This post shares nine ways you can support language development with your children at home.
By no means am I a speech and language therapist. But, I have spent time in IEP meetings for children who need speech and have worked alongside SLPs in the schools as a School Psychologist.
Even if your little one does not need speech therapy, you can still find ways to support language development and learning at home! In our home, we really focus on helping Kyla learn all that she can so that she is prepared for preschool. We take a lot of time reading, teaching, and learning.
Education is all I know, and I love sharing learning tips with other parents looking to find ways to teach their little ones. Even though I am home with my babies and can provide a lot of support with their learning, I have been able to find time to teach Kyla after work and on weekends.
Because I believe in supportive learning at home with children, I thought I would write this post to share what works in our home so that you can support language development and implement tools at home for your children!
9 Ways to Support Language Development:
Start with Simple Language
When teaching your little one how to talk, you want to use single words and sounds. When we first started with Kyla, we would say “buh- baby” or mama, dad, hi, bye, ball, toy, bed, and no.
However, this does not mean you have to limit yourself. We started reading books to Kyla in her first year when she could say a handful of words. Even if she wanted to get up and play, I was happy to have read one or two pages to her.
Play and Talk
One way you can help teach language to your little one is by playing with them and talking about it. If your little girl loves playing with dolls, you can say, “look at your cute doll. She might be hungry or want her mama.” Grabbing a bottle to feed the doll is a real-life scenario that they can learn language through pretend play!
On the other hand, if you have a little boy, you can play with his favorite toy! If he likes trucks, you can say, “look at this big red truck. It is going fast on the street.”
Scenarios like these bring real-life examples of learning through pretend play with your little one.
They may start to say, “cute baby or red truck,” and learn how to string two and three words together through play.
Kyla loves dolls, so I always let her choose her favorite toys to play with. Then, we talk about what we are playing. Make sure you let your little ones play with their favorite toys so they can play and learn.
Talk in Public
Anytime you are in public and pass by the fruit aisle or grab food, you can use these as opportunities to expand your little one’s vocabulary. You might say, “want some chips?” While holding the chip bag. Or a yummy yellow banana when you look for fruit to buy. Anytime you shop and grab an item, tell your little one what it is in two or three words.
Kyla loves when we go to the grocery store, and she will say, “I want chips, nana for banana, I’m hungry I eat,” so these are super good opportunities!
You can do this at the park, the grocery store, on a walk, and anytime you are outside.
Read Everyday
This can be a hard one, but if you want to find a way to bond with your little one while they learn, read to them! Children LOVE books, and you can try different books to see which ones they will love. Finding time in the morning or night to read just one book will make all the difference. These are our favorite interactive books that keep Kyla’s interest and books that will keep your little one’s interest too.
Ask Questions
Anytime your little one makes a gesture, like shaking their head to say no. Or, standing up in their high chair after eating, ASK A QUESTION.
Rather than just lifting Kyla out of her hair chair, I will make her say what she wants by using words such as all done. You can do this by asking, “oh, are you all done?” Or, When your little one says yes, you can say, “oh, you want that?”
Show them how to use their words by asking questions.
Speak in a regular tone of voice
Although I loveeeee my little girl so much, I only use my baby voice a few times throughout the day. This is something I have done since she was about three months old. Of course, when they are super little, it may be hard to not use your sweet voice. But if you can, try to minimize it more and more in their first year. Most of the time though, I talk in my regular voice so that she can learn to say words correctly and will eventually call a nana a BANANA.
Sing Songs
Just like reading books, singing songs is a great way to help them memorize words and string two to four words together. In our home, we sing, “Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” “Itsy Bitsy Spider,” “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” “Humpty Dumpty,” and more. But, any children’s song you know will work fine.
Time and time after practicing, Kyla can sing most of these songs with words that I can understand. Songs tap into working on their memory and vocabulary skills.
This is another way we bond at night, and she loves singing songs!
Give Choices
Instead of assuming you know what your little one wants, you can give them choices to think independently. This forces them to use and learn their words by telling you in the future what they want. Options can also help avoid tantrums!
Anytime we eat, I ask Kyla do you want green beans or a banana. You can use choices with any foods that your little one loves or may want to try. While I provide choices, I also let Kyla see her options given. To do this, you can hold the banana and a can of green beans and ask what your little one wants to eat.
Choices are a great way to get them to talk during playtime too. You can point to their scooter or the kitchen and ask, “Do you want to ride your scooter or play with your kitchen?” You are looking for them to use their words to tell you. By giving your little one options, they will learn to say words when they want something!
Describe Toys and Objects
Have you ever heard of show and tell? This is something they do in preschool and kindergarten. It teaches your little one how to use their words to describe an object. You can also work on this at home.
For example, you can find their favorite toy and have them talk about it.
If I found a red car, I could say, ” Wow! Look at that red car, fast car, small call, and big red car.”
Any chance you get to talk, describe what you are doing, ask a question, pretend play, describe toys to your little one, DO IT! Even when you think they are not listening, they are. Kyla sometimes knows what she wants but struggles to put sounds together, and that’s okay. In these situations, I break down the word and find ways to repeat it over and over.
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