huge help if they implement these principles at home when communicating with their child. The Milieu teaching strategy can be extremely beneficial for children who have language delays.