Blog Posts - Talking With Toddlers, Early Language Development, Speech Therapy for Toddlers

Last Minute Holiday Gift Ideas That Build Toddler Speech & Language Skills

12/20/2013

The hustle and bustle of the holiday season is quickly coming to a close! If you’re like me, you’re probably looking for a few last minute gifts for your toddler or young child. Don’t fret because this post will help you and make your toddler happy at the same time!

Before I post some of my favorite gift ideas, which are toys,, I would like to give you a few suggestions. When it comes to building speech and language skills, less is more. Skip the toys that include lots of bells and whistles such as toys that talk, light up, name shapes, colors, numbers, alphabet, etc. The key in early speech and language development is meaningful communication. It’s important for your toddler to learn how to communicate his or her basic wants and needs first and build receptive (what your toddler understands) and expressive (what your toddler says) vocabulary before naming shapes, colors, numbers, alphabet, etc. Yes, these skills do have a purpose, but not until your toddler has a strong vocabulary.

Here are some of my favorite toys that will build early speech and language skills.

Fisher Price Little People
I loved these sets as a child and know toddlers today love them too! You can choose between farm sets, automobiles, and Disney characters to name a few. With these toys you can target basic concepts such as in, out, on, off, open, close. Your toddler can also engage in pretend play.

Books
Books are one of the best gifts you can get your toddler this Christmas. Reading to children helps increase their vocabulary, encourages imagination, and helps with articulation and pronunciation skills. Make sure you choose age-appropriate books and books with lots of lines that repeat throughout the story.

Stuffed Animals and Dolls
These teach basic vocabulary and encourage pretend play. For example, have your toddler pretend to feed the baby doll with a bottle and a spoon. Have him/her give the baby doll a drink with a cup.

Puzzles
Not only do puzzles work on eye-hand coordination, but they are also great at increasing vocabulary, basic concept development, and requesting skills.

Bubbles
These are great stocking stuffers for toddlers, and all toddlers LOVE them! You can target words such as pop, open, more, big, little, and all done. The possibilities with bubbles are endless!

This holiday season why not get your toddler toys that are fun AND educational? Happy Holidays!

Want more speech and language tips to help your toddler talk and communicate faster? Check out my book on Amazon Kindle, Talking With Toddlers - 52 Tips to Boost Speech and Language Skills.

Toddler Articulation Norms

11/22/2013

Articulation. It's the biggest topic of speech therapy that I'm asked about. Here are some of the questions I'm asked from parents: "When should my 3 year old say her r's?", "Should I be concerned if my son says a t for a d sound?" If you're a concerned parent then this is the information you're looking for!

Below, is a pdf file of a chart that lists all the sounds we have in the English language. The left side of the bar indicates when a child starts to say the sound (on average),and the right side of the bar shows when most children can say the sound, or as speech-language pathologists say, mastered the sound.

speech_sound_chart.pdf
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As you will see, most children begin saying the /r/ sound at about age 3 and should have it mastered around age 7 1/2. So, if your toddler isn't saying his or her /r/ sound at age 3, don't worry too much about it. This is a later developing sound. Do keep in mind that this is just the average age in which children learn to produce these sounds. Also, most children may not say these sounds in this particular order. Some children may say some sounds before others.

It is important to remember that when a child learns to talk, he or she may not say all of his or her sounds correctly. This is very normal, and it is expected by most speech-language pathologists. However, if a child has many incorrect speech productions and is not easily understood at age three or after, then it's recommended that he or she be evaluated by a speech-language pathologist.

So, what can you do as a parent to help your child's articulation? First, if you have any concerns at all, please seek the help of a licensed and certified speech-language pathologist. Since articulation therapy is so structured, I think it’s best targeted in a therapeutic environment. You can also find some simple tips and more information by reading 3 Tips to Target Your Toddler's Articulation.

To learn easy and practical speech and language tips to help your toddler talk and communicate faster, be sure to check out my book on Amazon Kindle, Talking With Toddlers - 52 Tips to Boost Speech and Language Skills.

3 Tips to Target Your Toddler's Articulation

11/15/2013

Over the years, I’ve had so many parents ask me if they should be concerned about the way their toddler pronounces his or her words. Although I think it’s very important to focus on articulation (speech clarity), the main focus with toddlers is learning to understand and use language. Once your toddler is able to understand and use language appropriately then you can focus on how he or she pronounces words.

Articulation therapy helps a person learn how to pronounce sounds and improve speech intelligibility. Articulation therapy is very structured and follows a specific process. The first step involves auditory training or being able to hear the sound. The next step is to be able to correctly say the sound in isolation, then syllables, words, sentences and conversation.

