Toddler Week 31

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Tips For Talking

One of the biggest gifts you can give your child is to be a responsive communication partner. A child thrives when his parents interprets all his communication cues as meaningful and respond in an appropriate way. Here are some practical tips to help you communicate with your toddler during this phase of his life:

  • As a general rule of thumb, keep your sentence levels one level above your child’s when you are explaining something to him. Don’t fire away with rapid speech and advanced words, before he is ready to understand all that jargon. If he is speaking at two word sentence level – make sure that you emphasize three key words in your sentences. For example if he says: ‘Horsey jump,’ you can reply: ‘Yes, the horse jumps high over the fence!’ This doesn’t mean that you talk down to him, but only that you make the most important words in your sentence clearer to him.
  • Focus on using lots of action words with him. In general toddlers learn the names of the objects in their environment first. They need verbs to go with those nouns to make sentences. Get some action word board books with children doing different things and show him the pictures. Most likely, he’ll try to imitate their actions once he gets to know the book.
  • Don’t forget to use social words a lot while communicating with him. Toddlers who use social words such as: ‘Hallo!’, ‘I love you!’ or ‘Cheers’ get lots of positive feedback because of the cuteness factor! Social words will also expand your toddler’s emotional vocabulary and help him express his feelings.
  • Never rush a toddler during communication. During these early years a toddler can get a sentence formulated in his head much faster than he can get his facial and mouth muscles to say it. Expect some stammering and use of fillers such as ‘uh’ or ‘ah’ while he learns to speak. It is normal and no cause for concern.                                                                                                                                                        

The power of speech is an amazing gift that increases your toddler’s confidence and independence. Enjoy watching it unfurl in your child and do your best to keep the conversation going.

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