Top tips for encouraging your child’s speech, language and communication

Simple things you can do every day with your child, like chatting, playing and sharing a book together, can all help your wee one develop their speech and language skills. Here are some simple tips you can try wherever you are and whatever you’re doing.

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Getting ready to chat with your child

There are a few wee things you can do that will make it easier to chat to and communicate with your child:

Chat and play every day.
Help your child to tune in by putting your phone away and turning off the TV – it's much easier for them to focus on you if there are no other distractions.
Use the language you usually speak at home to talk to your baby. So for example if Urdu is your home language, then use that with your baby. You can find out more about language in bilingual households on the Tiny Happy People website.

How to chat with your child

Here are some important things to remember when you're chatting with your baby. These have been put together by speech and language experts to help you both get the most out of your time together.

Tip #1: Get down to their level

Mother kneeling down to small boy's level

Make sure you and your child are at the same level, so they can clearly see your face and you can see theirs.
Pay attention to notice what their facial expressions, sounds and words are telling you.
This video from Tiny Happy People explains why it's great for your and your child to be face to face.

Tip #2: Wait and watch before joining in

Children love it when you play alongside them, so let them take the lead.
Watch and wait to see how they choose to play and what they’re interested in.
Join in by making a comment or taking a turn, and give them plenty of time to respond.
You can find out more about tuning into your child's interests in this video from Tiny Happy People.

Tip #3: Copy their sounds and words and add a bit more

When you repeat what your child says, they know you’re listening and it helps to keep the conversation going. Your longer sentences help them to learn.
Don’t worry if they can’t say all the sounds correctly just yet.
This video from Tiny Happy People has more tips for responding to your toddler.

Tip #4: Talk to them whatever you’re doing

Mum and young child walking to nursery, talking together

Chat with them about whatever they’re busy doing, whether that’s getting dressed or walking to nursery.
Try to comment instead of asking questions. Give them time to take a turn, with or without words.
You can get more tips for following your child's lead in this video from Tiny Happy People.