My daughter V, is 15 months old, and these are some of the things that I do to encourage her language skills. Each kid develops at his or her own pace, but to provide stimulation for the child is very important. As new parents, sometimes we wonder what to do and how to do, or simply believe they will just learn and evolve. At the same time, it is important to know that your little one is at par with the milestones. So here I am sharing a few tips, that will help you easily stimulate language for your little one.
Tip # 1: Try to be an observer:
Keen observation of your child will help you understand what and how your child is trying to communicate. Children may take out different ways to communicate, and we will understand that only when we thoroughly observe them. Spending time with the little one, need not be always be by playing with them or talking to them or making them do some activity. We can learn and teach a lot, if we observe them as well.
Tip # 2: Imitate your child: from actions to words.
Be it actions or words, imitating your child makes them feel proud and that encourages more them to explore on more actions and sounds. for example, if your child makes a brr sound and you have observed that, and you start making the same sound, you will notice that he or she would be happy and will make it again. What did you do now??
You just boosted up their confidence, that you did something good, you did get their attention to you, which is a pre requisite for starting communication, you have made them proud by imitating (like you did something what they started off: they feel like a leader) and they are happy. A happy child learns a lot.
Tip # 3: Add meaning to their babble.
Whatever your child babbles, add a similar sounding word or phrase to what he/she says and try to make it meaningful. This is possible and easy to do, when you observe and imitate them, then you know how to add on to it.
For example, V started making this fun sound, something that sounded like “ton” and I started imitating the same, and that made her excited. Slowly I started counting 1 to 9 and then gave a big pause and said ton in the way she would say and made it meaningful as ten… because I gave a pause and expected her to say 10 after 9, she slowly learned the number 9 too… now she counts 9 and 10 if I could till 8. This is just a routine that was formed and note that she does not know the number concept.
Another example is the word “aana” for elephant, again this was a random babble that came out, and when I associated that with a toy elephant, she understood and made it meaningful.
Even if you feel what your child is saying is absolute non sense, simply add something to it, it will encourage them to communicate more and will understand and express well.
Tip # 4: Make use of routines
Repetition is a great way of learning. And routine activities are the most repetitive activities in ones life like brushing, bathing, changing diapers, eating, bed time etc. Using the same words and phrases for each routine, makes it easy to understand as to what to expect and catch up the words that we say. Naming the body parts as you apply soap or oil, some oral imitation as you make them brush, naming the food as they eat, singing a song for diaper change or potty gets them to grasp those words fast and as their understanding increases, their expression of words will also increase.
Tip # 5: The sing song way
A great way to stimulate kids is to bring songs in to picture. Kids just enjoy listening to songs. This does not mean you have to get them to listen to all the rhymes on you tube. Just sing a small rhyme with its action and you will see how much more interested your child will be to listen to you and would want you to sing more. You can make your own little songs or singing parts and of a rhyme to match what the child is doing is great way, especially in routines.
For example: while brushing, you could sing “this is the way I brush my teeth” from “here we go round the mulberry bush” or while eating an apple you could make up a song like
“E ating apple, eating apple,
yum yum yum,
yummy yummy apple, yummy yummy apple,
lets eat eat”
this can be sung in the tune of “Are you sleeping?” Its that simple!!
Try out these tips with your little one and this surely will help you stimulate language and communication with your little cutie pie. Have a great time! Enjoy parenthood !!
The Epic Momster! 