Whether your child is just starting to babble or you’re noticing delays in their speech development, there are simple ways you can help them build strong speech and language skills at home.
My name is Jessica Abawag, and I’m the owner and Speech-Language Pathologists at Fluens Children’s Therapy. We provide speech therapy and occupational therapy for kids in Tacoma, Washington, and Columbia, Tennessee. Today we’re going to be talking about some tips to help your child build their speech and language skills.
It’s Never Too Early to Encourage Speech and Language Development
First and foremost, it’s never too early or too late to encourage speech and language development. You can start using some of these tips and strategies to help develop your child’s speech and language even if they’re a baby, though maybe after your sleep deprivation phase is over, or at least lessened a little bit.
Tip #1: Narrate Your Day to Your Child
Now, this may seem a little awkward or silly at first, but once you get the hang of it, it will become more natural. It’s so important for your child to be in what we call a language rich environment, especially at a very young age. They are sponges, and children are wired to develop language, so it’s important for you to give them that language.
Narrating your day can be very simple. It’s basically just acting like a newscaster and talking about what you’re doing. From the minute that you wake them up, you can say things like, “Good morning, I’m happy to see you. It’s time to get out of your crib. Let’s change your diaper. Let’s take off your pajamas and put on new clothes.” Everything that you’re doing, you’re just narrating to them.
And this can be done all throughout your day. Say you’re driving in the car and they’re in their car seat, you can still narrate what you’re doing. “We’re going to grandma’s house. Oh, we have to stop at a red light. Oh, I love this music.” It’s basically going to sound like a one-sided conversation until they start talking and interacting with you. But you can start that really early on, and it’s so important for their language development.
Tip #2: Copy What Your Child Says
The second tip is to copy what your child is saying. And this can start as early as your child starts making noises, whether it’s cooing or babbling. The first thing you want to do is just copy what they’re saying exactly as you hear it so that they can start to understand, “Oh, this is a good thing.” They can get that positive reinforcement and praise from you, and hopefully continue that speech sound development and continue making additional sounds.
So, if they’re saying “baba baba,” you say, “baba baba,” and hopefully they’ll repeat it back to you. They may or may not, and that’s okay. You just want to copy what they’re saying. Eventually, you’ll want to start using the sounds that they’re making and attaching them to real words. If they’re saying something like, “baba,” you say, “Oh, you want your bottle.” They may or may not want their bottle, but you are just copying what they’re saying and attaching it to a real word. Then they can start to make those connections between the sounds that they’re making and the words that we attach to things in their environment.
Tip #3: Put More Visuals Around Your House
The third tip is to put more visuals around your house. Now, this can be done for any child, but this is especially important for kids who have been diagnosed with a language disorder. For example, on your fridge, you could put pictures of what’s inside the fridge. This gives them an opportunity to understand, by seeing a visual, what vocabulary you’re using with them.
This also gives them an opportunity to express their needs and communicate before they even start using real words. For instance, if you put pictures of their snacks on the outside of the fridge, and when it’s snack time, you point to each picture and say, “Would you like some milk or some yogurt?” And then maybe wait for them to respond. Maybe they want applesauce, and they point to that. But again, even without using any words on their end, they have a chance to express their needs and wants by putting more visuals around the house.
This can also build vocabulary in other ways by labeling objects like their favorite toys, or even pictures of family members or people they interact with on a regular basis. This gives them more opportunity to build their language skills and vocabulary.
Tip #4: Try Not to Overcorrect Speech or Language Mistakes
And the last tip we’re going to talk about today is to try not to overcorrect speech or language mistakes. It can be really challenging as kids are getting older to not correct them every time they make a speech or language mistake. This is especially true once they start speech therapy. We’ll see parents start to overcorrect because they really want their child to do well, and they have the best intentions at heart.
But sometimes, if we’re overcorrecting kids, they can start to get more frustrated. They can start to shut down. It’ll negatively impact their social and emotional skills. It’ll draw more attention to something that’s already frustrating for them. So, as much as possible, we want to be encouraging and supportive.
And if you do the speech activities that your child’s speech therapist recommended, save them for a designated time each day. Work on the speech skills during that designated time, and that’s it. If it’s not that time, just let them be kids and make mistakes without trying to correct them.
Reach Out to Fluens for an Evaluation
Those are four simple tips to help boost your child’s speech and language skills. And if you’re looking for additional support beyond that, feel free to give us a call to schedule an evaluation. We’re happy to show you how we can help support you and your child.