Building Early Communication Skills: Simple Strategies for Parents

It’s common to ask toddlers questions like, “What’s that?” or “What color is it?” While questions can be helpful, asking too many can feel overwhelming and limit your child’s chance to speak freely. Instead, balance questions with comments. A good rule of thumb is to make three comments for every question you ask.

How It Works:

If your toddler is playing with blocks, you could say:

• “That’s a big tower you’re building!”
• “Wow, it’s so tall!”
• “Oops, it fell over!”
  Then ask: “What color should we use next?”

Why It Helps:

This gives your child time to listen, process, and respond. They’ll also hear how words fit into everyday conversations, which helps build vocabulary naturally.

Encourage your child to express themselves by setting up situations where they’ll want to communicate. These playful setups can be as simple as pausing a game or placing a favorite toy just out of reach.

How to Try It:

• Bubbles: Hold the bubbles but wait for your child to point, gesture, or say something like “bubbles” or “open.”
• Snacks: Put a favorite snack in a clear container and wait for them to signal they want it.
• Toys: Pause during a game like rolling a ball and wait for your child to signal they want to continue.

Why It Helps:

These little opportunities encourage your child to use words, gestures, or sounds to get what they want. It’s a fun and practical way to build communication in real-life situations.

Toddlers learn through repetition. Simple, predictable phrases—often called verbal routines—help your child anticipate what’s coming next, making it easier for them to join in.

Examples of Verbal Routines:

• During play: “Ready, set, go!”
• Mealtime: “Yum, yum, in the tum!”
• Cleanup time: “Put it away, put it away!”

Why It Helps:

Repeating these phrases over time strengthens your child’s understanding of language patterns. Eventually, they’ll start completing the phrases themselves, building confidence in their communication skills.

Describing what you’re doing as you go about your daily routine—known as self-talk—is a simple yet powerful way to model language for your toddler.

How to Try It:

• At home: “I’m pouring the milk into the cup. Now I’m putting it on the table.”
• At the park: “Look, there’s the slide! Up, up, up we climb, and wheee—down we go!”

Why It Helps:

Hearing words in context helps your child connect language to actions and objects. By narrating your day, you’re showing them how words describe the world around them.

Books and songs with repetitive patterns are fantastic for building language skills. Familiar stories like Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? or songs like The Wheels on the Bus are perfect choices.

How to Use Them:

• Sit face-to-face so your child can see your expressions and mouth movements.
• Use an animated tone to keep things engaging.
• Pause occasionally to let your child fill in the blanks (e.g., “The wheels on the bus go…”).

Why It Helps:

Repetition helps your child anticipate and remember phrases. It also encourages them to participate actively, which builds confidence in using words.

• Be Patient: Learning to communicate takes time, so celebrate the small wins along the way.
• Follow Their Interests: Whether it’s a favorite book, toy, or game, use what excites your child to keep them engaged.
• Consistency is Key: Small efforts every day add up to big milestones over time.

Every child develops at their own pace, but consider speaking to a professional if you notice:

• No babbling or cooing by 12 months.
• Fewer than 20 words by age 2.
• Difficulty combining two words by age 3.

💡 Early intervention can make a significant difference in supporting your child’s communication development.