The ages between 12 and 36 months are of pivotal importance in your toddler’s language development, so there are some things you should definitely know about this period. Children usually start basic communication in language in these times, and sometimes, problems may arise, that could hinder the toddler’s social development as well, thus it is of great significance to be aware of how the language develops and what parents can do to help their children develop their language easily and naturally.
Toddler’ Language Development – An Overview
Generally, the toddler’s language development happens through certain steps between the ages of 1 and 3. There are no strict rules of course, as to when exactly your child should start using sentences or more complicated words, so you should not be alarmed if one child does not start speaking as early as the other, moreover girls generally start speaking earlier than boys.
However, as a basic outline, it could be said, that at 12 months, your child may have been babbling for a few weeks, and may use such simple words as mama, and start using words such as ball, from this time on, your toddler may also be able to understand simple instructions that are accompanied by gestures.
After fifteen months, your toddler’s language development may already be at a stage where he uses a few simple words, somewhere between 5 and 15, and may be able to follow commands even without gestures. Between 18 and 24 months, your toddler will be able to use around 20-50 words, and will understand much more. Between 24 and 36 months your toddler may already be using simple sentences and will learn new words every day and really rapidly, especially by the time he is 3 years old.
What Can You Do?
Though the toddler’s language development is a process that happens quite naturally in a normal and healthy environment, there are some things you can do to help your toddler learn new words even faster and more easily. Talk and read to him a lot, preferably every day. Show him pictures and tell him what is on those pictures, take him to the zoo and tell stories about the animals.
It is also quite effective to narrate the simple events of one day to your toddler. Narrate him the day you spent together, repeat a lot, and this way it will be really easy for him to learn new words and sentence constructions every day and to remember these as well. Try to introduce new words to him every day, names of flowers, or animals, any objects he sees, and try not to finish his sentences for him, wait till he finds the suitable words. With these tips you can definitely help your toddler’s language development and widen his horizon more and more every day.
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