Since articulation therapy is so structured, I think it’s best targeted in a therapeutic environment. However, there are some things you, as a parent, can do to help promote proper pronunciation:

Make silly sounds – when playing say sounds such as “b-b-b” when rolling a toy bus on the floor or “p-p-p” when popping bubbles. Try to get your toddler to imitate these sounds.
Repeat what your toddler says – if your toddler says a word incorrectly, repeat it back to him correctly in a playful way. For example, if he or she says, “gog” for dog you can say, “That’s right! It is a dog!”
Praise your toddler - Make sure to give your toddler lots of praise when he or she makes attempts at talking. Clap and celebrate with your toddler – he or she will want to continue to communicate with you because you’re applauding your toddler for his/her efforts.

I made a promise to my husband earlier this week that I will have my next book out on Kindle by the end of December (I've also said it to you, so I'm holding myself accountable). It’s a book that targets both articulation and language skills in toddlers. Be on the lookout!

To learn easy and practical speech and language tips to help your toddler talk and communicate faster, be sure to check out my book on Amazon Kindle, Talking With Toddlers - 52 Tips to Boost Speech and Language Skills.

5 Ways That Cooking Can Be a Toddler Speech and Language Enriching Activity

11/7/2013

You may have noticed that I like to post toddler friendly recipes on the Talking With Toddlers Facebook Page. I also like to include them in blog posts as a great toddler speech and language building activity. Not only is cooking fun, but it's a great bonding activity for you and your toddler.

So you may be asking, "But, how does cooking build speech and language skills?" Here are 5 ways that cooking can be a toddler speech and language enriching activity:

Builds vocabulary - targets items found in the kitchen
Demonstrates action words - focus on simple actions such as open, cut, cook, eat, bake, stir, etc.
Teaches your toddler to take turns - alternate taking turns stirring, pouring, etc.
Helps your toddler learn to follow one, two, and even three step directions - example: open, pour, stir
Increases conversation skills - talk about how the dish smells, tastes, and looks

Do you want some easy recipes that you can make with your toddler? Try these out for a yummy and educational treat!

Easy shortbread recipe

To learn more speech and language tips to help your toddler talk and communicate faster, be sure to check out my book on Amazon Kindle, Talking With Todders - 52 Tips to Boost Speech and Language Skills.

20 Fall Speech & Language Activities for Toddler

11/1/2013

Back in May, I wrote a very popular blog post called 20 Summertime Speech & Language Activities for Toddlers. These activities were pinned to the Talking With Toddlers Pinterest page and has been repinned by lots of moms and other speech-language pathologists.

Because it was so popular, I decided to do the same thing targeting fall activities. The skills that each activity targets is listed. Please keep in mind that there are many other things you can do to help build your toddler's speech and language skills this fall. Be creative and checkout past Talking With Toddlers blog posts for ideas!

Download the document here:

20_fall_speech_and_language_activities_for_toddlers.pdf
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To learn more speech and language tips to help your toddler talk and communicate faster, be sure to check out my book on Amazon Kindle, Talking With Todders - 52 Tips to Boost Speech and Language Skills.

How Many Words Should My Toddler Say?

10/25/2013

Many parents ask, "How many words should my toddler say?" Most toddlers start saying their first word around 12 months of age; however, some toddlers may say their first word a little later. By 18 months, toddlers are usually saying between 50 to 100 words. At 2 years, toddlers typically say between 200-300 words. By age 3, your toddler may have a vocabulary between 500-1,000 words.

What if your toddler is not using all of those words, should you be concerned? Most speech-language pathologists don't worry too much unless an 18 month old toddler has fewer than 20 words and a 2 year old has less than 50 words. This could be a sign that your toddler is a late talker.

A late talking toddler is a child 18 months (1 ½ years old) or older who is using a limited number of spoken words for his or her age. Late talking toddlers usually have a vocabulary of less than twenty words beginning at 18 months. Some toddlers speak late due to hearing loss, speech disorders, language disorders, and various diagnoses such as autism, cerebral palsy or Down Syndrome. However, late talking toddlers are usually typically developing in all other skills (fine motor, gross motor, cognition, and social/emotional) but speech.

