Five Tips on Building Language

As a parent, I have worried a bit if I’m doing enough to develop my daughter’s language ability, so she is successful in school and beyond. The first 3 years of life are very important to develop a foundation for a child’s future progress in language and in another areas (social interaction, behavioral control, etc.), so yes, me being the anxious person, I worried.

However, I have taught and taught many classes that focused on child development, so I learned a lot that helped guide me as a new parent.

1.Start Early

Almost as soon as my baby came home, I started reading to her and talking to her (once I got over at least some of the sleep deprivation, of course). The more exposure to language, the more this will help develop her brain, even if she can’t understand exactly what you are saying.

Also, when your baby is starting to make those cute noises and babbles, babble and smile back. This is the start of turn taking in conversations. Here's a cute video of my daughter when she was about 7 months. We certainly did smile, but we were more focused on video taping it than trying to talk back because it was so cute! :) 

2.Modeling

Children are like sponges. They take in what they see and hear, sometimes even to the detriment of taking in some bad things at times. For example, I sometimes become frustrated or something breaks, and I say “Oh sh**!” I knew the age was coming close to when my baby was about to have a vocabulary explosion and start two word phrases (18-20 months), but I didn’t think she was quite there yet. She woke up from a nap one afternoon when she was about 19 months or so, and she was standing up in her crib pointing to a pile of poop (she outdid her diaper), saying, “Oh sh**!”. It seems she was ready for that vocabulary explosion and two work phrase stage, but at least she didn’t say this in front of my mother in law.

The point is that the more you expose a child to variety in one’s language, the more they will pick up on new words, phrases, sentence structure, etc. When you go to the store, narrate to the child what you see. When you are cleaning something up, tell your child what you are doing.

3.Use gestures

Children learn the meaning of words and phrases when you use gestures and point to what you are talking about. When my child was 12 months and older, I would take her outside and point to the tree and say “Look at the tree!” Or I might point to the car, and say “car.”

4.Interact in other ways

Turn off the darn tv, sit down, and play with your child. I get it, I have been there, sometimes I just want to vegetate and let my mind be blank for a while. But, take 15 minutes at least a day to sit down with your child and play with them, while having a conversation. Ask questions about where on earth on the fish is going while riding on the back of firetruck. Keep the conversation going. This helps build social communication and conversational skills.

5.Books and more books!

We have always heard this one, but I can't emphasize this one enough. My daughter loves stories. Books can be read word for word, but you can also teach a child so much more from books. You can ask the child other questions about what the characters are doing. Use words to describe where objects are in the picture (such as “See the picture hanging above the fireplace!”.

On to more adventures in learning new words and sentences!