Your child’s first word represents an incredible developmental milestone. It is by the combination of your child’s receptive and expressive language, that he or she becomes capable of communicating. A child’s receptive language is his or her ability to understand what other’s are saying. Expression of basic needs and wants through non-verbal and verbal means is a key component of a child’s spoken language development. Some children may require additional time or assistance to acquire their expressive language. It’s also possible that your child may require additional modalities to communicate. When your child is demonstrating difficulty using his or her expressive language, it’s a good idea to provide them with two choices so they can ask for what they want. Think about your child’s morning routine. Think about how you begin your day. Your child is seated at the kitchen table. Would he or she like apples or bananas? Perhaps your child is not yet requesting, verbally and is not using many sounds. Your child can hand you the apple or banana picture as a helping visual aid to complete the task to indicate what he or she wants for breakfast. Your child can decide what he or she wants, in a non-verbal way. Encouraging your child to make requests using a sign could be another option. For instance, you might hold up the ball and the book while playing. As a parent, you can teach your child the sign by modeling it for him or her and having him or her copy it. At this point, your child is starting to develop a nonverbal communication system. Eventually your child may learn to use the signs spontaneously, resulting in non-verbal ways to communicate. Your child is now beginning to build a non-verbal way to communicate, even though your child may not yet have the expressive vocabulary to verbalize. Next, you may encourage your child to make requests using other signs. A few tried and true signs are: more, all done, drink, eat, water, and cookie. To signify the object desired, your child can utilize any of these signs. That’s why offering two choices becomes so powerful. It assists in figuring out what your child wants, without it being a guessing game. Is your child currently displaying frustration(s) which are the result of his or her difficulty communicating? Your child may throw a tantrum, kick, or scream. These behaviors are typically a result of the difficulty your child exhibits when getting his basic needs and wants met. Offering the two choice option will help your child to reduce these frustrations. Additionally the two choice system will help your child to: imitate you, use more sounds, use gestures or signs, nod their head for yes or no, answer questions, and use words. When I use this strategy in speech therapy sessions, parents are amazed and so happy this one small way helped their child to begin to communicate. If your child is beginning to use gestures; pointing or pulling on your tee shirt to take you to his preferred item, this is a great start. Many children will begin to use these gestures before using consistent verbalizations. Praising your child when he or she uses a gesture is a great idea. This will enhance your child to have a greater sense of achievement and will motivate your child to communicate more. Once your child is consistently using gestures, your child will begin to use verbalizations. Let’s pretend you are playing with your child. You offer and hold up a puzzle and a teddy bear as the two choices. Perhaps your child points to the bear. You can say, “bear”. Next your child points and says, “buh” for bear. Your child just paired a gesture with a first sound in the word. Hooray! You can praise your child and say, yes “bear”, acknowledging your child is talking about the bear. Continue to name and label vocabulary for your child in his or her natural environment. A few examples of single words to use during play interactions include; potty, ball, spoon, cup, bowl, cookie, diaper, door, dog, bear, cat, hat, and book. It is perfectly fine for your child to use a different sound or sound combination in a word, when they are first developing their expressive language. For example, cookie may become “tutee” and duck may become “dut”. Continue to be a cheerleader for your child and deliver praise when he or she is talking. Your encouragement goes a long way! Your child is beginning to pair the gesture and a word to label the bear. You can hug the bear and say “hug bear” or “bear hug” to model two words together for your child to hear. This in turn, will encourage your child to hear a two word combination which will eventually become important for him to begin using. Your child will first learn to use one word at a time to label vocabulary. Next, he or she will use these two word combinations. A few examples of two word combinations your child may begin to use are: more cookie, mommy up, daddy out, me go, fall down, and all done. It’s a great idea to continue modeling language for your child during play and when out and about. Parents can use bubbles to elicit words such as: up, down, big bubble, little bubble, pop, open, and close. Singing songs and using fingerplays can also help your child learn to use more expressive language. Sit down, face to face and sing songs together, using the gestures and words in the songs. Gestures coupled with the words will help your child to understand the words and their meanings. The wheels on the bus song, incorporates the vocabulary; bus, baby, cry, honk, round, up, down, open, shut, mommy and daddy. Pairing the gesture with the words, will help your child first use the gesture, and next speak the words. This is why nursery rhymes, songs, and fingerplays assist children to learn language! Continue to provide two choices to your child to encourage his or her language to develop. When you provide wait time, you are giving your child the time he or she needs to make a choice, shake his/her head, use a sound, or use a word to request, when provided with the two choices. A speech and language pathologist can help your child to develop their expressive language using these therapy techniques. Speech Superstars stands out in their expertise, and their commitment to trust, transparency, and honesty – working diligently for every child and family we help. For more information regarding expressive language, please click here: https://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/preschool-language-disorders/