Language Skills

Babies learn to speak in stages. First, they go gibberish, and then they practice making different sounds, later connecting a variety of sounds together to speak words and then start connecting words together to make meaningful sentences. By the age to 3, most toddlers have started to talk, by interacting with their parents, families and other people around them. They learn by listening to others.

Few toddlers develop sign language gestures to communicate with their parents. At times, your child might cover her face when she's uncomfortable, or hit on the table when she's angry. These frustrations are strong signs that she is trying hard to converse and cares whether we are or not, able understand her. It is important that we help her develop language skills with proper pronunciation and grammar and help her understand and learn the proper usage of words.

Way that you can aid your child's language development-

* Sing nursery rhymes to your child, simple songs, lullabies so she can hear the rhythm and flow of our language.

* Make use of body language in songs, stories, and in everyday activities.

* Name objects as you both look at them and, also describe the size, colour shape and feel of the object.

* Ask her riddles and help her guess the answer.

* Introduce new words by reading picture books, stories and magazines. You can also use words and picture flash cards.

* Have one-to-one conversations with her.

* Engage in conversations about her likes and dislikes.

* Ask lots of open-ended questions. Questions which help her think and which require more than just yes or no answers, e.g "How did you make that picture?"

Talk to her and and also listen to her. Communicate ideas and experiences and have real conversations. Stimulate and encourage her desire to learn more. Do not overwhelm her with unfamiliar words. Respond to her using proper "adult" words and grammar. Don't bother correcting her choice of words or sentence structure too much. Look directly in her eyes while conversing. If her eyes begin to wander, you've probably lost it. As she grows and her vocabulary expands, you can move from simple words and phrases to the more complex ones.