Natural Language Facilitation

This guide is designed to help parents teach their child to use functional speech and language.

Is your child showing the signs that they are ready to improve?

1. You know your child is listening to learn language from videos, songs, or Ms. Rachel but they don't know how to use their memorised speech functionally.
2. Your child has started experimenting with echolalia, gestalt scripts.
3. Your child is hyper-focused and learning complex information (Einstein Syndrome).
4. You have heard speech on the monitor or caught your child watching themselves "talk" in the mirror.
5. You may have been told in an evaluation that your child's age, nonverbal status, short attention, and stimming behaviours mean that they will never use speech...
   1. BUT you have heard them occasionally say the right words at home.
   2. OR they sometimes copy things that you say.
   3. AND you can tell in your heart that they really do want to talk!

Has therapy failed to help them talk?

Unfortunately, the popular verbal-behaviour therapy models encourage parents to control their child's language learning through bribes, manipulation, sign language, PECS, and endless requests and prompts to imitate or "use their words".

Speech and language development should feel easy and fun.

With this guide, now you have the opportunity to plan and execute functional speech and language learning every day.

You will learn how to supercharge your everyday housekeeping, cooking, yardwork, and parenting activities (and more) into natural language facilitation opportunities with strategies that make life easier.

With progress so fast, the strategies in this guide will become your new toolbox.

About the Authors

Marci Melzer, M.Ed.-SLP, is an intuitive speech-language pathologist. She is the founder of WavesofCommunication.com (2017).

After working as a licensed speech therapist for 30 years, Marci left the US therapy system to support parents of late talkers worldwide with Natural Language Facilitation through her online platform.

Marci has travelled to India, Dubai, Morocco, and Australia to conduct workshops, meet with families, and spread awareness about how powerful parents can be as natural language facilitators. Marci has authored and self-published 4 books and written numerous articles for parent publications about natural language facilitation. She was awarded the Top Communication Skills Contributor for Autism Parenting Magazine in 2025.

Marci's YouTube channel @WavesofCommunication hosts over 1000 training videos to equip and empower parents and caregivers.

Dr. Deepthi Raju M.D., is the founder and director of Suvachana Happykidz CDC Bhimavaram (2021) and Dr D's Happykidz CDC Kokapet, Hyderabad (2024).

Dr. Deepthi has 15 years of experience working as an Intensivist (neonatal-pediatric) consultant for Imperial Hospitals Bhimavaram. Her most recent medical contribution is in the development of the FRAT testing panel, which can identify any treatable folate pathway related deficiencies.

Dr. Deepthi has 9 years of experience in the field of Developmental Pediatrics. With a special interest in special education, she is also trained in Montessori education and dyslexia intervention. She has used her training to develop parent training modules and found multiple schools in India.

Dr. Deepthi's YouTube channel @drdeepthiraju conducts online parent training modules with a focus on play behaviour therapy and functional speech facilitation.