Free Speech Therapy Advice For Your Kiddo

I am working with children now more than I ever have in my almost-5 years as a Speech-Language Pathologist. I see a lot of kids who probably wouldn't be delayed in their language development if their parents just had a little more understanding of language development. Here are a few things you need to know about speech and language development...

1. Familiarize with age appropriate speech-language.
I had a mom of a 1.5 year old come in and say that her kid was very behind the
children in her class at the daycare. Apparently, that class was full of early
bloomers, and her child was just on the later end of normal! All kids develop at
a different pace. Here's a great website with some explanation of this:


2. Verbal communication is only one piece of the pie!
Take time to educate yourself on the language system and on all of
the aspects of speech. Expressive language is more than talking, and receptive
communication is just as important as expressive communication.
I will have parents come in with delayed kiddos, and they
have been so focused on trying to get the kid to talk that they didn't realize
that there are several other things the child is behind in. Several things have
to be in place before words occur. It's like a ladder, you can't skip a rung!


3. Learn how to effectively talk and respond to your child.
1. Respond to your baby’s coos and babbling. Babble back.
2. Play simple games with your baby like peek-a-boo and patty-cake.
3. Listen to your child. Look at them when they talk to you. Give them time to
respond. (It feels like an eternity, but count to 5—or even 10—before filling
in the silence).
4. Describe for your child what they are doing, feeling and hearing in the course
of the day. Talk a lot to your child. Tell them what you are doing as you do
it.
5. Encourage storytelling and sharing information.
6. Expand on what your child says. (For example, if your child says, “Book!”,
you can say, “You want book!” or "You want more!")
7. Answer your child every time they speak—this rewards them for talking.
8. Ask your child lots of questions.
9. Use gestures along with words.
10.Don’t criticize grammar mistakes. Instead, just model good grammar.
11.Use simple sentences and pause between sentences.
12.Speak slowly and clearly.
13. Encourage, but don't push, your child to talk. Allow them to develop at their own pace.

4. DO NOT reinforce screaming/fits as communication!
I have a few little patients who I know get frustrated that they
can't talk. So their desperate parents have allowed them to get what they need through fits. While I don't blame them, this is counterproductive. If you child is not talking with their words, acknowledge gestures and USE BABY SIGNS! I believe all babies would benefit from knowing the sings, "please, more, thank you, all done, and help." You don't have to have them signing every little word, but help them learn the basic signs to ask for things and for their favorite activities (eat, drink, sleep, play, music). My nephew was asking for things by signing "please" at 11 months. If he threw a fit, Allison waited until he "used his words" to communicate appropriately. Using these also helped him speak a lot quicker. We use baby signs with all of our kiddos at the clinic. Click here to learn basic signs!


5. Their "mistakes" in speech mean they are developing correctly!
Let me explain... Children go through certain "processes" in their speech and language development. For instance, children may "overgeneralize" their first words to refer to items beyond their usual meaning. A child might call all men "Daddy," or all animals "doggie," or all round objects "ball." Others have pointed out that "under generalization" also occurs. For instance, a child might call only her own striped ball "ball," and stay silent about all the rest, or refer to the family dog and others of the same type as "doggie" but not name any others. Children's first sentences may be basic and grammatically incorrect: "Me go home"; "Daddy have cup." But the bottom line is, they are EXPLORING their language, which is great! Children learn language by using it! So make sure you encourage them to keep talking, even if they don't sound like an Oxford candidate in their first sentence! (taken from here.)