Parents worldwide eagerly await their child’s first words, wondering what they’ll be. Some children however, may struggle to start talking or be a little delayed in their language development.
Here are some tips for supporting toddler language development:
Talk to Children Throughout the Day, Everyday
Children imitate what they see and hear. This is a good thing if adults model appropriate language and behaviour. Receptive language (understanding of language) develops faster than expressive language (spoken language), so children understand a lot more than what they say. They are effectively sponges in their early years absorbing everything that they are exposed to. Parents will agree that they are often surprised by uncommon words that children say, wondering where they initially heard them. A child may only need to hear a word once or twice before adding it to their vocabulary (keep this in mind regarding exposure to television shows that aren’t suitable for children).
Provide Commentary
Narrate daily activities when interacting with children by verbally labelling objects and actions of regular tasks. For example, when dressing a child use the opportunity to develop their vocabulary by saying single words and short phrases.. “socks…socks on”, “shirt…shirt on…red shirt”, “brushing hair”. The repetition and relevance will help children to learn the words. It may be a long time before imitation emerges, but children are always listening. Singing songs naturally provides an opportunity for lots of repetition of words, which will assist language development.
Read Books Together
Books have many benefits for supporting language development. They teach children words that wouldn’t normally be used in everyday life, and as a result help to build their vocabulary. For example, words such as “lion”, “tiger” and “elephant” wouldn’t arise in regular discussions, but in a book on visiting the zoo a child would be able to learn about them. Reading a daily bedtime story not only supports language development, literacy skills, attention/concentration skills, and imagination development, it also provides special together time.
Although it’s best to always keep in mind that children develop at their own rate, it’s also important to seek support when concerned. Too often parents delay making an appointment with Speech-Language Pathologists, which can sometimes lead to bigger language delays. Remember (as with all specialists) that there are often lengthy waiting lists to see these professionals. It would better to be added to a waiting list and then decline an appointment offer if a child was developing normally, than to not do anything and then discover later that language therapy would have been helpful. Early intervention can make huge differences in a child’s language development.
