How do you encourage your toddler to talk?

[~Hestia~]

My nearly 3 year old has been slow to talk but is really coming along now. A few things we have been doing is not pushing him, so if we know what he wants then just give/do without making him say it. People I know were telling me I was making it too easy for him not to talk, but then when I got a professional opinion, she felt that not making him even more frustrated when he really couldn't say that particular word yet was better if that makes sense. If it was something we knew he can say then of course we would tell him to say it. I know how hard it is when you seriously don't know what they want though

Another key thing for us has been taking the question out of it, so instead of saying 'can you say...' we simply said 'say...' The amount of words he came out with when we changed this was astonishing!

We always encourage his efforts. Even if what he has come out with is nothing like the actual word then we still say 'great talking, good try' etc etc.

But yes as others have mentioned 16 months is quite young, sounds like she is doing well so far!

[CeCe]

I completed the Hanen program recently because at 18mths DS wasn’t saying a great deal. He has low muscle tone which can cause delays with speech apparently so it was offered to us.
Some strategies I got from the course are:
1. Make communication fun and involve yourself in your child’s play and interests when working on language
2. Get down to their level so you have good eye contact and become engaged
3. Aim your speech at their level. If your DS is starting to use words, keep your interactions short, slow and repetitive, for example at bath time you may want to repeat several times “wash” as you wash DS, at meals you may want to repeat “more” when offering the next spoonful of food.
4. The main thing I learnt is Observe, Wait and Listen (OWL). Observe your DS to see what has his attention and build on that in your interaction. (eg, if he’s playing with a car don’t try and get him to read a book, but talk about the car). Wait for his reaction once you’ve spoken – take turns and pause for him to respond. Listen for noises. I learnt I passed over some noises from DS when he was actually trying to say the words but they weren’t as I’d said it so I passed it over. Once they make a noise, you can repeat the word to enforce it and the correct pronunciation. My son says nummy for dummy, when he asks for his dummy I repeat “you want your dummy”.
5. Work with what they’ve mastered so far. We changed the word for DS’s teddy from ‘teddy’ to ‘bear’ he had the ‘b’ noise in his vocabulary.

Before I did this program we were much like you. DS knew what he wanted but just wouldn’t or couldn’t say the words and we’d have meltdowns from him when we didn’t understand or cotton on soon enough that he was hungry or thirsty.

We had about 10 words before this course, used infrequently. We've probably at least tripled it now in a few months, and decreased the frustration levels in our house, although I have to act as interpreter between DS and DH regularly

[chody47]

As you know, DD says an awful lot these days (50ish words at last count). I attribute it to the following:
1. She doesn't really walk so she's spent heaps more time learning 'other skills'
2. As you know, we taught her the word 'more' whilst also teaching the sign. We learnt it whilst doing something she enjoys (reading) and after each read of the book I made her sign the word (even if it meant me moving her hands) and at the same time I would say 'more' before proceeding to immediately read it again. She quickly seemed to pick up that doing this sign (and very quickly she learnt to say the word) meant she got what she wanted. I think for her that at this time it 'clicked' that she could get what she wanted by talking. She is now at the point where she will try to repeat everything o say. She will point to something and grunt (her way of asking what it is). I will tell her and ask if she can say it and she will try.
3. We read an awful lot of books. She loves books. She wants to read the same ones over and over. I feel that this has helped her language development an awful lot
4. We point at and give names to most things. When we walk to the park for example we both point out things (tree, bird, car, pole) and say the words.

Like others have said though, she sounds pretty normal. I recently looked up language development and by 18 months 5-20 words is 'normal'

[Dansta]

the speechie we see for DJ has said that basicly you just have to talk all the time. language is like a growing tree - you need to plant the seed then tend to it so it grows. it starts of small - and weak but gets bigger and stronger the more you talk the more they learn.