Baby/toddler learning to talk - do you 'correct' wrong words

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DS is just learning his first words and tends use the same words for different things (eg all vehicles are cars).

When he uses the right words (points to a car and says 'car!' for instance) I tend to repeat it back to him ('ooh yes a nice blue car!'). But I'm not sure how to respond to him when he uses the 'wrong' word (pointing to a train and saying 'car!') - should I use the 'correct' word to encourage his vocabulary to develop or what?

Incidentally he uses words like 'woof' for dog which I encourage, I'm not counting that as wrong.

Yes, correct him, otherwise he'll think trains are called cars!

Yes

Not in a negative way though. "Mammy a Car!" - points to train' " yes darling a lovely big train! Chooooo Choooo"

Oh and I corrected stuff like Woof too "yes darling a doggy it says woof"

Don't correct him by saying 'no, it's X not y'

Correct him by saying what Penny suggests. Model the right word and be positive.

We briefly saw a speech therapist and they advised just repeating the correct word back without making a think of it so points to train "car!" "Yes, look a train, lovely train - choo choo!"

Same if they are pronouncing wrong so "bub" "oh yes a bus, well done DS" use the correct word yourself but don't tell them they are wrong.

It's not correcting, it's modelling. You don't say no it's not x, it's y, you say "well done, you saw a train, you pointed at a train". It's an important part of their language development and clever. Big moving vehicle, aha, I know a word for that.

Woof is fine too and is all important language development too. Again, you model it back. Don't tell him it's a woof. "Yes ds, that's right, a dog says woof".

X-posted with everybody.

Oh good stuff, that more or less what I do at the moment - 'yes look it's a train!' (ignoring fact he said 'car') or 'woof woof it's a dog!'

Yes correct them my son insists vans are cars but I argue with him that its a van. His toy ambulance he says it's a bus but I correct him as it's not a bus! If my son or daughter used the sound for an animal I used to say yes dog goes woof, yes well done sheep goes baa etc etc

Same as everyone else really I'd say yes a train is like a car isn't it, but it's much bigger etc

You model it back correctly, and positively.
"Choo, choo,"
"That's right, it's a train."

Correct him - unless its super cute.

DS: 'Mummy, it's boogie!! It's boo-gie!!'

Me: 'Yes dear'

That means 'its broken!'

Remember that vocabulary develops before grammar, so you need to make sure you don't bury the modelling in the middle of a sentence. Apart from that, modelling the correct word is perfect.

Lovely advice here. Though yesterday DD was struggling to remember the word for "cookie".. "Pookie? Poopie??"

She decided it was a poopie in the end. Some are too cute to correct immediately

Hi! I encourage any effort to communicate verbally even if it's not "correct" but near enough or associated. They'll get it right eventually. Who knows what's going on in their heads? Maybe an entire phrase but they only say one word of it. So I just repeat the word they used in a phrase to demo where it fits in.

Check out this short video on the funny side of learning words:

I always correct, normally DD: "car!" Me: "clever girl, that's a green lorry".

Although if your DS grows up to be anything like my DD he'll reply with "no, is car!". I have often gotten into arguments with DD when she insists she knows what something is and must correct me