Expansions are ways to expand on what a child says or does during a conversation. This in-service suite describes how to use expansions to extend conversations with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers to promote their language development.

Supporting Materials

Tips for Teachers: Ways to Expand Young Infants' Communications [PDF, 307KB]

Tips for Teachers: Ways to Expand Older Infants’ and Toddlers' Communications [PDF, 303KB]

Tips for Teachers: Ways to Expand on Preschool Children’s Words [PDF, 418KB]

Tools for Teachers [PDF, 106KB]

Tools for Supervisors [PDF, 113KB]

Helpful Resources: Infants and Toddlers [PDF, 125KB]

Helpful Resources: Preschool [PDF, 121KB]

Materials for Trainers

Presentation [PPTX, 83MB]

Optional Slide [PPTX, 966KB]

Presenter Notes [PDF, 1.7MB]

Learning Activity: Practicing Responses that Expand—Infants and Toddlers [PDF, 107KB]

Learning Activity: Practicing Responses that Expand—Preschoolers [PDF, 106KB]

Learning Activity: Capturing Expansions Video Activity—Infants and Toddlers [PDF, 216KB]

Learning Activity: Capturing Expansions Video Activity—Preschoolers [PDF, 174KB]

Learning Activity: Developing an Action Plan [PDF, 108KB]

To view these materials without Internet access, download the Birth to Five: Expansions [ZIP, 87MB]. This file contains the resources from "Supporting Materials" and "Materials for Trainers" tabs. Please ensure that your computer meets the minimum system requirements before downloading.

For more information, please contact us at ecdtl@ecetta.info or call (toll-free) 1-844-261-3752.