My good friend, Nikki, is here today with four easy steps to help your toddler talk. Take it away, Nikki!
Thanks, Social Butterfly Mom, for asking me to be a guest blogger for your “unCOMMON SENSE Parenting” series! Currently, I am a stay at home mom, but in a previous life, I was a Speech-Language Pathologist in an elementary school and middle school.
There are many ways I use my previous occupation to influence how I speak with my two year old, but you don’t have to be a speech-language pathologist to further your child’s speech and language development. A lot of it is common sense, really.
First of all, I want to stress that every child develops at a different rate. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people ask if it’s ok that their toddler can’t say a certain sound. In most cases, yes, it is perfectly normal!
There is a wide range of what is considered typical in regards to when a child can use different speech sounds. Teachmetotalk.com says that parents should understand at least 50% of what a toddler is saying by their second birthday. By age 3, parents should understand most (90%) of what a child is saying. By age 4, strangers should understand most (90%) of what a child says.
Kids depend on their caregivers to model appropriate speech and language usage. Our children learn the foundation for language by listening and using what they hear as a model for future speech and language production. Since we are the ultimate reference for our children, there are four common sense ideas you can implement today!
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