Is your toddler not using enough words⁉️⁉️ Here are some strategies to develop vocabulary at homed ⬇️⬇️

🔷SELF-TALK – Self-talk is the act of talking aloud about what YOU are doing, seeing, hearing, or feeling with your child (“Mommy is rolling the ball! Roll, roll, roll. Roll the ball!”).

🔷PARALLEL TALK – Parallel talk is almost the same as self-talk, except you talk about what your child is doing, instead of what you are doing (Example: “You’re building a block tower! Up, up, up. Put them up!”).

🔷SABOTAGE – This technique involves placing the child's desired toy out of reach (e.g., putting the blocks in a box) or choosing an activity that requires your child to ask you for a desired object or action (e.g., blowing bubbles, inflating a balloon and then letting it deflate, etc.).  Have your child ask for it using gestures, visual aids, and words. Model using words along with gestures; if the child cannot imitate, provide hand-over-hand assistance to model communicative gestures. Then give the child the desired object or action.

🔷AUDITORY BOMBARDMENT – This technique involves repeating sounds, words, or phrases that we want our child to imitate. For example, while playing with bubbles, you can model: "Pop, pop, pop!" or you can emphasize the /p/ sound each time you pop a bubble. Similarly, when playing with playdough, you can repeat appropriate verbs such as: "squish, roll, cut, etc." to continue exposing the child to language.

✅Were any of these helpful? Let us know in the comments.