In the best circumstances, your child is able to tell you what he wants or needs.
Whether you provide it totally depends on the request, of course, but the communication skills are there.
When you’re dealing with a toddler speech delay, though, the communication part becomes a struggle.
Whether you’re working with a speech therapist or working through it on your own, there are a few exercises to help with a toddler speech delay that you can do at home.
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Exercises to Help with a Toddler Speech Delay
Flashcards:
You can purchase flashcards from a store or if you are artistic, you can create them yourself. Set a few minutes aside each day at a time, you will quickly learn your toddler can only sit and look at pictures for so long with you! You can do this exercise a few times a day. Show the card, say what it is, and wait for your child to repeat. Be patient.
Mirror exercises:
This literally means in front of a mirror. Your child might be having difficulty because they are unaware of how to move their mouths to make the correct sounds come out. Stand in front of a mirror with your child and go through a few words.
RELATED: Dealing with a Speech Delay in a Tongue-Tied Toddler
Lily Pad Hop:
This will be a fun one! If you have any art skills, you can draw the pictures, otherwise you can print some off line. Cut out lilypads on green construction paper. You can tailor this game to different holidays too! Hearts for Valentine’s Day or Christmas ornaments. Create 6 of whatever shape you are using and have the same picture on each one. Repetition is key. Have your child hop to each one. Once he lands, he has to say the word that goes with the picture.
Read and repeat:
Choose a simple book and read with your child. Ask your child to repeat certain words. Be sure to read slowly. You can also look at the pictures and point to something and ask your child to tell you what it is. Reading is always beneficial to development, take the extra step and talk to your child about what you are reading
Talk slowly:
When speaking to your child, make the extra effort to speak slowly. They will be able to hear what you are saying and watch your mouth movements. We tend to speak very fast, even to children and when they are learning to talk, that can be difficult for them to comprehend. It may feel odd to you, but think of how difficult daily life is for your child.
When your child is not progressing as you feel he should, it can be frustrating and sad as a parent. You feel responsible for his delay. Don’t feel responsible, but know you can help him. Make it fun, make practicing a game. Pay attention when you speak to your child and remember to look at him, rather than have your back to him, let him see your lips.
RELATED ► Speech Delay in Toddler Boys: When Should You Be Concerned?
Are you a parent dealing with a toddler speech delay? What sort of exercises did you do to practice with your child? Share your tips with us below!
Mother of 2 boys under 3. Its just the 3 of us all day.
My 3 year old son isn’t talking as much as I’d like.
He understands everything I tell him to do though.
I’m not sure if he’s just lazy, because he’ll repeat “speed” from tbe movie cars. But won’t repeat a new word Im teaching him.
He resorts to his own whiney language that means no. I’m at a loss!
However His Dr. Wants to get his hearing checked then get him into speech therapy.
I feel like a failure.
Any tips or advice would be great.
Love this list. However, what do you do when your child will not repeat after no matter how long I wait?
I am a speech therapist. We use a token board with velcro stars, but regular stickers on paper would work just fine too. Every time the child says a word he gets to put a star on the board. After 5 (or 10) there is a small reward: the next few pieces for the puzzle, another turn in a game, more parts for a craft, or even a small snack!
I have a son who is going to be 6 year old and he have difficulty with making sentences and doesn’t like to share anything plz help me
I have child woh is delayed speech he is not able to make sentences himself please help me how to learn him so that he can make simples sentence by himself help me
this are interesting things to do – will make use of it for future purposes.
Wish there was a blog like this when my child was growing up and I was dealing with speech delay. We practiced mirror exercises and slow talking which helped. The lily pad hop seems to be a great idea.
My son had a speech delay when he was younger. We used a lot of the techniques in your post. Great tips.
I think these are great tips for helping kids develop. I have 3 kids with speech delay. They are in therapy services.
I’ve dealt with toddler speech with my son. One of the things his speech therapist said was sippy cups are awful for the development of the muscles in the mouth and to use straws instead!
I think simple reading and repeating will help a lot as well!
What great tips. My son needs speech therapy and I am finding myself repeating and patience is a big one too!
My son had speech delays after he was damaged by his 6 months immunization shots. It was tough on us as parents, these are all very good tips.
The mirror exercise really really worked. My son is 18 months and still not talking. We aren’t worried, I work with kids and it is something that some catch onto quickly and others take a little more time. I think it’s important we don’t stress about it and place that stress on our children.
These are some fun ideas to keep it stress free for the little one!
Thankfully, even though my daughter didn’t speak until 2, she’s in full swing of using all of her words. I will pass on this info to others.
It is a scary thing when a kid isn’t on track with the other kids. Glad there are exercises to keep them learning.
This is great! A friend of mine has a little one and is struggling with this right now so I will be sure to show her! This is really wonderful!
We did a lot of read and repeat with the kids. It really helped them.
I have a good friend who is a speech therapist and she treats children with this issue. It’s always best to address it as young as possible.
These sound like really effective exercises. I like the lily pad hop idea.
My son didn’t start talking until he was two and we definitely were concerned about it. It’s so important to address this early on.
My Granddaughter used to have trouble with her speech. It ended up being her ears that was causing the problems.
My little guy had a speech delay and we did some of these. Awesome list of ideas.