Communication Development
Strategies to support your child's communication development within their everyday routines and play.
On the Blog...
Be a Teacher, not at Tester
When our babies start communicating with us using words, signs or actions, we tend to get excited and want them to do it again and again. We can easily fall...
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 )...
Tempt them to Communicate
Another example of a communication temptation! Communication temptations are things you can do to sabotage a situation or a predictable routine. They're so put of the ordinary that they tempt...
How to Tell if Your Child is Meeting Their Expressive Language Milestones
Write it down, guys!I've been putting it off but today I took the time to start the list of words I know that Etta is saying consistently. This will mean...
2 Ways to Help Your Child Say More Words
Two strategies for supporting your little one to say more words. If you’re trying to teach your little one to use more words – this is he video for you!...
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...
Don't Miss the Teaching Opportunity
I hear SO MANY people missing the teaching opportunity by saying "good boy" or "good girl". If this is you - don't be offended! I can FEEL the excitement of parents...
The One-Hand Rule for Language Development
Every time you make a comment, you’re teaching your child something. Think of it as making a deposit into their language bank. Every time you ask a question, you’re testing...
How do you Know if your Child’s saying Mama or Dada to mean You?
The /m/ and the /d/ sound are some of the earliest to develop so it’s not uncommon for children to start babbling these sounds. And you can’t forgive parents for...
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...
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...
Say it Back Correctly
It takes a long time for little ones to master saying words correctly, and along the way they tend to have all kinds of cute ways to say things. It's...
Teach Manners through Modelling, not Parroting
When you prompt your little one to “say please” or “say sorry”, they’re learning that they have to copy what you say to get what they want, but it’s unlikely...
Six Common Mistakes when Teaching a Child their First Words
📌 Share with a parent who's teaching their child to talk 😍 Asking a lot of questions Try: Comment on things they are doing and objects that catch their attention....
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?!...
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...
The Power of Modelling
Modelling is when you show your child the exact thing you would like them to say or do, and it’s a word Speech and Language Therapists say all the time....
