Before a child speaks, there are foundational skills and experiences they need to help them build up to it.
Hearing- adequate hearing is a prerequisite for speaking since a child needs to hear speech sounds in order to learn them and use them
Oral motor skills- oral motor skills are needed to move all the oral muscles to produce speech sounds
Babbling- babbling practice is important to creating and shaping speech sounds
Conversational experience- having back and forth interactions that mimic conversation are important for developing speech skills
Concept development and representational thought- being able to hold an image in mind is needed to create representations of that thing to attach meaning to it through language and speech
Communicative intention- social motivation and having a reason to communicate through speech
Here’s how you can help build these skills at home:
Talk to your child! Make silly sounds together, sing songs, and slow down the sounds.
Encourage babbling by repeating what they say, adding new sounds, or modeling longer strings of those sounds.
Have conversational interactions. Any back and forth interaction with gestures, speech sounds, or movements can mimic the turn taking experience of speech. This is so helpful even if they’re not yet using words!
Make sure they can see you! Face your child or look in a mirror together. In addition to hearing speech sounds, it’s important for your child to see you making the sounds so they can copy and learn. You can draw attention to your face by placing the items you’re talking about next to your mouth.
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