Helping a toddler talk more

One tactic to use to get a toddler to talk more, is to place things he likes just out of his reach, until he asks for them by name. 

Maybe he was saying the word before then stopped for some reason. He will understand "milk" but will maybe just say " Ah Ah" and point to the bottle or the cup where the milk is. 
So you can show him the milk and say "milk" very clearly.  Then show him some juice too and say "juice".

But keep the milk and juice both out of his reach. Offer him the juice and say "Juice? You want juice?" then say " Milk? You want milk?" and keep them out of reach. 

Tell him "Say M...i..l..k."  until he tries to say "milk". If she says something  that is a better sound for milk than " Ah Ah ", maybe he'll say "ma" Mik" or "Ik" reward him by giving the milk. 

He may say 'oos" for juice and that is terrific, any move towards a better version of "juice" should be rewarded by being given the desired thing.

Your toddler likely can't say the words clearly yet, so you need to reward the effort of making sounds that are closer to the correct sounds. So " oo" is just fine at this stage.

Complete the pattern

Repeating an action and a word to create a pattern is very powerful way to help toddlers to talk more.  Humans have a strong inbuilt need to complete patterns and sequences. Use this to encourage your toddler to talk.

You say or sing a word pattern many times until you see your toddler is enjoying it and watching you closely and then start to leave off the last word and slowly begin to say it and your toddler will very likely try to say it with you.  

A simple example is waving and saying "Bye Bye".  Wave your hand and say 'Bye Bye'  " Bye Bye", stop and then repeat about 5 times, on the sixth time, just wave, don't say anything and see if your toddler will try to say " Bye Bye" to fill the silence.  Action rhymes and games that repeat the same sounds and actions are perfect for this.


Words fill the silence

You must smile while you are doing any of the following tips to feel the pleasure and not make it into a chore or a test.

Think of other things you can make your toddler 'ask' for.  For example, in the case of the milk and juice,  put only a little milk ( a few spoonfuls) or juice in the cup and when your child shows he wants more, say " More? " and pour a little more into the cup.

Repeat this around 5 times and then on the fifth time, don't say anything. Leave a moment of silence to see if your toddler will try to say " More" to complete the pattern. How long you wait, depends on your patience and your toddler's, but it's ok to just say it yourself after 4-5 seconds and try again later ( lots of times).

Put an apple on the table, let your toddler see you cut it into slices and say " Apple" , "Apple". Hold out a slice and say "Apple". Eat a bit of the apple yourself, saying "Apple" before you bite into it, but don't offer any to the toddler.  Eat another bit and say "Apple" . Hold a piece of apple out to your toddler and say nothing.  If he doesn't try to say " Apple" , you  say "Ah....." "Ah......pple". Then give him the piece of apple.

Repeat these activities several times a day and there is a good chance your toddler will start to talk more.

For more ideas of activities, rhymes and games to help a toddler up to age three years talk more Click Here

Baby Talk is Bad ?

Baby Talk is Bad for Children, but not for Babies !

The"baby' is often used to describe young children of various ages up to about 3 years. In terms of learning different skills and development it is better to be more precise, and talk about young children as:

1. "infant" - under 1 year old
2. "toddler" - 12-30  months
3. "child" - 1 and 2 above and everything else up to 16?

When people say " talk to babies like they are adults" they are correct, but under the age of 12 months, using "baby talk" in ADDITION, supplies infants with many benefits. It is not a case of  baby talk OR adult talk, but BOTH.

Infants need to hear different types of talk and each teaches babies something different about the human voice and talking.

Each type of talk could be called "baby talk"

1) Baby Talk - A way of talking to babies using a special voice- also called Motherese, Parentese, Caretaker speech,  - high pitched, lilting, sing song voice where the actual words are the same as in adult speech, but spoken in a different way.

Research has shown that babies like, enjoy and pay more attention to "parentese" than the normal fast, flat, joined-up speech adults use to talk to each other.

2) Baby talk for "practice" - repetition of sounds for the pure joy of baby discovering  his own voice and practicing how to make the individual sounds in words.

3) Baby Talk - Mirroring - where the parent repeats the same sound the baby makes to create a conversation. This video below is an excellent example of 'mirroring"

 term

This video below shows three types of talk
"Parentese" - adult words spoken with special lilting voice
Mirroring -  repeating the sounds baby makes
Entertainment - the joy of repetition

Infants (under 12 months) learn different things from each type of speech. In various cultures and many different languages, parents and family members use similar types of " baby talk" called " infant-directed speech', 'parentese" or " motherese" when they talk to their infants.

Infants Become Toddlers

The point around 12 months when a baby changes from being an infant to a toddler marks a big leap forward in language learning. At this stage first words, like mama, dada, cup, hat, cat, no,  appear and it becomes essential to say words clearly, show your toddler the shapes your mouth and lips make. It is also the time when Mirroring 'baby talk",  that copies how infants talk, should not be used with toddlers. Once they begin to actually say words, they need clear, correct speech to copy. They need "parentese" , " motherese" - normal language spoken slowly an clearly with short sentences and a musical lilt.

Before 12 months, babies speech development needs are very different from the later months and years.  Babies will learn to talk well without baby talk, it is true, but it is not BAD. It is beneficial for bonding for the adults and infants it seems perverse to withhold it in the mistaken belief  that it is doing harm before the age of one year, when in fact it is does a lot of good.

Below is a list of links to articles by professionals in the child brain, speech and language development spheres, and other sources where "baby talk" is explained and encouraged for the good effects it has.

"Beweave" it or not, baby talk helps babies learn language. Research shows that babies prefer to listen to our silly baby talk from birth.     

Baby Talk: Communicating with Your Child -- Roberta Golinkoff, PhD 

Adults may feel silly when they talk to babies, but those babies will learn to speak sooner if adults talk to them like infants instead of like other adults, according to a study by Carnegie Mellon University Psychology Professor Erik Thiessen

Carnegie Mellon Study: Adults' Baby Talk Helps Infants Learn To Speak 

For a complete program of activities stretching from birth to age 3 years, you can learn how to best use the different types of "baby talk" while you teach your baby to talk