- It's really common to assume talking to your baby
is going to help them learn to talk sooner.
But generally, that's not the case.
In fact, one of the most effective ways
to actually get your baby and toddler to communicate
with you is to talk less.
Here's an example to demonstrate why.
Maybe you've done this, I know I have
or maybe you've seen someone else do this with their child.
You ask your toddler a question like,
"Would you like your dinosaur?"
And then without even waiting for a reply,
you pass them the toy.
The problem is babies and toddlers need time to understand
what has been said and then more time to think of a response
and then more time to then say
or communicate their response.
And when we don't wait,
our babies and toddlers do not get the opportunity to talk.
Now, I used the example of a toy
but this applies to questions,
whether it's offering food, a drink or anything else.
The simple act of waiting and then waiting some more,
creates opportunity for your toddler to communicate.
Now, I completely understand waiting
and giving your toddler time to communicate
can feel awkward
and it is something most parents need to practice.
In fact, it is generally the thing I find parents
struggle with the most during clinical sessions.
But our time pressures of life
and our internal drive to automatically anticipate
our toddlers needs make it extremely challenging to wait.
But not only does waiting give your baby and toddler time
to process what we have said and think about a response,
it validates the importance of what they are saying
without pressuring them to say it in a certain way.
So next time you ask your toddler a question,
wait approximately five seconds to give them a chance
to respond to what you've asked or said.
And while you are waiting,
show your child that you're interested
in what they have to say by raising your eyebrows,
smiling or opening your mouth.
And what you will soon see is your child communicates to you
by making eye contact, babbling, using gestures, pointing
or actually saying a word.
In addition to just waiting,
there are other things that you can do
to encourage your baby or toddler to communicate with you.
And this next tip is something very few parents use,
but it works incredibly well.
But before I cover what that is,
if you haven't already, make sure you download
the free Communication Milestone Chart,
so you will know when to expect your baby's first words
and how many words they should be saying at each stage,
as well as how clear their speech should be.
The next way to encourage communication
is to sabotage your baby and toddlers environment.
I know that might sound a little mean, but it's really not.
What I mean is to simply create talking opportunities
by strategically placing favorite items,
food or other things within their line of sight
but out of reach and then just waiting.
When your baby or toddler wants these items,
they will be motivated to use gestures or words
to ask for it.
For example, instead of placing all of the toys
on a low shelf which your toddler can freely access,
place their favorite toy on a higher shelf
and wait for your toddler to see it and then ask for it
by pointing, grunting, looking at the toy or using a word.
At that point when your toddler communicates to you,
you would label the favorite toy that they're wanting
and then hand it to them.
The third tip is particularly effective
in getting babies and toddlers to talk sooner
because it's something you do while you're playing together.
And research has found that children including babies
are more likely to use gestures, babble or talk
when they are participating in activity
that they're actually interested in.
And babies and toddlers love nothing better than play.
So, what should you do?
When you are playing with your baby,
particularly if they're nine months of age and up,
you want to start using fun words.
Now, fun words include animal noises
or noises of transport vehicles like cars,
that might be vroom or a truck which might be rumble
or train noises which might be a chugga-chugga chugga
or toot-toot, as well as action noises.
So these include crash, bang or splat.
Using these fun words while playing with your baby
or toddler may make you feel silly,
but they are going to love it.
And what's really exciting is that these fun words
and sounds are often the first word that babies and toddlers
imitate and in time say by themselves.
In addition to using these three tips
to get your toddler to talk,
there are three mistakes that parents naturally do
which actually discourage their toddlers from talking.
So, make sure you watch this video next to find out
exactly what these three mistakes are,
so you can make sure that you don't make them
with your little one.
Thanks for watching and I'll see you next week
where I'll share more parenting tips and tricks.