Don’t put too much pressure on your child to always talk. Remember, talking is a two way process and in each of the following activities it is best if you take turns with your child.
Using “more”
If your child wants more of something, e.g. holds up their cup for more milk, say more? clearly. Repeat this process as much as you can until your child understands what the word means. You can then gradually encourage your child to say more by trying the following activities:
- At meal times give your child a small amount of food or drink to begin with so he needs to ask for more.
- When playing with an inset puzzle or building blocks, only pass your child one piece at a time. Only let him have the next piece when he asks for more.
- Blow bubbles for your child. When they have all burst, say more then blow some more. Slowly encourage your child to say more.
- Choose a game that your child really enjoys, e.g. being tickled. Every so often stop tickling and encourage your child to ask for more before continuing.
You can then move onto teaching two words at a time, e.g. more drink, more apple, more swing, etc.
Using “gone”
gone can be used in a variety of ways, including:
- when a person leaves the room, e.g. Daddy gone
- when tidying toys away, e.g. dolly gone
- when your child finishes their food or drink, e.g. juice gone, apple gone
Repeat these phrases whenever you can to encourage your child to start using them.
Belongings
Another way of connecting two ideas is to talk about who things belong to, e.g. when you are sorting toys or clothes, show your child Daddy’s sock, their ball, Mummy’s bag.
Actions
Have two different toys, e.g. rabbit and teddy. Make one of the toys do an action and say teddy jump. Ask your child to do one, e.g. make rabbit sit. See if he can tell you one to do.
Places
Have some toys out and put them in different places, e.g. car on the floor, teddy on the table. Link the toy with the place by emphasising the main words, e.g. the car’s on the floor. Ask your child to put toys in different places and then see if he can tell you where he has moved what.
Size
Have a mixture of big and little objects (one big and one little of each object). Ask your child to give you the, e.g. big spoon. See if he can tell you what he has given you.
On / Off
- You can encourage these words when you or your child switch something on or off, e.g. light on, light off, TV on, TV off.
- Use on and off when getting dressed, e.g. socks on, socks off, trousers on, trousers off.
- Put something on your head, e.g. a funny hat. Let it fall off. Say hat off, then put it on your child’s head and say hat on. Then put it on your head and wait for your child to say hat off before taking it off and hat on before putting it on his head.
Alternatives
If your child asks for something by using just one word, give him alternatives using two words, e.g. do you want more juice or more water? do you want a big cup or little cup? Also try thinking of alternatives during play, e.g. shall we make dolly sleep or teddy sleep? Wait until your child decides which one he wants. If he does not make a choice then repeat the alternative once more, again waiting before responding. You may need to remind your child that he needs to choose before anything will happen.