learning activities for speech delayed toddlers

The Best Speech Delay Exercises and Activities for Toddlers

By Lori Ennis, M.S. Ed

You want to know how to help your toddler with speech delay. It’s what parents do best—helping their children in areas where they need help. And, you’ve of course consulted a speech-language pathologist to ask how to deal with speech delay in toddlers so your little one can continue to grow and develop in speech and language. Your next step? Finding the best speech delay exercises for your toddler .

Are there speech delay exercises for toddlers that you can do at home? Absolutely, and we’ve asked clinicians for how to help your toddler with speech delay. Check out these speech delay exercises for toddlers and feel empowered in helping your little one’s speech and language blossom.

How to Help Your Toddler with Speech Delay

Take it from the experts, best tips to help speech delay in toddlers, real life brings about real speech.

You recognize that there is a speech delay with your toddler . Whether it’s an articulation issue, an enunciation or pronunciation issue or something in their motor planning that may be preventing typical speech development (or something completely different), you find yourself googling “Tips for speech delayed toddler” or “How to help your toddler with speech delay.” We know because we’ve been there. If you’re the parent of a toddler with speech delays, how to help them communicate effectively is one of your main concerns. Effective communication helps eliminate frustration on your end and theirs while preparing them for preschool, school and life. 

So really, are there speech delay exercises for toddlers that you can do at home? Do they really make a difference in how to help your toddler with a speech delay ?

The answer is a resounding, “YES!” and we’ll share them.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association is a wealth of resource when it comes to ways you can encourage development when you have a toddler with speech delays. When it comes to how to help your toddler with speech delay, they recommend some of the following activities to encourage word development, proper articulation and enunciation and auditory processing/comprehension:

• Model good speech. Be clear and precise in your speech to and around them. 
• Make sure you use the appropriate word for a baby-talk word as well. You don’t have to stop saying the baby-talk word; just be sure to give them the correct word. (“You’d like your yogi? Sure, here is your yogurt.”)
• Help your child create catalogs of categories for words. “Look, there’s a dog. It’s an animal. What else is an animal? Yes, a cat is an animal. So is a lion. So is a cow.” 
• Have them develop speech with the ‘Yes/No’ game. “Do cows eat at the dinner table?” “Am I your mother?” “Do you have four ears?” “Are you wearing a red shirt?” This can be a fun game for your toddler to try and trick you.
• When asking questions of your toddler with a speech delay, give choices. “Do you want to eat spaghetti or grilled cheese?” The more words they hear in context, the better their vocabulary base is.
• Sing songs and tell nursery rhymes and read, read, read to your toddler. The more words they’re exposed to, the better. A recent study suggested that children who were read to each night were exposed to more than a million words more than their peers who were not read to. 

Will Oral-Motor Exercises Make a Difference? Dr. Gregory Lof is an Assistant Professor and the Associate Director of the Graduate Program in Communication Studies and Disorders at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. He has suggested that oral-motor exercises may not be as beneficial to speech and language development in toddlers as some might believe.

Dr. Lof believes and offers additional research that suggests oral-motor exercises like blowing bubbles or whistling or chewing on a talking tool may be exercises in futility as they don’t strengthen necessary muscles, and goes one step further in suggesting that strength is not necessarily crucial for speaking anyway. 

So what do Dr. Lof and so many other clinicians he cites suggest as tips for speech delayed toddler help? He advises working on speech tasks that will actually relate to speech production. In this, you can over pronounce early sounds and be sure to pronounce them very clearly. 

Typically sounds that toddlers with speech delays struggle with are /p/, /b/, /m/, /n/, /h/ and /w/. You can help your toddler by being sure (particularly when beginning and ending consonants) to really enunciate the letters. ‘B’ in ‘bubble’ has a lot of opportunity for over pronunciation and enunciation, but any time you use words with those consonants, be sure to give them definition clearly. 

Additionally, making eye contact with your child when you are speaking to him or her is important. Not only does eye contact culturally build bonds and relationship, but it also allows your toddler to look at the way you’re forming your letters as you make sounds and words. This is something she can copy as she’s working on developing her own speech.

Most importantly, use everyday situations to help your toddler with speech delays. By this we mean spend a lot of time talking to your child, and through your day. When he gets up in the morning and you’re helping him get dressed, name his clothes—“This is your shirt! Those are your pants! Now it’s time for socks.” When you’re at breakfast, discuss how you’re preparing it, what it will do for your brain and your body—“This is orange juice, and it will help build your bones and keep you healthy!” “I had to crack this egg open before I could cook it. This what cracking your egg open looks like.”

Especially if your child’s responses are challenging to understand, allow them to respond to you and converse with you so they have the practice with not just speech, but speech that is contextually appropriate and meaningful to them. There’s often little fun in ‘speaking’ words only to speak or to learn, but when speech and language acquisition occurs naturally, it makes a more permanent impact. 

If you’re looking for more tips on how to help your toddler with speech delay, thankfully there are lots of additional resources to which you can turn as well. If you’re unsure as to whether your toddler’s speech is typical for her peers, or you’re interested in any more tips and information, you can check out the Toddler Speech Boost site and download their free milestone assessment guide. 

Toddler Speech Delay Exercises to Use At Home

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In order to improve your toddler’s speech delay, or help them catch up to their peers, you will need to FIRST figure out if there is a delay and what that delay includes. Speech therapist, Sharon Baum, shares 17 tips and tricks you should try at home to support you with toddler speech delay exercises.

First, speak to your doctor and get a referral to a speech therapist if warranted. If a delay is revealed after an assessment, it is crucial that you practice with them daily. That may sound overwhelming, but incorporating daily practices into routines they’re already engaging in, keeps things simple and time effective! Remember that you can be their communication partner at any part of the day that you are with them.

What activities help develop speech in toddlers?

There are many simple activities that can help your toddler develop their speech. Reading books cannot be overstated, even wordless picture books where toddlers are forced to look at pictures and let you know what they are thinking. From labeling objects to describing them using colors and other descriptors. This is a way before bedtime that your child can develop their speech and language skills.

How can I improve my toddler's speech delay?

If your child has a speech delay, you can encourage them to communicate. Also, remember to give them time to communicate; wait and see if they will initiate communication. Especially for their specific wants and needs with you, while also trying to bombard them with speech!

Focusing on activities that are of interest to your child already is a good starting point. Joining them in your child’s activities of interest by acting as a facilitator of communication. This will help the child develop the speech and language skills that they are delayed in. This means that optimizing play, reading, bedtime routines, morning routines, and outdoor activities (i.e. being in the car together and at the park) will be your opportunities for engagement and facilitation.

Let’s get more specific about how we can turn these everyday activities into speech and language moments that will help our toddlers with their speech and/or language delay!

What activities help with speech delay?

Catching up to peers. Here are 5 toddler speech delay exercises.

• Play : This cannot be reiterated enough. During play, you can model expanded phrases to build up their language skills. For example, if you are in the play kitchen, and you are playing with the “fruits” and “vegetables”. You can model: “apple, pass the apple to me”, or “carrots, let’s eat carrots”. You can also watch your child play and let them guide you. If your child says “more oranges”, you can add on to this while playing and say “you want more oranges”.
• Reading : Read to your child and let them “read” to you. This can mean that they are telling you a story based on the pictures they are seeing. Encourage them to tell you what they are seeing in both a wordless picture book and books with words in them. Add on to the ideas that they are conveying through words. Nursery rhyme books can help them remember words, which will build up their vocabulary.
• Listening activities : you want to make sure that your child is building up understanding so that they can develop their speech and language skills. Checking for listening/attention can be done at any moment of the day. In the younger years, you can use a toy that makes noise and put it out of sight. Check if your child acknowledges this through body language or by saying something that indicates that they have heard it.
• Attention/Listening: Another way to check for listening and attention is to incorporate music and dance. Tell them to freeze when the music stops. Are they still dancing or have they stopped? This is a fun way to get your child to build up attention and listening. Since singing is a great tool, you can also start singing and then stop. They should indicate to you that you have stopped or they want more singing!
• Barrier games/understanding language and following directions: Yes, just as it sounds - there is a barrier in place. A barrier such as a box where you can’t see each other’s objects is an opportunity for your child to follow directives as well as administer directions that they want you to carry out!

7 speech therapy exercises for toddlers at home

• Select your child’s favorite hands-on arts and crafts activity or objects. For example, let your toddler tell you what to do with the car on your sheet of paper. For example, “color the car brown”. You then reciprocate by telling your toddler what they should do with the car on their paper. “Cut out the car and put it next to the teddy bear” (this incorporates multi-step directives and spatial concepts).
• Incorporate any target sounds into any activities you are doing. Reinforcing the correct production of sounds while you show your child how you’re producing difficult sounds will help the child learn how to say the sound(s) in error correctly and become easier to understand.
• If your toddler is missing and dropping sounds at the end of the word, then teaching them about rhyming really helps. Model to your child pairs and groups of words that rhyme. For example, a dog and a frog. You can ask your child to show you a ‘thumbs up’ if the sequence of words rhymes and a ‘thumbs down’ if the sequence does not rhyme. For example ‘chair and bottle’. That’s right, ‘thumbs down’. Tell your child that we're going to focus on the final sound of the word. What sound did they hear at the end ‘Matt, cat, bat’. "Well done, it's a "t". For more ** Top Tips For At-Home Speech Sound Practice read here .
• Online platforms can be motivating, but remember that screen time should not be an entire session. Online games can always be a motivating support. Especially on those tough therapy days when your child is being resistant to engagement despite your enthusiasm.
• Get back to the basics. Bubbles and balloons are great companions as they can be used to strengthen articulators (mouth, lips, tongue) when oral motor weaknesses are present. These items can also be rewards to complement efforts and successes after activities. You may find our ** Speech and Language Activities for Parents to Try At Home blog useful .
• Set up an environment that encourages your child to speak (comments or requests). For example, at mealtimes don’t provide a spoon to eat – so they have to ask. If they don’t ask, model the response you need “uh oh, you need a spoon, “here is your spoon”.
• When sorting out washing or getting dressed you can comment and talk about what you have found, “is it a sock or a hat?” or “mummy is wearing a top and you are wearing your… vest”. These can encourage short sentences and Wh questions. For example, “where is my sock” or “what is a hat”.

3 Speech Therapy Techniques for Toddlers

• Praise all your child's attempts at verbal communication. Do not correct your child or make them repeat their errors. Just model back the correct form.
• Use forced alternatives to encourage your toddler to talk e.g. ‘Do you want water or milk?’ or ‘Are you playing with the sand or the water?’
• Once your toddler is using lots of single words, model how to build utterances by repeating back and adding to their single word. Just add one extra word at a time. For example, if the child says ‘car’ you could say ‘big car’ or ‘red car’.

Can a toddler recover from speech delay?

