We have had a few babbled words for a long time now – ‘mama’, ‘dada’ ‘memma’ (Gemma) and ‘dayca’ (Jacob) – but proper words that other people would understand have been a bit longer coming. Over the last couple of weeks he has suddenly grasped a few words, and now uses them over and over again.
I love this video, it makes me smile every time I watch it. The fact that he has learned how to say Hiya and Bye Bye, and that he uses them properly, picking up the toy phone and ‘speaking to his friends’ makes me super proud. He really is growing up.
I have found myself wondering about the best ways to encourage his speech now we have got started. Gemma and Jacob both spoke quite early, and were using clear, strong sentences before their 2nd birthdays. These are the things that we found worked the best:
- Repeating. When your baby says something to you, even if it’s not exactly right, repeat it back to them correctly with a ‘that’s right!’ – it reinforces their effort and gently corrects them. For example, if Max says ‘Dar’ I might say ‘Car, that’s right!’.
- Role play – using a toy phone, or even an old mobile is really useful – you can have a pretend conversation, introduce peoples names into their vocabulary and make it fun too!
- Read books together. Reading is a brilliant way to encourage speech. You can talk about the things you see in the book, you can teach new words, and you can relate them to the pictures, to help your toddler understand what he is seeing.
- Ditch the baby voice. We have all done it – used that itty bitty baby voice when talking to our little ones. Don’t. Using the correct language is important from an early age – it’s no good teaching your toddler that a dog is a ‘woggy’ and then later telling him it’s a dog. You will just confuse him.
- Face to face. Make sure you look at your little one when you talk so they can see your mouth, your expression and how you form words. They learn by copying.
- Answer questions. Jacob used to spend ALL day asking ‘what’s that?’. No matter how many times they ask, answer them. Even if they have asked you what a tree is 15 times already that day. They are learning, and it’s important that you answer their questions.
Do you have any other tips and tricks? Can you remember what your little ones first word was?