5 Ways You Can Help Your Child’s Speech Develop

5 Ways You Can Help Your Child’s Speech Develop

Children develop at different rates, but parents have a huge part to play in their child’s language development. Studies have even shown that those children who are regularly read to and spoken to during their early years have a better vocabulary and greater sense of grammar than those who aren’t. 

With that in mind, we look at the simple ways you can help to boost your child’s speaking skills.

• Work on your skills

It goes without saying that if you’re able to communicate well and communicate well to your little one, they’re more likely to pick it up. You’re not alone in this, though. 

Nowadays, there are plenty of online workshops and courses with everything from Spanish, French, Portuguese, and even English classes if you just want to make sure you’re speaking it as well as possible. You can also work through the modules in your own time, and there are fun games and apps to make learning  even easier. 

• Keep talking

Once you’re more confident in your own speaking, it’s essential that you keep speaking to your child. This is a great way to help them pick up little phrases here and there, but it’s a great way to keep them involved in the day and to develop your bond. Explain what’s going to happen, talk about each activity, and ask your child questions – even if they’re not confident or able to answer. 

• Read and make up stories 

Reading is another way to expand your child’s vocabulary. Many experts even believe that it’s never too early for parents to begin to read to their children. Start with board books before moving onto picture books and then bigger stories when your child is older. 

When they’re little, you could get them to finish the sentence or even make noises of any animals in the story. Once older, why not see who can make up the ending with prizes for the most imaginative tale?

• Enjoy music together 

Listening to music isn’t just fun but it can help children to learn about the rhythm of language and also boost creativity, memory and repetition skills. Begin with nursery rhymes for younger children and act out their favourite songs. It’s a good idea to follow their lead here, especially if they seem more interested in one song than the other. 

If this is the case, keep playing it and getting them to sing along. This tactic even works if your children are learning a second language. Just play music in that spoken language whenever you can. 

• Be mindful of TV and computers

You might think that watching TV would be suitable for communication, but it can  have a damaging effect if too much TV is watched. The American Academy of Pediatrics even says that children younger than two shouldn’t watch TV at all, and those older than two should only watch two hours of TV a day, and it should be quality TV. 

Watching TV and being on a computer doesn’t allow for interaction with other children and adults, which is exactly what children need  to learn a language.

Guest Article.