Each child is different. Sometimes a speech delay exists in isolation and at other times it co-exists or is comorbid with other developmental delays. The rate at which a speech delay ceases to exist, or is even able to be removed is dependent on the child. While a question mark still remains as to who will catch up without intervention and who won’t, three predictors that have received attention include; severity of initial impairment in expressive language, degree of impairment in receptive ability as well as expressive, and degree of impairment in gestural communication (Dale, et al. 2003).

Research has indicated that when an expressive language delay is present, 70-80% of toddlers will recover. Indicating that a percentage won’t catch up without early intervention. This is why collaborating with your doctor when you first notice a “delay” is very important.

The good news is that you and your toddler can work together with a speech therapist to help them develop communication skills that they are lagging behind. You may see results quickly or very gradually, but keep going. Each time you practice, you are giving your child a better chance at getting caught up as they enter their foundational pre-school years, mitigating pre-reading and writing difficulties.

Toddler speech delay exercises references:

A Closer Look at the Late Talker Study: Why Parents Should Beware of a ‘Wait and See’ Approach

(PDF) Early Identification of Language Delay

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Have fun with these 15 awesome toddler speech delay exercises that are designed by a Speech and Language Pathologist and will help your toddler to talk before you know it!

Exercises are a fantastic way to teach language and to get your toddler talking! These exercises are fun and motivating for your child, and they provide a focus for you to teach your child new skills.

If you find these 15 exercises helpful, why not check out my big book of 50 easy exercises to get your toddler talking?

Repetition is important in learning these new skills, so don’t worry about doing your child’s favorite exercises over and over if that’s what they want. Feel free to pick and choose the ones that work best for you, your child and your family.

These exercises are designed so that you can easily adjust the level to the level of your child.

If your toddler is not yet talking, these speech delay exercises will help your toddler to talk, especially when you use language strategies as well. If your toddler is already talking, these exercises will grow and develop their language skills.

Above all, these exercises are designed to be fun! That’s how children learn best!

STRATEGIES IN EVERYDAY LIFE

Children learn language from listening to language. They absorb the language spoken by their parents, siblings and the other people around them.

Children need to hear language over and over again for months and years before they will start to use it for themselves.

As a parent, you are the single most important person in your child’s language development. The strategies you use in everyday life to build your child’s language will have the biggest impact on their speech and language development.

Using language strategies will make a big difference and can be used as part of everyday life in all of your interactions with your child.

Want a little more?

Grab your free copy of the Speech and Language Strategies Essential Cheat Sheets. Print off and use to help alongside the toddler speech delay exercises to boost your child’s speech and language. Enjoy!

15 TODDLER SPEECH DELAY EXERCISES

The exercises are based around the following key areas:

• Exercises to build listening skills
• Exercises to encourage first words
• Exercises to build vocabulary
• Exercises to build understanding
• Exercises with flashcards
• Exercises to build grammar
• Exercises for early reading skills

EXERCISES TO BUILD LISTENING SKILLS

This first section of speech delay exercises to help your toddler talk are designed to build listening skills . Attention and listening is a foundational skill for language. We watch babies develop this as they start to focus on their parents’ faces, respond to sounds, and start to respond to their own name.

In a few years they will be able to listen attentively to stories, listen to their friends, and because they are able to listen, they will know how to respond. Language isn’t possible without a strong foundation of attention and listening.

1. Find the Sound

Find the Sound is a fun way to build listening skills. Get a toy or piece of equipment that makes a noise. Wind up or musical toys can work well for this, or even general household items such as an egg timer or metronome. Ask your child to close their eyes, and hide the item somewhere in the room- e.g. under a cushion, behind the door.

This helps children to learn to listen. To make it more challenging, try turning the sound down so it’s even quieter. This is a game for younger children and is great for building attention and listening which are foundational skills for language.

You can even use this with babies- put the object somewhere around the room and see if they turn their head to find the sound. If they don’t, you can make it obvious and point at it saying, “ Wow! Can you hear the music? It’s there!”

2. Stop and Go

Stop and Go is a fun active game for kids. The basic principle is that when you say ‘go’, they can run around. They have to listen out for the word ‘stop’ which means they have to stop and freeze in place immediately.

To make this game even more beneficial, why not give them different variations when you say ‘go.’ You might say, ‘ok this time when I say ‘go’ I want you to walk like you’re tigers/ ballerinas/ hop on one foot/ walk backwards,’ or anything else you can think of.

When you say ‘stop’ you could walk around to check that they are being perfectly still. If you are playing with a group of kids, you could eliminate anyone who moves or wobbles.

EXERCISES TO ENCOURAGE FIRST WORDS

These speech delay exercises for toddlers are focused specifically on first words. They are designed to engage your child, and motivate them to say their first words.

Your child’s first word is a moment all parents are super excited about! As understanding of language grows, your child’s use of language will start to develop.

When you are encouraging first words, pick ones that are motivating. Also pick words where there is the opportunity to use it in lots of ways throughout the day. Aim to repeat it lots and lots in different contexts all through the day.

3. Catch the Gap

Catch the Gap is a clever game to help your child to say their very first words. Understanding comes before talking, so teach your child lots of nursery rhymes. Don’t be afraid to be very repetitive.

The Catch the Gap exercise is when you say the Nursery Rhyme that your toddler is now familiar with, but then stop just before saying the last word in a line.

Look at your toddler and show on your face that you’re encouraging them to finish the line.

For example, you could say: Incy Wincy Spider climbed up the waterspout/ Down came the rain and washed the spider…. (out)

If your child doesn’t say the last word, pause for just a few seconds, and then say it for them and continue with the rhyme. Don’t be put off- persist with this strategy.

Rhymes are engaging and fun and toddlers become very familiar with them easily so it’s a lovely easy way for them to say their first words.

4. Phrase Completion

Phrase Completion is another easy, low-pressure way to help your child say their first words.

It’s a little like Catch the Gap but without the rhymes.

Simply say a phrase (pick one that your child is familiar with) and stop before saying the last word.

For example, you might say:

• Go to (bed)
• Let’s brush your (teeth/ hair)
• Open the (door)

Use phrases that you find yourself saying everyday to your toddler. Use phrase completion in context (e.g. while holding the item) and make it very obvious with your voice.

Make your voice rise at the end so it’s clear that another word is coming and give lots of eye contact and smile to show your toddler you want them to finish your sentence.

EXERCISES TO BUILD VOCABULARY

A strong vocabulary is needed for great conversations, to engage with friends, and for learning across all subjects in school. Remember that vocabulary is not just made up from naming words.

To expand your child’s vocabulary, choose lots of different types of words- action words, describing words, location words and emotion words. Your child will need all of them to be able to engage in conversations.

Building vocabulary is a big focus of toddler speech delay exercises.

5. What’s My Man Missing? (Body Parts)

This is a great game that’s fantastic for teaching body parts. Draw two men side by side. On one drawing, leave out a body part such as an arm or the head. Ask your child, ‘what’s my man missing?’

They might know the word, or if they don’t they can point at the first man to show. When they do this, feed in the language of the body part. Repeat it two or three times so they really hear it and will start to remember it.

Don’t be afraid to make your missing body parts more and more obscure once your child is confident with basic body parts. You could leave out the elbow, the knee, an eyebrow- get creative!

Initially, your child will give the general area such as ‘leg.’ You can say, ‘that’s right. He’s missing part of his leg. That part is called the knee. He’s missing his knee! Can you show me your knee?’

6. Shopping Game

This shopping game will build your child’s vocabulary and also help them to understand categories.

Get lots of pictures of shopping items. The best way to do this is to get a shopping leaflet from a supermarket and cut out lots of the pictures.

Tell your child you’re going to ‘put away the shopping.’

You could draw out a fridge, a cupboard, a freezer and a fruit bowl- whatever is appropriate for your house. Then sort out the shopping together. Describe the items as you go. For example, ‘ oh look- ice cream! That’s really cold! Where should we put it?’

Be careful not to turn this game into a test for your child, but to model as much language as you can. Feed in, don’t squeeze out!

7. Photo Diary

Making a photo book works especially well to teach location words such as: under, beside, in, on, behind.

You can also use it to teach action words such as: jump, skip, run, hop, stand, stretch, roll.

Have fun with your child when you’re making the photobook- get them to go ‘under’ the chair- show them what this means. Then, take a picture to demonstrate each word.

You can print the pictures off with the words underneath.

For example:

• Molly is under the chair
• Molly is behind the chair
• Molly is stretching

Staple or ring-bind them together so they are in one book. Then read through the book with your child, reading out the words and emphasizing the new words.

The book will be very motivating for your child. After all, it contains pictures of them! They are likely to go back to the book again and again. Remember that as you look at the pictures together, keep feeding the words in.

You can use this idea to teach lots of other new words, too. This is a great way to teach colors.

EXERCISES TO BUILD UNDERSTANDING

With a strong foundation of attention and play, your child will be developing their understanding of language. Children need to be able to understand words well before they will start to use them for themselves.

It’s like learning a foreign language as an adult- you can’t open your mouth and communicate until you understand the words you can use.

Generally, children also understand more language than they can say, and the more they understand, the more they will soon say!

The next toddler speech delay exercises are focused on their understanding of language which is a foundation for their talking.

8. Barrier Game

A Barrier Game is a fun way to give your child practice in both giving and receiving instructions. The basic idea is to have matching pictures or objects in front of each of you with a barrier in between so you can’t see each other’s things.

It might be that you each have an uncolored picture of a house in front of you, or you could each have a few toys: a teddy, a spoon and a bed. The barrier might be a hardback book standing up, or even a piece of cardboard.

Take turns to give each other instructions. For example, you might say, ‘color the door of the house red.’ Or, if you have toys you could say, ‘put teddy under the bed.’

Then, when you are ready, take away the barrier and see if your pictures or toys match.

Depending on your child’s age and stage of development, you might need to make your instructions very simple, and check after each one. You might even need to give cues (such as showing ‘under’ with your hand). As you practice, you can start to reduce these.

If your child is older, try giving a series of instructions before checking to see if it matches. Also give them a chance to give you the instructions to follow.

9. Object Hunt

An indoor hunt for kids doesn’t have to be a full-scale Scavenger Hunt which takes a big amount of preparation. A simpler idea is to make a list for your kids of things to find and then let them head off to hunt the objects.

These could be texture related (something smooth/rough), color (something that’s dark blue/ something that has two colors on it), sound related (something that’s begins with the ‘sss’ sound) and even function related (something that you use to stick things). It can be anything that you choose.

You could reward your child for finding everything on the list.

EXERCISES WITH FLASHCARDS

Flashcards are a fantastic tool to use in toddler speech delay exercises. They allow you to choose the words you want to teach, and to play lots of different and fun games. They are great for teaching games with turn-taking and simple ‘rules’, such as ‘Go Fish’ or ‘Snap.’

When you are choosing words for your flashcards, choose a variety of words. Try to choose words that are interesting and meaningful for your child.

