Communication Development
Strategies to support your child's communication development within their everyday routines and play.
On the Blog...
What to do if your Child is only Saying Parts of Words
It's so easy to help a child to hear and use all the syllables in a word - simply tap it out with them.The trick here is to just model...
Help! My Child doesn't really Babble or make Many Noises
Time to make some noises, people. OMG I said adjective and I meant verb!! Losing my marbles this evening.Making noises yourself and making for face fun is KEY here.Stay away...
Fill them up with Language: Swimming Edition
Just LOOK how much vocab you can teach when you take your little one swimming. And this is MINIMUM - there'll be so many more things specific to your local...
How Speech Sounds Develop
Some sounds are harder to say than others, so we don't tend to hear children say them until they're older. Knowing WHEN sounds typically develop will ensure that you're not...
Functional First Words to Teach Your Baby
When Speech Therapists describe words as functional, they mean "useful words to get your point across and your needs met". We want all children to have a form of functional...
Did you know that Animal Sounds Count as First Words?!
Yep. They meet the criteria for first words. If your little one uses the same sound consistently and in the correct context (eg barks when they see a dog )...
Support you Child's Communication Develop with this Easy Trick
This is such a great trick to have up your sleeve. Reading and cuddling is obviously fantastic for many reasons, but have you tried face to face? This position is...
How to Tempt your Baby to Communicate with You
You can start doing these with even tiny babies. Remember - communication isn’t just talking. These strategies will tempt your little one to make eye contact and vocalisations to tell...
If your Baby isn't Talking Yet
You can help your little one to learn how to talk to you by making noises and having fun.You read that correctly.Way before talking develops (from birth, actually) your little...
How to Have a conversation with your Baby
Imitation is magic. Check out my ‘language’ and ‘temptations’ highlight for more tips on supporting your little one to start talking. This may just look like noise making, but it’s...
6 Skills Your Baby Needs Before They Can Imitate Words
Waiting for your baby to talk? This one’s for you. There’s a few things they need to be able to do before they’ll understand the power of imitating words. If...
How to Practice Speech Sounds during Play
Speech sound practise should be fun! Make sure it’s a sound they can actually say but they just need practice to use more often. Briefly pause any game to build...
Letter to Sound Rules
I’m so proud of August tonight that I could EXPLODE.I’ve been teaching August his letter to sound rules since he was 1 year old (he turns 3 in June)- not...
If your Baby isn't Talking yet
You can help your little one to learn how to talk to you by making noises and having fun.You read that correctly.Way before talking develops (from birth, actually) your little...
Clap out the Syllables in Longer Words
ALL CHILDREN drop syllables from longer words at some point in their development. Its called 'weak syllable deletion' - and it just means that they drop the weaker, less pronounced...
The Alphabet Song isn’t Important
The Alphabet Song isn’t important. You heard that right. A-B-C-D somewhat pointless. What’s way more important is the sounds that letters make. We speak and write in sounds not letters....
Why Children find it Hard to Learn a New Speech Sound
Hint: they’re not being lazy.If you couldn’t remember to put a new sound in the middle of all your sentences all day - why would you expect a child to?!...
How to Teach your Child to Blow out Candles
It's likely they blow with their mouth in a /f/ sound shape right now but that's too obstructive - they need their mouth in a /w/ sound shape. Heres a...
Tempt them to Communitcate
These are just a few of the ways that you can tempt your little one to interact with you, basically by doing something a little bit silly. Kids are so...
How to Teach your Baby to Talk: Turn Taking
It's not just about feeding them and keeping them alive! Your baby's brain is a sponge and they're ready to start learning how to communicate with you!!It all begins with...
