How to Get your Child to Talk (Part 2)

Frustrated that your toddler or preschooler whines and cries more than he talks? Here are some more tips to help your child learn to communicate more effectively (and appropriately), and to help you save your sanity.

Last week, we reviewed 5 things that you can do to encourage your child to talk. If you missed that post, you can check it out here.

Today, we'll review 4 things you can do to further encourage and enhance your child's speech and communication skills.

Labeling everything and anything in your environment (or tacts, in behavior analyst-speak) is a great way to teach your child new words. Here are 4 things you can do to help encourage and enhance your child's speech:

1. Expose your child to lots of new things

This can include actual physical objects or pictures of things. Look at books, go for walks, wander around the house. No matter what you do, talk about what you see. It doesn't need to be complicated, simple statements such as "Look! A bird!" or "I see a green house" will do. 

2. Give them your attention

A parent's attention is often the most valuable reinforcer for a toddler or preschooler. Give them your attention and praise them when they label something correctly (That’s right! It is a bird!). If they attempt to label something, but they label it incorrectly, just tell them what it is. For example, if they point to a picture of a bird and say "frog," say, "That's a frog. Ribbit Ribbit." Don't make a big deal if they call something by the wrong name. They're just learning, and will need help along the way.

3. Details, details, details

Expand upon their language by making statements regarding the features, functions, or class of the things that they label. For example, when your child points to a bird and says "bird," you could say "That’s right! It is a bird! That bird has huge wings!" Now you're really honing in on the details, and exposing your child to even more words!

4. Add more words

Just like with requests, you want to encourage your child to use more syllables and words. Encourage them to make those statements better by using those details you taught them ("big tree," "blue house"), and then add in even more words to make a full sentence ("It's a blue house").

Just as with requests, teaching a child to label things in his or her environment is a huge component of any ABA program. We teach children to label items, sounds, smells, actions, the list goes on and on. If your doctor has ruled out medical conditions and you still have concerns regarding your child's communication skills, schedule an Intake Session to get your child enrolled in our ABA program so that he can quickly learn to communicate effectively (and appropriately).

Up next, Part 3 of our How to Get your Child to Talk Series.