However, flashcards are just one piece of the puzzle in learning new words. Children learn best through real life experiences. It might be helpful to jot down the words used in your flashcards, and then use them in a variety of contexts throughout the week. This will broaden their understanding of a word. When children understand a word really well, then they will start to use it!

10. Bottle Cap Game

The Bottle Cap Game is another variation on the flashcard games. To play this game, have about three flashcards picked out with words that you want to teach. Remember that it doesn’t have to be just naming words but it can be any words- action words, or description words work well.

Have three bottle caps and stick the cards to the tops (smaller works better). Alternatively, you could stick the cards to jam jar lids. Find something to hide under the bottle caps or lids- this might be a coin or even paperclip (be careful with small objects if you have a younger child as they are a choking risk!)

Ask your child to close their eyes, put the object under one of the caps, and then let them guess where it is. Teach them to say the word on the flashcard before lifting up to check.

For example, if you are teaching action words and have flashcards of sitting, eating and running, they might say ‘eating’ and then look under to see if they’re right, or they might say, ‘is it under eating?’ if their language is at a higher level.

Your child will need help to do this as they will just be excited to guess and won’t name the card unless you teach them the ‘rules.’ They can then have a turn at hiding the object and you can model, ‘hmm is it under eating?’

11. Fishing Game

To play the fishing game, simply attach a paper clip to each flashcard you are using. If you want to be fancy, you can make fish pictures to stick to the backs of the cards. Then make your ‘fishing rod’- use any length of material and tie a string to it that has a magnet on the end.

Strew the cards around on the floor and then go fishing to catch the cards with your rod. Remember that when they ‘catch a fish’ they need to name the picture on the card.

This is a motivating game that kids absolutely love. You can also turn it into a turn-taking game and teach your child these early social skills. Model the words: ‘my turn’ and ‘your turn.’

EXERCISES TO BUILD GRAMMAR

These speech delay exercises will help your toddler use the correct grammar when they talk.

Grammar is the way in which we use words to say exactly what we mean. If we don’t use the correct word ending, tenses, and pronouns, we will change the meaning of what we say. For example, ‘I walked’ vs ‘ I am walking ’.

Grammar is crucial for kids to develop and use correctly. However, it is a little like icing on the cake.

There are so many skills that need to be in place before grammar can develop. These include: attention and listening, play skills, understanding and use of language. The stronger these foundational skills are for your child, the more opportunities they will have to fine tune their grammar.

However, if these foundational skills are already strong and you want to give your child’s grammar development an extra boost, you can do some focused practice with exercises like these. These exercises are for the earliest stages of grammar- pronouns, plurals, and basic past tense.

12. He is/She is

Pronouns can be quite tricky for kids to develop. Initially, they might say, ‘boy walk’ instead of ‘the boy is walking.’ While a top tip is to model back the correct version naturally without correcting your child, this pronoun game is also a good way to give your child some extra practice.

Look through a sport, gardening or children’s magazine and cut out lots of pictures of males and females. Then sort them into two piles, the ‘he is…’ pile and the ‘she is’ pile. Teach your child to say, ‘he is swimming’, or ‘she is walking.’ Take a turn in the game yourself and model this grammar- let your child hear it lots of times.

Remember to also use it in real life whenever you get the chance- point out and comment about ‘he’ and ‘she’, emphasizing the words a little.

This also helps your child to practice the –ing verb endings.

This exercise alongside practice in everyday life will help your child to develop these grammatical structures in no time!

13. Before and After Cards

Use the internet to find before and after pictures or take your own photos! Make sure the photos demonstrate both the before and after with the grammar for each. You can make these into a photo-book with the target grammar in the words underneath.

Start with regular grammar rules before moving to irregular.

The before and after cards could include:

• Past Tense- (Teach the –ed ending first). Example: I am jumping- I jumped/ I am walking- I walked.
• Plurals – (Teach the –s ending first). Example:  one cow- two cows/ one horse- two horses.

Some irregular grammatical structures could include:

• I am eating- I ate
• I am drawing- I drew
• I am driving- I drove
• One mouse- two mice
• One tooth- two teeth
• One person- two people

EXERCISES FOR EARLY READING SKILLS

As parents, we want to know how to teach our toddler to read. We want them to start off school on a strong foundation to have every advantage for academic success.

Literacy is more and more important in the modern world. Even in a job that doesn’t revolve around it, we still need to be able to fill in forms, read instructions, and generally have enough literacy to get online or to deal with banks and other organizations.

These exercises will help you to develop early reading skills for your child.

Related : 5 Surprising Skills to Build Before You Teach Your Toddler the Alphabet

14. Sound Hunt

Go on a ‘Sound Hunt’ in the house or garden- how many things beginning with ‘mm’ can you find.

Remember that the sound of a letter and the name of the letter are very different things. You can raise your child’s awareness of this by finding opportunities to highlight it.

“oh, a spider- that starts with a sssss- sssspider. That sound is called S.”

Or “t hat starts with a letter M- that letter makes the sound- mmmm. ”

However, be aware that finding something beginning with a sound is more difficult that listening to a word and determining if it begins with the sound.

15. Create a Collage

Create a collage of pictures with just one sound. Cut things out from magazines and papers that have the sound you want.

Have fun using the target sound during a craft. If your target sound is “S Blends”, you could build a crafty snowman. Target sounds could include: snow, snowball, scarf, scary, smile, sparkles, stick, stones, stars, slippery, and stomach.

50 Easy Exercises to Get Your Toddler Talking

If you enjoyed these speech delay exercises for toddlers, check out my big book of 50 easy exercises to get your toddler talking!

Available as a paperback or an eBook, you will have an huge choice of exercises to help your toddler talk in the way that’s best suited to them and your family.

Grab your copy and get your toddler talking!

You might also enjoy:

• 8 Essential Strategies to Boost Speech and Language for Busy Parents [+printable]
• 5 Easy Tips from a Speech Pathologist- How to Encourage Toddlers to Talk
• 5 Surprising Skills to Build Before You Teach Your Toddler the Alphabet
• The Ultimate Guide to Help Your Child Speak Clearly
• Words to Describe Someone: The Ultimate Guide

15 Fun Activities for Speech-Delayed Kids: Unlocking Their Communication Potential

Introduction

Speech delay can pose challenges for children in expressing themselves and connecting with others. However, with the right support and engaging activities, parents and caregivers can help speech-delayed kids develop their communication skills while having fun. In this article, we’ll explore 15 exciting activities that can stimulate language development, foster engagement, and encourage speech progression in children facing speech delays.

1.   Storytime Adventures

Engage your child in imaginative storytelling sessions. Use picture books, puppets, or even act out stories with props. Encourage your child to participate by using gestures, pointing at objects, and attempting to speak.

2.   Sensory Play

Sensory play is an excellent way to engage speech-delayed children. Offer a variety of textured materials, such as sand, rice, or playdough, and encourage them to describe what they see, feel, or hear while exploring the materials.

3.   Picture Cards

Create a set of picture cards with objects and scenes that your child is familiar with. Show them the cards and ask questions like “What is this?” or “Where do you find this?” Encourage your child to name the objects or describe the scenes.

4.   Sound Imitation

Play sound imitation games where you produce different animal sounds, environmental sounds, or musical instruments, and encourage your child to mimic the sounds. This activity not only enhances speech development but also helps with auditory discrimination.

5.   Puzzles and Board Games

Engage in interactive puzzles and board games that involve turn-taking and verbal communication. Encourage your child to express their thoughts, ask questions, or request assistance during the game.

6.   Singing and Rhyming

Music has a powerful impact on speech development. Sing nursery rhymes, repetitive songs, or create simple rhymes together. This activity helps children recognize patterns, develop rhythm, and improve speech fluency.

7.   Pretend Play

Encourage imaginative play by setting up a pretend kitchen, doctor’s office, or grocery store. Engage your child in conversation during play, asking them about the items they are using or what they are doing. This promotes language and social interaction.

8.   Speech Apps and Games

Explore speech therapy apps and interactive games designed specifically for speech-delayed children. These apps often provide a structured and engaging way to improve speech sounds, vocabulary, and sentence formation.

9.   Flashcards

Create flashcards with common objects, animals, or people. Show your child the cards one by one, encouraging them to name or describe each item. Gradually increase the complexity by introducing more challenging vocabulary.

10.  Cooking Adventures

Involve your child in simple cooking activities. Read out the recipe together, discuss the ingredients, and ask your child to express their opinions or describe the taste and texture of the food. Cooking experiences provide valuable opportunities for speech practice.

11.  Scavenger Hunts

Organize indoor or outdoor scavenger hunts where your child has to find specific items or follow verbal instructions. This activity encourages listening skills, understanding of directions, and verbal communication.

12.  Arts and Crafts

Engage in arts and crafts projects that involve cutting, pasting, and painting. During the process, ask open-ended questions, encourage your child to describe their artwork, or explain the steps they took to create it.

13.  Nature Walks

Take nature walks together and explore the environment. Encourage your child to describe what they see, hear, or feel during the walk. This activity provides ample opportunities to introduce new vocabulary and engage in conversation.

14.  Puppet Shows

Use puppets to put on a show or engage in dialogue. Encourage your child to interact with the puppets, make them talk, and express their thoughts. This activity allows children to practice speech in a playful and non-threatening way.

15.  Family Conversations

Engage in regular family conversations where everyone has a chance to share their day or talk about their interests. Encourage your child to actively participate by asking questions, sharing stories, or expressing their thoughts.

Speech delays can present unique challenges for children, but with engaging activities and a supportive environment, progress can be made. Remember to be patient and consistent while practicing these activities with your child. Each child progresses at their own pace, and by providing a fun and nurturing environment, you can help unlock their communication potential and empower them to express themselves confidently.

The Mocha Mom

Nurturing communication skills in late talkers: the power of modeling and prompting, embracing the “no” – nurturing speech delay toddlers with boundaries, you may also like, labeling success: strategies to boost communication in speech..., mastering meltdowns: a proven guide for parents of..., speech delay activities: where to start, 5 steps to introducing new routines:, looking beyond words:, my journey with speech modeling:, unbuckle no more, 15 toys that aren’t helping your late talker, positive parenting tactics: 6 alternatives to punishment for..., speech delay: understanding speech development in children, leave a comment cancel reply.

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15 Best Speech Therapy Activities for Toddlers

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2. singing songs, 3. animal sounds, 4. name that item, 5. bubble blowing, 6. stacking blocks, 7. puzzle solving, 8. feather blow, 9. hide and seek with objects, 10. matching games.

Is your toddler babbling a storm but not quite forming words yet? There’s a lot you can do to help your toddler develop their speech skills in fun and playful ways. This blog post explores engaging speech therapy activities for toddlers that you can do at home!

SplashLearn: Most Comprehensive Learning Program for PreK-5

SplashLearn inspires lifelong curiosity with its game-based PreK-5 learning program loved by over 40 million children. With over 4,000 fun games and activities, it’s the perfect balance of learning and play for your little one.

