Should you be worried about your 18 month old's language development?

Many people feel that 18 months is too young to worry about a child's communication but in actual fact, if there is a problem, the earlier you get help the better.

We know that 'normal' language guidelines are very loose so that each child is different but generally a  18 month old:

• has a short attention span i.e. can concentrate for short periods on an activity
• Shows some early pretend play 
• Enjoys playing with other people 
• Plays with a range of toys/activities 
• Likes routines but can be flexible 
• Follows simple commands and understands simple questions as part of an everyday routine
• Uses babble or some words which family understand 
• Communicates through gesture rather than words (e.g. pointing, waving)
• Eats lumpy food with no problems

However, the following could indicate a problem and could do with investigating further:

• Does not seem to understand what is said
• Does not demand much attention
• Pays attention for only a few moments
• No pretend play
• Reluctant to let others join in their play
• Interested in everyday objects rather than toys. eg light switches, plug sockets, opening/ shutting doors
• Unusually distressed if there are changes to routine
• No babble or words

Small Talk are very happy to see young children to give advice or support you further.

www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk

What's communication like for a 2 -3 year old?

Another in the excellent series 'Through the eyes of a child' from the Communication Trust

What does a speech and language therapist do?

I've just read a post on Netmums asking for advice about a 2 year old. He has been referred to speech therapy but she doesn't think it's a good move because he doesn't talk. There were similar stories on there with many replies from well meaning mums trying to make her feel better but with a  recurrent theme of total misconception of the role of a speech and language therapist. Unfortunately, when I tried to post to explain the moderator removed my post as 'advertising'.

The consensus of opinion was that Speech and language (SLTs to help my typing rate!) DID speech work in a session, a bit like a physio session where they work your muscles maybe. They didn't seem to think they had any role apart from taking the child along. So..... let's see what we can briefly do to explain.

We work with children and adults who have problems communicating. That may be a speech difficulty so that just the person's sounds are the problem, a language issue so that the person's understanding or ability to say words, phrases or sentences is affected or it may be an interaction difficulty. We do not just work with speech sound problems.

When your young child has a problem the SLT will always want to see what the foundation skills are like. The diagram below shows what I mean:

The SLT will look at all these things before deciding on a course of action.

Whatever the problem, the parent is the key in helping the child so that helping the parent fully understand the issues involved and then showing them HOW they can work on the issues in everyday, real situations is the crux of any therapy.

We have designed a 10 week programme with Chuckle Productions to demonstrate what they can do at home to help their children's communication. Parents often say they are too busy but we aim to show them how they can turn every activity into a communication activity. How many times a day do we change a nappy? 5,6 more? So that's 6 potential communication opportunities! We have been commissioned by the adult education dept and will pilot it and write it up.

Functional communication will always be the aim for children who are not talking. This is to help the child understand situations and to be able to tell us what they want etc. This may be to encourage pointing, using pictures/symbols or signing. Usually, if you give a child an alternative way to communicate it relieves the pressure and they often make progress with spoken language.

So if your SLT seems to be asking a lot of questions and then just 'playing' with your child in the first session, don't worry she is using all her training, expertise and professional judgement to work out what best for your little one.

If you are worried about your child, have a look at this progress checker http://www.talkingpoint.org.uk/Parent/Directory/Progress-Checker.aspx
and if you are still worried seek advice from your local SLT. For NHS services use google, for private www.helpwithtalking.com

www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk

How to talk to a 2 year old: more ideas

The Teeny Talker groups that we do are designed to encourage spoken language development in two year olds. Last time we looked at some ideas to help at home. Here is Part 2 of the ideas from Talking Matters


More ideas to develop language:
Pretend play is great for developing language and social skills. Two year olds are happy to be alongside you, copying the things they see you do every day. They could “cook” with a wooden spoon and some plastic bowls while you make tea, or “peg” some socks on the edge of the basket as you hang your clothes on the line. They can also pretend to look after teddies or dolls, copying the things you do with them such as feeding and bath-ing. These activities which children see repeated over and over are great for teaching action words and func-tions.
Talk out loud as you do jobs about the house. Talk about what you are doing and what you are using and your child will learn all kinds of things. “I’m cutting the carrots, chop, chop, chop” “I need something to mix the gravy, what could I use, spoons are good for mixing”
Sorting and tidying are great ways to practice concepts such as size, shape, colour and position words. As you sort the washing you could talk about size. “here are the big socks and here are the little socks. Daddy’s socks are big and yours are little.” Picking up toys could be a way to develop colours, “here is a red block, let’s pick up all the red blocks first.” Putting away the dishes could help develop concepts of shape, let’s put the square containers here and the round ones here.” and position “let’s put the cups up the top and the pans down the bot-tom.” Bathing and dressing are great for learning to combine words, “arm in, leg in” “wash your face, wash your tummy”.
While many skills can be taught as you go through the day one thing that is really worth setting aside a few minutes each day for in a busy schedule is to read to your child. Those few minutes will pay off in the long term with more success at school and with your child developing a love of reading and learning.

