First Words: Revealing the Best Ones to Focus On!
By Hannah O’Driscoll, MSc. CCC-SLP
Believe it or not, there are certain words you should be focusing on when talking to your baby, and considering their first words. These are referred to as “key words”, which must be both:
1. Functional (words that a child can understand and use to have their wants and needs met)
2. Meaningful (words that are interesting and motivating for your child, because what is motivating is fun)
3. While also simple and developmentally-appropriate for your baby!
These words should be easy for your baby to say, and should allow them to get their own individual needs and wants met. Sounds complicated, right? Don’t worry. Daisy Plays has done the work for you!
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!