If you are looking for some screen time that doubles as speech therapy, SplashLearn is a one of the best speech therapy activities for toddlers online. Tailored for toddlers, SplashLearn uses interactive games , songs , and stories to introduce new vocabulary, practice letter sounds , and build basic grammar skills. Plus, the engaging characters and colorful graphics keep little ones entertained while they learn. It’s a win-win for parents and toddlers!

Objective: Improve language through rhythm and repetition.

Music is one of the most fun speech therapy ideas. Choose simple songs that feature repetitive phrases and easy melodies. Sing along with your toddler, encouraging them to join in. Repetition of these catchy tunes helps reinforce language patterns and boosts memory. 

Objective: Develop vocal skills through playful sound imitation.

Animal sounds are not just fun; they’re educational. This game is a hit in toddler speech therapy games, where mimicking animals’ noises—like a cow’s “moo” or a cat’s “meow”—helps toddlers practice different vocal pitches and sounds. Engage with your child by taking turns to guess the animal.

Objective: Expand vocabulary.

‘Name That Item’ is a straightforward yet powerful speech therapy activity for three-year-olds . Gather various everyday objects and place them in front of your toddler one at a time. Ask them to name each object. This not only builds their vocabulary but also enhances object recognition skills. It’s a simple and effective way to help them connect words with their corresponding objects, fostering cognitive and language development.

Objective: Stimulate motor skills and sound production.

They learn to control their breath as they blow bubbles, which is crucial for speech clarity. Encourage them to pop the bubbles while saying “pop” or asking for “more.” This activity supports motor skills through blowing and popping and introduces new sounds and words, making it a favorite among speech games.

Objective: Foster language through structured play.

Stacking blocks is a dynamic part of speech and language therapy. As you and your toddler build towers or create designs, narrate each action. Say things like, “Now I’m adding a blue block on top!” Encourage your child to make specific requests, such as asking for a certain color or size. This interaction helps them learn to use language to express their needs and desires while they play.

Objective: Enhance spatial reasoning and descriptive language.

Puzzles are a fantastic tool for developing both language and cognitive skills. Sit with your toddler and tackle a simple puzzle together. Discuss each piece, describing its colors and shapes, and discuss where it might fit on the board. This practice improves their spatial reasoning and enriches their descriptive vocabulary, making it one of the best speech therapy games.

Objective: Improve breath control, which is vital for speech production.

Feather blowing is an excellent toddler speech therapy exercise focusing on breath control, an essential aspect of speech clarity. Have your toddler try to blow a feather across a table or the floor, using only their breath. Guide them to take deep breaths and control the exhale. This activity is fun and teaches them how to regulate their breath, which is crucial for speaking clearly and confidently.

Objective: Build prepositional and spatial language.

Turn learning into an adventure with a game of hide-and-seek using your toddler’s favorite toys. Hide objects around the room and describe their locations using prepositions like “under,” “behind,” or “next to.” This 2-year-old speech therapy activity encourages toddlers to understand and use spatial terms, enhancing their grasp of language and environment.

Objective: Develop cognitive and language skills.

Matching games are excellent activities for improving speech and overall cognitive abilities. Use cards with images of common items or various objects. As you play, discuss the attributes of each item, such as their colors, shapes, and sizes. Encouraging your toddler to articulate these features enhances their vocabulary and helps them connect words and meanings.

11. Follow the Leader

Objective: Encourage imitation of actions and sounds.

“Follow the Leader” is a playful and interactive way to develop communication skills. Perform simple actions or make sounds and have your toddler mimic you. This activity makes learning fun and improves their ability to listen and replicate sounds, which is crucial in early speech development.

12. Interactive Storytelling

Objective: Engage multiple senses for comprehensive language learning.

Storytelling is an engaging way to develop language skills. Make it interactive by using different voices for characters, adding facial expressions, and incorporating hand gestures. Ask your toddler to guess what happens next or mimic the characters’ actions or sounds. This immersive approach stimulates their imagination and encourages them to use language in varied and creative ways.

13. Simple Commands

Objective: Practice comprehension and execution of verbal instructions.

Integrating simple commands into daily routines is a straightforward way to enhance your toddler’s understanding and responsiveness. Commands like “Please bring me the ball” or “Can you touch your nose?” help toddlers associate actions with words, fostering comprehension and verbal skills.

14. Rhythm and Rhyme

Objective: Improve phonemic awareness and verbal memory.

Engage your toddler with simple rhyming games or rhythm clapping. These activities are not just entertaining—they are also powerful tools in speech therapy. They help toddlers recognize sound patterns, essential for developing reading and speech abilities. The repetitive nature of rhymes enhances memory, making this a fun and effective learning tool.

15. Mystery Bag

Objective: Enhance sensory vocabulary and descriptive skills.

The “Mystery Bag” is a simple yet effective tool in our toolkit of speech therapy activities for toddlers at home. Fill a soft, opaque bag with various small, safe household items. Have your toddler reach in and pick one item without looking. Encourage them to feel, squeeze, and manipulate the item and describe it using words like “smooth,” “bumpy,” “cool,” or “flexible.” 

5 Benefits of Speech Therapy Activities for Toddlers

Speech therapy activities for toddlers offer numerous benefits that are crucial for early childhood development:

• These activities help toddlers learn new words, improve their pronunciation, and form complete sentences, facilitating better communication at a young age.
• Engaging in speech therapy activities stimulates thinking, problem-solving, and memory. Toddlers learn to follow instructions, identify objects, and match their attributes, which boosts their overall cognitive abilities.
• As toddlers learn to express themselves more clearly, they gain confidence in social settings. Participating in group activities and games enhances their social interaction and turn-taking skills.
• Through interactive and repetitive exercises, toddlers improve their ability to listen carefully and understand spoken instructions and stories, vital skills for academic success.
• Speech therapy activities are designed to be fun and engaging, making learning a positive and enjoyable experience. This encourages toddlers to love learning and participating in educational activities.

Incorporating speech therapy activities into your toddler’s daily routine can significantly enhance their communication and cognitive skills in a fun and engaging way. By fostering these skills early on, you’ll provide your child with a strong foundation for successful learning and interaction in their future years.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are nonverbal communication games for kids.

Nonverbal communication games for kids include activities like charades , where children guess the word or phrase acted out without speaking, and emotion cards, where kids identify and mimic emotions displayed on cards. These games enhance understanding of body language and facial expressions.

How can I help my toddler with speech sounds?

To help your toddler with speech sounds, engage in activities like mimicking animal noises, reading books aloud emphasizing certain sounds, and singing songs that focus on repetitive phonetics. These playful interactions promote accurate articulation and sound recognition.

What are gesture games for speech?

Gesture games for speech involve activities where children use hand movements to communicate ideas or words. Games like “Simon Says” or creating a story using only gestures help children associate actions with words and improve their ability to express themselves without verbal cues.

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Speech Delay in Toddlers: Games and Activities To Boost Language Development

If you’ve made your way to this article, it’s likely that you’re concerned about your toddler’s lack of verbal communication, so let me begin by saying that worrying about this is completely normal and natural, and is something that many parents experience. It’s important to understand that speech delay in toddlers doesn’t automatically mean they have some form of learning disability or hearing impairment; in fact, they may just be a late bloomer. Children develop at different rates, and even though it’s easy to assume the worse if your toddler appears to be some way behind their peers, it’s best to stay positive and be proactive. There are a wide array of games and activities you can play at home to help your child progress through their verbal communication journey – even if its one small step at a time! 

Toddler Speech Delay: Five Things You Must Know

Before we delve into the fun and exciting part of this article, i.e. the games and activities, it’s essential to discuss speech delay in a little more depth. 

Because the more you know, the more it will help your toddler. It’s as simple as that! Unfortunately, there is a degree of misinformation about speech and language delay in toddlers, so let’s begin by taking a look at what delayed speech  isn’t.

#1 – Speech Delay Doesn’t Automatically Mean Your Child Has a Hearing Impairment 

While it is true that hearing issues can (and frequently do) cause speech delay, speech delay can exist without hearing loss being present. Some toddlers merely have a high tolerance for noise, so don’t assume your little one has hearing problems just because they don’t react to loud sounds near them. If you’re concerned about your child’s hearing, consult your child’s paediatrician, who will arrange an age-appropriate hearing test so ascertain whether or not hearing impairment is an issue. 

#2 – Speech Delay Doesn’t Automatically Mean Your Child is Autistic

It’s a common misconception that speech delay automatically means your child has some form of learning disability, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder. While it is true that a child on the autism spectrum may experience speech delay, this is not enough to give a 100% concrete diagnosis of Austin. Again, if you have any concerns, speak to your child’s paediatrician. 

#3 – Speech Delay Isn’t an Intelligence Delay

It’s common to see people correlate speech delay with intelligence delay…but this couldn’t be further from the truth! Just because your toddler is unable to communicate with you at the typical level for his age, this DOESN’T mean they’re not smart or intelligent. Many children whose speaking ability lags behind that of their peers have receptive language skills beyond that of children their own age. 

#4 – Speech and Language Delay Aren’t The Same Thing

The terms ‘speech delay’ and ‘language delay’ are often used interchangeably, but in reality, they aren’t actually the same thing. While they do frequently occur in tandem, it is certainly possible for your toddler to have speech delay but simultaneously be developing language skills at a “normal” speed (and vice versa). 

Speech is words that come out of your child’s mouth, i.e. the ability to use a series of sounds to form intelligible words and coherent sentences so that others understand them. Language is the ability to understand the meaning of words. 

#5 – It’s Not As Uncommon As You’d Think

According to research, language and speech disorders affect anywhere between five and ten percent of pre-school children. It’s crucial to understand that your toddler isn’t alone – and nor are you!

Speech Delay Activities for Toddlers

Now that we’ve learnt a little more what speech delays are and aren’t, let’s take a look at a handful of fun activities and games to help with toddler speech delay.

#1 – Read!

Reading is by far and away one of the best activities for toddler speech delay! When you read to your little one, they listen to you intently, and they’ll learn how to form words completely subconsciously, which is often the best way because it doesn’t feel like a learning exercise. Remember, children are little sponges who are always eager to learn and will do so without even realising it. Furthermore, reading to your toddler will help to expand their vocabulary; therefore, if your child is experiencing speech delay, read aloud to them as often as you can.

#2 – Singing

If there’s one type of song that’s synonymous with toddlers and young children, it’s nursery rhymes. Sure, they’re fun, but they’re also a fanatics choice for boosting both language and speech development. Did you know that singing and normal, everyday speech emanate from different parts of the brain? In some instances, stroke victims who have lost the power of speech can actually learn to communicate by singing – which is exactly the same for children who are experiencing speech delay, i.e. some children can sing long before they can talk. 