Answering simple questions for toddlers
As children grow older, their ability to answer questions develops. Responding to questions helps us to share information, develop relationships, learn from experiences and demonstrate our knowledge.
Blank, Rose and Berlin were researchers that looked at the types of questions teachers asked year one children in the classroom and then classified them into 4 different levels from concrete to abstract. Level one questions are about concrete items and are the first types of questions children learn to answer. Level 4 questions are the most abstract on this scale and are typically consolidated after a child starts school. By understanding the different levels of questions we can:
 Simplify questions when needed to help our child understand
 Expose the child to more complex questions to stimulate their development
 Help prepare our child to answer the types of questions used in educational settings
Level one is the simplest of the four levels of questions and begins to develop in toddlers. Most children are able to consistently respond to this level by the age of three years. At this level children respond to their senses and talk about the things they see, hear and touch immediately in front of them as they answer these early questions.
Level one questions include:
 Choosing objects “Show me the...”
 Naming objects “What is this?”
 Copying actions “Do this...”
 Naming actions “What is he doing?”
 Naming things seen or heard “What did you see/hear?”
 Matching objects “Find one like this”
 Repeating sentences “Say this”
To help a very young child learn to answer questions:
 give lots of practice with one question type before moving on
 keep your questions short, just three or four words to begin
 give only a few choices, two or three pictures or objects to start with, and add more as your child learns
If your child does not know the answer you can:
 give them a choice “Is is a duck or a bear?”
 guide their hand “Let’s find the duck together”
 model the answer “It’s a duck, you say it…What’s this?…It’s a duck”
Try these activities to practice level one questions:
Peekaboo Have some familiar dolls, animals and teddies and a cloth such as a tea towel or small blanket. Ask your child to close their eyes, hide one toy under the cloth and then ask them to open their eyes and say “Who is it?” Take the cloth off and say “Who is it?’ Hide the toy again and ask “Who did you see?” Make a peekaboo picture game by taping some coloured paper flaps onto a piece of cardboard and sliding photos of family members under the flaps for your child to open and name.


Answering simple questions for toddlers
Try these activities to practice level one questions:
Surprise box You can use plastic containers and recycled boxes or buy a few brightly coloured gift boxes to use in this activity. Have a number of small familiar items that will fit in the boxes. To begin with let your child see the items, touch them, talk about them and tell your child their names. Ask your child to close their eyes and hide an object in each box. Help your child to open the box and ask “What’s this?” When your child can do this easily find some new items to hide without showing your child the items first.
Feely bag Use a cloth bag such as a library bag or pillow case and choose a number of familiar items to put inside it. Begin by showing your child the items. Talk about them and name them as you put them in the bag. Help your child to put their hand in and find an item. Let them pull it out and ask “What did you find?” When they can name the items easily put some new items in the bag without showing them first and see if your child can name them.
Books There are lots of ways to use books to practice these types of questions. Early board books with clear pictures of familiar objects can be used to practice “Show me a ...” Use flap books to practice “Who’s/what’s this?” Open and close the flap then ask “What did you see?” Use animal and vehicle books and make noises for your child and ask them to “Point to what you can hear”. Use picture books of children playing or doing daily activities to practice “What is he/she doing?”
Card games Matching games such as lotto games and snap games with pictures of familiar items can be used to practice several different types of questions. If you don’t have these games you can make your own from photos, clip art or junk mail (Remember you need two junk mail catalogues that are the same)
 Place one lotto board or cards on the table. Hold up a matching card and ask your child “Find one like this”.
 Place three or four cards on the table, name and talk about them then turn them face down. Turn one over, count to five then turn it back down. Ask your child “What did you see?” Once your child able to do this repeat it with new pictures without showing them first.
 Use some pictures of things that make a noise, look at them and talk about their names and the sounds they make. Place them face down, pick up one card but don’t show your child the picture. Make the sound, ask “What did you hear?” and see if they can guess which card you have.
Sound makers Collect a number of things from around the house that make sounds such as squeaky toys, rattles, small bells, musical or noisy toys, crunchy paper or plastic, shakers made from plastic bottles with different things inside. Look at them, listen to them, talk about them and name them for your child. Ask your child to close their eyes, make a sound then hide the item as in the mystery box, peekaboo or feely bag games above. See if your child can tell “What did you hear?” and then find the item.
Animal noises Collect a number of toy animals and talk about them together, name them and talk about the sounds they make. Older children can use picture cards or small plastic zoo or farm animals. Ask your child to close their eyes, hide an animal as in the mystery box, peekaboo or feely bag games above. Make the animal’s noise and see if your child can tell “What did you hear?” then find the animal to see if they were right.
Photo albums Use photos of family, friends, familiar items and daily activities in photo albums or slide shows to help your child practice “Who is this?” “What is this?” and “What are they doing?”
Puppets Use puppets or large dolls or toy animals to practice “Do this...” and “Say this…” Make the puppet clap hands, wave or blow a kiss and ask your child to copy. Make the puppet say “hello” or simple sentences and ask your child to copy. Gradually make the actions or sentences more difficult.


