Toddlers talking

I'm not laughing at your post at all but this picture is absolutely cracking me up, bless her🤣🤣🤣 Sorry I have no advice as my little one is only 10 months old ❤️

@Katie all good, this picture is priceless and I couldn’t believe my timing😂😂

From working in a nursery and an SEN school, I think modelling and repetition are the best ways! For example, if she is going to eat an orange, show her the orange and say orange and if she goes to grab it as you are passing it to her repeat again ‘orange’. Repeat repeat repeat! The more they are exposed to words, the faster they learn them. If she says any sort of sentence, expand on it. If she says ‘orange’ when eating an orange say ‘eating an orange’ ‘yummy orange’ etc. Is she in nursery? I’ve found children who struggle with their speech often improve dramatically when in nursery as the other children are modelling constantly. Also, the staff at nursery will be able to advise if it is anything that speech therapy could support with. This is something that you can have help with, and / or attempt at home. I recommend looking up @peds_slp on tiktok ❤️

@Ellie-May thankyou I appreciate that, she’s not in nursery but I plan to get her into one as I’m sure it’ll help with many other things as well!❤️

Reading books is a great way for them to learn words! Talking to them a lot, even talking to people around you with them in the room can help because they can watch and listen to the conversation. When they want something you can make sure you say what it is like, “here is your water” if they point and want it. You can talk about the colors of cars/trucks with them everything! I’m sure she’ll catch pretty quick! Btw love the picture 🤣♥️

Classic! Love it

They start in their own time. My son was never into books. He’s more into the exciting pop up books. But he learnt from adults and screen time.

@Ellie-May sorry to hijack this, but I wondered if you have an opinion on whether signing might delay speech? We taught our now 17 month old makaton and she took to it really well, but isn't really saying anything. She has maybe 4 or 5 words, including mama and dada. I'm wondering if the fact she can sign (she's got about 30 signs) means she isn't bothering to try to talk? Really sorry if this comes across at all like a humble brag with the signing stuff, I've just been worrying a lot about the lack of words as it seems others this age often have a lot more?

@Clare No worries! No, signing and makaton is a brilliant communication tool! I recommend it to everyone if they ask, and plan to do it with my own baby girl. In my experience, it definitely doesn’t delay speech in fact it can actually be a great tool to enhance and support speech! The signs can actually help as it gives the children another reference to what they are trying to say. I keep using ‘orange’ but here we go😂 for example if you wanted to ask your child if they want ‘apple’ or ‘orange’ and didn’t have them on hand, signing them will give the child a reference that they already understand to connect the word to. Definitely do everything that I said previously, just sign simultaneously ❤️

Here’s some things I do: Narrate everything you do. Read books and don’t just read the words, describe what’s in the pictures ‘look, there’s a yellow cat, he’s yellow…can you see?’ ‘What colour is the mouse? (No answer) the mouse is blue! Can you see?’ ‘Oh wow, look at the lady bird. Can you see the flower!’ I do this on walks, in the house, in books, everywhere. We go swimming I’m pointing at things and asking her if she sees it, naming it, saying it looks fun etc. I also ask her if she’s happy/sad/angry we draw faces and copy the expressions, I put abc’s and number song on tv and make it seem amazing lol Make every little thing exciting and magical! Our Lo is 1.5 and she’s on full sentences now and knows too many words to count plus all basic colours and numbers. It is however individual to each child and they learn at their own pace but maybe this may help as it’s helped out Lo :)

We did a lot of reading books but also times where we didn’t read and just pointed to the pictures and named them all, I also did a lot of narrating which I’m sure you do, like on walks, in every day life chores etc

This obviously isn’t something that works for everyone but my mum did it with me and my brother and I did it with my daughter and we were all having full conversations by 18 months, but I do believe speaking to them almost as adults instead of a child can make a big difference, I was doing it with my daughter since she was born as if she could understand everything I was saying. In the aspects of I’ve worked with children I would say repeat and encourage all the time sometimes you basically just have to drill it into them and if that’s what hat works then that’s what works

I have a 4 year old who was speaking in full sentences and recognising words/numbers by 18 months and I have a 2.5 year old who only says 4 words. Brought up in the same house and spoken to the same, but their brains are weird very differently. My 2.5 year old is using sign language to tell us what he wants. We've had his hearing checked and speech assessed. Heating was fine and speech is delayed but his receptive (understanding of words, instructions etc) is amazing. Just keep encouraging speech by talking to them, repeating words when talking, mimic any sounds they make.

