Help Your Baby or Toddler Build Language Skills
If you are the parent or caregiver of a baby or toddler, you might be anxious about their language and communication skills. We love to hear their first words, relish in their cute descriptions of the world around us, and wait – not so patiently sometimes – for them to communicate their needs and wants to us verbally instead of deciphering their cries and gestures. A solid vocabulary and language foundation does not develop overnight, but through a process of interactions we have every day with our children. We can help them establish strong foundations by implementing some basic (and fairly easy) strategies into our daily routines.
1. Books, books, and more books!
Don’t wait until your baby is fully capable of turning the pages of a book before spending the time to read to her. Babies love the rhythm of voices, and at very young ages the words don’t carry as much meaning as the way your voice moves through the sounds of the words.
2. Read above level
Young children often have short attention spans, so we find ourselves resorting to reading short storybooks to them and leaving out more thoughtful and engaging stories. Very young children, even toddlers, can enjoy the story lines in many chapter books. You don’t even need to read a full chapter if their attention is fleeting, but try to find a chapter book with a few pictures that might hold their attention longer, and pause during reading to ask questions and even explain further what is going on in the book. Chapter books help children develop the understanding of anticipation, and teach them how to use and know words as clues to stories.
3. Sense and sensibility
Describe things for your baby such as the texture of the toy, the sounds of the birds, the smells from the kitchen, the taste of your dinner, and the colors in the room. Actively engaging your child in his senses will help him become more aware of his surroundings and be able to place appropriate labels on things in his environment.
4. Ask questions, but find answers together
Engaging your child in conversation is one of the best ways to get her mind moving and inquiring about the world around her. Don’t stop at asking questions that have obvious answers, such as, “Who is that?” when pointing at Daddy, and don’t just ask closed ended questions such as, “Is that yummy?” Phrase questions in open-ended formats that require more critical thinking. Instead of just asking, “Did the puppy leave?” when a dog walks away at the park, ask, “Where is the puppy going?” These subtle differences in phrasing are larger differences when it comes to involved thought processes. Even if your child is not old enough yet to respond, she can tell by your connotation that you are asking a question. You can answer the question for her if she is not yet speaking, saying something such as, “I think the puppy is going home to eat dinner.” Providing a response lets your child take part in the ebb and flow of conversations and the adjustments in tones that people make when speaking.
5. Readers’ Theatre
It doesn’t have to be as fancy as dinner and a show, but providing your young child with a modern version of a readers’ theatre – books on CD – is another way to expose your child to storytelling and the intricacies of language. Often these stories for young children are done with sing-song rhythms that are almost more like poetry or music than stories. The character voices adjust with the dramatic interpretations, giving your child more opportunities to predict how language is used. Toddlers can even follow along in their own books for many of these, listening to the tone that signals when to turn the page.
6. Word play
Word games are some of the most effective and most enjoyable ways for children to develop their vocabularies. Before babies can clearly speak on their own, you can supplement the answers for them, giving clear examples of the rules to the game. For instance, describe things as opposites – this one is too hot, while this one is too cold. As your baby gets older and begins to speak, he can imitate the game by coming up with his own opposites, and then you can move beyond that to trying to come up with as many pairs of opposites as possible together. Use the same method for rhyming words, continually adding to the level of participation for your child. Many hours were passed while commuting with my young children playing these easy games, and eventually they would be able to stump me – their favorite thing to do!
7. Kick the sloppy slang
Young children pick up on our slang and sloppy speech all too easily. As your baby is developing speech patterns it is important to be extremely mindful of your own poor habits and to speak with clarity. I was reminded of the importance of enunciation one day when one of my young children randomly asked me if rip beer was made by ripping beer. Yes – much to my astonishment, all of his 4 years of life he thought that everyone was saying rip beer instead of root beer. Maybe it is a Midwest thing, but try saying root beer quickly and see how you sound – we tend to drop that “t” sound.
It is often from the mouths of children that we find how we actually sound to the world around us. Make sure that you are providing your child with many ways in which to explore language, both through mimicking, speaking, and listening. Engage your children in varieties of activities and help them to expand the words they can speak, but more importantly, their understanding of the meanings behind communication that occurs around them every day.
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