#3 – Language Expansion

To help improve your toddler’s speech delay, it’s essential to feed them language constantly (we don’t mean feed them spaghetti letters or cereal on a daily basis!) Add descriptive words to things they say. For example, if you walk past a brown dog and your child says, “dog”, respond with “brown dog”. This is one of the most effective ways for children to learn new words, so be sure to do it all the time!

#4 – Play!

  Play with your child every day! When you do, encourage your toddler to take the lead. This creates a safe environment where your little one doesn’t need to talk, and can instead indulge in playtime with you. This will only help to boost their self-esteem and self-confidence, but will also provide you with high-quality bonding time with your child. Encourage the use of their imagination as much as possible! 

#5 – Outside Adventures 

While books, play, and to a certain extend movies, will help your child to use their imagination, nothing can compare to being outside in nature. As you explore the outside world around you, point to and name everything around you, telling your child what they are and any other information you know. Don’t just say single words, though, use full sentences to describe and explain what you see. For example, “There’s a blackbird flying in the sky!”. But don’t just stop there. Encourage your child to speak too. Point to things and ask your toddler what they are or even ask them which way they want to go next. 

#6 – ‘Education’ Toys are a No-no

While it is undoubtedly true that educational toys do have their place in your child’s learning and development, it’s crucial not to allow such toys, i.e. toys that talk and teach, to take over and lead the learning process. Instead, it’s crucial that your toddler does the learning themselves. Toys with bright lights and noise can actually have an adverse impact on children with speech delay; therefore, it’s wise to go back to basics with their toys and avoid ones that light up and make noises. 

Speech Delay in Toddlers: A Summary

While it is completely natural to feel alarmed about your toddler’s speech delay, it is important to understand what speech delay is (and isn’t) and what you can do to help your child learn, develop, and ultimately learn to speak. Although the information presented above certainly isn’t exhaustive, it should provide you with a solid foundation of knowledge and activities to help address speech delay in your child. Remember, children develop at different rates, so don’t be worried! There are so many things you can do to help your child, and, even if external assistance is needed, there are numerous professionals out there who can help you and your child. 

11 Toddler Activities to Encourage Speech

Are you looking for easy and fun ways to help encourage your toddler's speech development?

If so, you come to the right place. I'm going to go over some speech development facts and give you some fun and interactive ways you can help your child's language development.

How to encourage speech development

A toddler's speech development is one of the most exciting and worrying things about parenting.

In the time of social media, it's easy to fall into the trap of comparing your toddler's speech development with others.

You may be wondering if there are any toddler activities to encourage speech.

Research shows that young children need to hear about 21,000 words per day for optimal language development.

While that number may have taken your breath away momentarily, I assure you it's not difficult to achieve.

Luckily, there are many things you can do with your toddler to encourage speech, and they can all be pretty fun!

Speech development in toddlers

You can worry yourself sick reading through websites about how many words your child should be saying at certain ages.

I've read that an 18-month-old should be saying at least 20 words, but then I read the next article down and I'm told a child should be saying at least 6 words at 18 months.

And then , to top the confusion off, women in parenting Facebook groups are telling me they've been told an 18-month-old should be saying more than 50 words!

Here's the most reasonable official word on what a toddler's speech should entail, by age:

By 18 Months- Says several single words. (They don't need to be clearly spoken.)

By 2 Years: Says sentences containing 2-4 words.

By 3 Years: Can carry on short conversations using 2-3 sentences and can be understood by most adults.

Along with these speech development guidelines, it's important to note that receptive language (a child's ability to understand) is of equal, if not primary, importance in younger toddlers!

So, don't gauge your child's language development only on what they are able to say.

Now, let's get to the fun part! The activities! I'll be providing examples of what you can say during the activity to encourage your child's speech!

Toddler activities to encourage speech

1. Herb Grinding- I am a big hot tea drinker and my kids enjoy the scents and flavors of the herbs brewing, along with trying new teas. (Decaffeinated, of course.)

This is one of my personal favorite activities to encourage toddler speech. If there is something you just love , involve your child.

So, grinding herbs with a mortar and pe stle is a super fun activity for us. And there is so much vocabulary that goes along with the activity!

“Feel the chamomile buds. They are dry and break easily. They should be easy to crush!”

“This is a mortar and pestle. People use it for all sorts of things! Painters use it to prepare paints, people crush medicine with it, and people use it for cooking. Let me show you how to use it. After we are finished crushing the chamomile, we can make some hot tea and put some honey and milk in it!”

2. Reading-  This is crucial – and fun! Short, rhyming, and easy-to-follow stories are the best for a toddler's developing speech.

There is no need to purchase any of the “First 100” series books and drill your child on those words.

Simply read and let the story flow. If it's a rhyme, don't stop to talk about the story or the pictures for the first several reads through the book.

Let your child experience the rhythm of the syllables and the song of the rhyme.

This will enhance the experience for them, as well as encourage their love of reading in the future!

Even audiobooks have the benefit of enriching a child's vocabulary!

Sensory bins to help speech development

3. Sensory bins – While sensory bins are not Montessori, they are useful for a child's development.

On top of tactile stimulation and as an adjunct tool for learning, they provide a fun opportunity for speech development.

Take this colored rice sensory bin, for example. We've made the brown rice the land and the blue rice the water.

My 2-year-old enjoyed coloring the rice, helping to plan the activity, and placing the animals in their respective habitats.

“Is water brown or blue? Hmm…I think it's blue. Let's put the brown land over to the left side of the bin and the blue water to the right of the land. Let's get your animals and try to figure out which ones live in the water and which ones live on land!”

So much language goes along with working with sensory bins. And you are only limited by your own imagination, as far as what materials to use!

4. Nature Walks- Take a walk around the yard, neighborhood, or local park. Stop often to observe the things around you.

Encourage your child to pick things up and offer a description of the item.

“Oh, look at that rock you found. Feel it. It's rough and has a jagged edge on one side. It looks different than the rock that I found. Mine is smooth. Do you want to feel it?”.

There is a lot of language to be shared when out and about in nature.

Encourage toddler speech through play

5. Blocks-  This activity is so simple, yet so vital for just about every aspect of a child's development. Blocks. That's right, just plain old wooden blocks .

All you need to do is sit on the floor, facing your child, and build. Talk about what you're building and observe and admire what your toddler is building.

“I'm building a house. You see, the garage is right here and over here is the front door. I've turned a triangle-shaped block upside down to make a pointy roof. Show me what you are building!”

“Let's see how high we can stack these blocks! We can make a tower! Oh, wow, every time we add a block, our tower gets taller. If we keep building, we will have the tallest tower we have ever built!”

6- Miniature objects- Miniature objects are used for different things in Montessori. To start with, they can be used to help encourage speech development in Toddlers.

Language is best learned in conjunction with concrete, tangible examples. So, miniature objects provide this level of learning for toddlers.

Simply name the object and talk a bit about its use. Ask open-ended questions, even if your child can't answer.

Miniature objects are also great for sound games.

7- Silly Sounds- Show your child that it is fun to experiment and be silly with language by making silly sounds with them. Change the words to some common nursery songs and sing about what you are doing.

Instead of singing the correct words to “ Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star “, sing something like, “ Beep beep, bop bop, bip bip, boat! ” Just be silly!

Your child needs to see you feel free to experiment and be silly. This will help them feel free to do the same.

They will have fun, while getting practice and becoming more comfortable with trying new sounds. Activities to encourage speech can be silly and fun!

It should never feel like a lesson,

Speech development and music

8- Finger Plays- Finger Plays are songs involving the movement of the hands and fingers. This is a really fun way to encourage toddler speech!

One Finger Play all my children have enjoyed is this:

Open shut them ( Open and close your hands in rhythm ) Open shut them Give a little clap, clap, clap (Clap in rhythm) Open shut them (Open and close your hands in rhythm) Open shut them Lay them on your lap, lap, lap (Pat your hands on your lap in rhythm) Creep them creep them (Move your hands in a spider motion up your abdomen, Creep them creep them toward your chin) Right up to your chin, chin, chin Open wide your little mouth (Tap your index fingers on the sides of your mouth, But do not let them in close your mouth, and shake your head and wag your finger “no”) Shake them shake them (Shake your hands vigorously) Shake them shake them Shake them Just like this, this, this Roll them roll them (Ball your fists and roll your arms) Roll them roll them Roll And blow a little kiss (Blow a kiss to your child) Muah!

Speech development and food

9- Grocery Shopping- Turn an adult chore into a fun activity by spending some extra time in the fresh section of the store.

The descriptive language that fresh food provides is amazing! There is so much to talk about at the grocery store!

Every fruit and vegetable has a different size, color, texture, scent, and flavor. Grocery shopping is probably one of the best activities to encourage healthy eating and toddler speech!

“We need some apples to snack on. Let's pick out 3 juicy red apples. 1, 2, an 3. Can you help put them in our bag? You did it! Now we've got 3 delicious red apples to snack on when we get home! Now, let's go see what else we can find!”

10- Cooking-  There's no way around it. We have to cook.

So, instead of diverting your toddler's attention elsewhere so you can prepare dinner, invite them to help!

This is one of the most helpful ways to encourage toddler speech.

It may take longer ( and more cleaning is sure to result ), but the opportunity to help a toddler along with their speech development is missed when we exclude our children from daily activities, such as cooking.

“Smell this basil. I like the way it smells, don't you? Now, try a bite of this tomato. Mmm! It's so juicy, isn't it? Would you like to help me stir? Tomatoes and basil are going to be part of our dinner tonight! Thank you so much for helping!”

Speech development and picture books

11- Picture Books- Picture books are great activities to encourage toddler speech. They allow for more conversation, imagination, and they help develop critical thinking skills.

But for the purpose of this article, let's focus on the speech development these books promote.

One of the great benefits of wordless books is the absence of words prompts conversation about the possible actions, emotions , and intentions of the characters on the page.

There is no story to read, so you and your child make up the story yourselves!

“That boy is walking a dog on a leash. I wonder where he is going. Let's see…there's a post office a few buildings away. Maybe he is going to pick up a package. I wonder who sent the package. Do you have any ideas? Maybe his grandmother sent it.”

These fun activities are sure to help get your toddler talking!

Turn off the TV to encourage toddler speech

Doing simple things like speaking clearly and limiting screen time are also important. A link between excessive screen-time and verbal delays has been shown.

Time spent in front of the TV or iPad is time lost gaining meaningful speech; speech that relates to your child's life.

Join Limited Screen-time Families on Facebook for more tips on screen-free activities. It's one of the best resources out there.

My personal experience with my children's speech development

As a mother of three completely different kids, I can promise you that personality plays a huge role in a child's speech development.

The tears I shed worrying about my first child's language development…It turns out, she is a quiet child and a bit of a perfectionist.

I couldn't help but worry when I would watch videos of all my friends' toddlers talking and singing when my daughter had a handful of barely discernable words and a whole lot of da-da-da. She was a “late” babbler, too.

Then, like a light switch went off, she started speaking full sentences.

