Speech, what! This can actually drive mothers crazy, especially when your friends’ baby develops theirs way early and all your baby can seem to say comfortably is baba and mama.
My son has been talking a lot lately, not baby talk, but he seems to repeat everything you say, the confidence with which he says the words is amazing, he will challenge you if you try to correct him and his memory for words is awesome. Now, my friend’s baby started talking way before my son and I had to remind myself every other day that babies develop differently. In fact, he (my friends’ son) never really mixed up his words. My son for the longest time called Nyama Manya.
How do you encourage speech to your baby? Do not baby-talk back at them, if they mix up words, do not repeat their mistake, it is very tempting and I have caught myself repeating once in a while. Pokort for popcorn, ochurio for oh toodles (mickey mouse), lepoles for apples, A Calo for aunt Carol and trust me there are many more. When he calls things or people with mixed up speech, I repeat with the correct word and by and by he is learning, now he calls nyama correctly.
I have read over and over that babies can learn more than one language and as they become older, that ability diminishes. I talk to my baby in English, I throw Kiswahili words and statements here and there, my husband speak English mainly and our house help does Kishwahili almost all the time apart from simple English words. Because they are together most of the day, my son has learnt a lot of Kiswahili, however, I have noticed that if I instruct him in English he understands though his words are in swa mainly.
The other day I read online about a mother who was vexed by the housie because she speaks to the baby in Kiswahili and the mother wants the baby to learn English. My thought to that, relax, speak to your baby in English and let her learn both languages, he/she is smarter than you think and even when they go to school, that will not be a problem in a week she will be speaking English through her nose.
Activities to Encourage Speech and Language Development- adapted from: http://www.asha.org
Birth to 2 Years
- Encourage your baby to make vowel-like and consonant-vowel sounds such as “ma,” “da,” and “ba.”
- Reinforce attempts by maintaining eye contact, responding with speech, and imitating vocalizations using different patterns and emphasis. For example, raise the pitch of your voice to indicate a question.
- Imitate your baby’s laughter and facial expressions.
- Teach your baby to imitate your actions, including clapping you hands, throwing kisses, and playing finger games such as peek-a-boo, and the itsy-bitsy-spider.
- Talk as you bathe, feed, and dress your baby. Talk about what you are doing, where you are going, what you will do when you arrive, and who and what you will see.
- Identify colors.
- Count items.
- Use gestures such as waving goodbye to help convey meaning.
- Introduce animal sounds to associate a sound with a specific meaning: “The doggie says woof-woof.”
- Acknowledge the attempt to communicate.
- Expand on single words your baby uses: “Here is Mama. Mama loves you. Where is baby? Here is baby.”
- Read to your child. Sometimes “reading” is simply describing the pictures in a book without following the written words. Choose books that are sturdy and have large colorful pictures that are not too detailed. Ask your child, “What’s this?” and encourage naming and pointing to familiar objects in the book.
2 to 4 Years
- Use good speech that is clear and simple for your child to model.
- Repeat what your child says indicating that you understand. Build and expand on what was said. “Want juice? I have juice. I have apple juice. Do you want apple juice?”
- Use baby talk only if needed to convey the message and when accompanied by the adult word. “It is time for din-din. We will have dinner now.”
- Make a scrapbook of favorite or familiar things by cutting out pictures. Group them into categories, such as things to ride on, things to eat, things for dessert, fruits, things to play with. Create silly pictures by mixing and matching pictures. Glue a picture of a dog behind the wheel of a car. Talk about what is wrong with the picture and ways to “fix” it. Count items pictured in the book.
- Help your child understand and ask questions. Play the yes-no game. Ask questions such as “Are you a boy?” “Are you Marty?” “Can a pig fly?” Encourage your child to make up questions and try to fool you.
- Ask questions that require a choice. “Do you want an apple or an orange?” “Do you want to wear your red or blue shirt?”
- Expand vocabulary. Name body parts, and identify what you do with them. “This is my nose. I can smell flowers, brownies, popcorn, and soap.”
- Sing simple songs and recite nursery rhymes to show the rhythm and pattern of speech.
- Place familiar objects in a container. Have your child remove the object and tell you what it is called and how to use it. “This is my ball. I bounce it. I play with it.”
- Use photographs of familiar people and places, and retell what happened or make up a new story.
happy parenting