How To Encourage Language in your Toddler

When encouraging language there are some important elements to consider. Below are a few easy tips to help support your toddler’s language.

Attention Please! Toddlers’ attention spans vary based on their personality, development, and interests, but attention is pivotal to learning. Try sitting at their level, and using their name prior to speaking. Engage them with toys and games that are motivating and fun. Remember little steps lead to bigger steps. Even a few seconds of attention on a toy or game is a win!

Fun! Play is a toddler’s job, and they (and you) should take it seriously. Don’t be afraid to play and get silly. Try using exaggerated tones and actions. This will help bring awareness to your words and actions, and help support their understanding.

Keep it simple! Simplifying your language is key. Use short sentences and comment instead of question.

Routines! Use routines like bath time, meals, and bedtime to reinforce language. We all learn by doing, and routines provide an opportunity for repeated exposure to vocabulary. For example, use bath toys to work on vocabulary (e.g., farm animals, sea animals, etc) or provide choices of two snacks to work on requesting. Routines offer an endless opportunity to both reinforce and incorporate new language.

Choices! Provide simple choices to your child when able. This allows them to request items. If you give them a choice between water and juice, and they say ‘juice’, you can then model ‘I want juice’. This is called recasting, and is a useful tool to encourage language growth.

Give them time! Give your child time to respond and look at them as they think. They may have a lot to say, but need a bit more time to say it.

I hope these tips help!

Best,

Maggie

What is Speech and Language Therapy and How Can We Support Children’s Language at Home?

As a speech language therapist, many people may be confused about what exactly I do.  People may assume I deal mostly with children and adults with articulation errors (lisps!) or stuttering, à la Jeffrey Rush’s character in The King’s Speech.  They wouldn’t be wrong, but that is only a part of what Speech and Language Therapists do. 

Speech Language Therapists (SLTs) work with people of all ages, from infancy to adulthood, addressing various needs related communication and swallowing issues. Most SLT’s will work with one specific population or specialize in certain areas (e.g. feeding, disfluency, language delays).  I work mainly with children who demonstrate delays or disorders in their speech and language. 

Based on the U.S. department of Health and Human Services nearly 11 % of children 3 to 6 years old have a voice, speech, language, or swallowing disorder.  Many children with language delays will also often struggle with literacy.  It is important to reach-out to a licensed Speech and Language Therapist to have your child assessed if you have any concerns about their language.  Therapeutic intervention can help children catch-up with their peers and provide parents with helpful advice on how to support their child.

To help better understand a speech and language delay or disorder let me first provide you with a brief overview of language.  Language, both spoken and written, is composed of 3 parts.  Syntax, which is the structure of our language and how we compose our sentences.  Semantics, which is the meaning of our language, and last is pragmatics, which is how we deliver our language in an effective and socially appropriate way.  When a child has a language delay, they may have deficits in one or all of these areas.  The delay may be receptive, which is how the child processes language, or expressive, which is the way they articulate language.

It is always important to keep in mind that language is a very complex and multi-dimensional system comprised of both written symbols, sounds, and gestures and some children may need some extra time to process and use language effectively.  That is ok!  We all learn at different paces.  This is especially true if the child comes from a multi-lingual household. So how can parents help their child with their language? The answers may be simpler than you thought!  

Explain!  Children are absorbing knowledge and encountering new concepts daily.  Do you remember the first time you heard the word “bitcoin” or “cryptocurrency”?  You may have been confused.  What is it?  How does it work?  Why do I hear about it all the time?  After a couple google searches and maybe a conversation with some tech savvy friends, you may now have the understanding that bitcoin is a form of cryptocurrency, which is a digital asset used for financial exchanges on the internet.  We have to apply this lesson to our interactions with children.  Every day presents a new opportunity for children to learn about the world around them and it’s the adult’s job to try and provide answers and examples of new vocabulary or concepts. 

Talk! Talk about experiences.At the end of each day talk about what you did and what you saw, and then ask your child to share.If your child is in school, ask them about what subjectsthey had that day.  If you spent the day together, talk about what you did together and ask what they enjoyed the most. When we provide opportunities to talk about past-experiences it allows children to synthesize new information.  It is also a nice ritual for you and your child to take time at the end of the day to connect and reflect.  Encouraging children to reflect allows them to learn and grow from their experiences and think about themselves and the world around them.   

Read!  Reading is one of the most effective ways to work on language skills. Reading books targeted for older children is totally acceptable and provides more opportunities to talk about new vocabulary.  Additionally, the plots and characters tend to be a bit more interesting.  Discuss any new vocabulary in the books and practice retelling the story together after you finish reading. If you are reading a chapter book, make predictions of what you think will happen next and why.  Reading can be highly reinforcing.  It has the power to make children interested and engaged in learning.  If your child has difficulty with reading take the pressure off by reading aloud to them or listening to an audiobook.  Reading should be a treat!  Once you establish it as something that is enjoyable and entertaining you begin to build a positive relationship that can last a lifetime.

Play!  Have a game night!  There are so many amazing games available to help children with their language skills.  HedBanz is game that fosters creative questioning and builds semantic knowledge.  Apple to Apples Junior aids in children’s understanding of how things relate to one another and provides a fun way to build up their vocabulary.  You don’t even need to purchase a game!  The Category Game is when you pick category and each person has to name an item in that category, taking turns until someone cannot think of another word. Charades is a classic that can aid in retrieval. There are countless games that can strengthen a child’s receptive and expressive language, and you can strengthen your child’s language in a fun way. 

The takeaway of this article is that supporting children’s language should fun and reinforcing.  It’s commonsense that if we enjoy doing something, we will likely do it again.  Make language engaging, and keep your child interested because the only way anyone gets better at anything is by doing more of it.  Practice makes progress!