Chloe O’Sullivan is an independent Speech and Language Therapist from Hertfordshire with three young children of her own. She has worked as a Speech and Language Therapist for 12 years with a variety of client groups from early years settings, primary and secondary schools and even within the criminal justice system. Here she shares her expertise around learning to talk and how you can support your little one’s communication from birth and her top tips for early language development.
Learning to talk – it’s such an exciting time when our children start to develop ways of telling us what they want; what’s on their mind and using those adorable variations of words that make us melt. In our house, a yogurt will always now be a “yoggydot” and it’s now “soggy” instead of foggy, despite both children being able to use the ‘correct’ words now they’re older.
But what happens when this exciting time of communication development is shrouded in worry or an inkling that something isn’t right? It’s fair to say that the word ‘milestones’ can sometimes cause concern to parents of young people who aren’t doing exactly what is written on paper. It’s also fair to say that all children develop uniquely and individually. Milestones are an important part of being able to give a picture of what is happening with a child’s language development, but it doesn’t always mean they’re not going to get there. Sometimes they just need a little bit of extra support. The good news is that this can often be achieved at home through small changes to the way we, as adults, use our own language.
What should my child be doing?
If you’re not sure, Speech and Language UK has an easy-to-use progress checker, which will ask questions based on your child’s age and give you an idea of how they are getting on. https://progress-checker.speechandlanguage.org.uk
They also have an ages and stages page with information about what your child might be doing at different ages: Ages and stages – Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives, as well as lots of other information on their website.
Ideas on how to support children’s communication development right from birth:
From the minute babies are born, their communication journey begins. From those early cries to when they start pointing and babbling, it’s all leading them to develop language and speech. Talk to your baby even when they are tiny; they will be watching your eyes, your mouth, your smiles, your hands. Repeat back the sounds they are making, that will be so exciting to them that YOU are copying what THEY are doing. If you have access to baby sign groups, they can be a fun way of learning with your child and providing your child with an alternative means of communicating their message before they begin to talk.
- Understanding of language
In order to use language, you have to be able to understand what it means. Think about what it might take for you to go and learn a new language now, without being able to access any written content. You would need words to be used slowly, repetitively and most importantly in context before you can work out what they mean. Children are no different; they need to hear a word lots of times before they can understand and use it properly. This also needs to relate to something concrete initially, so if you’re talking about something, try to have the object, picture, person, or movement happening right in front of them for it to make sense.
- Using language
When it comes to expecting children to use language, we often need to reduce demand. Asking or forcing a child to repeat a word before they get something can put real pressure on a little person. So instead, model the language you want them to use, and you’ll likely find that with little pressure and lots of modelling they will start to copy or repeat independently. Talk to your child about what is happening around them whilst they can see it, “mummy is cooking,” “chopping carrots,” “too hot,” etc. Your child might be using different first words to their friends; that’s ok, we learn language based on our experiences, and someone’s first word “dog” with a family pet will not be as useful for another child who does not have a dog.
It can often be a difficult subject, but if your child is using a dummy, try and limit this to nap times or when they’re really in need of comfort. Having a dummy in a child’s mouth when they could be having a conversation with someone can make it difficult for that to happen and limit their opportunity to attempt to converse. It can also impact their speech development. We all know that transition can be tough, but there is lots of advice on the internet, or ask your health visitor or nursery practitioner for support; they’ll have done it all before.
- Speech sounds
As with language, speech sounds can develop differently for every child and there can be a huge variation. Your child will most likely not be easy to understand from the beginning and we as parents learn to interpret their different words. If you are at all concerned about their hearing or potential bouts of glue ear ask your GP to refer to audiology to have this checked.
My top tip here would be to ditch the sippy cups and start your child from 6 months old on a straw cup as well as learning to use an open cup. Weighted straw cups are ideal as the child can get access to the drink whichever way they hold it. The idea of progressing to a straw or open cup is to move away from the primitive suckling action first needed when using a boob/bottle and start to encourage baby to use their lips, jaws and tongue in a different way. This will help to build up strength and coordination by using a more mature swallowing action, all required for speech sound development.
Top 5 tips for early language development
- Spend a minimum of 10 minutes ‘special’ time playing alongside your child and use this time to give them loads of examples of language without expecting them to produce anything.
- Follow their lead – children are much more likely to learn and take in language when they’re doing something they’re in control of, try not to control their play.
- Turn off questions and comment instead, talk about what they are doing using language one step above their current level e.g. if your child can say “car” you can say back “yes car driving”, if they’re not using any words yet model using one-word comments “car”, “drive”, “fast”, “go” within your game. If they’re using two words model back three “car driving fast” and so on. The reason we turn off questions is to reduce demand.
- Although the alternative words they use are adorable as I mentioned above, please do model back the correct words without correcting them so they hear the sounds e.g. if your child says “do” reply back “yes dog”, try not to force them to repeat words back correctly, hearing it over and over should be enough.
- Read together every night and in the day too if you can! Reading has language in context at all times because of the pictures on the page. It’s ok to read the same book every night for two weeks, your child will be taking it all in, and you can add more language in if you want. If your child won’t sit for a story, don’t worry, grab an ‘open the flap’ book, sound book or a puppet book to make it more inviting and start reading it to yourself. You don’t always have to stick to the words on the page, use your own language or even just silly sounds may make it more exciting to your child and you might find they come to explore when they see you having fun with it on your own. This will still help to foster a love of books and reading.
What if you still think your child needs help?
Continue putting into place simple strategies as the ones above. There are also people you can get in touch with. Your first port of call might be your Health Visitor or the GP, you can raise concerns and they can refer to Speech and Language Therapy in your local area. If your child is in nursery, they will be able to help with this too. The waiting lists can be long; if this is the case I CAN charity offers free advice and support initially over the phone. I CAN Help – ICAN CHARITY. If you feel you need the help of a Speech and Language Therapist immediately, you can find one in your local area through the following website: Find a speech therapist – ASLTIP.
This article is heavily focused on typical language development, if you feel your child may be neurodivergent or not developing language in a typical way then please follow the steps above to find access to professionals who can support. All of these tips can be used with neurodivergent children, there just may be some other strategies that work for them too.
