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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Books / strategies to help toddler talk

12 replies

Secondsop · 30/05/2014 05:27

Hello, my 18 month old boy isn't talking although he understands what we say and will respond to simple commands. I know it's still early days for him and that he may well get there on his own just fine but I was wondering if anyone could recommend any books / games / atrategies that I could be trying, to help him? On another thread that I can't find, someone recommended the "ready steady go" game where you tickle the child on "go" and then keep playing it but waiting without saying go to see if he'll say it, and we tried it last night thinking it might take days / weeks for him to get it and you could have knocked us down with a feather when he picked it up within about 2 minutes, saying "go" clear as a bell. So I'd really like to find other things like that to help him use language to communicate. Thanks in advance for your help.

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outtheothersidefinally · 30/05/2014 06:14

Sounds like you're already doing great! I'd suggest - Reading to him, asking him questions, listening and taking him seriously when he does talk, giving him choices, including him in normal conversations...

As you says, it's very early. It could be 2 years before he's ready to speak/speak clearly. It has no relationship to intelligence levels or how articulate he will be as he grows up.

mynameisnotmichaelcaine · 30/05/2014 06:27

They're are some great videos online narrated by Kathy Burke. On my phone so can't link, but you can google it. It seems really odd and false but make sure you spend some of your day commentating on what you are doing. I always do it at home because it makes me feel stupid in public. So cooking tea - "look Ds here is an onion. Mummy's going to chop it and put it in the pan" etc.

boringlivingroom · 30/05/2014 10:43

The best I read was "baby talk" by sally ward. It is done by stages up to the age of 4. It has sections on how to encourage language development as well as appropriate toys and books. Really good.

beccajoh · 30/05/2014 10:48

What else is he doing? Is he developing physical skills - running, climbing, jumping etc? Some kids do things in stages - lasted a physical skill, then they master a verbal/mental skill, then another physical skill. I REALLY wouldn't worry about it at 18 months, as long as he's able to understand basic things you're saying to him. Does he babble and make other sounds?

beccajoh · 30/05/2014 10:49

Learn, not lasted stupid autocorrect.

Original poster

Secondsop · 30/05/2014 13:16

Hi, yes he does lots of physical things - climbs, runs, puts things all over the house, loves going outside for walls or to run around the garden, is embarrassingly dextrous on the iPad. He does babble and uses variation in tone eg if we try to tell him to stop doing something eg trying to open the glasses cabinet he points a finger and gives us a bit of lip! He definitely understands a fair bit of what we say. Eg he can point to his teeth, hair, nose, and if you ask him to go and bring you something he (if he wants to) can do it, and if you tell him "go and show daddy" he'll do it. He understands consequences of some words eg he knows that "bye bye" means someone is going, and if we have a visitor he cries when they say bye. He understands processes and habits eg he was sitting on the stairs yesterday trying to get our attention and we didn't know why until my mum (who generally looks after him while we work) said that's where he goes after going outside as that's where she removes his shoes, so he was waiting for that.

I try to commentate household activities and ask him aboiy what he's doing eg "are you playing with Teddy? Where's Bunny?". I tried something else today, singing "grand old duke of York" and leaving the last word for him to complete and he had a good go at saying "down". So I do think his comprehension is good, but he just hasn't made the leap into using words to communicate. The "ready steady go" is still going well today - he says go as soon as you say "ready" now.

Thanks for the suggestions of the videos and the Sally Ward book - I'll look both up. The other factor in our situation is that we've just had another baby and I'm worried that the toddler won't get as much attention unless I have some deliberate strategies. But it does mean that I'm now at home with him for the best part of the year.

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naty1 · 30/05/2014 14:05

Picture books are good for speech. Thry repeat the word after you

Guin1 · 30/05/2014 15:29

Don't be too concerned about his lack of 'words' at 18 months. The important things are that he has good receptive language (ie understanding of words) and that he babbles a lot (so he wants to talk). My DS is 20 months and his spoken language has exploded in the last month.

I don't have any specific strategies, but I do talk to him pretty much all the time when we are together, even if it is really mundane stuff, and ask him lots of questions (many of them rhetorical - "you're such a good boy, aren't you?" etc), and I sing a lot, mostly made up lyrics using his name, to whatever tune happens to be going around in my head at the time. Even at the supermarket. And I really can't sing very well at all. We have always spent a lot of time together looking through his board books, reading, talking about the pictures, pointing out objects, making appropriate noises for animals, cars, etc.

But really, don't worry!!

Original poster

Secondsop · 30/05/2014 17:06

Thank you for the reassurance - I will try to relax and not worry about it whilst keeping up the various strategies including talking and singing; I don't think he's delayed but just want to be as much help to him as I can.

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Jaffakake · 30/05/2014 21:42

Just keep doing what you're doing. He sounds like a sparky little one! It makes me smile & remember that stage & my ds is only a year ahead of yours.

It's proper amazing when they actually properly start to talk. Over a bank holiday our ds seemed to totally 'get it' & started to repeat the words to pictures in his baby sign book. He never really took to baby sign. Then a short while later it was like someone had turned a tap on, all these words started to come and come and come! It's like he'd been a sponge the whole time we'd been talking to him, absorbing all these words and their meaning & then, all of a sudden he had the ability to make them come back out! We often discuss where we think he's picked something up from.

I really think the two most important things are reading stories and listening to them; trying to intimate conversations. The first helps vocabulary & understanding massively. The second...well, why would you talk if no one is going to listen to you?

I'm so excited for you. My favourite thing right now is to have proper conversations with my son about things he's interested in. It's just around the corner for you x x

beccajoh · 31/05/2014 09:42

Sounds like he's doing absolutely fine. My friend is a speech therapist and she wouldn't have any concerns. My daughter was quite similar at the same age - had a few words, but mostly babble. She's almost 23 months now and has a LOT of words, short sentences, and is like a sponge, repeating everything!

EssexMummy123 · 31/05/2014 20:05

I was worried - DD only had one word at 16 months - so i got a dvd by a s&l therapist that had lots of good reviews on amazon, hhmmm what was it again, oh i remember

www.amazon.co.uk/Oxbridge-Baby-Learn-Talk-DVD/dp/B000W3LKTU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401563066&sr=8-1&keywords=learn+to+talk

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