Communication Development
Strategies to support your child's communication development within their everyday routines and play.
On the Blog...
If they're feeling too shy to answer questions
Even the most confident kids can suddenly become mute if they’re asked a question. This is a totally normal reaction.We have to step in as their parent so that there’s...
Teaching Opportunities
YOU ARE YOUR CHILD'S BEST TEACHER. Read that again. Your child feels safest with you, most comfortable with you, they trust you more than anyone and they believe everything you...
What to say when they don't know how to refer to themselves
Do you all know that I promote talking in the first person - so saying “I’m hungry” instead of “Mum is hungry”. But even with the best modelling, kids...
Have Fun with Rhyming Words
If you've followed for a while then you know we sing ALL THE TIME. We sing kids songs and nursery rhymes all day and now August loves to sing to...
Fill them up with language: Describing Food
Is your little one using all of these words to describe their food? Would you say they'd understand all of these words? If the answer is 'no' then it's time...
Fix up their phrase
You really don't have to 'correct' your child to teach them the correct way to speak. MODELLING and REPETITION are incredibly powerful, and you can make a big impact by...
Have fun with sounds
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the SOUND a letter makes is so much more important to know than it’s name! Yes - the name is also...
Speech errors kids make: Gliding
The /r/ and /l/ sounds are often quite hard to say for little ones. That’s why they often replace them for a /y/ or a /w/ sound instead. We’ve all...
Tempt them to communicate: Do the unexpected
If you were looking for permission to be really silly - here it is. Doing the unexpected is a wonderful way to spark your child's interest, get their attention and...
Speech errors kids make: Cluster reduction
When a Speech and Language Therapist talks about 'speech', they mean the sounds that words are made up of (not the words themselves). A child with speech difficulties may say...
Use their special interest
Many of your little ones may have already developed a special interest. A special interest is just something that they love and are drawn to. For August - it's bins!...
Speech errors kids make: Final consonant deletion
When a Speech and Language Therapist talks about 'speech', they mean the sounds that words are made up of (not the words themselves). A child with speech difficulties may say...
Language Everywhere: 🐝🐝🐝
Language is everywhere and there's an infinite amount of new words that your little one has the potential of learning. Remember - language isn't inside your child waiting to come...
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...
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...
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...
Say and sign before you do: Water
Being able to ask for a drink is so important - especially as summer is approaching. We're all fab parents so we tend to anticipate our little one being thirsty...
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...
Turn off the background noise
Did you know that research has shown that background noise can impact on language development? Let's talk about why this is.Have you ever driven though the drive-thru at your fave...
