My husband would say that I am the most qualified person on the planet to help and encourage children to talk; as in spite of suffering a massive stroke and an unrelated brain tumour, I am still able to talk extremely well!( he is disappointed about this).
I believe that you should talk to your baby from birth – give him eye contact and talk in a ‘sing-song’ voice if that is more appealing to him,
Talk to your baby about everything and anything; the more you do the quicker he will learn. Read how children learn to talk here
I also think that a child is never too young to benefit from a book, read and point out illustrations to her. My favourite children’s authors are Shirley Hughes and Julia Donaldson, my favourite children’s books here
All 3 of my sons needed speech therapy to develop their vocabulary ( in spite of me talking non-stop to them).
My eldest had a fantastic therapist who worked wonders.
It did take some persuading to get my son the help that I believed he needed, when I mentioned to my health visitor that I was concerned about speech delay she told me not to worry and he would talk when he was ready. I wasn’t happy with this and as my younger sister had required speech therapy, I rang my health visitor every few weeks asking for a referial . Eventually my persistence paid off and my son was seen by a lady who thought she could help him, he had an intense course of sessions which really helped. When he had started pre-school he hardly spoke, then he went in one day and asked the group leader, “Where are the toy cars?” she was amazed by how much he had improved.
I cared for several children with speech problems when I was working as a registered child minder. I also looked after a child with Down Syndrome who used Maketon signs to back up her limited vocabulary. Read more here
My eldest son, before starting speech therapy would make up his own words for things, that only I, as his mother could understand, for example, if he wanted a biscuit he would say “mum-mum” and his word for the colour white was “Cla”.
My middle son had trouble with words beginning with S, he would say “noman” instead of snowman and “poon” for spoon. The speech therapist asked him what noise a snake makes “sss” he told her, so he was encouraged to make this sound.
My youngest struggled with the th sound, so he was sat in front of a mirror and told to put his 2 top teeth over his bottom lip ( like Bug’s Bunny and then say “th” .
We practiced these exercises at home between the sessions.
If you are concerned about a child’s language development speak to your doctor or health visitor, or a S.E.N.C.O. if you are an early years practitioner, the sooner a child recieves help the better the success.
As always questions and comments are welcome.
Until next time.
Karen
x
Both my boys have speech therapists and getting help early makes so much difference. Rhyming songs and books are great but both my boys needed lot’s of visual supports too which has been so helpful. #DreamTeam
Yep both my ys needed help, that is why grateful for youtube to help encorage sounds X #anyhinggoes
These are great tips. I think my daughter has such an extensive vocabulary because I have been reading her chapter books since she was born and always speaking to her with full words. She has had some setbacks when it comes to some sounds like the TH but her doctors and teachers have said she will outgrow it. #alittlebitofeverything
It’s great advice for any parent who believes their child may need help developing their speech. And I bet very reassuring to know many others have the same experience. Thank you very much for sharing this with #globalblogging. Very worthwhile advice!
These are great tips. I spoke my first word at 10 months of age and had an extensive vocabularey, but my language comprehension probably wasn’t/isn’t as good. I do agree it’s important to talk to your child from birth. My father, who was my primary caregiver, wouldn’t speak baby talk to me or my sister, as he felt it was unnatural. Not sure that helped or hindered our speech development. My niece is now four-months-old and my sister reads to her a lot. #PoCoLo
My eldest son was able to speak fluently with a wide vocabulary from the age of two and I thought it was because of all the things you said at the beginning. Then son number two came along and didn’t speak. He got an autism diagnosis at the age of three. Now he’s 6 we can have very simple conversations with him such as Do you want weetabix? And he says yes. He does know a lot of words and says them randomly. #StayClassyMama
Talking is so important to let children hear and recognise a whole host of words that will help them with their phonics, reading and writing. Thanks for linking up with #stayclassymama
My children did talk early, mainly I think because we did talk a lot to them, and they had a lot of stimulation, although my son did need speech therapy. I think we don’t realise how important it is to help them with basic things like talking and interaction with them #stayclassymama
I agree that talking to your children right from when they are small babies is very important. We tend to sing a lot at home too – I like to make up songs to go with lots of little everyday jobs! My eldest was a little late to start speaking, although she could sign well and had no problem communicating, and I wasn’t concerned.I do love the way children mispronounce words and I have to admit I don’t always correct them, especially when the mispronunications are cute ones! #KidsandKreativity
My brother went to a speech therapist and the ssss sounds familiar. Is this more common in boys? Thanks for sharing with #PoCoLo
By what I have been told and experiences yes, I think that speach delay is more common in boys, thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts
I find this topic really interesting. I definitely agree that you should talk to children from a very early age! My husband used to talk to ours when they were in the womb!! 😂 #KidsandKreativity
We did that too
My son needed speech therapy, but he’s been signed off now as he made excellent progress. I do think tackling it whilst they’re young helps. Thanks again for linking up to #KidsandKreativity x
I have been looking around this topic as my son is 23 months says mama, dada, ball, no words. I do my best to talk to him a lot but he would rather do other things lol. I will not give up and will continue. Awaiting speech and language input as he had a early 2 year assessment last month.
It sounds as though you are doing everything you can to help your son, Cathy, keep going as I suggest in my post talk about everything take him for a walk and point things out as you chat, good luck with the speak therapy, that did wonders for my children. Let me know how you get on in the future
Very interesting, as our two year old grandson prefers to just show us what he needs iso using his words, although over the last month or so he did start using more and more words expressing himself.
Thanks for sharing, Esme, that’s exactly what my son did before finding his voice