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