The Speechie Corner

✨LANGUAGE TIPS✨⁣
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These are my go-to to strategies that I always find myself using or teaching. BUT REMEMBER—every child is unique and it’s important to meet hem where they are! Do you use any of these at home? Any questions on HOW or WHEN to use any of them?

✨How many words should my child say? ✨

I get asked this question ALL👏🏻THE👏🏻TIME!!
🦋This post is intended to answer that question and also help you understand and make the most educated, informed decision for your child.

Seriously, why is this answer so hard to find!? You can do a google search and get many different answers. WHY??

✨Like all development there is a RANGE!!✨

🦋SLPs tend to look at the average, whereas a lot of searches or information you may see gives the milestone. Wait, aren’t those the same? NOPE!

⭐️Average: what approximately 50% of children are able to do at a certain age
⭐️Milestone: what MOST children are able to do at a certain age (approximately 90%)

🌈Milestones:
12 months: 1 word (vs. 2-6)
18 months: 10 words (vs. 50)
24 months: 50 words (vs. 200-300)
36 months: 250 words (vs. 1,000)

🌈 Average:
12 months: 2-6 words
15 months: 10 words
18 months: 50 words
24 months: 200-300 words
30 months: 450 words
3 years: 1,000 words

So, why is it important to know the difference between average and milestones? 👇🏻👇🏻
✨If your child is 18 months old and saying 8 words you may think to yourself, “Oh he’s not far off.” However, the average number of words is 50! See the difference??

💥It’s so important as PARENTS and PROFESSIONALS (SLPs, pediatricians, teachers, etc.) to understand and know the difference so we can make informed decisions.

📚 Sources: LinguiSystems Guide to Communication Milestone

💓SHARE & SAVE to get the info out there!
Did you know about this difference or did you learn something new? Any questions, please feel free to ask! 👇🏼

✨BOOK REC: YUMMY YUCKY✨
By: Leslie Patricelli

I love this book! It’s great for those prelinguistic skills I’ve been talking about the past couple weeks!
I specifically LOVE using it to promote imitation 👇🏼👇🏼
👶🏻 gestures/actions
👶🏽facial expressions
👶🏼play sounds
👶🏾words❣️❣️

🌈Have you read this book with you LO or in therapy?! It’s such a good one! What are some of you other go-to books? 👇🏼

✨I love using classic songs and switching them up a little!✨⁣

🌈Singing will go A LONG WAY with progressing your child’s language development. It is MOTIVATING, repetitive, and helps gain your child’s attention. ⁣
In this song, you can work on imitating actions and words! ⁣
👏🏻 DANCE & use action/gestures (turn around, touch the ground) so your child can IMITATE and follow the simple directions! ⁣
✋🏻 PAUSE and have your child fill in the blank on some repetitive words or phrases!⁣
🔁REPEAT the song again and again so your child can learn the words and their meaning ⁣
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🍁 🎃 I LOVE FALL so this is one of my favorites!! Does your little one enjoy songs? What are some favorites? I love making up my own throughout the day! I even do it when I’m not doing therapy 😏🤪

✨YAY! Your baby is 9 months!⁣✨
Here are some things to look for! Pay attention to your baby’s nonverbal cues (eye contact, gestures)!! Your baby wants to interact with you!🥰⁣
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How can you support?⁣
⚡️Sing songs and play interactive games⁣
⚡️Talk about your actions and your baby’s actions⁣
⚡️Use Infant Directed Speech aka “baby talk”⁣
⚡️Get down on the floor and follow their lead⁣
⚡️Read to your baby—sit face to face when possible!⁣
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Causes for concern:⁣
🦋Does not have any consonant sounds (m, b, d, p, g, etc.)⁣
🦋Does not play any games involving back and forth (e.g. Patty Cake, peek-a-boo)⁣
🦋Does not recognize familiar people ⁣
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🌈 How is your baby communicating with your now?!

✨IMITATION IS A PROCESS✨⁣
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🌈MEET YOUR CHILD WHERE THEY ARE. If they are not able to imitate gestures, they will not be able to imitate words. Imitation of actions with objects starts at ~ 6 months BUT meet your child where they are!! Are the able to imitate my actions? No? Let’s start there! ⁣
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☀️This list is modified from Laura Mize’s Teach Me Talk. If you’re a EI SLP, I highly recommend her podcast and books. Full of tons of amazing info. ⁣
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I’ll talk about different ways to promote imitation later this week! ⁣
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🌈How is your little one imitating now?!

✨I M I T A T I O N✨⁣
👉🏼a child copies what they see & hear other people do & say. ⁣
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🌈We learn just about everything from watching and then doing. Language is no different! ⁣
✨Imitation is a PROCESS and a critical component of learning to talk. Toddlers don’t start imitating words without a foundation. Imitation begins VERY early with newborns imitating facial expressions, infants “cooing” back when parents talk to them, and so on! It’s honestly so amazing how it progresses 😍! ⁣
I’ll talk about building verbal imitation skills tomorrow!

✨GESTURES✨⁣
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🌈What are gestures?⁣
Gestures are body/hand movements or actions that we use to intentionally share a message to others. ⁣
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🌈Why are the important? ⁣
Gestures are SO important because it signals that a child understands that he can convey what he wants by DOING something. For example, when a child reach up his arms, it means, “Pick me up!” ⁣
📖 Research has shown that the use of gestures is a good indicator of later language skills. ⁣
Typically developing toddlers begin to use gestures just BEFORE they learn to talk. This begins ~9-10 months. Gestures let us know that a child’s language skills are progressing🦋!! ⁣
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🤩Dr. Amy Wetherby directed the Firsts Words Project which tells us that a child should be using at least 16 gestures by 16 months. It would worth speaking to your pediatrician if your child is 12 months and not using a couple of gestures (e.g. waving, clapping). ⁣
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🌈What’s your child’s favorite gesture? I absolutely die when a little one “tells me” stop ✋🏻🤣!! I’ll share tomorrow different ways to promote!

✨PAUSE✨⁣
It’s natural to want to try and fill in the silence! I even find myself doing this sometimes! Instead try and P A U S E! Wait at least 5 seconds (it may feel TOO LONG🤪) and then model the language for your child. Use pausing to entice your toddler to communicate! Pausing also gives your child time to express themselves without feeling rushed! ⁣
Use pausing while...⁣
💥Babbling back and forth⁣
💥Singing songs⁣
💥Using verbal routines⁣
💥Asking questions ⁣
💥Commenting throughout the day⁣
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Pausing is so often overlooked but it 👏🏻 works 👏🏻. ⁣
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🌈Do you pause and wait?! Any questions?!