Hellobee

Now that Jackson is about to be two years old, he surprises me on a daily basis with the things that pop out of his mouth. Some of it is sweet, some of it is hilarious, and some of it he clearly heard from me or Mr. Garland and shouldn’t be repeated!

He’s a bossy little thing and he’s not afraid to tell you what he wants. We have been amazed at how quickly his language has grown – as a teacher of students with disabilities, it’s been particularly fascinating for me to actually experience these developments in a neurotypical child!

I’ve worked with speech therapists and other educators for years on improving communication in children, so it comes naturally to me to encourage Jackson’s speech – but I’ve found in talking to some of my mom friends that sometimes people struggle to know how to really foster language development. If you’ve never experienced it before, it’s hard to know what to do!

Most toddlers go through what is typically referred to as a “language explosion” starting right around 18ish months. During this time, toddler’s expressive language develops at an extremely rapid pace – you may hear new words from them every single day and they’ll start stringing multiple words together to make sentences! It’s an exciting time, but it’s also an important time for us as parents to work on encouraging that development. So, here are a few tips and thoughts on how you can help to make the most of your toddler’s language explosion:

1) Talk to them. Duh. I know. We all know we’re supposed to talk to our kids. BUT, did you know that you really should be talking to your kids with the same language and phrasing you’d use to talk to an adult? Sometimes we’re tempted to “dumb down” our speech when we’re talking to toddlers, but the more complex language we use, the more complex language they learn! I always think of a friend of mine who taught her two-year old to use the word “asphalt” when talking about the street. Her mom laughed at her for using such a big word with such a little guy, but why shouldn’t she? He picked it up with no problem and now his vocabulary is one word bigger.

2) Rephrase what they say. When babies first start talking, they only use one word at a time. You know how they learn to string words together? Because we do it! So, when Jackson was little and would just say “milk,” I’d say “Okay, you want some milk.” Over time, his vocabulary grew and now he says, “Want some milk please.” His still speaks in broken sentences often, and I always go back and repeat what he’s said with the full, grammatically correct sentence. I don’t have him repeat it or practice saying it again – me rephrasing it is enough to make the connection, and over time he learns to say things in a complete sentence. Of course, this does mean they’ll learn some of your language idiosyncrasies. For some reason, I always ask Jackson if he wants “some milk,” so now he thinks that’s what milk is called! It’s pretty hilarious when he says “Want some more some milk, please.”

3) Read books. Lots of them. Again, this is one we all know, but it bears repeating – reading is huge for language development. One thing I’ve learned recently about Jackson is that he’ll sit still for much longer-than-normal books right before bedtime. During the day, we’ll sometimes read short little board books or flip through a picture book or two, but at night he will sit in my lap for a full-length picture book. It’s a great way to get him hearing some bigger and varied language, and I love the extra snuggles! Now, when we go to the library each week I don’t have to stick to the toddler books – we bring home all sorts of books meant for older kids, and he’ll happily sit through them before bed (in an effort, I assume, to put off bedtime as long as possible).

4) Ask questions. You won’t always get an answer that makes a lot of sense, but Jackson loves when we include him in our conversations by asking questions. Every morning when he gets up I ask what he dreamed about – I have no idea if he’s actually telling me what he dreamed about or not, but we always have a nice long conversation about blankets and Elmo and cookies and his friends at school. Who knows, maybe he really is telling me about his dreams! We also ask him about his day at school each afternoon – and he always has an answer. I’ve checked with his daycare teacher and sometimes what he says is accurate, sometimes it’s not. But he always hears us talking about our days to one another, so we feel that it’s important to give him a chance to share about his. We’ve found that when we don’t make a concerted effort to include him in conversations, he tries to insert himself into the conversation but doesn’t quite know how. On Christmas day when my family was over for brunch he kept interrupting our conversations to say “hi” over and over to everyone at the table, because he was so excited to see everyone and be at the big table with all of the people he loves, but he didn’t know how to actually participate in the conversation! It was hilarious, and once we started asking some questions and getting him more involved, he was much happier.

5) Go slow. Sometimes I get in such a rush to get through our routines that I realize I’m not allowing Jackson to go at his own pace, and I’m missing so many opportunities to talk to him! When I slow down a little bit and allow him to lead the way when we’re doing something, I’m always amazed by his abilities or by some new thing he says. He loves to point out pictures in books and talk about them, study the flowers on our walk to the car after daycare, and marvel at the things we pass by as we’re driving in the car. If I’m going too fast, I miss all of these opportunities to build some great language skills with him!

6) Don’t correct them! I already said this once, but I’m saying it again. Do not correct your toddler’s speech mistakes. Just don’t do it! They learn so much better through modeling and there’s no use in having them practice saying something the right way or telling them that they’re wrong – you could end up discouraging them from speaking if they feel like they can never get it right. Feel free to rephrase what they’ve said in the appropriate way, but try to focus more on encouraging any efforts at talking rather than discouraging incorrect language patterns. The mistakes are normal and okay! As they get older, you can occasionally prompt them to ask for things in a full sentence rather than just one word at a time, but I would recommend only doing this with a child who is speaking a lot and who is pretty confident with language already.

7) Listen, listen, listen, and respond. Studies have shown that children who have parents that are highly responsive to their language efforts generally have more advanced verbal skills. It’s very important to respond to your child’s efforts at communication, expand on what they’re saying, and engage them in conversation whenever possible – and let them lead it. When they are babies, we have to do almost all of the talking to them, but as they start to develop their skills there should be a shift so that they’re the ones doing most of the talking and leading the conversation!

8) Sing! Music is a great way to practice language skills – and there’s nothing cuter than hearing your toddler sing their favorite song for the first time. Music is a great way to teach the rhythm of language, plus a ton of other skills. And on that note, when your toddler starts to sing a favorite song, resist the urge to chime in and sing along every time – sometimes when we sing over them, they tend to stop and listen instead of keeping the song going!

9) Oh, and about screen time…listen, I’m not going to say to avoid it. I’ve already shared that Jackson watches television (Sesame Street is his favorite!), and Mr. Garland and I have been known to be complete couch potatoes on the weekend. BUT, it can make a big difference just to sit with your child while they’re watching television and try to engage them a bit. If you watch tv together, the activity can turn into a great way to learn and practice some language skills! Of course, sometimes you’ve just got to get the house clean (or check Pinterest) while your child is watching television…I get it! Just keep in mind that engaging them and discussing the show they’re watching every once in a while can make a big difference!

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Here are a few of our favorite gems from Jackson as of late:

• (Every morning when he wakes up, and after every nap) “Good morning, house!”
• (When our dog was barking outside) “Shh! Listen! Grandma is here!”
• (Every time Mr. Garland and I are trying to have a conversation) “Mama! Mama! Mama! Hi! Hi, Mama!”
• (Trying to pick up our Christmas tree) “I can’t do it. It’s too heavy.”
• (One morning after waking up, getting ready to go downstairs) “Let’s rock and roll!”

What are some ways you work to encourage language development in your kids?