Now, at 5, she has a vocabulary as large as any other kid her age. My 3-year-old had 100+ words at 18 months.

He is more outgoing and willing to try to say words, even when he's unsure he's got the pronunciation just right.

He appreciates being corrected and will attempt a word as many times as necessary until he's got it just right.

Every child's speech development is different.

Basically, every child is different. So, try not to stress yourself ( or your child) out about their speech development. Child development is not a competitive sport .

I can safely assume that you're reading this article because you have concerns about your child's speech development.

Take a deep breath, dry your tears, and have fun with these activities!

The MOST important thing, however, is that you listen. Your child may be saying more than you think!

And there is NO NEED to talk incessantly to your child, as many social media moms will claim!

Letting them develop confidence and concentration through independent play is absolutely vital.

So, let them play,  then join them.

Let them explore, then join them.

There are so many activities to encourage toddler speech and their all fun!

Cheers and don't forget to subscribe!

Sharing is caring!

Wednesday 25th of August 2021

I NEEDED to read this. Thank you so much. Trust me... you are so right. I worry about my toddler's speech every single day. i am tired of reading articles. I am going to take your advice. Thank you Thank you Thank you.

Bit of crackling

Wednesday 30th of December 2020

If transitions are a problem for your child, it is important to figure out what about the transition is difficult. Often kids don’t like stopping an activity that they are enjoying (like playing on the computer) in order to do something less fun, like getting ready to leave the house. While no one enjoys stopping fun things, some kids struggle with it more than others. That can be a sign that they are still developing emotional self-regulation skills, but it is just one possible cause. Other children struggle to cope with unanticipated changes in schedule, or moving on from something that they feel like they haven’t finished.

Thursday 21st of May 2020

thanks for this article! our little guy has pretty much no words at 15mo but understands what we are asking him to do and follows directions well. he has no screen time and we read a ton of books. the ped is already talking about early intervention speech therapy--ugh! this was such a reassuring article. thanks :)

10 Speech Delay Activities You Can Do at Home

In the US, about 8% of young children have communication problems. Speech and language delay is when a child is not developing his/her speech and language skills at an expected rate. There are several causes why children have speech delays. If you suspect your child is having trouble communicating, it is best to seek help from a professional such as a speech-language therapist. In this blog post, we will be providing tips and different speech delay activities you can do at home. Read for more!

In this article we will discuss:

10 Activities you can do at home

When to seek professional help.

Babies are born ready to learn! The most intensive period for children to acquire speech and language is in the first three years of life. During this time, the child needs a stimulating environment for him/her to learn and develop their brain better.

When children are not yet capable of talking, it does not mean they are not capable of understanding how the world works. During this period, it is important to start introducing concepts already! It can be frustrating for parents as children express hunger, sleepiness, and basic needs the same way – through crying. That’s a good thing! Crying is the first sign of communication. However, when children start to grow older, crying should be replaced with gestures and words. If children remain communicating through crying, it might be a sign of speech delay.

The difference between a delay and a disorder

A delay is just a gap between a child’s chronological age and his/her speech and language skills compared to his/her age-peers. A child with language delay shows signs of slow onset and progress of language skills and speech skills. They might also have a harder time acquiring new skills than other children their age.

Research shows that children with speech or language delays follow the same typical developmental track. However, they acquire new skills slower.

According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), a disorder is when children have a significant impairment in the acquisition and use of language across modalities (e.g., speech, sign language, or both). It is a result of difficulties comprehending and producing language in all five domains of language (i.e., phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics).

In those kids, we think it was simply a delay, whereas other kids — about 25 percent of late talkers — continue to have difficulty with language. These children are usually diagnosed, in preschool years or elementary years, with language impairment.

Now that we know what speech delay is, let us talk about different speech therapy activities and tips you can do to foster your child’s speech and language skills. Remember, you are your child’s first teacher. Applying these tips will not only start your child’s journey, but it can also educate you on what concepts to teach first and an idea on how to teach them!

1. Play daily

Children learn best through play. Playing is a fun way to teach your child different concepts such as teaching colors, animal toys, and even actions. Set aside at least 30 minutes to an hour each day without any distractions. Your time and attention. That is the best gift you can give to your child to help foster their ability to label different toys and how to use them properly. They can have all the toys in the world, but if you don’t spend time with them, they are not going to learn new things.

2. Keep it simple

Children don’t need many toys. You need to choose open-ended toys that can be played in many different ways and promote social interaction. However, spending time outdoors is better! It can promote creativity and imagination. Not only does it allow them to think more freely, but it can also get them moving! Nature can activate more senses. They can see, hear, smell, and touch outdoor environments!

3. Read books

Another speech delay activities you can do at home is to read books! Books can be fascinating. Reading books with lots of colorful pictures can entertain your child while he/she learns new concepts. When reading a book, it is better to ask questions and leave out words that are easily anticipated such as the sounds of animals. Books can also practice your child’s problem-solving skills. This is proven to improve their cognitive and imaginative skills.

Not only does a book create a bond between you and your child, but it can also increase their attention. At first, your child might easily get distracted and squirm during reading time. However, in time, they will learn how to stay put for the duration of the book.

4. Teaching feelings and emotions

Understanding your child’s emotions is a vital part of their overall development. It is our role as adults to teach them how to cope with their emotions in a more appropriate way.

As young children start to communicate, they might get frustrated easily. Research shows that children use the right side of their brain, where emotions are processed when they experience an overwhelming experience. That’s why they cry almost every time. Teaching feelings will help them get the validation they deserve and not punished.

Teaching feelings is important (i.e. happy, sad, angry, frustrated, jealous, surprised, scared) to help them deal with them the next time they experience an unforgettable situation. For example, a doctor’s appointment can be scary. Remind your child “It’s okay to tell me what you feel, but this is important for you and your health.” Teaching feelings and how to regulate them can help them regularly is critical for their overall mental health.

5.Teaching colors

At 18 – 29 months, children begin to learn colors. Other children may learn colors sooner or later but teaching colors at this age is a great time. When you start teaching colors to your child, it is best to start with the basics first: yellow, red, green, and blue. When they master these colors, introduce the other colors of the rainbow and repeat, repeat, repeat! Repetition is key to mastery.

Speech delay activities in teaching colors include:

Coloring books

Singing songs such as the Rainbow song or the Color Song

Playing colorful blocks or balls

Categorizing the same colored objects at home

Using play dough

6.Teach sign language

As your child starts to learn how to speak, it can be difficult to communicate with them. They might use the same vocalization to express a request or hunger. Teaching the basic sign language can offer a way to help them express their wants and needs!

No, it does not stunt your child’s development. On the contrary, it will give them a tool to start talking or more. Sign language can promote bonding and early development. Teaching your child different sign language basics such as give, more, or help can give them a sense of freedom to express their feelings and not get frustrated. Eventually, they will learn how to use words to communicate more effectively.

7. Put things out of reach

One technique speech therapists use to encourage your child to use their current communication skills and push them to practice new communication skills is to put favorable toys, snacks, and activities within sight but out of reach. This creates an opportunity for the child to gain the attention of a caregiver and engage in communication to request the desired item.

Place items on shelves or in clear bins so that your child can see the items but can’t quite get to them. If your kid can request items that are out of sight, keep them in containers on shelves or behind cabinet doors. This strategy can help kids learn to functionally use their communication skills to request preferred items or snacks rather than having unlimited access to these items.

8. Sing songs

Another way to optimize your child’s learning is to sing children’s songs and nursery rhyme with them. It is a vital part of your speech therapy activities. Toddlers love to dance and move to music! Songs can improve their general mood. It encourages speech because of how upbeat and enjoyable it can be. It is also a modality for children to learn more concepts and practice their memory.

9. Use every day as an opportunity

Routines such as taking a bath, eating breakfast, and changing clothes can be great opportunities to teach a lot of concepts! Since it is done every day, it can be repeated throughout the day! When learning new concepts, it is important to practice and use them every day to maintain them. The more you introduce the concept, the more they generalize and produce more words.

10. Use Self-Talk

Self-talk is a technique used throughout speech therapy activities. Self-talk is merely just talking about what you are doing. For example, you and your child are playing with a ball. Describe what it is (i.e. This is a ball), the actions you are performing (i.e. I can bounce the ball), what you see(i.e. it is round and blue), how you feel (i.e. I like to play with the ball), and what you hear (i.e. Ops! What is that thug?). Talk about all of this! Your child will eventually learn from hearing you talk about all of those things. The key is to keep your utterances short and simple.

As a general rule of thumb, you should speak in phrases that are the same length as your child’s or slightly longer. This is what we call chunking. For example, if your child isn’t talking yet or is only using one word at a time, you should be speaking in one-word phrases and two-word phrases, like “Car. Push. Push Car”. If your child is using mostly single words but is beginning to put a few two-word phrases together, use a lot of two-word phrases when you speak to your child but also throw in some three-word utterances as well as a few one-word utterances.

Don’t be afraid to repeat those same words many times. These children learn through repetition!

Now that you know the different ways to teach your child some vital concepts and different speech therapy activities, you might be wondering for more. If you think your child is not acquiring new skills at a specific rate typical children develop, it is best to consult a professional. A speech-language therapist can identify what speech or language problems your child has. The earlier the diagnosis, the earlier the treatment. The better the result!

At Better Speech, we offer online speech therapy services convenient for you and tailored to your child's individual needs. Our services are affordable and effective - get Better Speech now.

About the Author

Mikee Larrazabal

I am a Speech-Language Pathologist with 14 years of experience working with children and adults who have communication difficulties. I completed my Bachelor of Science degree in Health Science at Cebu Doctors' University and have been helping people overcome their communication challenges ever since.

I have worked with individuals of different ages, including toddlers, preschoolers, school-aged children, adults and seniors. I'm passionate about speech therapy and take great satisfaction in helping people overcome their communication challenges and improve their lives through better communication skills. In my spare time I like reading books, going hiking in nature and taking care of my dog Locas.

• Speech Delay Therapy
• At Home Speech Therapy

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by Patricia D. Myers

I'm not an English native speaker and I wanted to improve my speech. Better Speech onboarding process is AWESOME, I met with different people before being matched with an AMAZING Therapist, Christina. My assigned therapist created a safe place for me to be vulnerable and made all the sessions fun and helpful. Thanks to her, I received great feedback from my clients.

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​ Better Speech is a great program that is easy to use from home and anywhere online. Shannon was amazing at engaging our shy son - and building on their relationship each session! Her commitment to knowing him improved his confidence to speak and practice more. Truly appreciate her dedication. She cares for her clients.

by Christy O. King

​ Better Speech is an excellent opportunity to improve your speech in the convenience of your home with flexible scheduling options. Our therapist Miss Lynda was nothing short of amazing! We have greatly appreciated and enjoyed the time spent together in speech therapy. Her kind, engaging and entertaining spirit has been well received. She will surely be missed.

by Patricia W. Lopez

This service is so easy, i signed up, got a therapist and got to set up an appointment right away that worked with my schedule. so glad to see that services like speech therapy are finally catching up to the rest of the convenience age! therapy is great, i can't believe how many good tips, exercises and methods in just the first session. really recommend it!

