Tips to Encourage Speech/Language Development

By Alison Del Duca, Speech Therapist, The COR Behavioral Group

Practicing simple, proven speech techniques with young children and toddlers can greatly improve communication skills. Below you’ll find tips and exercises you can implement at home and in daily life to promote speech and language development.

Young Children

-Look at your child when he/she makes sounds. Repeat them back and pretend to have a conversation.

-Add on to what your child says. Example: When your child says “mama,” you say, “Hi! Mama loves you!”

-Read to your child, even if it’s not every word. Choose books with large and colorful pictures to start.

Toddlers

-As your child gets older, baby-talk is okay some of the time, but begin to model adult words; for example, you can begin speaking to your child using the vocabulary and grammar that you would with an adult.

-Sing simple songs and nursery rhymes. This helps children learn the rhythm of speech.

-Show pictures of familiar people. Talk about who the people are, where they are, and what they’re doing. This helps begin to develop recall skills.

-Label items at the grocery store- talk about names of foods, colors, tastes, and smells.

Fun Facts

-Babies are born with the ability to hear and discriminate sounds that occur in every language!

-Between six months and a year, their brains begin to focus on only the sounds of their native language.

-A child’s brain is rapidly developing cognitively, socially, linguistically, emotionally and motorically. -This is why early intervention is so important.

-It takes about 100 muscles to speak!

-Around one third of people with autism remain nonverbal. This is why knowledge of augmentative and alternative communication is important!

For more information about the speech language pathology services The COR Behavioral Group provides, visit www.corbehavioral.com or call toll free: 1.833.4CORABA.