Fact or Fiction: Asking My Child Lots of Questions Will Get Them Talking!
By Hannah O’Driscoll, MSc. CCC-SLP
FICTION!
We so badly want our babies and toddlers to talk, that we can sometimes rapid fire questions at them. But it’s really important not to bombard your little one with lots of questions, because this can actually deter your little one from talking! Too many questions leaves your child feeling overwhelmed and under pressure, and creates a very one sided conversation. And they need to hear words being modeled and labeled in order to say meaningful first words.
So instead:
1. Label (name) items
2. Model and repeat words
3. Simply comment
to develop your child’s language abilities. Of course, not all questions are bad, and the Daisy Plays online courses provide you with age and developmentally appropriate questions that can encourage communication. Where possible, leave the questions to an absolute minimum, and label, comment and model words instead.
Hannah O’Driscoll (MSc. CCC-SLP) is a speech and language therapist and early language expert. Hannah has spent most of her career working in early intervention, and has helped hundreds of parents help their children reach and exceed their language milestones.
Hannah has recently launched Daisy Plays, a platform of self-paced online courses for parents of babies and toddlers. The courses share simple, research-backed strategies, tools, tips, tricks and techniques to support and empower parents with professional knowledge that will make an impactful difference on their child’s communication abilities in those early years.
Hannah really believes all parents have the ability to create really meaningful interactions and language learning opportunities with their child when given the right support and direction. Her passion is driven by the ample amount of research suggesting that early language skills ensures better social, academic and literacy success, and reduces temper tantrums associated with the frustration of not being to express needs and wants.
Hannah is a mom, and knows how busy a parents day is. Therefore, her online courses focus solely on creating language learning opportunities and intentionally building a child’s communication skills through everyday routines and playtime!
