Everyday
Give your child a reason to talk
You know your child the best, so it is easy to know exactly what they will want or need. Often, you will give it to them before they ask or leave it where they can get it themselves. To help your child to talk, it is important that you give them a reason to talk by making things a little bit more difficult. It can help if you change things around in your daily routines so that your child has to ask for your help.
What should we do?
- Move your child’s favourite toys or snacks out of their reach so they have to ask for them.
- At snack time, only give your child a few bits or a little bit of drink – so your child has to ask for more.
- Forget things! Give your child a cup but no juice, only one sock or shoe, their pyjama top but no bottoms – so they have to ask.
- Stop playing! When you are both really enjoying playing a game, stop and look away so your child has to ask you to join in again.
- Don’t anticipate your child’s needs – wait until they ask for a drink or snack. Make it fun – don’t wait until they get frustrated and cross as this might prevent them from wanting to try.
- Praise any attempts at telling you what they want. At first your child might look at or take you to what they want. Then they might point and use a sound. Eventually we hope they will try to use words to ask for what they want.