How to teach your toddler to join words together
Typically, most children can combine two or more words before the age of 2. Some children take a little longer and some children learn this much sooner.
The BEST WAY you can support your little one to start combining the words that they know is by being an excellent model of that next step. Often parents fall into the trap of praising their children for talking (and I get it! it's so exciting to hear their words!) or sometimes just saying the same word back to their child.
The key here is to SHOW THEM THE NEXT STEP by SAYING THE NEXT STEP. So if your child says one word, you repeat it back to them and add a word.
🐕dog --> big dog
⚽️ball --> bouncy ball
🔨hammer --> mummy's hammer
🚗car --> red car
You get the point right? And it sounds like a pretty obvious strategy but it's pretty hard to remember and do consistently if you're not used to it.
SO - the best way to change a habit is to pick one time in the day you will do it. When are you and your little one together and chatting often? In the car? At bedtime? Bathtime? Stick yourself a post-it note in those places to remind yourself and then give it a go. It doesn't need to sound like you're correcting them - it should just sound like you're interested!!
The BEST WAY you can support your little one to start combining the words that they know is by being an excellent model of that next step. Often parents fall into the trap of praising their children for talking (and I get it! it's so exciting to hear their words!) or sometimes just saying the same word back to their child.
The key here is to SHOW THEM THE NEXT STEP by SAYING THE NEXT STEP. So if your child says one word, you repeat it back to them and add a word.
🐕dog --> big dog
⚽️ball --> bouncy ball
🔨hammer --> mummy's hammer
🚗car --> red car
You get the point right? And it sounds like a pretty obvious strategy but it's pretty hard to remember and do consistently if you're not used to it.
SO - the best way to change a habit is to pick one time in the day you will do it. When are you and your little one together and chatting often? In the car? At bedtime? Bathtime? Stick yourself a post-it note in those places to remind yourself and then give it a go. It doesn't need to sound like you're correcting them - it should just sound like you're interested!!
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