Expanding Late Talker Chatter: Beyond "I Want"
Imagine relying solely on "I want" for every interaction throughout your day! Chatting with family and friends, shopping at the grocery store, completing work-related tasks, ordering a pizza, calling to ask about a new insurance plan, running into a neighbor while outside - it's quite limiting, isn't it?
If you are navigating the journey of tiny humans, you know how thrilling it is when they start talking. Often this begins with teaching them to express their needs, and “I want” is a logical first step.
While it's a joy to hear those first tiny voiced requests, communication is so much more than just asking for items you need. This is even more important for our children who are late talkers and/or using alternative modes of communication. We must be modeling and teaching all the functions of communication!
Our goal is to enrich our children's communication toolbox, not just with requests but with the full spectrum of human expression. My goal in this blog post is to gently guide you in broadening your child's communication skills, especially for those little ones who are on their unique timeline for speech development. Let's explore how we can support them together.
3 Ways To Broaden Your Child’s Communication Skills
1. Expressing Choices and Dislikes
This part of communication is about helping them assert themselves and make their choices known. For kids who are finding their voice, consider using pictures, sign language gestures, or even apps that give them a voice until they find their own.
Introduce choices in daily routines, like picking outfits or snacks, and encourage them to express when they don't like or want something. This is such a powerful tool that allows them to value their voice in decision-making and express their individuality.
It often feels strange (or even difficult) to encourage our children to say “no”, “stop”, or “don’t”; however a child who knows they can successfully stop or remove unwanted items or activities feels powerful and confident, say buh-bye to a ton of toddler tantrums my friend!
Plus look at the long game! Tiny humans who can self-advocate and keep themselves safe.
An entire blog on teaching our kids to say no to keep them safe if on the way soon.
2. Commenting and Sharing Experiences
Next, we want to encourage our children to comment on the world around them and share their experiences. This moves them from passive observers to active participants in their world.
You can do this by narrating your day together and describing actions, objects, and feelings. "The sky is so blue today!" or "This ice cream is cold and delicious." or “Wow that is a huge bird”.
These observations help them learn how to use language to share thoughts and engage with others. Encourage them to talk about what they see, feel, and do, broadening their ability to connect with those around them.
Here’s a blog post on self-talk and parallel-talk which gives a little more information about this powerful tool specifically.
3. Asking Questions
Curiosity is at the heart and is the fuel of learning. Teaching our children to ask questions opens up a world of discovery. As a homeschooling mama to all of my humans, it is overwhelmingly beautiful to watch your children ask questions and then begin to seek the answers in all the ways they know how.
Bonus tip: If we only cue our children by asking “what’s that” or “where” our late talkers will likely model those words exactly. When encouraging questions, it’s best to model questions with a few more adjectives and nouns, such as: “What’s that shaking”, “It’s tough, I wonder why”, “Where do I find…” “Where do you see…”, “How do I pull…” and “How do you get down”.
If those feel too difficult, you can leave out some of the less important words and/or accentuate the most important ones, like “what’s shaking”, “oooh tough (while pointing)”, “where do I find”, “HOW do you get DOWN”.
Don’t wait for an answer, don’t require an answer to these…we are modeling asking questions, not practicing answering questions.
Expanding our children's communication ability goes far beyond teaching them to say "I want." It's about giving them the tools to express their full selves — their likes, dislikes, thoughts, feelings, and questions.
This journey requires patience, understanding, and lots of practice, but it sure is filled with moments of joy and discovery. It's okay if this feels new to you It's okay to take it one step at a time. Every bit of talking and playing is helping them grow.
How To Improve Your Child’s Speech At Home
Take some time to observe your family routines and identify moments where you could model more diverse forms of communication. This is not just about adding words to their vocabulary, but about enriching your child’s relationships and understanding of the world.
Pre-plan some words or phrases you can model during everyday activities. This way you don’t don’t have to think twice or take too long and lose interest…hello tiny human 3-second attention span!
Remember, every child's path to finding their voice is unique. Celebrate the small victories, remain patient, and know you are your child's best teacher!
Let's make talking fun and full of all the things your child wants to share, not just the "I want" moments. You've got this!
If you’re searching for more help with different types of phrases, here’s a link to my handouts for everyday speech routines! These are magical solutions to easily add a variety of verbs, adjectives, and functions to almost 20 different daily activities.
As always, you’re doing wonderful and I’m proud of you!