Speech Therapy Activities For Toddlers

When your toddler has a speech delay, it may be tough to help build confidence with their communication skills. 

Keep a calm, patient, positive attitude. The more time you spend working with your child, the better their speech skills will develop over time!

Don’t let your anxiety make them feel pressured to speak clearly.

We’ve compiled a number of activities, games, toys, and tips for you to make progress today, all in the comfort of your own home. 

Our top picks: best toys for speech delayed toddler

Toys are a great way to get your toddler involved, excited, and entertained. Having a calm, positive attitude will make speech easier… for both you and your toddler!

Try these top toys for your speech delayed child:

• Traditional, old-school toys: wood blocks, cars, legos, play dough
• Doll houses, dolls, tea sets, stuffed animals

What’s important is these toys will help your child get the ball rolling with making noises, talking, and speaking. When you join in with them, you’ll encourage language development!

How can I help my toddler with speech therapy at home? Try our top 5 games:

If you’re waiting to consult with your pediatrician or speech language pathologist about your child’s speech delay or pronunciation challenges, don’t be worried. 

There are a number of activities for you to participate in that may help your child’s speech now. Give these a try and see what works best for you and your child. Here’s our top 5 games for speech therapy at home:

• Goof off : Set the tone to relax and have fun. Get your child giggling with a goofy face, silly noise, or crazy expression. Emphasize a letter sound, maybe the /r/ sound with RAZZLE DAZZLE or /hip/ in HIPPOPOTAMUS! Use a goofy tone and get into it. Try something so crazy you can’t help but laugh! You’ll have them smiling, laughing, or happy and relaxed in no time. They’ll try to repeat you, and in turn, practice these sounds for their own speech. Use the same words over and over, and perhaps mix it up with different words using sounds your child may have difficulty pronouncing properly.
• Play the ping pong ball game : as they drink water or juice from a straw, your child’s mouth muscles will grow stronger. These are the very same muscles used for speech. Get a small ping pong ball and make it a race to see who can blow it through a goal post or down a hallway faster, using only a straw to propel the ball forward. This game can even be a competition between siblings!
• Read and repeat : find a book your child enjoys and read each page aloud to them. If they’re able, they should repeat each sentence or page after you’ve read it aloud. This repetition will be especially helpful to reinforce clear speech, including proper articulation and language comprehension over time. Before you know it, your child will be reading their favorite book to you. 
• Bubbles : Another fun game to try, blowing bubbles! Pick up a small bottle of bubbles and have your child blow away. They’ll “workout” their facial muscles used for speech, and have fun watching the bubbles fade away! You can even try this during bath time with a bottle of bubble bath. Repetition is the key to success!
• There’s an app for that : Type “speech therapy” into your App Store and you’ll find many options. Give Otsimo Speech Therapy a try. This app is designed with all kinds of games to entertain your toddler, keeping them engaged in speech activities. The product is ad-free and safe for kids, using a method known as augmentative and alternative communication.

What do speech therapists do for toddlers?

If you’ve never had a speech therapy session before, you may be wondering exactly what to expect.

How does it work? When it comes to sessions, we have a process to ensure a perfect fit for you, your toddler, and your speech language pathologist.

• Your experience begins with an introductory call to determine if we’re a good fit for your needs
• Techniques may include signing or typing, analyzing facial muscles to improve speech or articulation, altering tone, and other approaches to help your toddler improve communication skills
• Our sessions take place over Zoom: therapists interact with clients and engage in practice skills, games, repetitions, and other activities to overcome speech challenges
• Therapists will often provide homework for you and your toddler to practice together between sessions, truly integrating you into your child’s speech therapy
• Each client’s program is unique to their specific needs and goals, but most consist of 12-week modules, with two 30-minute sessions each week
• At the end of each module, our team will reach out to ensure you’re on track with your goals and progress

How do I find the right speech therapist for my toddler?

Since this person will be working with your toddler, it’s important to do your own research. Consider the following traits when selecting your child’s speech therapist.

• Personality: is this someone my child will enjoy being around? Are they someone I trust? Do they seem patient, understanding, and kind? Do they love what they do?
• Clarity: is the instructor clear? Do they explain their process? Do you and your child understand what they’re saying, what to expect from each session, and what kind of progress you’re making?
• Experience: Speech language pathologists receive extensive training to work with a variety of people experiencing complex communication disorders — you’ll want to ensure whoever you choose to work with has experience and passion for working with children.
• Schedule: is the therapist available on a schedule that works for you and your family?

When should a toddler start speech therapy?

It’s critical for your child to hit their 1 year old speech milestones . If you’re concerned about their progress, seek professional help.

If you believe your toddler has a speech delay, express your concerns with your pediatrician. They’ll recommend an assessment with a speech language pathologist, an expert when it comes to speech communication.

We encourage you to schedule your introductory call today for a no-pressure consultation on personalized virtual online speech therapy for your toddler.

7 Exercises for Speech Delay in Toddlers

Signs of speech delay are not always obvious in children under 18 months of age. When you approach doctors, they may tell you not to worry and wait until your toddler is of school age. And in most cases, the doctors are right.

But, the questions and doubts about your child’s speech development are not easy to ignore. So, this is what you should know.

By the time your child is around 2-years (24 months) old, they should be able to communicate with you using a combination of small words, gestures, and one or two-word questions.

Here’s what a child of 2-years should be able to do –

• Use simple phrases to communicate their needs or demands. Most of these phrases come as requests like "more milk," "mommy cookie," "banana," etc.
• They may be able to use one or two words to ask questions like "Go out?", "Mommy?", "Daddy go?” etc.
• They should be able to use about 50 or more words daily.
• They can follow simple instructions, commands and understand questions.
• Parents and caregivers should be able to understand what they say.

By the time children are 3-years old, they can –

• Say two and three-word phrases. Some even speak short and complete sentences.
• They can use over 200 words and as many as 1000 words daily.
• Toddlers can typically say their name by this age.
• They can use simple pronouns like I, My, and Me to refer to themselves.
• Parents and caregivers should be able to understand them clearly.

Are you currently asking questions like "Is my child not talking enough?", "Should my child be using more words?" or "Does my toddler need an SLP ?".

If your toddler isn’t meeting the speech development benchmark for their age, you may need to consider speech therapy.

Sometimes, helping children at home with speech therapy can aid their speech development. Exercises for speech delay in toddlers can motivate them to learn and use more words in their daily interactions.

So, how can you help your child develop their speech and vocabulary? Here are seven exercises for speech delay in toddlers that can help improve their speech and expand their vocabulary –

Exercise #1 for Speech Delay: Read To Your Child

Several parents believe that leaving the TV on or giving an iPad to their toddlers will encourage them to speak. However, research shows that it may not be the case.

Children require interaction with a human to develop their speech. The best way to do this is to read to them every chance you get.

When a parent reads to a child, they listen to how you are saying these words. They are learning new words, and the use of words they hear every day.

Find picture books with short stories that will intrigue your child. Read to them before naptime and bedtime. Look at our list of books for preschoolers that your child will enjoy no matter how many times you read these out to them.

Exercise #2 for Speech Delay: Use Self-Talk

Your grandparents and parents probably used this strategy cum exercise to boost your vocabulary when you were young. And now, it's your turn.

Talk about what you are doing around your child. If you are playing with blocks, point to the blocks, and say "blocks" throughout the playtime. Point to the ball and say, "ball. Throw ball" as you throw the ball.

Don’t be afraid of being repetitive. Children learn through repetition. The more you repeat the simple words or two-word phrases, the more are your child’s chances of learning those words and phrases.

Exercise #3 for Speech Delay: Use Parallel Talk

This exercise is similar to self-talk, but instead of describing your own actions, you will be labeling your child's actions.

One way to assist this process is to label the things your child is using. For example, you can use hand-made, color-coded labels for their toys. Or, you can say the name of the things they are using like a chair, table, spoon, bowl, etc.

Always be sure to use phrases or sentences that are slightly longer than the sentences your child is using. For example, if your child says, "juice." Be sure to say "juice. You want more juice?" back to them.

Exercise #4 for Speech Delay: Build On Your Child’s Speech

As a part of this exercise, you will build on what your child says or gestures. Try repeating whatever they say and add one or two meaningful words to it.

For example, if your child says "ball." You can say "want ball" or "throw ball" or "my ball" back to your child. You can also name the object your child is pointing at or reaching for.

You can use more than one word to refer to the same object to boost your child’s vocabulary. Make sure you don’t use words that are too big or complex for your child.

Exercise #5 for Speech Delay: Sing to Your Child

You don't have to be a great singer, and the songs don't need to be ballads. You can sing simple nursery rhymes to your child.

Years of research shows that singing to your child can enhance their ability to speak. Interestingly, the centers for singing and speaking are different in the brain.

There have been instances where a child was able to sing a nursery rhyme long before they could form complete sentences.

Exercise #6 for Speech Delay: Boost Receptive Vocabulary

Receptive vocabulary may include all the words that your child understands, even though they may not use these words.

Just like us, children must first understand the meaning and then use the words. To help them understand the meanings of new words, you can try using them in conjunction with words they already know.

For example, when they point at your spouse or partner, you can say, "where's daddy?" or "where's mommy?”. When they point at food, you can specify the name of the food like chips, cookie, candy, apple, etc.

You can then move to the next step by asking your child to point to specific objects like “where’s the book?”, “where’s the fruit” or “show me the dog”.

Exercise #7 for Speech Delay: Praise Their Efforts

No matter how small the improvement, you need to make sure that it doesn't go unrecognized. If they have learned or used a new word, be sure to praise them.

Verbal positive reinforcement can go a long way in shaping their personality as an adult. So, even if they fumble a little while using a new word or forming a whole sentence, be sure to praise them for their efforts.

Wrapping Things Up

It is imperative to spend time with your toddler. Quality time is of utmost importance if you want to help your child overcome speech delays. Apart from the usual playing, try to incorporate these 7 simple exercises into your child’s daily routine.

Speech delay may not always be a sign of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders, and auditory disorders.

However, you should always consult a pediatrician, as well as a speech-language pathologist, if your child is showing delays in speech development. Besides helping your child practice the above-mentioned exercises at home, you can also opt for online speech therapy for speech delay for the best results.

At the same time, it is important to avoid falling for common myths about speech delay in children .

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41 Free Online Speech Therapy Activities

There are many online speech therapy activities that you can do with your student or child to help them develop their language skills.

These online games and exercises are perfect for the online slps doing teletherapy and will not only be fun for both of you, but they will also provide great benefits for your child’s speech pathology goals and help improve their speech delay!

