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<\/a><\/p>\nWait\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
As adults we tend to want to fill in a lull in conversation. Or, we tend to ask our child a question and then rush to answer for him. In the future, try waiting a few moments longer than you normally would to allow your child to process the question or conversation.\u00a0 By giving your child time to respond, it reinforces his effort to keep trying to communicate, even if he isn’t responding in an understandable way quite yet.<\/p>\n
Expand<\/b><\/p>\n
Expand on your child\u2019s current language ability. If your child extends an object and doesn\u2019t have a word for it, model the word for him. If your child extends an object and uses 1-word to label (ball), model back a 2-word phrase (big ball).<\/p>\n
Use Sounds<\/b><\/p>\n
Sounds are easier to imitate than words and are generally way more fun to produce during play. If animal and vehicle sounds seem to be difficult for your child to produce, try starting with pure vowels (ahhhhhh, oooooo, ohhhhh, eeeeeee). Once your child becomes more adept at imitating the pure vowels, begin to move on to more silly, animal, and vehicle sounds.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b>Don\u2019t Test<\/b><\/p>\n Here’s a Challenge for You: remove the question \u201cwhat\u2019s this?\u201d and the command \u201csay ____\u201d\u00a0 from the conversation with your toddler. Chances are, when putting pressure on your toddler to perform by asking \u201cwhat\u2019s this,\u201d or when giving him the command \u201csay ball\u201d he shuts down and says nothing. Take the pressure off and refer back to the strategies of Model<\/i><\/b> and Wait.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n