The exact age that children develop their speech-language skills varies from child to child. The following parenting tips will enable you to best encourage your child’s language development.
To develop speech and language skills,
• Gain your baby’s attention by frequently calling his/her name.
• Set aside a special time, a quiet time, for just the two or three of you.
• Stimulate your baby’s speech by making the lip sounds of p, b and m combined with the vowel sounds a, e, i, o, oo.
• Respond positively to your baby’s vocalizations by maintaining eye contact and engaging in vocal play. That is, imitate your baby’s vocalizations in return.
• Look in a mirror together, locating and naming facial body parts.
• Use key phrases: “look at me, tell me, follow me” as you teach them to clap, wave bye-bye, throw kisses.
• Play finger games (for example, pat-a-cake, itsy bitsy spider, peek-a-boo).
• Sing nursery rhymes.
• “Bathe” your baby in the vocabulary associated with the activities of daily living; eating, dressing, playing, riding in the car. Language development is enhanced by language immersion.
• Use action words to describe what you are doing.
• Repeat what you think your baby is saying to indicate your understanding. Model the correct words. Do not reinforce “baby talk.”
• Use gestures or basic sign language coupled with words to express your baby’s wants and needs.
• Expand single-word productions to two- and three-word combinations: “more juice,” “help, please,” and “hi, mama, hi, dada” are easy ways to help increase language development.
• Read to your baby every day. Preferably read the same book for several weeks, so that your baby will look forward to that special time with you.
• Using large, colorful picture books, ask your baby to use “pointer” to find specific objects, animals, clothing, and food items you name.
• Encourage communication intent by positive feedback. “Good job; I know what you want; You want milk.” Repeating a specific word in a variety of sentences will help increase your baby’s understanding of the specific word or concept.
• Request your baby follow simple one-step directions: “Put the cup on the table; Put the block on top; Throw it away; Clean-up time; and Time for bed.”
More Language Development Parenting Tips
If you suspect there may be a speech and language delay, you should first discuss your concerns with your pediatrician. Your pediatrician may recommend that your baby’s hearing be tested so that you may rule out a hearing loss.
Even though your baby’s hearing was probably tested at birth, an accumulation of fluid or frequent ear infections may be interfering with your baby’s ability to hear the sounds of speech as well as sounds in the environment clearly. Your pediatrician may refer you to a speech-language pathologist who can evaluate your baby’s level of performance, analyze your baby’s speech sound utterances, evaluate your baby’s receptive language skills, and then determine whether there may be a language delay and make appropriate recommendations.
If necessary, the speech-language pathologist, in consult with your pediatrician, may suggest that your baby become involved in an early intervention program which will then support your baby’s speech and language needs.
