Reading with Your Baby to Promote Their Speech and Language
This video lesson is part of our Small Talk course, created by licensed speech-language pathologists and hosted by Expressable's Chief Clinical Officer Leanne Sherred, M.S., CCC-SLP. Small Talk teaches you simple strategies to help your newborn to 18-month-old learn to communicate. Featuring expert, research-backed tips and techniques, plus demonstrations from a real mom and her toddler.
Video transcript:
I’m so excited to discuss one of the most important techniques you can use to grow your baby’s language abilities - reading with your baby.
Here’s a mind-blowing stat for you: A research study out of Ohio State University found that parents who read just one book a day to their toddler, by the time their child entered Kindergarten, had heard 290,000 more words!
According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), children with communication problems are more likely to struggle with reading and writing skills. This affects how well they perform in school, their social development, and their ability to express themselves.
So what does all this mean when you add it up? That it’s pretty much impossible to overstate the importance of reading to your child routinely. In fact, as parents, there’s few greater gifts we can give our children than the love of reading.
Books stimulate the imagination, expand children’s vocabulary, develop their listening and comprehension skills, and help them succeed in the classroom. Children that hear more language will eventually learn and use more language.
You can begin reading to your baby in infancy simply to establish this routine, which builds good habits that will benefit them a lifetime. Infancy is also a time your child can listen to the different tones in your voice, sounds that you say, and encourage early learning of new words.
As your baby gets older, reading with your little one serves a more direct purpose in speech and language development. Around the 6 month mark, it’s common for your child to begin imitating simple sounds after you. And what better task to help your child listen to new sounds than reading a book together!
When reading, make sure to repeat words and sounds you’d like to emphasize, and say them slowly to help them stick. When helping your child imitate a word, have your child watch your mouth as you say it.
As you read with your baby, point to correlating pictures in the book. Around your child’s first birthday, you may notice that they begin to reach or point to what you are talking about in the pictures! This can be such an exciting milestone. You can ask them, “Where is the duck?” and prompt them to point.
If your baby makes sounds or verbalizes while reading with you, be responsive to what they say. It’s completely okay to go a little off script from the words on the page! Responding to your baby’s vocalizations will encourage them to talk more.
So what books should you start reading with your child?
Well, some are better for reading with your baby than others. Try to select books with rhyming words, as this helps kiddos stay engaged as well as learn similarities between sounds and words. Also try to find books that have repetitive words and sentences. Your child will benefit from hearing them repeated over and over. We’ve included a sample list of books in the downloadable resources section.
Here’s one question I get from parents a lot: “My child wants to read the same book over and over again, what do I do?”
While it may seem like you’re limiting your child’s exposure to new words or pictures if you read the same book repeatedly - this can actually be really helpful! For one, since your child already loves the books they’ll be motivated and engaged. And secondly, reading the same book helps children better absorb and learn the words and sentences on the page, as well as their connection to the pictures. I know it may feel a bit exhausting and repetitive for you, but it’s super helpful for your child!
Try to read at least one book to your baby a day. But the more reading, the better!
It may help to pick a specific time of day to read with your little one, such as before bedtime, or after getting ready for the day. Creating a routine will not only help you remember to read with your little one, but also help your baby anticipate and look forward to book reading together!
In our resources section, we’ve also provided a handout that provides more tips to make reading fun and enjoyable for your kiddo. We've also included some of our favorite podcasts and YouTube channels for the days when we can't do it all without a little assistance.
Read frequently with your little one and, before you know it, they’ll be the ones reading to you! How amazing is that?
