Lost on how to help your child’s language development? Here’s tips to help them start talking and raising their vocabulary.
Disclaimer: All Children develop differently, and these are ways to encourage language development. If you have concerns about your child, please speak to a medical professional.
Read
Read, read, read! I cannot stress how important reading with your child is for boosting language development. Reading just a few minutes each day can introduce your child to hundreds of different words that your child can add to their vocabulary. Even if your child is still in the babbling stages hearing new words is detrimental to building up their language. Reading doesn’t have to be just reading books, you can add reading into daily routines, reading signs as you drive down the road, reading the boxes or sales signs at the grocery store, or restaurant menus while you wait for dinner.
Talk
Talking with your child is another excellent way to build language. Even though some youngsters don’t respond yet asking questions and pausing to allow for a response helps them to learn conversational patterns. Although it may make you sound a little crazy but self-talk, when you talk or describe what you are doing, is a great way to get extra language building in. You can self-talk as you are doing daily routines with your child such as “I am getting out the eggs and bread to make you some breakfast” or “Mommy/Daddy is going to get your bath ready” Self-talk is an easy way to add in language building, all you need to do is say what you are doing out loud.
Ask Questions
A good way to get your child talking more is to ask them questions, such as “Can you tell me about what you’re building?” “I see you have used the red, and the blue crayon what other colors are you going to use?” A child playing is a child learning, use those opportunities to help build language and relationships don’t be afraid to get down to where they are at and join in on their play, use this time to build their vocabulary. Use bigger words, such as “I see you constructed a tower” and “What did you discover while looking through the magnifying lenses?”
Use Songs and Nursery Rymes
Many children love to sing and dance along and there is a world of great music free to use on YouTube. Things to look for in a song are repeated lyrics, easy-to-follow tunes, and songs with a dance or movements. If you don’t have internet or would rather be technology-free Nursery rhymes that you remember from your childhood or that you have learned along the way are always an option. Remember to have fun with it!