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Expert Q&A
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| By Mindy Hudon Speech and Language Pathologist | ||
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My son is 17 months old and his vocabulary consists of no more than five words. He gets mad and throws fits because he wants to communicate, but will refuse to learn if I try to teach him. Should I be concerned?
The best way to "teach" your son to talk is by providing lots of language modeling. Instead of asking him to say something, you will be better off providing language modeling for your son to hear and eventually imitate.
Expand his words: If your son says "juice," say "more juice" or "(Son's name) wants juice." If he points and grunts at something he wants like a cookie, model the word "cookie" when he requests it.
Talk with him. If your son is playing with his truck, talk about the truck while he's playing with it. "Look at the truck. It's a big truck. The truck is driving.ö
Over exaggerate. If your son is playing with a stuffed dog, emphasize the sounds, "DOGGIE!"
Create opportunities to talk. If your son gives you his empty cup, don't just grab it and fill it with juice. Give him a visual and verbal choice. Hold up juice and milk and say while showing the juice, "Do you want juice or milk?" When he goes for the juice, say, "JUICE. (Name) wants juice."
Eventually, your son should start to imitate more and more words. If he does not expand his vocabulary in the next few months, then I would discuss this with your pediatrician and have him evaluated by a speech-language pathologist."
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