So, what words should your toddler be saying? According to researchers from the Child Study Institute at Bryn Mawr College, by age 2 toddlers should be saying these 25 common words:

-all gone

-baby

-ball

-banana

-bath

-bye bye

-book

-car

-cat

-cookie

-daddy

-dog

-eye

-hat

-hello/hi

-hot

-juice

-milk

-mommy

-more

-no

-nose

-shoe

-thank you

-yes

If you suspect that your toddler may have a speech delay please contact a local speech-language pathologist to schedule an evaluation. If your child is under age 3, then he or she can receive services through your state's early intervention program. You can find your state's program here: http://nichcy.org/babies/services

To learn easy and practical speech and language tips to help your toddler talk and communicate faster, be sure to check out my book on Amazon Kindle, Talking With Toddlers - 52 Tips to Boost Speech and Language Skills.

Toddler Speech and Language Activities for Halloween

10/18/2013

It's fall, and the temperatures are finally cooling off in the southern part of the United States. One of my most favorite months during the fall is October. I love Halloween and now that I have children it makes it even more fun!

For this week's blog post, I've decided to share some of my favorite toddler websites, games, and activities. There are several activities listed throughout each website, so be sure to take a look at all of them and choose your most favorite to try with your toddler. Don't forget to target your toddler's speech and language skills, too! Games and activities are a great way to work on speech and language. Skills to target include following directions, turn taking, conversation, and vocabulary.

20 Halloween Activities for Toddlers

Halloween ideas for Toddlers

Halloween Games for Groups of Toddlers and Preschoolers

31 Ideas for an Active October

Toddler Sensory Bag with Slimy Eyes

To learn easy and practical speech and language tips to help your toddler talk and communicate faster, be sure to check out my book on Amazon Kindle, Talking With Toddlers - 52 Tips to Boost Speech and Language Skills.

Talk, Talk, Talk To Your Toddler

10/11/2013

I'll admit it.....I love to talk! I enjoy talking to my friends, my family, my husband, and my toddler twins. Maybe that's why I became a speech-language pathologist because I could talk for a living!

If you see my 20 month old twins, Sadie and Shea, with me, I'm always talking to them. Even my mother made a comment to one of her friends about it one day when we were with her at the grocery store. We talk about all kinds of things from what we see, what we hear, to what we're doing.

It's very important that you start talking as much as you can to your toddler, too. Why? Because it builds your child's speech and language skills. Your toddler pays attention to everything you say, so expose him or her to as much language as possible.

So, what should you talk about with your toddler? Use the communication technique called “self talk”. Talk about everything you see, describe everything you do, and use simple language and descriptive words. For example you can say, “Mommy is cooking dinner. I’m stirring the pot. The food is hot.” Your toddler will begin to hear familiar, routine words which will build his or her vocabulary if you make this a habit.

Use every opportunity throughout your day to talk to your toddler about anything and everything. Use the self-talk technique during playtime, errands, mealtime, or anytime during your toddler’s routines. The most important point to remember is that you are talking to your toddler regularly throughout the day. You are your child’s best teacher!

To learn even more easy and practical speech and language tips to help your toddler talk and communicate faster, be sure to check out my book on Amazon Kindle, Talking With Toddlers - 52 Tips to Boost Speech and Language Skills.

Is Your Toddler Getting Therapy From An SLP or Someone Else?

9/26/2013

I saw this article in my Facebook news feed this week, and I found it very interesting! I provided speech therapy for the early intervention program in Savannah, Georgia for 7 years. There were times that some of the children in Savannah were being seen for speech therapy by a special instructor or developmental interventionist (SI/DI) instead of a speech-language pathologist (SLP). However, the SI/DI was providing services to these children only until an SLP was available since the SLP's had full caseloads.

I've recently started providing speech therapy services for the early intervention program in MS, so I'm still learning how this program works! If your toddler receives speech therapy through your state's early intervention program then you should definitely read this article by Smart Speech Therapy, LLC to make sure he or she is getting services from the appropriate provider.

DI or SP: Why it's important to know who is treating your child in Early Intervention

Guest Blog Post - I Say Tomato, You Say Tomate

9/5/2013

Last week I wrote a blog post called The Effect of Different Languages on Toddler Speech & Language Development. In that post I talked about how it is okay for your toddler to learn another language in addition to his or her native language. You can read that blog post by clicking on the title above.

I came up with the idea for that blog post from my friend, Melanie Simon, who asked me if she should speak more than one language to her children. She was worried that it may cause language problems down the road. Not only was she interested to learn the answer to her question, but she also used it as a basis for her own blog post.

Her blog is called La Americana, and it is about her mixed household and the blending of two cultures and two languages among five family members. Please take a look at her blog post titled, I Say Tomato, You Say Tomate, to learn more about how her family speaks two languages, including her toddler daughter, Ana!