What Can I Do To Advance My Child’s Language and Speech Development?

 Hey moms and dads!

I hope you are all keeping safe and sane out there!

Today I have answered a question that very frequently arrives in my inbox-“What can I do to advance my child’s language and speech development?”

There are 4 main strategies used by professionals and taught to parents that are proven to stimulate language and speech development in infants, toddlers and young children. These strategies can be used anywhere, at any time, doing just about anything!

So, what are they?

1.  Self-Talk

Self-talk is a simple technique which refers to parents narrating their actions (talk about what you are doing, seeing, eating, touching, thinking, etc.!) when their child is present in their environment. For example, “We’re walking up the stairs”; “We’re washing our hands”, “I’m folding the clothes”, “I’m putting my hat on”.

Ensure to use words and phrases that are appropriate for your child’s age. Younger toddlers (1-2 year olds) will comprehend two-word phrases better than longer ones, for example, “Washing hands”; “Folding clothes, all finished”. By thinking and talking out loud, you are providing a model of communication for your child.

2.  Parallel-Talk

Parallel-Talk is another well-known and simple technique. The opposite of self-talk, parallel- talk refers to parents narrating their child’s actions (talk about what your child is doing, seeing, eating, touching, playing, etc.!). Label and describe what they are interested in. For example, “Indie is tired, time for bed”; “Brian is building a tall tower”; “Josh is eating spaghetti”.

Setting aside some protected time to use these techniques each day can be a great way to ensure daily stimulation, but also ensures you are not overdoing it! It is important to note that when using both parallel and self-talk, your child is not required to respond to or imitate what you are saying. These techniques are used only to provide exposure to speech and language during

3.  Expansion/Recasting

Expansion or Recasting refers to expanding your child’s sounds or words into a grammatically correct sentence. For example, if your child says “Dolly hungry”, you can expand this to “Dolly is hungry”. An easy way to think of these techniques is to repeat your child’s sentence back to them using more adult-like language. In doing this, you are letting your child know that their sentence was heard and acknowledged, and therefore encourages your child to continue speaking.

A good rule of thumb is to expand your child’s utterance by one word. For example, if your child is at a single-word level (usually just says one word to describe or request when speaking), and says “yummy” when eating, repeat and add a word “yummy dinner”.

If your child is at a two-word level (usually puts two words together when speaking) and says, “light on”, repeat this phrase back in the correct form, with another added word, “Switch (the) light on!” By expanding your child’s utterance, you are modeling the correct use of language and grammar, without correcting your child.

4.  Repetition

Repetition is key in language acquisition. Simply repeat what your child says to provide the accurate model for articulation (Repeat what was said incorrectly, the correct way!) For example, your child sees a train and says “tay”, repeat back, “train”, while emphasizing the /tr/ sound. Repeating your child’s words, is an extremely effective way to learn language, as it allows your child to hear accurate pronunciations. It is really important when using this technique that you are conveying repetitions as a comment, and not a correction. I reiterate this a lot in this book!

As your baby enters toddler and pre-school age, gradually increase the complexity of grammar and vocabulary you use to communicate with your child. This will help increase their understanding of different words, in-turn, increasing their inventory of words. Initiate conversations related to what they are doing, and to recent events. It is important not to ask too many questions, instead comment on situations. If you are having trouble striking the right balance between questions and comments, try using the 3:1 ratio to balance comments with questions (say at least three comments before asking a question). Questions often put children on the spot, and can limit their responses!

Get in touch at hannah@elyhq.com if you have any concerns or questions. For more insights, go to www.elyhq.com