Developing communication skills is one of the cornerstones of 18 month old toddler development and one that parents are sure to be thrilled about. Using speech therapy tools at home can help kids learn as they discover.
A toddler is said to have reached the age of 18 months, if they are able to walk. At this stage, most of the developments that take place during the babyhood are completed and one can clearly see that the child is developing its oral communication skills, though in a very rudimentary manner. From this point on, it becomes essential for parents to work along with speech therapists as well to enhance the vocabulary, speech and communication.
If your child is 18 months old and you have noticed that he/she isn’t developing language as fast as his friends, it might be time to schedule an appointment with a speech-language pathologist. Learning to talk requires more than just using words and sentences. The development of language in children is complex because it involves how the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and vice versa. Children can experience difficulties with language when they’re not exposed to enough auditory input or they are exposed to excessive input during a critical period of rapid brain growth.
Every parent wishes that their 18-month-old is a genius with a great vocabulary, recognizing animals and words. However, some children may be slower or tend to develop communication and speech milestones faster than others. There are several reasons for this: a child’s health condition could affect their development, the age of the child when they learned to speak, or certain physical characteristics such as tongue size or teeth position can influence how a child develops skills. Therefore, it is important to understand these differences in order to know what you can do at home to help your child’s development.
Most parents first realize their child has speech problems or delays when they don’t begin talking at the same time as their peers. But as early as 6 months old, speech and language milestones can be identified that signal whether your child is on track, or whether she needs help. Many children will even address this issue by saying “ah-ah” when presented with a new word, which is actually an important step in learning to use language.
First words typically include simple nouns – ‘dog,’ ‘mommy,’ ‘daddy,’ etc. This is followed by common idioms such as ‘bye-bye.’ Finally, the vocabulary becomes more complex, including pronouns such as ‘mine,’ ‘yours’ and ‘his.’ It’s also typical for children to make sound associations between two different words – they might say ‘milk’ when they see their favorite cartoon character drinking milk.
There are many factors that affect the development of speech: social, emotional, and physical. The language skills are continuing to develop in a gradual process through the whole life. Therefore, parents should help children develop verbal communication skills during the first two years of their life.