My godson recently started at a daycare/learning center. Since he's started, he's been "talking" a lot more. It's mostly babble but there are a couple of words thrown in here & there (mom, dada, up, down, fish & a lot of animal sounds). However, as I said, a lot of it is babbling. My question is, how can I help him to get better at talking? He obviously knows what hes trying to say, and gets extremely upset and frustrated when he isn't understood. Right now, the only thing I can think of to do is, for example when he's pointing to his juice and babbling, to say "Do you want your juice?" and then give it to him. Some people have said to "make" him say the right word, i.e. if he doesn't say it, he can't have it. This seems mean and unnecessary to me. Is there something else I should be doing to try to encourage him, or help him learn more easily? I'm so excited that he's starting to talk, and I hate to see him so frustrated with it.
Instead of focusing on what he can't do, focus on what he can do. You said you know he knows the words, he just doesn't have the language to figure out how to say them. So instead of using oral language, help him communicate by teaching him simple signs for words. Put your thumb up to your mouth and tip it up for drink. Pat your hip for diaper. Look into baby signing. It would save him, you, and his parents lots of bad feelings.
I was just going to recommend baby signs! It is sooo easy to learn.. my husband and I learnt over 100 signs in one night alone! Basic stuff like baby, up, down, kitty (we have a cat), grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, auntie, drink, eat, scared, ouch. We haven't actively started teaching Manny yet, as he is only 3.5 months old, but its never to early for the parents/extended family to learn!
We have been trying o work with him on signing. My husand's mother is deaf, so when he saw us signing with her, he seemed curious and started mimicking us. However, his mom isn't willing to use signs,so she asked us to stop teaching him.
I heard that baby sign language actually hinders them from talking because they aren't relying on their words. Don't yell at me, it's just what I heard. I've never actually tried it, but a friend of mine used it with her son, who is 2 weeks older than my daughter, and he is wayyyyyy behind in talking, and she said she tihnks it's because she taught him sign language. I would say to just lead by example and talk to him like a person and not a baby saying "goo goo" and "gaa gaa". and you don't need to keep the juice from him just because he doesnt say it right, he will learn it. Pretty soon you will be thinking "is this kid ever going to stop talking?" haha
the best thing to do is talk to the child, same as you would anyone, and not make a big deal of it. My oldest was verbal at a very very young age, said her first sentence at 11 months of age. My second didn't start talking until she was two years, but had other ways of communicating with us. All kids are different, when he's ready, he will talk.
I've heard the same thing, but I really think that every child is just different. My son was a slow talker, and we did some signs but not many. I was also told that they only use the signs until they are two, then they forget them and stop using them as they talk. The best thing to do is just talk to the child like you would anyone. When he asks for something, you can repeat it using the correct sounds, but never make the child feel that they are not saying things correctly. My son did not really talk much before he was 3, I used to get comments at his daycare about it until they realized that he didn't talk much or very clear, but he knew his shapes, colors, numbers, and alphabet before he was 2. They will all talk in their own time, and if you are concerned you can get early speech intervention from the state.
I think I'm being misunderstood here. The problem isn't that he's not talking, or that I have a problem with him not talking. I just want to know if there's anything I can do to ease the frustration he has at being misunderstood.
I dont think thats a good idea. As much as you dont agree with another mom's ways, you should respect them unless they are abusive.
that's part of being a little kid. I can remember how frustrating it was that nobody could understand what I was trying to say, nobody except my Gramma, anyway. I see my youngest, who just turned three, having the same problem. It is frustrating, that's the motivation to keep trying. Just keep talking to him, don't talk down to him like most grownups do, ask him questions when you don't understand. My littlest one started nodding or shaking her head to signify yes or no at a very young age, long before she was talking, and that helped a lot. so ask him yes or no questions when you don't understand what he's trying to say to you.
That's ridiculous. Does crawling hinder a child from learning to walk? Does sitting up hinder a child from standing? Do training wheels on a bike hinder a child from riding a 2-wheeler? No. Learning is a PROCESS, with many milestones between point A and point B.
A child speaks when they are ABLE to. My children all learned verbal language very early (words as young as 6 months and sentences as young as 11 months) and although I used a few signs with Sage, as soon as she started being ABLE to speak, at about 8 months, she no longer needed them, so stopped using them. Signs can be invaluable for children who aren't able to use verbal language yet. Some children just can't talk yet, and they NEED to be heard. Signs will not stop these children from speaking, as most children learn that talking is more effective and will give up the signs as soon as they can speak. I agree with you, this technique is cruel, mean, and wreaks of people who know NOTHING about the feelings of children. Denying a child food, drink, love ect just because he is not ABLE to speak yet is as mean as it gets. Talk to his mama about the signs, get some info written about it, as she may not know the benefits. Teaching him signs without her permission could end up being MORE frustrating for him. Imagine him trying to sign and she doesn't know what he wants, yet he thinks that EVERYONE knows, he will think she is ignoring him, and that could be bad for mama-child attachment. One thing, you didn't say how old this child is. If he is 18 months old, I wouldn't worry too much, if he is three or four years old and not speaking, it is time for professional intervention.
He's 2 years old. I have to agree that I don't think it would be right for me to just go behind his mom's back and teach him signing. I may not agree with her not wanting to teach him, and I may not agree with her reasons for deciding this way, but she is his mother, and unless he's in real danger, I don't believe it's ever my place to go behind a parent's back, simply because I think my way is better.
instead of teaching him signs, why not watch him for the signs he uses already? My younger child, the one who was really late in talking, invented her own sign language long before she had verbal words to use for communicating with us. I bet he has some, too. Strangely enough, Meriel's signs were fairly similar to baby signs and ASL.
I just read to my son a lot, it seems to encourage conversation. I read a lot of older books like treasure island and call of the wild. I also talk to him all the time, just like I would to a regular person. I am also working on teaching him Japanese. He's learned recently to wave bye-bye when we say Ja mata! He only uses simple words in either language, but I figure when he's ready to talk, he will.
Just have to take a second to brag about him. Today he learned how to jump! He's been trying for a while, but it's just been knee bends with a lot of oomph. Today his feet left the ground. The look on his face was priceless. He was so shocked that he promptly fell over. Bt after that there was no stoppin him. He hopped everywhere we went today. I swear it seems like he's leanng something new eveyday.
they do that, I swear that when they go to sleep they dream of something new, then wake up and do it.
