Communicating with Your Baby and Toddler

The word "communication" actually means listening. Most parents talk too much and listen too little.

The easiest way to teach yourself how to communicate with your child is to begin communicating with her before she has any intelligible speech. Try repeating what your baby says as closely as you can. It may sound like gibberish to you but it may make good sense to your baby.

There are 2 cardinal rules for speech development in toddlers: (1) Be responsive to your child's speech. (2) Do not correct your child's speech.

To be responsive to your child's speech, do something that is related to what your child has just said. If she looks at a glass of milk and says "Coke," do not correct her. Pick up the glass and/or say "Coke." In this way, your toddler will learn that speech serves an important function.

Not correcting your child's speech may be difficult to do. Most of us are used to adults who can and do profit from being corrected. However, a young child may take your correction as a sign that she did something wrong. It won't do any good to explain that you aren't mad at her. Just refrain from correcting her if you possibly can.

	SIGN 1. Something that suggests the presence or existence of a fact, condition, or quality. 2. Observed evidence of a disease.