My Toddler Isn’t Talking … what should I do?

TODDLERS ARE GROWING AND CHANGING QUICKLY AND WE, AS PARENTS, are eager for our children to learn to walk, talk, and play. Many parents worry that their toddler isn’t meeting developmental milestones related to communication. Knowing and understanding developmental milestones for your child can be helpful when trying to gauge if your toddler is “on track” or if they could use some help from a professional. Some developmental milestones to keep in mind related to toddlers include the following:

If you are worried that your toddler isn’t meeting communication milestones, it is important to schedule an evaluation with a speechlanguage pathologist to determine if your child would benefit from speech and language therapy. A speech language pathologist will conduct an evaluation that includes a parent interview as well as standardized and informal measures completed through play. Following an evaluation, a speech-language pathologist can make specific recommendations for your child based on the results. In the meantime, parents can help improve their toddler’s language development at home too!

Here are 5 tips to get you started:

1 Talk, talk, talk to your child! Narrate your day by telling your child what you are doing (“Mommy is washing dishes”) and what you see in the environment (“That’s a big truck”).

2 Read and sing to your child each day. During book reading, have your child point to pictures you name or tell you what they see. Don’t forget to use action words and descriptors in addition to nouns. When singing songs, have your child try to fill in a missing word as you pause and give an expectant look during familiar songs (“Twinkle twinkle little….”).

The most important thing to remember is to have fun and engage with your child. Children learn best through play so don’t be afraid to get on the floor and be silly. Play is the key to learning!

3 Bring your child’s attention to your mouth as you are teaching your toddler new words during play. For example, you can point to your lips as you say a word or hold the toy near your mouth as you say the word.

4 Engage in play with your child every day and model simple words and phrases during play (“up up up!” “Wee!” “My pig”).

5 Expand your child’s language by adding one more word to your child’s utterance. For example, if your child says “up,” you can model “Momma up.”

By 2 years of age, your child should:

Use at least 50 single words.

Name and point to pictures in books and items in their environment. Combine two or more words to form short phrases such as “momma up.”

Ask and understand simple questions such as “What’s that?” and “Where’s your shoe?”

Identify a few body parts.

Follow 1-2 step directions.

Amy Elder, MA, CCC-SLP is a SpeechLanguage Pathologist with LKN SpeechLanguage Pathology. She has over 17 years of experience as a pediatric SLP. You can learn more about her and her team at www.lkn-slp.com.