Ways to Support Your Child's Language Growth

Ever heard the term “late talker”? Ever worry that your child isn’t saying “enough” words or doesn’t have a “large enough” vocabulary? Then you are 1 out of every 1 parent with these concerns (not research based). Waiting for your child to meet certain milestones can be scary and confusing; if you are concerned, talk to your pediatrician or reach out to a speech-language pathologist and remember that you are not alone.

In the meantime, there are a lot of strategies that you can use at home to support your little one’s language development– these tips can be applied to play and communication with ALL children in ANY environment. Give yourself time and patience in trying out these ideas; you may want to focus 10 minutes of bath time to one strategy or 5 minutes of meal time to another. Start small, and soon they will become more natural and intuitive!

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Strategy	Explanation
Wait Time Give your child 5-10 seconds of wait time to respond to your question/comment or to initiate communication	Wait time provides children with time to take in and process their environment and/or language being presented, then generate and execute their idea or message. Watch what they do during this time; observe where their gaze goes and what they might be thinking about– use that to guide your next move. Waiting also builds anticipation– try “ready, set…” or leave the last word(s) off of the song you’re singing and wait for your child to initiate or complete the phrase. Another example of waiting for your child to initiate involves problem solving and self-advocating→ if something falls on the floor during mealtime, don’t reach to pick it up right away; if your child can’t open a bag of toys, don’t jump right in to open it; wait to see what your child does. Remember, the way children communicate can vary, and doesn’t always involve words! All of the following are valid initiation attempts → Drops food on the floor: Looks at the food on the floor and grunt or vocalizes Points to the food on the floor Looks at you and then looks at the food on the floor Says, “uh oh” or “pretzel” or “mommy” Can’t open bag or container: Holds bag towards you Starts to get frustrated, maybe starts shaking or throwing the bag/container Looks at you, then the bag Vocalizes with sounds or says words
Limit Questions Reduce the number of questions you ask; rather, make a comment	Questions can cause unintended pressure and some questions may be too challenging for your child→ try commenting on what your child is thinking about (where are they looking or what are they playing with). Comments reduce communicative pressure, while also leaving room for a response. Instead of, “What sound does a cow make?” when playing with animals, Try: “Mooo!” Instead of, “Where is your train going?” Try: pick up your own train and say, “Choo choo! This train’s going to the park!” Instead of: “Which game do you want next?” Try: “I wonder which game we’ll play next.”
​Binary Choices Provide your child with two choices to help them respond to a challenging question	​While you learned above that you want to limit your questioning, questions are still an important and natural part of how we communicate! Giving choices can reduce the pressure of questions while still eliciting a response. Feel free to give a silly or ridiculous choice→ laughter can make for the most meaningful interactions.. “Do you want to try the peas or the pasta?” “Hmm, should we play with Legos or Magnatiles?” “‘Do you want to go to the playground or the library?” “Do you think we’re having sushi or pickle pie?”
Visual Aids Use visuals to support your child’s understanding and use of language, such as pointing, gesturing, or holding up an object	While you’re giving a direction, asking a question, or making a comment, try gesturing along or showing an object or picture. You can also try pairing basic baby signs with words that are important to your child (e.g., more, eat, socks, blankie, doggy). Helpful gestures/body language to pair with language: Pointing (to an object/person, up/down, towards where you’re going) Nodding/shaking head Eye gaze Reaching out your hand or arms When talking about past events (with more verbal children), it can be hardfor your child to recall and express their experiences. Try pulling out some pictures on your phone, one at a time, and show your child. See what they say just by seeing the pictures→ if they need a little help, you can talk about the picture (e.g., “It looks like you went on a boat!” then wait and see what they say).
​Imitation Imitating your child’s language, including vocalizations, gestures, words, sounds, etc.	​Imitating your child helps build engagement, sound awareness, and overall communication development. Children learn and explore language through imitation→ they imitate gestures, movements, animal and environmental sounds, speech sounds, words, sentences, etc. It actually helps foster meaningful connection to reverse the roles! Imitating your child provides them with immediate feedback, expands and sustains the interaction, and shows your child the power of their language. It also helps build engagement and joint attention (i.e., the shared attention on an object or experience with another person). Child throws their arms up while hearing their favorite part of a song → throw your arms up Child says, “beep,” while playing with their car → make your own car bump into theirs while saying, “beep beep” Child makes a raspberry with their lips→ make a raspberry GET SILLY with your imitation→ nothing is more of an attention grabber than a ridiculous face, sound, tone, or voice!
Verbal Expansions Use/imitate your child’s vocalization or utterance, then add one or more words to expand	Adding one or more words onto your child’s utterance is a great way to model expanded language and vocabulary without placing any communicative pressure on your child! It also gives you an opportunity to model grammar and/or the accurate speech sounds (see last two examples). In the above strategy, “Imitation”, it explains how imitating can help build engagement → when you imitate or repeat what they said, they will be more likely to attend to your model for expansion! Child: points at daddy Adult: “Hi daddy!” or “It’s daddy!” or “Daddy!” Child: “Mooo” Adult: “Mooo, says the cow” Child: “Birdy” Adult: “The birdy’s flying!” Child: “A plane!” while looking in the sky Adult: “Look, a plane!”while pointing at the plane Child: “All done” Adult: “You’re all done eating” Child: “More carrot” Adult: “I want more carrots.” Child: “Ba” while pointing to their bottle Adult: “Yes, that’s your bottle!” while giving them the bottle ** Remember to use a variety of word types and forms, not just nouns, when expanding ** Make sure to add onto your child’s utterance using natural, accurate grammar→ avoid “telegraphic speech” such as “Put in” or “Rylie do” (see blog post on Simplifying Language for Little Ones)