Increase interaction with the child and utilize every opportunity to learn
Just like it takes two hands to clap, communication requires two people. Often the parents do not have the time or the inclination to spend time with their child. This is the first step that you must take: spend time with your child.
A good communicator has to be a good listener. Just be with your child. Pressuring your child to talk is a sureshot way to reduce their confidence.
Next, bend down so that you are at the eye level of the child. Or let the child sit on the bed or chair so that you are at their eye-level.
Then, talk with the child, even when they are not talking to you. Comment on what they do. If the child, for example, holds a car, you must say: “Wow, a car! It goes vroom, vroom, vroom!” While speaking, try to exaggerate and change the volume of your voice and tone and repeat the word ‘vroom’ many times. Exaggeration and change in voice tone attracts the child’s attention and repetition helps the child to associate the word with the object (in this case the word ‘vroom’ car).
Consider every situation as an opportunity to interact and build their vocabulary. For example, if you go out, say: “See….there…there..car” or “See…there…there…crow”and point to all that. Initially, your child may not respond to what you say, or may not even look at it, but with consistent and repeated effort, things will surely change.
If the child is older, then show them objects that they do not usually see.
I remember a parent who was learning to be an advocate while her child was 3 years old with Autism. She would take the child with her for everything, be it shopping or cooking. And then she would talk with the child. Wherever they had to wait somewhere, like hospital visits, she would take picture books and stories with her, so that she could show the books to the child in the doctor’s waiting lounge.
The child quickly progressed in Speech and was able to speak in sentences by the time they turned 4.
This is the power of consistent interaction and utilising all situations as an opportunity for the child to learn.
Last Updated on 13 June 2025