Imagine this scene; a happy, contented , robust toddler riding in her stroller, sucking noisily on her breadstick while nanny briskly sets off at a clip around the block. Baby gets her routine walk. And nanny’s job is done.

Scroll over to scene 2: happy. contented, robust toddler riding in stroller, breadstick in hand, but highly attentive to the ongoing chatter of nanny.

“what a beautiful day it is, isn’t the sky just beautiful” oh my pretty yellow butterfly!”

“big dog, look big black dog!” “woof”

Ongoing chatter alerts the child to his environment. It reinforces his comprehension of language. It provides a means by which his experience is conveyed. It invites him  into the wonderful world of words. It alerts him to the concept of words, and sentences. He begins to pick out words he understands and begins to use what he knows to understand the parts of the sentences he does not yet understand. A complex process that occurs unseen and unbeknownst to both parties as they engage in the verbal interchange.

Talk to your child. Talk about his experiences; describe what he sees, hears, touches and feels. Laugh with him, exclaim and carry on a conversation with his verbalisations; be it his babble, his part-words, his coughs, burps and what-have-you’s. Treat every expression of your child’s as  a turn in the “conversation” and you will have a child who is well on the way to being a social, conversant person.

When your child starts to produce words, they may be unclear and there will be times when you might not be sure you heard right. Give your child the benefit of doubt. Assume you heard right. Repeat the word you thought you heard. Reinforce it in your expression. Say it again and again in different ways. Your child will show you through his response if you have understood right. The worst outcome is that you misunderstood. The best is that you have understood him and he will likely repeat what he has said and get clearer with every repetition. And so the process continues.

Enjoy talking with your toddler; your language becomes the blueprint upon he builds his language. When joy and fun are interwoven, the learning that occurs as a byproduct is by far more entrenched UsingWordseffectivelypreschool!