Helping your toddler talk
Most children need no help with talking and go quickly from babbling to their first words, to spilling out as many words as they can in a breath.
Your toddler’s comprehension almost doubles by the time she gets to a year and a half and the number of words she knows will expand daily. You can help your toddler to talk by starting early and giving her lots of your time and encouragement.
Give everything a name
Name everything in your toddler’s world – for example, if you’re bathing her name the rubber duckie, faucet, water, bubbles, wet toes, wet fingers, wet nose and so on. When you’re in the park name the trees, swings, birds, flowers and other people around you, so that everything in your toddlers world has a name. Use your baby’s name as much as you can so she is aware of her own identity: “Is it Jayden’s bathtime now?”
Read to your child
Reading to your baby at a young age helps her to hear and understand the intonations and emotions of speech. It can also help to label things – point to a picture and say “fire truck” to help her recognize the names for things. If you are telling a story use different voices for each character and even different accents if you can manage them. Read fostering a love of reading for more advice on this.
Listen to what your baby is saying
When you ask your baby a question, wait to see what her response is, it might be a smile, a look towards a toy, or even a babble but it is a response. Try to answer her babbles as if you were having a proper conversation, so say, “really, how interesting, what a lovely day you’ve had” to her. If your baby is trying to tell you something, help her by pointing to what it might be, for instance, “do you want milk? Your book? Your shoes?’ Wait for her to respond to what you are pointing at.
Sing along
Sing songs which encourage movement, for instance, ‘Head, shoulders, knees and toes’ are good for toddlers to learn which body part is which. Make sure they can see you or other toddlers and parents pointing too, so she can see who is pointing at what.
Turn-taking games
Encourage turn-taking games like peek-a-boo and hiding and seek. If you go first, your toddler can see how it is played, then you can say “your turn now”, and she can copy you.
Pretend games
Try a few pretend playing games, for example, pretend to bake a cake for teddy and have a tea party to eat it, or pretend to fall asleep but say to your toddler, who will wake me up?
Mirror image
Sit with your toddler on your lap and face the mirror. Point out her eyes, ears, nose and mouth, and explain that you have a nose, mouth and ears too, but yours are a bit bigger.
Numbers and colors
Use numbers and colors as much as you can for things, for example, “look I can see two red cars”, or “look at those three yellow flowers, can you see them?” Sing songs which help to teach your toddler numbers like ‘one, two, buckle my shoe’. Try to count things out as much as possible, so when you give your toddler some food say, “two slices of carrot for you”.
Hot and cold
Put your toddler’s hand on a warm towel and say “hot” and on a cold milk carton and say “cold” so she starts to understand the different concepts. You can try this for big and little, empty and full and up and down.
Baby language
Try not to use too much baby language as you talk, as babies learn to speak faster if you talk to them normally. That does not mean you have insist on her calling you mom – you can still use words like dolly, daddy and mommy while she’s small. If you do use baby language, try to repeat the phrase in adult speech as well – for example, “good girl, you’ve finished all your food, Rosie made all-gone”. Read more about the early stages of this at our article speaking to your baby.
Give your toddler choices
Choices enable your toddler to respond and talk back, so if you have a bowl of fruit ask, “which piece of fruit would you like, the banana, apple or pear?” while pointing to them all. Give your toddler a chance to reply, even by pointing. Hide things and see if your toddler can find them, so say, “where is Cody’s ball? Is it under the slide, or in the sandpit?” Then wait till your toddler responds, or runs over to find the ball.
Corrections
Remember how frustrating it was when you were told off at school? Try not to correct your toddler too much when she mispronounces words or uses the wrong word for an object, or she may give up trying. Repeat her sentence using the right word – for instance, if she says, “wan milw” you can say, “you want the milk – OK I’ll get it”. As cute as it is when toddlers mispronounce words, try not to repeat them as your toddler will use them more if she sees it makes you laugh.
If you have any unanswered questions, use our answers page to gain wisdom from other parents or our resident experts, on this or any other toddler issue you may have.
The information in this feature is intended for educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your health, the health of your child or the health of someone you know, please consult with a doctor or other healthcare professional.
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Last Modified: 11/07/2007