Between a newborn’s earliest months and childhood comes a turbulent period of change called toddler development.
Along with the various physical, mental, and behavioral changes that toddlers undergo during this period also come anxieties.
These are, of course, natural occurrences that come with toddler development. As such, anxiety issues – whether coming from a toddler’s transition from mumbling sounds to more articulate sounds or from simply lying down to slowly being able to crawl, sit, stand, and then walk – must be dealt with the utmost attention and care.
One of the more pronounced anxiety issues stems from communication – or in your toddler’s case, the inability to communicate ‘well on time’ as well as the difficulty to articulate sounds and expressions well.
Toddler behavior such as communication anxiety strikes toddlers because of the drastic transition between faint mumbles into the acquisition of more sophisticated phonic abilities.
Some toddlers learn at a faster pace, while others do not. Because of this, toddlers tend to fear expressing themselves, which can spiral into worse problems in the long run.
The key to teaching toddlers at this critical stage of toddler development is patience on the parents’ part to teach and assist their toddlers into expressing themselves well.
They say practice makes perfect. There’s no better way to practice, practice, and practice than when your toddler fears talking with others. Engage your toddler into lively communication between yourselves often. Supplement verbal conversation with gestures and movements that your toddlers will find interesting and encourage them to join rather than be intimidated.
Casual conversations, such as questions and answers, are recommended for starters to this phase of toddler development. Regularly asking toddlers their name, as well as the names of others in the family, will hasten your toddler’s self-expression and gradually eliminate the fear of interacting with others.
Simple but interactive storytelling can also do wonders for toddler development. Telling your toddlers photo-based stories sharpen their association of audio and visual stimuli, which eventually aids in their self-expression. Remember: the more a toddler understands about his or her surroundings, the bigger the chances for their natural toddler development tendencies to flourish- like curiosity and exploration.
Surrounding your toddler with people he or she has become familiar with can also help reduce communication anxiety. By regularly seeing and being talked to by siblings, for instance, will draw your toddler emotionally to these people, encouraging interaction.
In trying to reduce and eliminate communication anxiety in toddlers, parents must remember that constant, gradual practice does the trick, with fun interactions with people who understand your toddler’s situation very well to cooperate with your toddler development goals of letting them out of their shell.
