Let us all remember the wise words…
LESS IS MORE
Now that isn’t always true but in the case of modeling language, when you sit down with your child to play, targeted language modeling is Highly recommended.
My littlest man is not the biggest talker. But when we sit down to play and I pick 1 or 2 words to target, his willingness to imitate and use that language again on his own significantly increases.
This week, he is all about the “uh oh” and “ta da” and that is just fine. Slow down and know that, as the adult, we don’t need to comment and ask questions the whole time in order to support language development. Take an attainable and motivating word and maximize the use of that word in your play.
Choose your word wisely (like not spelunking) and remember to pause. You want to make sure your little one has the stage and feels the opportunity to say it themselves. They might not right away, but that pause is still important. Think of it as an early attempt at turn taking!
Building Better Speech and Language 