The following is excerpted from "Teach Me How to Say It Right: Helping Your Child with Articulation Problems" by Dorothy P. Dougherty, MA, CCC-SLP (Published by New Harbinger Publications, Inc.; 1-57224-403-8. Copyright © 2005 by Dorothy P. Dougherty.)
Are you providing the best environment possible for your child to learn and grow? You should be able to answer yes to the following questions.
1. Are you a good model?
Modeling the correct way to speak will help your child learn the correct way to say speech sounds. Experts believe you should not use or encourage "baby talk." For example, it is much better to say, "You are hungry. Here is your bottle," rather than, "Me want babab, so hungry." Speak clearly, naturally, and, most important of all, correctly. Before your child speaks, she will listen to everything you say, and how you say it.
2. Do you tune into your child and follow her lead?
As your child begins to communicate with you, focus on the words and objects that are central to her life, or on which she is focusing at the moment. For example, if she is pointing at a squirrel running up the tree, don't start talking about the dog across the street. Talk about the squirrel. For example, say, "See the squirrel? He has a bushy tail."
3. Do melodies dance in your baby's brain?
All parents know instinctively that singing soothes a fussy baby. Psychologists believe that music enhances early brain development beginning in the earliest months of life. By exposing your child to music early in life, you may enhance her ability to understand information, hear the differences in sounds, and stimulate her ability to repeat words she hears. Many of your child's favorite toys will play music, and she will probably enjoy listening to the radio, stereo, or you, as you hum, whistle, or sing your favorite song.
4. Are you part of the action?
When you play music for your child, sing, dance, and laugh along. Show your enjoyment and be part of the action. Although your baby is unique and may enjoy many different kinds of music, some experts think that newborns are best comforted by quiet, soothing music, including lullabies, love ballads, gentle blues, and folk songs. When your child sits on your lap, she may enjoy listening to you sing more upbeat songs, such as "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Many of these songs have gestures that go with the lyrics. Show your child by your actions and words that you enjoy the time you spend together.
5. Do you play with sounds?
Begin early, and give your child the experience of listening to many different sounds. Hearing the differences between sounds, or auditory discrimination, is a critical link to learning to say sounds correctly as well as learning to read. Comment on the sounds around you: Say, "Listen to the clock ticking," or ask, "Do you hear that airplane? It is loud." Talk about the sounds your child makes when she splashes in the tub, claps her hands, and stamps her feet. Bang pots with spoons, or drop blocks into different empty containers made of plastic, metal, or cardboard. Talk about the different sounds you hear when the block falls into each container.
6. Do you make contact with your child's eyes?
Make eye contact before you begin to talk to your child. You might call her name more use another attention getter, such as "Hi" or "Look," to hold her attention longer. If your child looks away, repeat her name again to see if she is interested in continuing to play and talk with you. Use only one form of her name, as some experts believe that using more than one form (Tom, Tommy, Thomas) may be too confusing at an early age.
7. Do you keep your talking concrete?
Speak clearly and slowly to your child about what is happening around her. If you speak at a slow but comfortable pace and enunciate clearly, it will be easier for her to learn how to say individual sounds and words. Also, use short phrases and sentences, so that she may grasp the rules of grammar more easily. However, don't abandon complex sentences completely. Research has shown that children who were exposed to longer sentences containing words like "because" and "which" learned to express these words earlier than children whose parents seldom used them.
