4 Easy Ways to Encourage Speech in Toddlers
If you’ve been wondering how to encourage speech in your toddler, you’re in the right place. In fact, educating parents like you on topics like this is one of the main reasons we started Wee Talkers! We want all toddler parents to have this information, so they can be proactive. So whether you’re just starting to have some concerns, you want to be proactive, or your toddler is already in therapy and you’re looking for more ways to encourage speech at home, we’ve got you.
Encouraging Speech and Language in Toddlers
The title of this post is ways to encourage “speech” because this is how parents often phrase the questions when they ask us during therapy sessions or on Instagram, but for toddlers, much more of the focus, at least initially, is on language.
If you’re feeling unclear on the difference between speech and language, click the link below for a more detailed breakdown.
As Parents & Caregivers, You Make All The Difference
Toddlers have the best speech and language outcomes when they have support and encouragement at home. So as their parent or caregiver, what you do really does make a huge difference! (But to be clear, that doesn’t mean it’s your fault if your toddler’s speech and language development is behind.)
The reason we love parent involvement so much is that as speech therapists, we only spend a small portion of your child’s week with them. But as their parents and primary caregivers, you’re with them all the time. This is why a lot of toddler speech therapy is focused on teaching parents how to support development at home.
Prelinguistic Speech & Language Milestones
Encouraging speech in toddlers is actually a really broad topic, because in speech therapy, we work on a wide variety of skills, and the goals we choose to focus on are chosen based on your child’s individual needs. Some toddlers work on skills needed for saying words, while others work on the clarity of their speech, their ability to understand language, or learning to combine words to use a phrase, etc.
Encouraging speech in your toddler specifically will depend on what skills your toddler already has down pat, and which ones they need support with. So before we jump in more, it’s important to understand where your toddler is at—or which milestones they may need help hitting. Download our toddler language milestone checklist to get a sense of where they are.
If they aren’t saying any words yet, you’ll want to begin working on prelinguistic skills. This essentially means they need more work on the foundational skills like imitating others, using gestures, and vocalizing a variety of sounds, that develop before verbal communication will emerge. We know it’s so tempting to want to skip these skills, but it’s imperative to meet your child where they’re at.
4 Ways to Encourage Speech in Toddlers
Now that you have a little background, we want to share three essential tips that we basically share with all toddler parents we work with, plus a toddler speech resource we love, in case you want more!
#1 Repeat, Repeat, Repeat
Littles learn from repetition in meaningful contexts, so repeating what you say is a great way to encourage speech in your toddler. You may feel like a broken record at times, but repetition is key for language development. And, don’t worry, we don’t mean you should say the same word over and over again. Try to mix things up and make repetition feel as natural as possible. You can also read books with lots of repetition in them, like Brown Bear, Brown Bear.
Related: 5 Books Toddlers Love
#2 Slow Down
If you want to encourage speech in your toddler, you may need to slowwwww your own communication down, and follow their lead. A few ways to do this:
Notice what your toddler takes interest in, and talk about that.
Drop your own agenda. Toddlers learn more when they’re engaged and playing/talking about things they enjoy on their terms.
Ask less questions (“What’s that?” “What’s doggy doing?”)
INSTEAD, use more comments (“That’s a red ball!” “The doggy is running FAST!”)
#3 Make Talking, Singing, Reading & Play Part of Your Routine
Children learn through play and their daily routines, so focus on making meaningful, engaging interactions with you a priority in your toddler’s day. Also, let yourself off the hook for teaching ABCs and 123s. Parents tend to focus on teaching academic concepts, but these develop much later. Right now, it’s important to focus on functional communication first—communication that helps them get their wants and needs met, while letting you in on their thoughts and ideas. Toddlers learn how to do this when they have connection and communication with engaged, nurturing caregivers like you.
#4 Build Your Toddler’s Communication Skills with TalkToddler
If you know you want to be doing more to encourage speech in your toddler, but you’d rather have some help and guidance to set you on the right path, we recommend checking out our TalkToddler course.
TalkToddler is a toddler communication course that teaches parents and caregivers the info and skills they need to get their toddlers talking at home. It gives you research-backed communication strategies and a roadmap to follow as you work on encouraging speech in your toddler. And because it’s made by us—moms of 6 kids ourselves—it fits easily into busy family life.
If you’re worried about language development and aren’t totally sure how to encourage speech in your toddler, you’ll be so glad you started now and didn’t wait.
Keep Trusting Your Instincts & Don’t Wait To Get Help
The fact that you’re looking into how to support your toddler’s language development at home means you have great instincts and that you’re trusting them. Continue to trust those instincts, and use what you’re learning about toddler speech milestones to meet your child where they’re at.
Parents and caregivers play a key role in toddler speech and language development, so it’s important that you’re as clear as can be on what to do at home. If you’re not ready for speech therapy but you’d like some guidance, TalkToddler might be a good next step. But if you’re concerned about your toddler’s development, talk to your pediatrician or seek out a speech and language evaluation. You’ve got this!
