How adults can support Toddler Speech skills

Toddler speech and language skills begin at a very young age. Babies will communicate with adults through babbling and making sounds. These sounds are then refined to create single words. It is important that babies are encouraged to practise making these sounds in order to strengthen mouth muscles and differentiate sounds. Adults can support early language development by initiating conversations with a baby, responding to their babbles. This will begin to teach young children social rules such as taking turns in a conversation.

Once a toddler begins to use single words and interact with others, their language skills will need to be supported in order for the child to begin linking words together. There are many ways to encourage toddler speech.

Here a 5 ways to encourage a toddlers speech and language development

Hold conversations

It is important to hold conversations with a toddler, asking their opinions, thoughts and feelings. This will teach the child that their voice has an effect on others and their views are important. This also supports good social skills, building strong relationships and encouraging children to take turn in a conversation. It is important to repeat some words back to the child in order to show that you understand what they have said, and able to respond appropriately. If a child say “big car” you can extend the sentence by offering some comments “yes, that big car is fast.”

Encourage imagination

It is important to encourage a child’s imagination in order to extend and enhance toddler speech. Offering props such as puppets, dolls to use in a make believe situation, can support children in making up stories and commenting on their play. Children can also act out past experiences and experiment with scenarios using the puppets and dolls. This will support language skills, giving them the opportunity to repeat phrases or words they have heard. Toddlers will often repeats things they have heard adults say such as “good girl” or “it’s bedtime.”

Read stories together

Reading stories with a toddler will help encourage vocabulary and build relationships. Talking together about the pictures in the book and the characters will help the child make connections between images and words. Reading stories can also be a great way to build single words into simple sentences by adding words. If the child points to an image and say “flower” for example, the adult can help connect single words by repeating back the word with a new word such as “red flower.”

Be a good role model

Ensure you speak clearly and slowly speaking to a toddler. Ensuring you are looking at the child and listening when they talk. This will teach a child good language skills by hearing words clearly and knowing what movements their mouth will make when saying different sounds. If a child says a word incorrectly, rather than correct them or ask them to repeat it, repeating the word back to them correctly will show the child how the word sounds and that you have understood them. Children learn language skills from those around them so being a good role model will support good toddler speech.

Make every opportunity a language learning activity

Every activity can become a language learning activity. A trip into the community, painting or riding bikes can all offer opportunities for language.  Point to things in the environment, ask questions and comment on what the child is doing. Encourage your child to talk about what they are doing but ensure you use open ended questions and offer time for the child to process what is being asked, think of a response and use their language. It is important to praise any language or communication offered by a child in order to boost confidence and develop skills further.