Supporting Your Child’s Language Development at Every Stage

One of the simplest ways to set your child up for success in school and in life is to expose them to language early and often. To do so, try these suggestions for each age group:

Infants + Toddlers

• Read (with enthusiasm) daily! Use sing-song, silly, or animated voices when reading to boost engagement. Babies also love rhythmic language - poetry, books with rhythm/repetition, so keep that in mind when picking books.

• Constantly speak adult, everyday language to support language development (see posts by Alex Bennett on social media for an example of this!). Research shows that hearing more words gives children a greater opportunity to learn a language, which leads to later advantages in school performance.

• Narrate what you’re doing while you do it - bonus points if you make it into a song!

• Sing to your babies and expose them to music! It helps their language development immensely and also reduces cortisol so it’s perfect for those stressful moments.

• Babies learn language through call and response so find opportunities for back-and-forth interactions as much as you can.

• Try singing 2-5 of the same songs daily. This will help your babies learn them and the hand motions through repetition.

  • Tip: Singing it yourself is always better because it allows for that back-and-forth interaction with baby (suggested songs: Tiny Tim, If You’re Happy and You Know It with motions of clap hands, beep nose, shout hurray, etc.).

• Speed up and slow down how fast you sing the songs; your baby will love this and it keeps them engaged!

• Sing as you go throughout the day! Like how you can “sportscast” or narrate what you’re doing as you’re doing it - just put those words to a song.

Preschool and Up (3+ Years)

• Read together daily

• A good rule to follow when reading new books together:

  • First time reading a book is for your child to absorb the information

  • 2nd time reading is also allowing time for your child to absorb the information but try sprinkling in new vocabulary to spice things up (e.g., say aggravated instead of angry)

  • 3rd time to read a book try to pull information out of them (e.g., ask them to tell you what is happening on each page, read and then stop so they can finish the sentence, etc.)

• To keep reading together fun and interesting, build library trips into your schedule so you have new, fresh content to explore together.

• When teaching letter recognition and/or writing, start with the letters in their name!

  • Make up a song to teach how to spell their name

  • Point out their name in print (on a puzzle, on their shirt, written on a calendar, etc.) and encourage and praise when they recognize their name or letters in their name in their surroundings

• Invest in sensory oriented writing / literacy toys like a Magnetic Letter Board and Melissa and Doug Water Wow Reusable Water Reveal Activity Pad - Alphabet

Looking for some more information about the Full Circle Curriculum at Balanced Family Academy? Or some more simple ways you can support your child’s development at home? Join us as a fly on the wall at last week’s Curriculum Info Session for Parents at our Upper Arlington campus! Click the link below to immerse yourself in the information covered at the event or check out the agenda linked as well for a quick look inside the Full Circle Curriculum development process and tips to support your child’s development at home. 

Curriculum Info Session for Parents at our Upper Arlington Campus

Listen: Curriculum Info Session (Audio of Event)

Event Agenda: Curriculum Info Session Agenda + Tips to Support Your Child’s Development