What technique involves repeating the child's utterance to provide a model of more complex speech?

The technique that involves repeating the child's utterance while adding grammatical or linguistic complexity is known as expansion. This strategy is beneficial in speech-language therapy as it provides the child with a more advanced language model, demonstrating correct syntax and vocabulary usage. For example, if a child says "doggy run," a clinician might expand on this by responding, "Yes, the doggy is running fast." This method not only models proper speech but also encourages the child to use more complex structures in their own speech over time.

Imitation involves the child directly copying what someone has said, which helps with practicing specific sounds or phrases but does not inherently increase the complexity of their speech. Parallel talk describes narrating what the child is doing or seeing, which is useful for language development but does not involve modifying the child's own language. Direct instruction typically refers to teaching specific skills or knowledge in a more structured format, not necessarily involving the modeling of complex speech in an interactive manner.