You did her so dirty with this picture I love it 😂

The hair I can’t stop giggling 😭😂 my son all of a sudden just started saying so much overnight! He would only say mama dada baba and nana until around 19/20 months and once he started talking he has never stopped. Continue what you’re doing and she will do it one day when you least expect it 🥹

Reading books, ms Rachel, talking to them how you'd talk to an adult(no baby voice)

LOVE the photo 😂🤍🤍 my boy just turned one year old and we also read him a lot. Recently got one of these audible learning toys and he seems to be into it so far. Here’s the link; https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BHSFFHXZ?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

So my SD was the same and so was my little sister. They just talk when they want to. Both started talking (and i mean full sentences) when they were 4. They just didn't want to talk before then. I wouldn't stress about it too much momma! One thing you could do though is put maybe ms rachel or one of those interactive shows on for her to maybe see if she'll start talking and answering to them.

Sound effects are a fun way to help bolster vocabulary saying things like crash! And boom, and vroom! Also speaking veryyy slowlyyyy so she can really hear what’s being said. Books that she’s familiar with leave out words and see if she’s interested in filling in the words. I would also look into early intervention just to get some exercises and pointers to practice

Miss Rachel is a saint! I play her nonstop!!! I didn’t know of her until recently and my daughter is 2 1/2 and the only one I’ve played for her and I think she’s done lots for her. Also reading. But it’s ok to remember that every child is different. My middle daughter is now in kindergarten, had some speech delays and is now doing speech. It’s ok to now they all learn at their pace and it’s also ok to get extra help. I didn’t for my middle and sometimes regret it. I’ve been told not too. If you ever want to chat let me know. My two girls are wildly different with their speaking.

Really basic toys and you are the best resource. Limited selection as well. She doesn’t need anything that makes sounds or sings. Get basic animals, different types of vehicles, etc. Use the animals to narrate old McDonald. Make them “fall down” “go night night.” Everything should be expressive and exciting. I change the pitch of my tone to make things more interesting for my daughter to try to repeat. Have toys that compliment one another: get large Lego blocks and make a bridge. Have the car go “under” it. Make a garage with it so it goes “in.” Anything your daughter’s interested in, try to get creative with. The less you say the better. Speak in one word sentences. Leave silence for her to response; if you’ve been practicing “ready, set, go,” for a good amount of time, leave space for her to respond: “ready, set…..” it might take her a while to say GO but get comfortable with silence. If by 2 years old she’s not saying at least 50 words, she should be evaluated by an SLP.

Mine watches tv and speaks for sentences 😭 I think she learns from hearing so cartoons that are appropriate with good lessons for kids and educational stuff like ms Rachel

You could try a Yoto. It can be a great tool for kids to learn language from audio listening. Apparently audiobooks stimulate the same parts of the brain as reading does (not to the same extent, but the same parts), and a better option than screen time in my opinion. We've had one since 17 months and I think it's been a positive contributing factor in speech development. AMAZING picture btw 😅 Courageous girl! 😊

Great pic! 😃

Another tip I learned from my daughter’s SLP is try and get them to watch your mouth when you say a word so they can mimic the mouth movement. If they’re trying to grab a toy from you just put it up next to your mouth so they look up at yours while you say the word. Even if they just make eye contact for a second, it makes the difference. Then hand them the toy and make sure you say “good looking” or some praise. It’s not gunna happen instantly that they respond but with a lot of repetition one day you’ll hear the word. Also, don’t “read” the book. Focus on the pictures. Using one word to describe what the image is. You can also add some motions with the words to get them more engaged. I have so many book recommendations with easy to learn visuals if you ever want. Good luck!