Encouraging Toddlers to Participate in Conversations
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Encouraging toddlers to talk using the ABCD approach can prove to be just the right impetus your child needs to get him talking. Communication will soon bring about many appreciable changes in your child. He’ll also be able to do a lot more with his newly acquired skills.
It’s an exciting time in the life of a parent when their toddlers progress from babbling to speaking words, forming sentences and eventually, conversing.The mantra here is to just let kids learn the art of communication first rather than correcting their pronunciation and grammar. At this time, parents can also engage their toddlers in reading, watching selected movies and other such activities to help them get a grasp of language. The ABCD method can work exceedingly well in helping achieve the same.
How to Encourage Your Toddler to Talk with Confidence
A – Articulation
Begin with helping your child articulate words. At this stage, his vocabulary is increasing very fast, presenting a ripe opportunity to teach words. You can use various ways like using a mirror while he tries to form words, or using a tissue over his mouth to teach him phonics like ‘P’, ‘Ph’, ‘T’ and other sounds. It’ll be very interesting for him to experience and he will learn in the process. This is one of the best ways to teach toddlers to talk.
B – Building Vocabulary
You can help expand your child’s vocabulary with simple day-to-day tasks too. Repeating instructions and descriptions can work as activities to help toddlers talk. Being descriptive and repetitive will ensure that your child registers the incident in his mind. For example, if it’s raining you can tell him about rain and repeat ‘It’s raining’ and ‘We’ll get wet if we go outside’. This may trigger questions like ‘Are we wet?’ You should reply to them and expand further such as ‘Yes, we are wet because it’s raining.’
C – Comprehension
Even before your toddler starts talking, you should always use complete sentences and instructions while speaking to him. This will contribute in helping your toddler talk when he eventually reaches the age and stage of learning advanced communication skills. Simple instructions like ‘Pick up your toy’, ‘Pass me the red ball’ and ‘Put your book on the table’ should be part of the daily routine to build comprehension.
D – Demonstration
Conversation skill exercises for toddlers can include all that they can learn while you demonstrate the actions. Replaying the same tune or song to your toddler, pretend playing with him using a toy phone, exposing him to other children of his age to learn the skill of communication, and singing to him will go a long way improving speech skills in your tot.
As a parent, you can’t help but wait for this phase in your child’s life and as you prepare for him to become a little chatterbox. Having conversations and watching him hone his speech skills is thrilling and rewarding. Plan activities and games to help him. Pretty soon, he’ll be bombarding you with questions that you’ll have to tirelessly answer!
