Most of us are fairly relaxed about when our little ones start to walk, but we're usually more concerned when it comes to their learning how to talk.
While most kids will get there in their own time, there are a few things you can do to create an environment that cultivates successful language development...
Talk...
This is the most important thing you can do to help your child's language skills.
Since they don't know what you're saying, it doesn't really matter what you talk about. What matters is that you talk.
If your child says “ball!” you give them the ball saying “Yep! This is a ball, a biiiiig, red ball! Bounce the ball! Ka-boing, ka-boing!” This is called language expansion: take a concept, grow it a bit, then give it back to your munchkin.
Reading to your child involves talking too, so don't forget to do plenty of this!
...but know when to shut up
Research shows it's just as important to listen to your child as it is to chat.
Yes, we know it's hard to listen when you've no idea what they're trying to say, but this is where faking it comes in. Nod, smile and respond to their babble, no matter how incomprehensible. It'll pay off in the end.
Be animated
While you shouldn't go crazy on the high-pitched speech, it is important to be lively when talking to a little child.
When you create interest around the act of talking, you get your child to focus on it for longer periods, and that gives tehm even more opportunity to learn.
Use lots of melody, change the volume of your voice here and there, sing, use your hands. Basically, do anything that encourages interest. They'll already be pretty fascinated by you anyway - you're their mummy!
Ditch the baby talk
Experts have long cautioned against changing words, such as adding 'y' to words unnecessarily (e.g. drinky, walky), talking in an abnormally high pitch, or creating childish versions of words (ba-ba).
Your child creates these word forms naturally - it's a linguistic developmental milestone.
Your job is to help them reach the next milestone, and you do that by reinforcing the words as they're pronounced correctly. So next time your child asks for 'wa-wa', say 'water? you want water?'
Articulate
Even though your toddler's vocabulary is expanding overnight, they still lots of practise to build the mouth muscles that will help them say new words clearly.
That sounds like a chore, but it won't be if you use a few simple props. For instance, put a mirror in front of your little one.
Your child learns to pronounce words by watching you speak, but may become better at forming them by seeing their own mouth move as they talk. You can also try singing nursery rhymes in front of a mirror together.
Repeat yourself
Using a new word in more than one instance is a good way to help it stick in your child's memory.
For example, say 'wow, this ball we're playing with is so big', and then you can say 'see that car? See how big it's wheels are.'
If your child doesn't pick it up straight away, don't panic. Some toddlers need to hear certain words or phrases more than others before the language becomes a permanent part of their vocabulary.
Limit screen time
TV and computer games teach concepts - letters, colours, counting. They don't teach language.
Language and communication are interactive. You are interactive, as are brothers and sisters, grandparents, neighbours, other mums and even the guy at the check-out!
So save the screen time for those moments when you're desperate for twenty minutes of you-time. Don't rely on it to raise your child.
