Navigating speech delays and early language learning in children can be a challenging experience for both parents and their little ones. As a parent, it’s natural to want to help your child communicate effectively and express themselves to the best of their abilities. While speech therapy is an important tool in addressing these challenges, there are also daily skills and tricks that parents can use at home to support their child’s language development.

1. Create an Enriching Environment at Home

• Parents can set the stage for successful language learning at home by first creating a supportive and stimulating environment. This can involve talking to your child often, using clear and enthusiastic language and creating new experiences to teach vocabulary. By consistently exposing your child to language-rich interactions, you can help them build their vocabulary and develop their communication skills.

2. Incorporate Language Learning Activities into Daily Routines

• By describing what you hear, see, smell, touch and taste, you can increase your child’s pre-verbal ability to express their wants, needs and ideas. You can also encourage your child to use gestures or pictures to communicate their needs and wants. 

• This doesn’t mean we’re not still working on their verbal language—it just means we want to provide them with additional ways to communicate so they do not become frustrated. By modeling the use of other ways to communicate you can actually bolster their verbal language by increasing their communication confidence and self esteem and allowing them to feel “heard”.

3. Use Pictures to Connect Verbal Cues

• There are many ways to use pictures as an alternative method of communication. One great (and easily accessible) method that our family loves is to use individual pictures of food items that we like to snack on. We place pictures of the available food items on the kitchen pantry door or fridge. This way, a pre-verbal child can make a choice and point to communicate that choice. I often recommend cutting off the front of packaging to use it as a picture symbol (i.e. save a Little Spoon Fruit Ripper wrapper to use as the symbol).

• When using pictures, also remember to use the verbal word so your child can make the connection between the picture and the word. This total communication approach is a great way to ensure your child is learning the importance of communication, not just verbal speech. By making language learning fun and interactive, you can keep your child engaged and motivated to practice their communication skills.

Remember that development isn’t a race to the finish line. Everyone is on their own journey and it’s almost never totally linear! Celebrate small victories and progress, and avoid putting pressure on your child to perform/eat or reach certain milestones within a set timeframe. Every child is unique and will progress at their own pace—it’s important to focus on the incremental improvements that your child makes along the way. While speech therapy is an important tool in addressing these challenges, these daily skills and tricks can improve your child’s language development in an environment that they are the most comfortable in.