There’s lots of ways you can help make a positive impact on your little one’s speech, language and communication.
Here are our super six tips for you to try as part of your family’s everyday routine to help your little one to talk more.
Watch, wait, listen and respond
Observe your child closely to see what they are interested in.
Watch to see how and why they communicate and what they respond to.
Waiting will give your child enough time to send messages in their own way.
When you listen to your child’s sounds, words or sentences you learn about what they can already do and what you can build upon.
Be responsive
When your child starts an interaction with you, respond straightaway.
If they send you a message of any kind – a look, a sound, a smile, a body movement, a gesture or word – do or say something to let them know you received their message.
Responding immediately with enthusiasm helps your child connect your response with the message they sent.
When you respond make sure you respond to what your child is interested in, not what you think is important.
Model and highlight words at your child’s stage
Talk to your child at their level of understanding.
Use short clear labels or sentences that give your child essential information.
Slow down your speech where necessary to give them time to understand what you’re saying and show them by pointing at what you’re talking about.
Repetition is important for children to learn new words, try and use the same word for the same thing for example when looking at a cat use the word “cat” each time, don’t change to “kitty” or “kitty cat”.
Follow your child’s lead
Rather than leading or directing the play, allow your child to take the lead.
When you follow your child’s lead with your actions and word, you respond to what they say or do, letting them know you are listening.
When you follow their lead and show genuine interest in what they’re sharing, they’ll be more encouraged to communicate with you.
Each time they initiate an interaction and you respond, you’re reinforcing their interests, which helps strengthen communication skills.
Comment more than question
Say less and stress the words.
Too many questions can be overwhelming. Commenting develops understanding of what your child is interested in.
Earliest learning takes place through experiences. What they see, hear, touch, taste and smell. During these everyday experiences they hear you say the same words over and over in context to what you are seeing, hearing and doing together helping to build understanding.
Planned book sharing
Think about what your child does with the book, their understanding, interests and the kind of pictures that are meaningful to them.
Interactive books provide things for your child to do, even if they aren’t yet talking or pointing to pictures.
Children tend to enjoy books with flaps, buttons and fuzzy fabrics.
Predictable books have repetitive words and phrases which are useful for developing children’s understanding.
Sometimes children may only be interested in specific parts of a book, follow their lead and notice what pictures are capturing their attention, comment on this part of the book you don’t have to read the whole story.