Building Your Toddler's Vocabulary Every Day

A large vocabulary of words is important to all of us. It helps us function in daily life and comprehend what we read. Children begin learning words and understanding their meanings in context before they speak their first word out loud. Once a baby begins speaking, it is a parent's job to help them build their vocabulary and learn new words every day.

As the parent of a child with a speech and language disability, I have spent the past few years working with a speech therapist to help my child learn. Many of the strategies that we have used with my child are easily applied to a child without disabilities. Teaching your child during the toddler years should be fun and incorporated into every day life. The following strategies will help your child increase their vocabulary while still having fun. Using these tips in every day life will have your toddler chatting away in no time. While these are only a few ways to begin building your toddler's vocabulary, they are important building blocks for their future.

Strategy One For Building Your Toddler's Vocabulary

Read to your child every day. It may sound simple, but this is one of the most effective vocabulary building strategies there is. Read books that explore new concepts and ideas. Read books with lots of descriptive phrases. Use your reading time as a way to have conversations with your child. Ask them questions about the pictures in the book and what you have read to them. Allow them to point at pictures and tell you things about them. While a toddler may want to read the same book over and over, that is fine too. Use the familiarity of the story to expand on it. Instead of talking about a red apple, expand that and talk about the round, shiny, crunchy and sweet apple.

Strategy Two For Building Your Toddler's Vocabulary

Talk to your child. This one was difficult for me as I tend to be very quiet. But, it is incredibly important for your toddler to hear you talking. Talk directly to your child and try not to use baby talk. Keep a running commentary going on all day long. Talk about what you are doing, where you are going, what you see, how you will do things and why. Use the correct words to name everything you see and describe it. For example, if you are taking a walk and see a dog, don't just say "See the doggie?" but expand on that. Ask your child if they see the big, brown dog. Tell them that the dog's brown hair feels soft and that his red tongue is wet. Tell them that the dog is going for a walk and loves to run. Use each thing you see as a way to teach your child new ways to describe that item. They don't have to repeat what you say, although they may try, just hearing the words is enough to begin with. When they do say something such as "See dog" you can reply with "Yes, I see the brown dog. Do you think his hair is soft?" These expansions and "stretch" talking will encourage your toddler to expand their own descriptions.

Strategy Three For Building Your Toddler's Vocabulary

Parallel talk and imitation are two strategies that are extremely useful. Parallel talk is basically talking about what your child is doing without requiring him or her to contribute. Do not question or direct your toddler while doing this, just talk about what they are doing. Say things like, "Look at you, playing with your cars. I see you are playing with a green car. That car is going fast! Now you have a red truck. That red truck is shiny. Now the doll is holding the red truck. The doll is hugging the red truck because she likes it. The green car is driving on the road. What a fast car that is." It may seem silly, but you are giving your child the words they need to describe what they are doing. Later on, as they are able to verbalize more, you will hear them start doing their own running commentaries.

Imitation is another strategy that works well. It is especially important when teaching a child correct pronunciation. Basically, you repeat what your child says, pronouncing it correctly. Do not tell your child they said it wrong. Many times, your toddler will then repeat the word back to you, correctly, and you can expand on it. If your child says "twuck" you would say "Yes, that is a truck." They may then repeat back to you "truck" and you can say something like "What a pretty red truck you have." This encourages conversation and description while teaching correct pronunciation.

Sources:

Personal Experience