We have had many blog posts recently giving the facts and research statistics about language development. But before everything starts to feel doom and gloom, know that there are very easy ways to help facilitate language development!

1

Ask one question at a time. It can be tempting to rephrase the question if your little one doesn’t answer right away and it can be easy to ask multiple questions without really realizing it (“What did you do today? Did you have fun?”). However, young children are still learning language and don’t process language as quickly as adults. While your spouse might be able to hold all the questions you ask and then answer all of them, toddlers are still thinking about the first question when the second one comes in. They then don’t know what is actually being expected of them! That leads to…

2

Provide wait time. After you ask a question, make sure you provide enough wait time for your child to respond before asking another question, rephrasing that question, or guessing at an answer. As mentioned previously, children are still developing language and need a little bit more time to understand what the question is and then find the words that they have in their vocabulary to respond.

3

Narrate everything.  You might feel silly doing this, but just exposing your child to language is huge! For example, if you are in the grocery store with your child, talk about what you are doing (“Here we go! Let’s go get yummy fruits and veggies!”), what you see (“Oooo, I see apples! They are red {point} and yellow {point} and green {point}”), why you are putting an item in the basket (“Apples will be a yummy snack!”) , where you are going to go next (“Let’s go get milk!”), etc.

4

Expand your child’s language:  Adding one or two more words to your child’s utterances will expose your child to more language but not in a way that is overwhelming (ex. child: “Dog”; adult: “A big dog” or “Doggie running”). Nouns develop first so adding verbs or adjectives are great additions to add meaning to your child’s language.

5

Simplify your language:  Speak at a level your child can understand. This is usually just above their expressive language level. Thus, if your child is starting to combine 2 words together, talk to your child in 3-4 word utterances (“Doggie big” “He is big! Pet him gently.”)

6

Pair language with gestures or a visual. When possible pair your language with either a gesture, a demonstration (like showing how to pet an animal gently), or with a visual. If you are asking your child if they want something to drink, hold your hand as if you are drinking from a cup when you ask them. Or if you are providing options of what they can drink, hold each carton in your hand and then ask while holding that carton out.

About the Author

Janene Besch

Director/Speech-Language Pathologist

Janene Besch, née Martin, holds a Master’s degree in Speech Language and Hearing Sciences from San Diego State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of California at San Diego. Janene is a member of the American Academy of Private Practice in Speech Pathology
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