Today, I am going to share my best speech therapy strategy for toddlers. I give this tip to all of the caregivers I work with so that they can use it at home with their toddler or preschooler. It is so simple to do. You can do it any time, any place, anywhere.
Tell me if one of these scenarios sounds familiar:
- You are concerned about your toddler’s speech/language development, but you have been told they are too young for speech therapy, and you need to “wait and see” what happens.
- Your child has been identified as having a speech or language delay, BUT you are in the process of waiting for insurance authorization.
- Maybe you can’t afford speech therapy right now.
I totally get it, and I will teach you one of the best speech therapy strategies parents can use to help their toddler, preschooler, or late talker at home. We know that early intervention is critical, and I don’t want you to feel like you have to twiddle your thumbs while you wait for insurance to process.
However, before we get into that, I do have to say that if you are in a position where you can see an in-person speech-language pathologist, please do. They will be able to give you an individualized treatment plan for your child.
Let’s talk about the two best ways you can dive into teaching your toddler language at home.
I want you to start by thinking about your day. My family wakes up at 6:00. My husband and I drink coffee in bed, and then we start our day. I make breakfast for the kids, take them to school, and go to the gym. These are our big routines.
Within those big routines, we have smaller routines. For example, when I make my son’s cereal, I get a bowl, pour the cereal, pour the milk, and then he eats it.
Now, let’s talk about a speech therapy strategy for toddlers called “Self Talk”. Self-talk is exactly what it sounds like. You talk about what your “self” is doing.
If we go back to the cereal example, self-talk might look like:
- I am getting a bowl
- I am getting a spoon
- I am getting the cereal
- I pour the cereal into the bowl
- I pour the milk in the bowl
- Now we get to eat the cereal!
To provide some of the best speech therapy at home for your toddler, all you have to do is combine those two things: self-talk and routines.
Go back and think about both the big and small routines during your day. Visualize how you could add the speech therapy strategy of “self talk” into those routines.
The repetitiveness of routines is what helps children learn new words. When you pair the same words with the same actions and objects, day after day, it gives your child many new opportunities to learn new words. The more routines you focus on, the more potential your toddler has to learn new words. The best part is, you are going to be doing these routines anyway, so you might as well do a little speech therapy while you are at it!
Now let’s plan like a Speech Therapist.
- Write down three routines. Feeding routines, toileting routines, and cleaning routines are good for starting out.
- Plan to use the strategy of self-talk during these routines (aka talking about what you are doing)
- Focus on using self-talk during these routines every day for the next week.
Remember, in-person therapy is always the goal. I know there are many reasons why you may be waiting for speech therapy services to begin. Perhaps you are waiting for an appointment to become available or for an authorization to be approved.
However, if you want more guidance while you wait, I think you will find this workbook helpful.
This workbook was created explicitly for the PARENTS of late talkers!
It is set up to help you target one speech therapy strategy per week while also giving you suggestions of activities to do with your child. There are 22 strategies included!
The activity suggestions include a weekly theme, along with book recommendations, songs, and toy recommendations.
It is the perfect way for parents who are currently unable to attend in-person speech therapy to start working with their toddler at home. It contains over 100 activity suggestions. This workbook is available on Amazon.
