26 Feb 5 Tips to Get Your Child Talking

Posted at 07:10h in Speech by
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The first years of life are an explosion of development, and your child is learning about the world around them constantly through all of their senses. These early years (0-5) are critical for speech and language development, but it can be tricky to know what’s typical and what’s not, because there is a range of “normal” development. Below, we provide a summary of the most important developmental language milestones for the first two years of life:

Birth to One Year

What should my child be able to do?

Hearing and Understanding Talking

Birth–3 Months

  • Startles at loud sounds.
  • Quiets or smiles when you talk.
  • Seems to recognize your voice. Quiets if crying.

Birth–3 Months

  • Makes cooing sounds.
  • Cries change for different needs.
  • Smiles at people.

4–6 Months

  • Moves her eyes in the direction of sounds.
  • Responds to changes in your tone of voice.
  • Notices toys that make sounds.
  • Pays attention to music.

4–6 Months

  • Coos and babbles when playing alone or with you.
  • Makes speech-like babbling sounds, like pa, ba, and mi.
  • Giggles and laughs.
  • Makes sounds when happy or upset.

7 Months–1 Year

  • Turns and looks in the direction of sounds.
  • Looks when you point.
  • Turns when you call her name.
  • Understands words for common items and people—words like cup, truck, juice, and daddy.
  • Starts to respond to simple words and phrases, like “No,” “Come here,” and “Want more?”
  • Plays games with you, like peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake.
  • Listens to songs and stories for a short time.

7 Months–1 Year

  • Babbles long strings of sounds, like mimi upup babababa.
  • Uses sounds and gestures to get and keep attention.
  • Points to objects and shows them to others.
  • Uses gestures like waving bye, reaching for “up,” and shaking his head no.
  • Imitates different speech sounds.
  • Says 1 or 2 words, like hi, dog, dada, mama, or uh-oh. This will happen around his first birthday, but sounds may not be clear.

One to Two Years

What should my child be able to do?

Hearing and Understanding Talking
  • Points to a few body parts when you ask.
  • Follows 1-part directions, like “Roll the ball” or “Kiss the baby.”
  • Responds to simple questions, like “Who’s that?” or “Where’s your shoe?”
  • Listens to simple stories, songs, and rhymes.
  • Points to pictures in a book when you name them.
  • Uses a lot of new words.
  • Uses p, b, m, h, and w in words.
  • Starts to name pictures in books.
  • Asks questions, like “What’s that?”, “Who’s that?”, and “Where’s kitty?”
  • Puts 2 words together, like “more apple,” “no bed,” and “mommy book.”

 

Original Chart

Bottom Line: Most kiddos are saying single words by their first birthday, and should be putting 2-word combinations together by their second birthday.

5 Tips to Foster Language Development

During the early years (0-5), children learn language naturally through their environment, by participating in back-and-forth interactions with the important adults in their lives. Here are 5 simple ways to encourage language development in your little one:

  1. Spend time face-to-face. It’s important to sit face-to-face with your child at their level when having communicative interactions with them. This encourages eye contact, developing an understanding of facial expressions, and can also aid in learning speech sounds by being able to watch how our articulators (lips, teeth, tongue) move to make sounds. So go ahead, get on the floor and have fun with your kiddo!
  2. Simplify what you say. It’s important to use sentences with correct grammar as a model for your child, but keep your sentences short. For example, instead of saying, “Let’s go outside and play in the pool because it’s a hot day” you could say, “Let’s go swim. It’s hot!”
  3. Emphasize key words when talking, to highlight the most important information. You can do this by changing the tone and/or volume of your voice when saying a specific word in a sentence, like, “Careful, it’s hot!”
  4. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Like many other things in life, we learn by doing through example and repetition. Learning a language is no different! Your child needs to hear new words many times in a variety of contexts to fully grasp their meaning and how to use them. Try and say new words multiple times a day during different activities (e.g., you can highlight the word water during bath time, at lunch, when cooking, and when walking by a pool or pond).
  5. Let your child lead. The most meaningful learning happens in the moment, when a child is truly interested and fully participating. Instead of pulling your child’s attention away from their interest to teach them about something you think is neat, observe your child and follow their lead. Talk about what they’re doing in that moment, even if it seems simple, like pushing a car up and down a bridge over and over (try “Up, down….up, down. It goes up. It goes down”). All opportunities are valuable opportunities for learning!

When to see an SLP

  • The research has shown repeatedly that caregivers are reliable assessors of early childhood development. You should feel confident that you know your child best, and if you have a concern with your child’s language development, you should act quickly. Here are three things you can do if you are concerned:
    • Talk to your pediatrician about your concerns and get a referral for an assessment
    • Contact your Regional Center to request an assessment
    • Contact your local speech-language pathologist

 

Helpful Links:

Written by: Naguine Bensimon Tree, M.A., CCC-SLP, bilingual certification

 

References:

Birth to one year. (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2021, from https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/01/

Three keys to helping your child learn language. (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2021, from http://www.hanen.org/Helpful-Info/Articles/Three-Keys-to-Helping-Your-Child-Learn-Language.aspx

Squires, J. (2016). Use of parents and caregivers as accurate assessors of young children’s development. Revista Chilena de Pediatría, 88(1), 22-24. doi: 10.4067/S0370-41062017000100002.