Express Yourself

As my li'l boy approaches his big 2.0, he is rapidly learning and saying more and more new words. "Hi", "Bye", "Daddy", "Mommy", "Car", "Ball". How do children learn this amazing skill of talking and communication? Here are some general child development language milestones to remember:
- first words around 12 months of age
- acquisition of about 50 words around 2 years of age
- two-word combinations starting at around 2 years of age
- the emergence of grammar at around 3 years of age (when your child is combining 3-4 words)

You can help your child start to talk, use more words, and increase his expressive language with these great techniques!

• Keep your language simple. For example, say "car", not "Chevrolet" and "SUV".
• Be at your child's level and keep your sentences short. If your child is saying single words, use 1-3 word sentences.
• Repeat, repeat, repeat. Repetition is a powerful tool.
• Be expressive and make talking fun! The "wow"s, "uh-oh"s, and "whoo-hoo"s are so much more fun than "1", "2", and "ABC".
• Parallel-talk. Talk about what your child is doing, seeing, hearing, and thinking as he is doing it. For example, I say "JP's pushing the truck", "you're digging in the sand", "Adin sees a leaf". Give him the words to describe the action that he is involved in.
• Expansion. This technique builds on what your child is saying. You can repeat what she says, and add one or two more words. For example, if she says, "Daddy home", you can say "Daddy come home". You can also repeat her sentences by providing a more adult model, if she says "doggy run", you can say "yes, the doggy is running".
• Make statements, don't ask questions you already know the answer to. For example, instead of asking "do you want a cookie?" when your child is pointing to cookies, you can turn it into a statement "you want a cookie".