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Expert Q&A
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| By Mindy Hudon Speech and Language Pathologist | ||
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How can I encourage my 20-month-old son to communicate more?
It sounds like you are doing a great job encouraging your 20-month-old son to communicate. It is great that you're combining the use of words and gestures to help your son express his needs. The reinforcement that you're giving your son will make him want to talk more and more.
Verbal praise is a great way to acknowledge your son's communication attempts. If your son is able to request for "juice," first allow him time to ask. If he just waves an empty cup at you then say, "What do you want? Use your words. Tell Mommy, JUICE." If he doesn't say it after a few attempts, then model it again while expanding the utterance, "I want juice" and give him the juice. It is important that you always give him time to talk, but try not to frustrate yourself or your son by "making him" say the word. At that moment, your son wants juice and may not want to talk. Just try to be consistent when this happens and continue to encourage him to use his words while modeling language. Eventually, with your help, he will use more words and be less frustrated."
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