Learn to talk - Children under 2

Learning to talk and express themselves is one of the most critical skills that children will develop. As parents we can help them develop this critical skill.

Here are some tips on what we can do to help children under the age of 2 (babies and toddlers).

• Talk to your child from the time he is born. Even infants learn from us and the more they hear verbal expressions, the more they get used to them.
• Describe everyday activities to your baby. For example, "I am folding your shirt", "I am cutting cauliflower for our lunch". This helps him understand different words and the various things that you do.
• Point out different objects and name them. Use descriptive language (colours, sizes etc.). For example, say "This red bucket contains warm water for your bath". This also helps her understand the words used for various things and activities.
• Respond to the sounds your baby makes like "aaa", "daa" etc., These responses show them how conversations take place.
• When your baby is making sounds, look at her and make eye contact. Keep the eye contact when responding. This helps her realise that you are listening to her.
• Do use baby talk with your baby. But do not ignore using natural language. He needs to learn the rhythms of natural language also.
• Sing nursery rhymes or other children's songs to your child. She will learn the rhythms of music also.
• Use varying tones when talking to your baby. When you are asking a question, use a certain tone. When you telling her something use a different tone. When you are just cuddling with her, use a different tone. It helps the baby learn intonations and helps her identify the context of speech of the words spoken to them.
• Use hand gestures to augment the words. For example, wave your hand when saying goodbye, clap your hands when saying clap, repeatedly move your hands towards your chest when asking him to come near you etc. This helps him learn non-verbal cues.
• Use your baby's name a lot and point towards her. Similarly, name yourself (Papa or Amma etc.,) and point towards yourself when doing so. Use these names often in a conversation.
• Use complete sentences whenever you talk to your child.

Different children develop verbal abilities at different times. Every child is unique. Verbal development cannot be forced. These tips can help them develop this skill by providing an enabling environment. If you feel that your child is falling behind in verbal development, talk to your paediatrician. Sometimes, delayed verbal skill development may point to a different problem.

mango_mama 2008-09-02 09:25:42

Excellent points. Wanted to share my personal experience to echo these. Our daughter had a vocab of under 10 words at 19 months. Our Ped said not to worry and to see only later. A speech therapist friend said not to worry but pointed us to this book "it takes two to talk" by the hanen institute http://www.hanen.org/web/Home/HanenPrograms/ItTakesTwoToTalk/tabid/76/Default.aspx Our girl's vocab grew exponentially by the time she was 2 to hundreds of words. Of course a lot is the speech spurt that comes at 2 but a lot of credit to learnings from this book. If you have the resources and U.S. connections would recommend it for all, not just kids who are not talking much. Some lessons from our experience and tips from the book 1) Do not worry too much till age 2. Do check with doc and keep doing your bit 2) OWL (observe, wait and listen). Observe the child, take lead about what they are interested in. Do not just keep talking in monologue but wait for them to answer when u ask a question and listen very well to what they say. For example if they are interested in playing with sand. Take them to play in sand and talk... 2) Add to what they say to teach them to put 2 words together (later stage) For example if they say "hot" u could say yeah "hot roti". This way u have raised their self esteem by saying what they said and adding to it and extending their vocab in the process. It seems like ages ago, lil girl is now 7 and is a reading express, though still a person of few words.