Talking Matters offices are located at the Elizabeth East Shopping Centre, 53 Midway Road, Elizabeth East.  We also have an office in Kapunda for families in the Barossa/Mid North area. http://talkingmatters.com.au/

How do I talk to my 2 year old?

As you may know we run classes for two year olds called Teeny Talkers and I keep being asked what parents can do to help at home. Here is lots of communication advice for your two year old from our esteemed colleagues at Talking Matters:


Two year olds are active and sociable and “into everything”. From around two years children go through a period of rapid growth in their communication skills, developing from a toddler experimenting with combining words to a three year old who can use sentences and hold simple conversations. Children who communicate better, interact better with others and manage their emotions and behaviour more effectively, so there are pay offs in the long run for helping your child develop good skills now. Here are some ideas to develop your child’s communication skills.


Two year olds should be using at least 50 single words and putting short phrases of two or three words together. Their speech should include a range of different speech sounds though they may not use them correctly in all words. Not everything that they say may be clear and they may still use some babble when trying to express themselves but familiar people should understand much of what they say.


By two and a half years children can understand:
 what things are used for (what goes on your feet?)
 simple concepts such as big/little, hot/cold, in/out
 the difference between “he” and “she”
 follow simple instructions “find your shoes”
By two and a half years children can say:
 many single words and two word combinations
 some describing words “big”, “hot”
 ask some simple questions “what’s that?” ”where’s Dad?”
 use words for possession “mine, my teddy, daddy’s shoe”
 use plurals “two dogs”
answer yes/no, what and where questions.


To help your child develop word combinations:
1. Build a solid base of single words. Children usually need around 50 single words before they begin this stage. Even after they begin to use two words they will need to continue to learn more single words to continue to develop their language skills. It is usually easier to learn a new word as a single word at this stage e.g. “zebra” then later combine it “baby zebra” “zebra eating” etc.
2. Develop a variety of word types. Children begin by learning lots of names of people and things. To develop two word combinations they often need to combine these nouns with a different type of word such as an action word or a descriptive word. Action words are particularly important as they form the basis of sentences later on.


Help your child learn a range of different words including:
 action words: eat, sleep, jump, dance, run;
 describing words: big, funny, sad, hot, wet;
 position words; up, in, under,
 possessive words: mine, yours,

3. Expand the single words your child does say by adding another word. Try to repeat it a couple of times if you can.
Sometimes you might add another word you know they can say e.g. Child “bye” Adult “bye Dad, Dad’s go-ing shopping, bye Dad”. Sometimes you might add a new word. Child “more” Adult “toast, more toast, you like the toast, more toast.”
Your child does not need to copy you, just hearing what you say will help and they will use that phrase when they are ready. If they do try to copy you though, respond positively. If what they say is not clear still be positive and say it again clearly for them. E.g. child “more toat” Adult “yes more toast”.


Practice games and activities where you can repeat word combinations over and over a number of times.
Activities could include;
 Bath time: wash + body part “wash face, wash arms, wash tummy”
 Mealtime: eat + food name “eat peas, eat carrots, eat meat”
 Dressing: clothing name + on “shirt on, pants on, socks on, hat on”
 Ball play: action + ball “roll ball, push ball, kick ball, catch ball”
 Car play: car + action/position “ car go, car stop, car up, car in, car down”
 Block play "build up, more blocks, fall down"
 Outside play "Alex + run/jump/climb/slide" "Alex under/over/in/out/through"
 Hiding dolls or animals and finding them “hello teddy, goodbye puppy”
 Matching games “Two apples, more dog”
When your child does produce two words together all by themselves expand them to three words to keep them learning.


We'll look at some more ideas next time


Talking Matters offices are located at the Elizabeth East Shopping Centre, 53 Midway Road, Elizabeth East.  They also have an office in Kapunda for families in the Barossa/Mid North area. http://talkingmatters.com.au/