How many words does your child know at this point? Or have you lost count? It wouldn’t be surprising: during the 18- to 24-month time period, your toddler’s Expressive Language skills are exploding as her Vocabulary Knowledge doubles, or even triples.¹ In addition, you will see her gradually move from using single word utterances to more directed, two- (or more) word sentences.² She will begin to form simple two-word phrases, such as “want that” or “my blankie.” This is the age where your child becomes a parrot, imitating and repeating words you say to practice her big kid words and to just hear them again. Be careful with your own language use at this point; you don’t want to hear the same words you just shouted at the car who cut you off repeated by your little passenger in the back seat!

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Although she will still rely on gestures and pointing to communicate what she wants, many children at this age are expanding their expressive skills in a variety of ways.³ They are finding meaning in what people around them say, what they hear from media sources (television, videos, etc.), and anything else they may hear in their environment. At this age, they are also using process of elimination to figure out meaning from contextual clues. For example, if your child has a solid understanding of what a ball is, and her ball is sitting beside a whisk, when you ask for the whisk and point in that direction, she will understand that you are not talking about the ball, and therefore must be talking about the other item. She now knows that a ball and a whisk are different and will process the information that the thing you’re asking for is a “whisk.” Challenging her with new words is absolutely appropriate at this age and will help her quickly build her vocabulary.

Social communication that your toddler is familiar with may become more automated at this age, such as saying “hello” when greeting one another, or waving bye-bye when leaving. She may even develop routines with special people, such as a kiss on the nose for Uncle Dan or high-fives with Auntie Aimee. Emotion is becoming a part of your child’s speech, and you may even see expressions of empathy as she says things like “Dada owie.”

Play Tips:

Do you want to know how you can support your child’s development of Expressive Language skills at this age? It’s easy! Read on for some simple tips to incorporate into your daily play time together.

1. Use body language and hand gestures to reinforce expressive communication. Consider waving good-bye to your child as you say “Good-bye.” Also, instead of saying “What?” when she asks you a question, get down on her level, make eye contact, and say “What are you asking for?” to show her that you are interested in answering her question.
2. Talk to your child at every opportunity. “[T]he more words they hear, the more words they learn.”² Repeat what your child says and ask her detailed questions. Explain to her what you are doing during every day tasks and speak to her in a clear and direct manner.
3. Rotate your toddler’s toys and books to keep learning fresh. Young children are interested in new things and experiences. By offering your child a small number of toys and books to explore at any given time, you will be able to promote repeat learning in the short run, and then have plenty of “new” toys and books to offer when she tires of or masters the current set. Consider putting her play things into different bins, so that you can rotate the bins every few weeks. If she has some favorites, it’s fine to keep these in her toy chest all the time, but changing things up is a healthy way to keep learning fresh over time.

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Developmental Milestones:

Has your baby achieved the following Expressive Language developmental milestones yet? If yes, check off all the skill(s) she has already mastered to date using Playful Bee’s developmental milestones tracker. It’s absolutely FREE and easy to use, just click HERE!

• Points to communicate what she wants.
• Uses simple phrases and sentences with 2-4 words.
• Repeats words overheard in conversation.

Sources:

¹Public Broadcasting Service. Child Development Tracker: Language. PBS Parents.Retrieved December 16, 2013, from http://www.pbs.org/parents/childdevelopmenttracker/one/language.html.

²Florida Partnership for School Readiness (2004). Florida Birth to Three Learning and Developmental Standards.

³Illinois State Board of Education. For Children Birth to Age Three: Illinois Early Learning Guidelines.

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Playful Bee

Education Team at Playful Bee

Playful Bee is an e-Preschool that delivers inquiry-based preschool learning from the classroom to your home. Our preschool curriculum was created by our talented team of rock star teachers. With years of hands-on preschool and Kindergarten teaching experience, they've developed a high-quality preschool experience that is convenient-to-use and easy-to-teach by you, grandparents, or your nanny at home.

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