Activities to Encourage Language Development In Children

The early years of a child can and should never be underestimated. Communication is a crucial aspect of a child’s emotional, physical and cognitive development, the years 0 to 6 is when children go through different levels of development. His/her speaking and understanding well will directly impact his/her learning and reading.

More and more cases of delayed speech are being increasingly observed, which is a matter of concern. This delay in language development may as well lead to various other behavioral challenges, such as low self-esteem and frustration not being able to express him/herself. This can be attributed to a variety of reasons, from our busy lifestyle to changing dynamics of a family (from joint families to a nuclear setup) to sadly the fact that now conversation has been replaced with gadgets. Also, parents tend to lay more emphasis on feeding and napping time of a child, instead of taking the time out to talk to the child.

The following language activities, suggested by some of the best daycares New Jersey, can help your child learn and model his language skills. Doing these simple activities with your child will help develop their speech and language skills:

Reading- Nothing better than reading to encourage language development in children. It’s time you brought back storytimes with parents and grandparents. So make it a habit to read to your child every day and have conversations around the story.  Also, point at images in the book and ask him to identify them. Encourage your child to repeat words- all these will help improve your child’s vocabulary and they’ll also learn to give accurate responses to the questions asked.

Complete the Rhyme- Singing lyrics of rhymes and songs to a child can help him improve his language while having fun. Sing a rhyme and let your kid complete it by filling in that missing word. For example, Twinkle twinkle ___  ___, how I _____ what you are.

Last, but not the least, be a good model. Even though your child may not be able to immediately respond to you, he will be listening keenly so speak clearly and slowly and face your child when speaking. Encourage the child to express themselves. For example, if your child says a word or sentence incorrectly, just say the word / sentence back to them correctly to show you have understood instead of correcting them or asking them to repeat it, which can help him express himself better and improve his articulation. This is how children learn language.