Tips for learning to talk with your child

Post by Speech Therapist Nguyen Thi Yen - Unit of Regenerative Medicine Clinic and Educational Psychology

It's great if your baby is a healthy and active baby. But if your baby shows signs of delay in speech compared to peers, you do not need to worry too much. Please refer to the tips for learning to speak with your child in the article below.

Teaching your child to speak is essentially teaching your child to communicate – teaching your child to use words to communicate effectively with others. Communication is formed based on interaction, based on children's communication needs and motivations. Therefore, try to create as many opportunities for children to "get" to communicate and learn to use their words in the most meaningful and natural way possible. For example, if your child likes to eat snacks, instead of keeping the food in a place where they can easily see it (e.g. on the table), put it in a transparent box, where the child can see it but won't pick it up for themselves. and will need your help. Then you say the form “bim bim”; “help me” or “open it up” and wait for your child to speak back. Thus, you have created an additional communication opportunity for your child right in the daily situation at home.

At each age stage, children's attention, comprehension, and expression are different. You cannot ask a 2-year-old to understand and speak like a 5-year-old. So, before you start teaching your child, ask yourself and answer the question "How are your child's language skills?". After knowing the exact ability of your child, pay attention to adjust your language so that he can understand and respond. For example, according to the milestones of language development in children, a 2-year-old child can say a 2-word phrase and imitate a 4-word phrase; Therefore, you should only use 4-5 word sentences to guide your child.

Communication motivation is the stimulation, motivating children to actively communicate with others more. There are 4 factors in communication that parents need to pay attention to when teaching children, which are:
What is the reason for the child to communicate with others; What is the level of your child's communication motivation; Is someone available to communicate with you; Which communication method will be suitable for the child's ability? If there is a lack of communication motivation or insufficient communication motivation, children will not or less actively communicate and learn. Therefore, encouraging, encouraging, and praising every child's efforts is a simple way to help children communicate more.

This is an important and popular strategy when teaching children to speak. You observe how children play, identifying opportunities to guide them through a new word or skill; then wait for the child to give you cues to respond, communicating back to you. When your child responds, listen closely to what your child is trying to show and acknowledge those efforts. This strategy helps children feel understood, given the opportunity to be the leader of the activity, thereby increasing their motivation to communicate.

In the process of learning to speak together, there will be times when the sounds children make seem to be incorrect or inappropriate. At this point, consider the following factors:
What is the situation the child makes the sound in; Whether the baby's sounds are intended to communicate with you; Do the sounds closely match the words you would expect in an ongoing communication situation? If the answer is yes, try to name and give meaning to everything your child tries to say. For example, if your child pushes a car and says “i”, you can model the appropriate word “go”. This helps children understand that everything they are saying makes sense and they will tend to talk more to communicate with people around them.

4S strategy includes:
Say less: This strategy requires you to speak less, on the one hand to match the child's listening comprehension; On the other hand, it gives children more opportunities to speak. When you talk too much, your child may not fully understand and will not have the opportunity to speak. Stress: When using this strategy, you need to emphasize the word you are trying to teach your child. Along with the exaggeration in words, the volume of the voice, the gestures will help attract the child and the child will find it more interesting to learn to speak with you. Slow: When teaching and learning to speak with your child, pay attention to speak slowly, slow down so that your child has time to listen, process information and understand what you are saying. Show : Show your child what you're talking about or how the toy he's interested in can play. You can name and point to an interesting toy that you want your child to notice, or you can show your child your bright, happy eyes when you show your child a castle you just built.

One parenting tip is to always keep activities fun. A fun activity will help keep kids engaged longer and more motivated while playing. When playing with children, remember one thing "play is fun". Therefore, let what you teach your child become as natural as possible, do not try to ask or force the child to say. This will destroy the child's natural motivation to play and he will no longer be interested in continuing to play with you.
Hope the information in the above article will help parents get closer to their children, understand their children better and communicate with them better. If parents have difficulties in communicating and teaching children to speak, parents can contact Dr. Vinmec for examination and support.