Stepping Into Books

When you talk with your toddler, you are preparing your child to be successful later on. Children whose parents talk to them:

• have larger vocabularies
• learn to read more easily
• do better in school.

Toddlers seem to become talkers without any "teaching" from adults. But there are many things we can and should do to help toddlers become better talkers and listeners.

Be a good language model for your child. You are your child's most important language teacher. When you speak to your child, you are showing him how to use new words and also how to speak in sentences. Try these techniques as you model language for your child:

• Speak to your child in short sentences and emphasizing important words and new words: "This vase is DELICATE. We CAN'T PLAY with it. Mommy will put it UP."



• Show your child how conversation goes my asking and answering questions yourself. For example as you get ready to leave the house, say, "Where is Mommy's purse? . . . "Oh, it's on the table." Eventually, your child will answer some of those questions.



• Narrate activities that you are doing or that your child is doing. Think of this as if you are doing a television "play-by-play." Your child will learn words that are important in everyday life: "Mommy has to get the milk from the refrigerator. Here comes the milk. Get ready. " "You put the cows inside the barn. Bye-bye cows!"

Help your child understand and learn new words. Use gestures to help your child understand new words. When your child finds an object under the couch say, "That's brother's BASEBALL GLOVE. He puts it on like this (put over your hand). He uses it to catch baseballs." Give your child a chance to practice the new word by asking him to point out that object or by asking him to tell someone else what it is: "Tell brother what we found under the couch."

Respond when your child tries to tell you something. Toddlers are just learning to talk, so we need to work hard to understand them. When adults are patient and positive, their children become better talkers. When a toddler is struggling to tell us something, we can help by:

• stopping to listen
• not letting others "say it for him"
• getting down to your child's eye level
• suggesting that your child "show me."

Repeat important words and sentences often. Toddlers learn about routines better when adults use the same words to talk to them about routines:

• "Nap time. First let's change your diaper and then go get teddy."
• "Mommy has to wash dishes now. Let's bring some toys to the kitchen."

When we use words like this regularly, they become scripts. Scripts do more than teach language, they teach children what is going to happen and how they should act.

Make language a positive and important part of your child's day. Show your child that you enjoy his discovery of language! Let your child hear you tell others of those accomplishments: "When we went to the store today, Jimmy said, ‘truck'!" And, help your child see that his words are effective. Let your child use words to make choices: "Do you want a CRACKER or a PRETZEL?"

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