How to teach your toddler language skills

One of the greatest things about being a father is hearing your child's first "coo." On the inside all you're thinking is, "My kid just told me how great I am." What your child is really saying is, "Hey, I'm hungry. Mommy's not around and somebody needs to feed me!" It's going to be your responsibility to figure out the difference between the ‘coos' and the ‘wahhhs.' Note to self: "coo" = hungry, "Wahh" = Change my diaper, I reek!

1. Pay attention...carefully. Take notes-when is your child crying? Is it the same time every day? Is the tone and pitch of the cry the same? When does it differ? Have there been any milestones or breakthroughs you've recognized? You've GOT to pay attention. Seriously. ESPN will rerun itself, so put down the remote and pay attention to your kid. Here's a quick timetable for you to keep in mind.

2. Be aware of the milestones. Research (thanks Kidsource) has shown specific milestones in speech developments.
   · At 7 days of age, an infant can distinguish her mother's voice from another woman's voice. That is a good thing.
   · At 2 weeks of age, an infant can distinguish her father's voice from another man's voice. This is a GREAT thing.
   · At 3 months, an infant can make vowel sounds. "Oooooo"
   · At 6 to 8 months, the infant has added a few consonant sounds to the vowel sounds, and may say "dada" or "mama," but does not yet attach them to individuals.
   · At a year, the infant will attach "mama" or "dada" to the right person. The infant can respond to one-step commands "Give it to me."
   · At 15 months, the infant continues to string vowel and consonant sounds together. The infant may be able to say as many as ten different words. Maybe great words like, "Food" or "Gisele Bundchen."
   · At 18 months, a toddler can say nouns "ball, cup", names of special people, "Gisele Bundchen" and a few phrases, "Look, Daddy, Gisele." The infant adds gestures to her speech, and may be able to follow a two-step command. "Go to the table and get daddy the remote."
   · At 2 years of age, the child can combine words, forming simple sentences like "Daddy run."
   · At 3 years of age, the child can use sentences two- to four-words long "Play with me?" follow simple instructions, and often repeat words he/she overhears in conversations. "Go Cubs!"
   · At 4 years of age, the child can understand most sentences, understands physical relationships (on, in, under), uses sentences that are four- or five-words long, "Daddy watch ESPN again," can say his/her name, age, and use pronouns. Strangers can understand the child's spoken language as well.
   
   
3. Read to them. A LOT. One of the greatest things you can do with your kids is read to them. Just read. Read a newspaper, a book, stock quotes, Cubs scores, Sox scores. Not both in the same conversation though, you'll just confuse them. Introduce new vocabulary within a meaningful context, too. "Billy, Michael Jordan played basketball. Can you say b-a-s-k-e-t-b-a-l-l?" Good boy.
   
   
4. Sing to your kid as well. Sing them Coldplay, sing them nursery rhymes, sing them songs about how to comb their hair, about how to use the toilet, about how mommy may primp too long. Don't worry about how horrible you sound either, they'll never know.
   
   
5. Be patient. I'm reminded by a lyric from Evan Dando, "Patience is like bread I say, I ran out of that yesterday." While he may have run out of patience, you have to learn patience. When speaking with your child and you are expecting an answer, give your child time to respond! When you think you've waited long enough, wait. Then wait some more. You must give him time to process (Daddy said "Basketball"), time to think about what he wants to say (My Daddy wants me to say "basketball"), then finally he speaks ("Baaaaa"). "Good boy, Billy."

What if, however, your child isn't speaking at the rate at which you feel he should? More than likely, you don't need to worry. Last I checked, Tom Brady didn't come out throwing the perfect pass, so don't expect your little one to be on target with everything. When you have a second, take a look at the following book, The Late Talker: What to Do If Your Child Isn't Talking Yet.

Also, remember the buzz behind Baby Einstein? Well, Time magazine had an article challenging the idea of how effective those DVD's really are. Now, let it be known, that as a dad of two little ones, 27 months and 4 months, that I am guilty of setting them down in front of the TV from time to time, but that's just it, it is limited. Extremely. Don't believe me? Just come on over and see how much I actually let you watch.

Finally, in all seriousness, please make sure you talk to your kids, listen to your kids, and most importantly...be there for your kids.

P.S. -Though I used, "Billy," no Billy was harmed in the writing of this article and I promise to use a different boy name with every article. Make sure you keep track to keep me honest.