Simple ideas for helping toddlers learn speech sounds

Simple Ideas for Helping Toddlers Learn Speech Sounds

My last post shows when a child should start saying certain sounds, so now what? Either you are comforted because your child is 3 and can’t say ‘L,’ but you know that it’s not a big deal, or they are close to the age of acquisition, and still don’t have the sound, and you are getting a bit worried. In this post I will give examples of a few ways you can help teach your toddler sounds they can't produce yet. Whether you are worried about a speech errors or not.

(*Try to use these methods well before your child is supposed to be able to make a sound they are struggling with, to give them lots of time to learn it.)

The kinder gentler method:

This method is to help teach your child the error sound without them being aware that you are, in fact, teaching them. In this method you model the sound for them in everyday conversations and interactions. Let’s say they are struggling with the L sound.(One example: “yap” instead of “lap”)

In your conversation you would emphasize the L sound that they are missing. Don’t over emphasize, or your child will catch on that you are correcting them, but add just enough that the sounds still sticks out just a bit. 

Here’s a written example.

Child: “Mommy yake?”                  

Parent: “Yes let’s go to the lake!”   

“What should we do at the lake?”

Child: “Pway in the sand?”             

Parent: “What should we play?”     

All you have to do is try to model the correct sound for them as much as you can and you have got it. However, try to keep your language simple, and do not overwhelm them with too many words. Remember that a good rule of thumb is if they are saying 2-3 word sentences try to keep your answers in 4-5 word sentences, to best foster their ability to understand what you are saying.

More obvious method:

Still a method where you can apply it to your day to day activities, but it differs from the first, because this method is more likely to make your child aware that you are correcting them. You do this by having the child try to say the word again when they have a speech error, or repeating the word they said to model the correct way to say the word.

eg. Child: “Doh!”                           eg. Child: “Tootie?”

     Parent: “Say go”                           Parent: “Cookie” 

     Child: “Doh!”                                (hands cookie to the child)

This is a commonly used by parents. Sometimes we repeat what they said, just because we aren't sure what they said. Other times it's because we want them to say the word properly. This is an easy method, but by doing it you are making your child aware that you are correcting them, which is fine, as long as they do not get self conscious of their speech errors, and stop trying to talk all together. My favourite method is the first kinder gentler method, because you still model the correct sound for your child without them being aware that you are correcting them, and they will still get that exposure to the correct sound.

                               Obvious method:

Sitting down in a closed environment where you specifically work on the speech sound. Similar to a teacher in a classroom.

Examples: 

• Flash cards that have the sound your child is struggling with.
• A game where you use the error sound a lot.
• Put a picture/word with the error sound on each piece of a puzzle, and have the child say the word before they can put that piece in the puzzle.
• Put together a mystery bag full of things that have the error sound in their name, and have your child name everything they pull out of the bag.
• Make a matching game with pictures that have the error sound in the name of the pictures.

• *This kind of environment is often done with a Speech Pathologist, who's profession is based on how to teach your child to produce the sounds properly. Safest bet for parents, without guidance from an SLP on how to specifically elicit sounds, is to model, model, model.

The most obvious way of targeting a sound is using flash cards, it gives your child lots of exposure in a short amount of time, this can help, but why not play a game that helps them practice saying the correct sound while having fun. Plus playing a game will likely help them be able to sit and learn for a longer period of time. Remember always model the correct sound whenever they make an error. You do not want to reinforce the error. The object of the game is for you to give them as much exposure to the correct sound as possible. The more they hear the correct sound, the more likely they are to be able to produce it. 

Remember be good models, show them the correct way to make the sound by doing it correctly yourself. Keep up the good work!

Ever wondered what age your child should be able to say certain sounds? (eg. r,s,g,k)

Age child should be able to produce speech sounds 

Does your child say "yake" instead of "lake?" What about "ball" instead of "tall," or "too" instead of "shoe?"

It is pretty normal for children to not be able to say the word they meant to on their first try, but sometimes they hit an age, and still do this, when it isn't quite as cute anymore to sound like Elmer Fudd. (Wascawy wabbit!)

You might wonder when they will grow out of this, or maybe when you won't have to translate everything your child says to others, because they can't understand him/her as well as you do.

Here is a list that should help. I want this list to make parents and adults aware, and have a quick reference, so they can know how their child's speech is developing.

