How can I help my child to talk?
As parents we expect our children to learn to talk without any extra help. Here are some strategies that will support your child to develop their communication skills.
- Get down to your child's level when you talk to him/her. Make eye contact, make sure you have his/her attention before you speak. Shared attention is essential to the development of language. If your child finds it hard to look at you or to pay attention when you talk to them try touching them to get their attention. Play games that encourage shared attention such as ready steady go games. Bubbles are also great to help develop shared attention.
- Use simple sentences and repeat key words. e.g. "you've got a car", " a red car", "oh no the car crashed". Children need to hear words repeated many times before they start to store a representation of that word and then begin to attempt to use the word themselves. By simplifying your sentences you help them to identify individual words more easily, especially if you repeat key words .
- Follow your child's lead. Use the real words for things e,g. 'car' as opposed to 'brum brum'. If your child is fascinated with leaves talk about leaves. If he/she loves trains, talk about the trains. Talk about what he/she is interested in. Name things that he/she points to or looks at. Avoid trying to get him/her to follow your agenda.
- Reduce the number of questions you ask. Comment on what he/she does in play. Rather than asking " what's that?", give him the word e.g. " you've got a book". Try to aim for a ratio of at least four comments to one question.
- Create opportunities for him/her to communicate. Don't anticipate all his/hers needs. Give him a small drink and wait for him/her to indicate that it has gone and they want more.