By Ashley Jung M.S. CCC-SLP
When will my child begin to talk and what should I expect from my toddlers learning language? This is a common question parents ask when their child is not using words to communicate. Here’s my rule of thumb: He should say his first word at the age of 1 year (12 months). At age 2, he should be combining two words together (saying 50 to 200 words). At age 3, he should be using at least three to five-word phrases. (Note: There is a range for development, but these are general milestones for expressive language development.)
If you think your child “should talk more,” discuss your concerns with your doctor, and/or refer to an agency like Imua Family Services and request that your child obtain a speech and language evaluation. In the meantime, here are five strategies you can implement in the home environment to encourage and facilitate your child’s speech and language development.
- Parallel Talk: Describe everything your child sees, does and touches. Give a running commentary about your child’s actions. He will have more opportunities to imitate when you model rich language.
- Provide Choices: Give your child a choice between two objects to encourage him to use a word to get what he wants (e.g., “Do you want milk or juice?”).
- Labeling/Withholding: When your child points to something he wants, hold the item near your mouth and label the object. Encourage him to imitate the target word or beginning sound of the item before he receives the desired object.
- Repetition and Expansion: Repeat and expand on what your child says. If he says, “Mommy!”, then you say, “Mommy look!”
- Praise: Praise your child when he produces a sound or word, and explain why you are proud of him (e.g., “You’re good at saying ‘up’ when you want me to carry you!”).
