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Home › Articles › Speech and Language Issues › Talking Toddlers Telling Tales

Talking Toddlers Telling Tales

Speech Milestones and Tips
for Parents

By Mindy Hudon, M.S.,CCC-SLP

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After many nights of reading Dr. Seuss books to my twins, I have realized something amazing: Many of the speech and language skills your 24- to 36-month-old toddler is learning can be seen in Dr. Seuss books -- and they're as easy as A, B, C!

Oh, the things you can think of when you're only 2! A toddler can think about the meaning of words and how to understand two-step commands. At 2, your toddler starts to understand the differences in meaning, like "pup in cup, cup on pup," or "pup up, brown down."

By the time your toddler is 3 years old, his vocabulary will continue to grow and expand from 800 to more than 1000 words. What a great time to develop his vocabulary by reading aloud to him. You can read about trees, bees and knees. And knees on trees!

Label, Label, Label
"One thing that stands out in my mind from one of my child development courses, is that even at 18 months of age, children can learn (and understand) four new words a day!" says Lori Mobley, childcare provider of children birth to 6 years old and mother of children ages 4, 16 and 17.

"When I'm talking to the children, I label everything -- a door knob, a seat, a table, a toy -- everything!" she says. Mobley adds that she tries to educate parents on the importance of labeling. "I stress to the parents about labeling and talking constantly to their children. I tell them, 'Talk-talk-talk.' You can't talk enough!"

"Parents and caregivers can learn to expand and model children's language at this age. In other words, build upon the language your child is using," states Claire Rice-Fenstermaker, M.A., CCC-SLP speech-language pathologist and mother of two, ages 10 and 13.

"Between 2 and 3 years is a very important time to watch your child grow in the area of language development," says Rice-Fenstermaker. "So videotape your child singing a song or telling a story and enjoy those moments that seem to go by so quickly."

Remember, your toddler is living in the "world revolves around ME" stage of development. What he sees and does is very important. Take advantage of this developmental stage to encourage language.

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