5 Top tips for talking to your child:
Parents and carers are a child's first educator. Babies start to learn while they are in the mother's womb, so it is never too early to start talking to your baby. The more early interaction you have with your child the more language they hear, the more they learn to listen and communicate back to you. Responding to their needs and interests keeps a child engaged in the conversation.
Here are some suggestions on how to support your child with communication:
- Name objects your child points to, this helps them to understand and connect words to the things they see
- Help your child to build up their sentences by adding new words e.g. "a fast red car"
- Try not to correct your child if they get a word wrong. Acknowledge their efforts and give them a chance to hear the word clearly e.g. Joe says ‘og’ and Daddy says ‘yes its a dog’
- Give your child lots of time to respond to you, they are learning a new language and need ‘thinking time’
- Avoid asking too many questions, this can put them under pressure
If you want to find out more about how to support your child through play follow the link on the sidebar.
Top Tip
When out and about try and involve your child in what you are doing for example ask them to help you with the shopping by finding the items for you. Involving them in what you are doing keeps them busy and they will feel like they have an important job so therefore will keep focused for longer. When you are out and about there are so many things to see and hear, point them out to your child so they start to make connections between the big red bus and the noise they can hear. Try not to be tempted to offer your child a phone or tablet when out and about, as much as it will distract your child and perhaps make things easier on a busy day, it stops your child noticing the world around and it's a missed opportunity for learning and discovery.
