Being able to speak is one of the best gifts that God can surely give humankind. It is how we express ourselves no matter what language we use. It is essential for us to be able to teach our children the right way of speaking as soon as possible.
If you genuinely want to teach your children how to talk correctly, you have to start them young. There are specific tools and steps that you can take to make sure that they will turn out to be well versed in the art of human language early on.
However, before we discuss those tools and steps, you must first realize the right age for the toddler to talk. When should he or she start talking in the first place? Should you worry if in case your toddler takes too long to speak? These questions will be answered in the next few paragraphs.
What Age Should a Child Start Talking Clearly?
This is the first question that you ought to discover the answer to. At what age should children start to speak? Once you are aware of the answer, you will be able to gauge whether or not you should have your toddler checked by a speech therapist as soon as possible.
A healthy child should be able to speak as soon as he or she hears sounds. Children are excellent mimics, so they would find it easy to emulate sounds that they hear right off the bat. According to research, speech tends to begin to develop well into a baby’s first year of life.
At this age, they should start to babble and produce human-like sounds on their own. They should begin to form words more fully 18 months into their life. You should watch out for simple words coming from your baby’s mouth at this time.
Late Talkers: When to Worry
There are many reasons why some children develop their speaking skills late in life. You should not panic in case your youngster exhibits symptoms of delayed speech development. Just look for signs and symptoms before notifying your medical care practitioner as follows:
Signs and Symptoms That Your Child Is a Late Talker
If the tot reaches 18 to 35 months old and still have difficulty expressing themselves verbally. These children use gestures or have the ability to produce simple sounds that are generally incomprehensible to the human ear.
As mentioned earlier, there are many reasons for delayed speech in children. It could be a symptom of a much more severe condition such as autism and many other possible learning disabilities. Just make sure to consult your doctor right away to find out if your child has special needs that should be met in terms of his speech development.
7 Helpful Tips to Encourage Your Toddler to Talk
Now we go to the heart of the matter. What tools can you use to encourage speech in your children? What tips do you need to remember to foster speech development as soon as possible in a young boy or girl?
Here are seven helpful tips that you can follow as a parent.
1. Surround the Child with Speech Sounds
First off, you should be able to surround your child with speech sounds early on. This will allow the child to get used to hearing human voices. They will eventually learn to copy what they hear from adults around them.
2. Do Some Fun Speech-Related Activities with Him or Her
Reading bedtime stories, listening to music with your child and talking to your child regularly will help develop his speech skills much faster. This is because along with the speech center in his brain, he will improve the ability to distinguish sounds from speech as well.
If this happens, it would be easier for him to learn how to talk eventually.
3. Don’t Baby Talk
As a third tip, you should not try to baby-talk your children as much as possible. As mentioned earlier, babies tend to emulate what they hear from the adults in their lives whether its actions or speech. If you talk to them in broken language, they will tend to develop broken speech skills as well.
It would be best to talk to your child as if you are talking to a healthy adult. Just make sure that you keep your conversation age appropriate and everything else will follow.
4. Give Him Space and Time He Needs
The next thing that you have to remember when teaching your child to speak is that they should be given the time and space to develop on their own. You should not worry if your child takes longer to learn correct speech.
The most important thing to remember here is that you should be able to give him the support that he needs to learn to form words on his own. This way, he will have the confidence to form syllables much faster than anyone can anticipate.
5. Provide Him with Opportunities to Talk
In addition to this, you should also make sure that he gains enough chances to talk whenever possible. Whenever you ask him a question, it is crucial that you allow your child some time to form response on his own. A 10-second pause will do nicely in this particular aspect.
In addition to this, do not be afraid to ask your child some questions regarding the lessons that he or she has learned for the day. Do not reprimand your child if you feel that she is saying something wrong or if her manner of speaking isn’t quite as a liquid as yours when you were a child.
Remember that everybody develops at their own pace. You should not try to hasten your child’s speech development and instead let it flow naturally. By doing this, you will help him develop confidence in himself without having to remind him of this constantly.
6. It Would Be Best to Use Words That Are Easy to Comprehend
Whenever you talk to your offspring, make sure that you use words that he or she will understand easily. As mentioned earlier, you should not baby talk but you should not over-complicate your words either. Ask and answer questions and concise and straightforward sentences.
This way, your child will not find it difficult to talk to you about anything and everything. In addition to this, only answer questions that the child himself asks. Do not try to explain concepts that he is not curious to know.
By asking, he is trying to express that he is ready to learn more about the world and what it entails.
7. Use Simple Explanations for Things
This being said, when explaining something, try to utilize examples that he or she will be able to connect and relate to.
This way, he or she will not only develop speech but the reasoning as well. Like we said earlier, it is vital that you keep your conversations age appropriate. By doing this, he or she will not have a hard time relating to you with words rather than actions.
Conclusion
These are just some of the significant steps that you can take to help your child develop his or her speech capabilities. It is vital that you can communicate with your child in a manner that he will be able to comprehend. Only then will you be able to continue his education in a much more fluid way.
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