By: Claire Slavik, M.A., CF-SLP
WHAT is “DIP”?
- “DIP” stands for duration, intensity, and pitch. These features add meaning and variety to our words and help speech come to life! They are the qualities that can make our voice sound different from those around us.
WHY is this important to use with my child?
- Showering your child with words, songs, and enriched language will advance your child’s spoken language. When you use “DIP”, you will be guiding your child to experiment with speech in different ways, enjoy variations of speech, and allow the meaning of the message to change without changing the words!
HOW do I use DIP with my child?
- Use DIP with your child while singing songs, during pretend play, and while narrating events during daily routines!
- Duration: Think of duration as how long the sound is made. Playing with race cars: saying “go, go go” vs. “gooooo!” | Stacking and knocking down blocks: “up, up, up” vs. “dowwwn”
- Intensity: Intensity is the difference between soft and loud sounds in your voice – the volume of your voice! | Hide and seek: counting to 10 quietly, then loudly stating, “Ready or not, here I come!” | Playing with babydoll: “Shhh, he’s sleeping” (whispered) vs. ”wake up!” (loudly)
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Pitch: Think of pitch as the high and low tones that you can make with your voice. | “Mooo”(low pitch for cow) vs. “meow”(high pitch for cat) | “Wheee” with cars going down a track OR while pushing child on the swing