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Toddlers: How to encourage communication |
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by Kristen  (October 2006) (rank 40th) |
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Even before Ethan first began to babble as a young toddler, we tried to encourage him to communicate with us as much as possible. We tried to teach him how to ask for things on his own and if he made any attempt to repeat the words we used, we
would wildly exclaim, "That's RIGHT" and repeat the word correctly. He wasn't a particularly early talker, but he did learn early on that he did not get what he wanted if he was unable to tell us what he wanted. We were trying and he was trying but we were not mind readers. But what happened next was not what I was expecting.
My 19 month old developed his own language. I have heard that twins or children born close together will make up words or sign language to communicate with each other. In fact, my mother in law did this with her sister who was deaf. No one every explained to my mother in law about her sister's deafness when they were little so they just figured out a way to communicate with each other.
Ethan has decided that he should have his own language as well. "Bwa" is please, "ca-ca" is thank you, "la" is water. "La" is any kind of water. The water you drink, a river, a lake, the bath. You name it. All water is "la." This is very confusing late in the day because Ethan takes a bath right before bed. So is he asking to begin his bedtime routine or is he asking for a drink? The funny thing is, we have never referred to any of these words with the meanings he has created for them nor do they meet the traditional speech pronounciation progression. They have stuck however. When I took Ethan for his 18 month old check up at the doctor's office last month, I asked my nurse practitioner about this and what I should do.
She said that the most important thing was that Ethan was able to communicate what he wanted, that we understood what he wanted and that he was trying to communicate. She said that what Ethan had done in creating his own words was not uncommon and that as long as we continued to refer to words pronounced properly, Ethan would one day just ask for "water" and would say a word that may more closely resemble "please." According to the nurse practitioner, Ethan should be able to speak around 20 words at 2 years of age.
Don't give up if your toddler is either not yet speaking or is using "words" that you don't understand. Focus on what is important--that your toddler is trying to communicate with you. Good luck!