Age child should be able to produce speech sounds 

 *This list is compiled from 2 separate studies

(Table compiled of studies: Poole (1934) 100% criterion for mastery, & Templin (1957) 75% criterion for mastery: extracted from Born to Talk, An introduction to speech and language development; Lloyd M. Hulit, Merle R. Howard, & Kathleen R. Fahey (2011) Fifth Edition)

I encourage you to pay attention to what sounds children around you use, and try to point out if they are not using a certain sound yet. As adults we can get so used to the way children around us talk, that we may not even notice they are substituting sounds for other sounds, or emitting a sound all together. See what you can catch.

There you have it. Keep in mind that this is only 2 studies, and the age that children acquire sounds varies greatly, but this is a great reference to give you a general idea of how well your child is doing with developing his/her speech sounds.

My baby isn't talking yet! How to help your baby or toddler start talking

My baby isn't talking yet! How to help your baby or toddler start talking

Why you are here

As parents we want our child to be the best, and sometimes it is frustrating to see other peoples babies reach milestones before ours does. Well maybe frustrating isn't the right word, but we do want to see our children succeed. When we see Molly's baby start crawling at six months and our baby is 9 months and just starting to crawl, it is common to wonder if there was something you should have done as a parent to help further them along. More tummy time perhaps? Another example: if someone else's baby says "Mamma" at 9 months and you have yet to hear your precious little one say that one word that you are dying to hear. Here I will help give you those things that when looking back, you wonder if you should have done, but never knew existed.

Quick tips: for helping your baby learn to talk

• Repeat, repeat, repeat
• Tell a story- talk about everything you are doing to your baby. (eg. "Mommy's cooking. Look at the bubbles. Now we add noodles. Now stir."
• Model- say the words that your child is intending to say. (eg. baby reaches for bottle and says "baba" you can then hand him/her the bottle and say "yes bottle! This is your bottle."

First Repeat

Repeat what your baby says using the proper word. If you baby says "kaka" and reaches for a cracker you say, "Oh you want a cracker, let me grab you a cracker, here's yourcracker, oh that's a yummy cracker!" Now you have said cracker not only once but four times for your baby. This gives them lots of opportunities to hear the word, and associate it with the object.

If your baby is not at the stage yet where they say "kaka" and just point or draw your attention to whatever they want you can still use this technique. If they point to or are trying to get a toy that is out of reach or in a toy box or on a shelf (you get the idea), use the same method as the above example. 'Child points at ball indicating he wants you to bring it to him.' You would then say, "You want the ball! Here's the ball. Let's play with the ball. Roll the ball. etc."

Simple right? This is a great way to really help your child learn words and helps him associate these words with the object.

Second Tell a Story

Make what you do a story when your baby is interacting with you. Bath time is a great opportunity to do this. A story would go like this. "You are in the bath. Oh the water is warm. Oh splash splash. Let's wash your tummy. Now your toes. Now your fingers. Look at the bubbles." In this short story of just talking about what you are doing, you have labeled what a bath is, water, what warm feels like, what a splash is, tummy, toes, fingers, and bubbles. Even though your baby may not be able to say all these words, or understand all of them yet, the more he is exposed to them, the more likely he is going to be able to put meanings to the words that you are saying. He also will be more likely to use those words, because he can't use words he hasn't heard before.

Third Model

Modelling goes close in hand with repeating. With repeating you are giving your child multiple chances to hear the word, and modelling is telling your child what that word is. In the example above where your child says "kaka" and you say "cracker," that is modelling. Basically you model the correct word for them.

In those moments when your child looks at you expectantly, but doesn't use a verbal expression, model those words that they aren't able to say yet. For example your child is trying to get a rattle that is in sight, but they can't get it, so they say, "uh, uh, uh" (or cry) usually your natural reaction would be to go grab it for them. Instead don't just handing them the rattle and go back to whatever you were doing, use this opportunity to model what the object is called, "rattle," and then hand it to them.

Easy as pie right? This simple strategy can be done while repeating, and while telling a story. All of these tips fit together, so you can use them all at once to help facilitate your baby's language development.

When can I start?

Now! Your child is never to young for these strategies! So start repeating, modelling, and telling stories to your young ones today.

To Finish Up

All children grow and develop differently, therefore, this will not necessarily be the instant fix to get your baby to start talking, but this is a sure way to help them to be able to. All children need to learn, and these tips are a great way to help them learn more about language

The more that children are exposed to words, the better off they will be learning them, and hopefully the sooner you will hear those exciting first words.