Fun Games for Online Speech Therapy Activities

In this article, we’ll highlight 41 online resources – including PBS Kids interactive games, Boom Cards, and Pink Cat Games. We hope that these online tools will encourage children to learn about social skills, vocabulary words, communication skills, and more.

The following section is a list of educational games that are great for any speech language pathologist to use during their therapy services.

Collection of Interactive Online Games

Enjoy this list below of online speech therapy games to work on your student’s or child’s speech goals and make your speech therapy session even more fun this school year.

Online Speech Therapy Activities

1. pbs kids.

One of our favorite online resources for speech therapy is the PBS Kids website. This online destination has a variety of fun, interactive games that help children work on their language skills.

Some SLP favorites include: “ Curiou s George Pop the Bubble “, “ Meatball Launcher “, and “ Daniel Tiger Bath Time Helper “.

Do you have students who love to build things? Be sure to check out this list of games: “ Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood: Sandcastle “, “ Hero Elementary Treehouse Trouble “, “ Hamster Run “, “ Ready Jet Go, Builder “, “ Animal Home Builder “.

All of these games are perfect for children who are in the early intervention stage or those who have autism spectrum disorder. They are also great for helping to build vocabulary skills , story telling , feelings and life skills, such as empathy, respect for others, labeling feelings, as well as others!

2. Boom Learning

Another online resource that we love are Boom Cards.

This online program makes it easy to access educational games that can help your child work on auditory processing skills, receptive and expressive language development, articulation practice, and more!

This online resource is perfect for practicing speech sounds with articulation games, vocabulary words, social skills, and following directions – all of which are important for speech development.

If you’re on the hunt for barrier games be sure to check out Boom Learning then!

SLP favorite free downloads can be found in my list of 917+ free boom cards for speech therapy !

3. pink cat games.

If you’re looking for online resources that are specifically designed for younger children, we highly recommend checking out Pink Cat Games.

This online website has a variety of great games and activities that focus on different language skills, including vocabulary development, following directions and more.

Some of our favorites include: “ Build a Monster “, “ Smarty Pants Animal Race “, and “ Quiz Wheel Game “.

All of these online resources are perfect for children in early intervention or with autism spectrum disorder, as they help to build vocabulary skills, language comprehension abilities, following directions, social communication, and more!

4. Fun Brain

This website has many online activities and games that work on vocabulary, reading comprehension, memory skill development, etc.

These online games are perfect for children who have already developed some language skills, but still need to improve their vocabulary or reading comprehension abilities.

Some of our favorite things on this site are “ Reading “, “ Games “, Grammar Gorillas , Plural Girls to work on plurals , and Simon Sees .

5. Educational Games

If you’re looking for online resources that focus on educational games, we highly recommend checking out Educational Games.

This website has a variety of online activities and games that work on different academic skills, including math, science, grammar, etc.

This online website is perfect for younger children who are just starting to learn their letters and sounds. It has a variety of online games and activities that focus on teaching the alphabet, phonics skills, vocabulary words, etc.

Some of our favorite online speech therapy activities on ABCya! include: “ Make a Cupcake “, “ Make an Ice Cream “, “ Make a Cookie “, “ Make a Pizza “, “ Make a Gingerbread House “, “ Make a Robot “, and “ Let me Grow “.

These online resources are perfect for children who are just starting to learn their letters and sounds, as well as those who need extra practice with their phonics skills. They also work great with younger children in the early intervention stage!

More reinforcement games, such as Happy Clicks, the Game of Battleship, and an Interactive Mr. Potato Head can be found in my list of 21 Best Reinforcement Games for Speech Therapy !

7. Sesame Street Games

This website offers a variety of educational games for children ages two to five. The games are designed to help with skills such as letter recognition, counting, vocabulary, and more.

Here is a list of fan favorites: “ Cooking with Cookie “, “ Ready Set Grow “, “ Brush Those Teeth “, “ Dress up Time! “, and “ Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck “.

There are several possibilities for targeting requesting, commenting and extending utterances.

8. Match the Memory Game

If you’re on the hunt for memory games then this online memory game is a great way to help your child work on their short-term memory abilities.

9. Baamboozle

This online website is fantastic since it offers pre-made games and activities created by other SLPs that you may utilize or develop your own free games.

Simply search the games using the search bar.

Some of our favorite online speech therapy activities on Baamboozle include games with target words: “ Speech Articulation S Sounds ” by lindseycav, “ Articulation of Two or More Syllables Words in GIF ” by Susan Tourdot, and the “ /ch/ Initial Articulation ” by MG.

These online resources are perfect for children who need extra practice with their vocabulary skills or articulation. They also work great with younger children in the early intervention stage!

10. Meddybemps

If you’re looking for online speech therapy activities, look no further than Meddybemps.

They have a great selection of interactive games and activities that are perfect for helping kids with language skills.

Their games are ideal for children with autism spectrum disorder, communication delays, or other speech-language needs.

11. Jeopardy Labs

Jeopardy Labs is a great online resource for speech therapy activities. The website includes interactive games and vocabulary games that are perfect for teletherapy sessions and helping children develop their language skills.

The interactive games on Jeopardy Labs are a great way to help younger children learn new concepts in a fun and engaging way. The games are also a great way to help improve communication skills.

12. Language Play Room

The language playroom is an online learning center for children to help them learn about language.

They have activities that cover a wide variety of concepts, including reading comprehension and phonemic awareness.

13. iSL Collective Video Lessons

If I had a top pick this website would be it! I personally love using videos to make therapy more fun and interactive.

The iSL Collective is a great online resource for speech-language pathologists.

The website includes a variety of video lessons that cover topics such as grammar skills, vocabulary development, body language, and more!

If you also love using more videos in your therapy to make learning more fun then be sure to check out my list of 31 Best Wordless Videos to Teach Problem Solving .

14. Owlie Boo

This website is really easy for parents and therapists to use.

It offers several excellent games for toddlers and reinforcement games, which are also great for practice.

Poki is a great website with activities that are fun and interactive, and the games can be used as reinforcement while your students work on their specific skills or areas of development.

Poki is a great resource for parents, family members, and therapists looking for fun and digital games to use during therapy sessions.

Some favorite board games include: “ Tic Tac Toe “, “ Connect Four “, and “ Snakes and Ladders “.

16. Toy Theater

It has several free interactive games that you can use with your students. They can play along with you if you share your screen and let the student control (Zoom).

If you’re looking for multiplayer be sure to check out the Goose game and Snakes and Ladders game at Toy Theater.

Some of our favorite online speech therapy activities on Toy Theater include “ Stack ” and the “ Classroom Timer “.

17. Room Recess

Room Recess is an educational website that offers educational games and activities for children.

The site is free, easy to use, and provides educational online resources for kids of all ages.

Room Recess has a large library of educational games for early learners from preschool through middle school including a math tab, reading tab, word tab, lab tab, extras tab, and themes tab.

18. Mystery Animal

The Google Mystery Animal is a 20-question quiz. It’s free and very entertaining for all ages and fun for a variety of goals.

Kahoot is a perfect website for high school students or older students and a great way to review material with a class or as a family.

It is an interactive quiz game that can be used for educational purposes. Kahoot offers many different types of games, including vocabulary and grammar exercises.

SEE ALSO: 21 Best Reinforcement Games for Speech Therapy / Teletherapy

20. quizlet.

Quizlet is a website that has a variety of resources for all grade levels, including interactive flashcards and vocabulary games.

Quizlet also offers a great way to study for exams with its “learn” mode. This mode helps you memorize information from a provided list of terms, definitions, and examples.

21. Cookie  

This site has 13+ great language activities that help students build vocabulary in an engaging way.

22. Global Allied Health

This site is divided by goal area.

These online resources are perfect for teachers who have older children in the school-aged stage!

23. Highlights Kids

This website is jam-packed with secret pictures, making it ideal for vocabulary practice or as a fun reinforcement game.

The website is also a great resource for parents and family members who want to help their children with language development or those that are working on improving communication skills.

The types of activities available on Highlights Kids will keep children entertained while they learn at the same time!

There is something for everyone on this website. It is a great resource for parents and speech-language pathologists alike! Check it out today!

The website Quia.com is an educational website that allows you to create online lessons and quizzes for free. This can be a great resource for finding educational games and activities to supplement speech therapy sessions.

Quia offers a variety of different types of educational games and activities, including vocabulary games and interactive activities for younger children.

The website is easy to use and can be accessed from any computer or mobile device.

Here is a fun game for working on multiple meaning words !

25. Wheel of Names

The Wheel of Names is a fun game that is perfect for using it as a spinner.

For example, you can use it to choose who goes next. Or put vocabulary words in the boxes and then spin and have your student define their vocabulary words.

Another idea is to work on synonyms or antonyms. Place different words, such as big or tall in the spinner and then hit spin. The child then says the best synonym or antonym for that word. 

SEE ALSO: 279+ Free Speech Therapy Digital Materials

26. kids national geographics.

The Kids National Geographic website is a great educational resource for children of all ages.

It features interactive games and activities, educational articles, and videos from the popular magazine.

Children can learn about everything from dinosaurs to space exploration on this website. There are also puzzles and quizzes to help reinforce what kids have learned.

This is a great way to keep children engaged and entertained while learning educational topics.

27. Bou n cy Balls

This is a fun way to manage classroom noise or visualize music.

You can choose from a variety of themes that will help your students visualize the noise in the room!

28. Sheppard Software

This website has a great variety of educational games and activities for younger children.

Their website has hundreds of free, online, learning games for kids.

But anyone interested in online learning can use this site with access to activities in many subjects – (geography, math, animals, science, language arts, creative activities, health).

29. Mr. Nussbaum  

Here is an educational website that features many free resources to help kids.

It offers dozens of interactive games designed to reinforce essential concepts taught in elementary years, and themes that make learning enjoyable.

30. Arcademics

Arcademics is a website that offers educational games for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade.

There are over 50 games to choose from, and students can practice math, reading, science, social studies, and more.

The educational games are separated by grade level and subject, so students can easily find what they need.

31. Junior Brain Pop

One educational website that is great for speech therapy activities and games is Junior Brain Pop.

This website includes a variety of interactive games and videos that target a range of skills, including language. The games are all engaging and provide a fun way to work on important skills.

32. Splash Learn

Splash Learn has a variety of educational games to choose from that provide practice in vocabulary, phonology and grammar skills.

It also offers educational lesson plans and ideas, tips on how to use the site, FAQs and more!

33. Turtle Diary  

This site offers a large, free collection of educational games and activities to help children learn. These tools can be helpful for speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, parents and teachers who are looking for ways to support language skills in young children.

The site includes many different types of educational games that will engage your child: vocabulary building games where kids match terms to definitions, interactive short stories that teach grammar and syntax, educational quizzes, math challenges and more.

One of the best features of Turtle Diary is that many of the games are designed for specific age groups. You can easily find activities tailored for preschool students, elementary students or older students. This is a great way to target your child’s specific educational needs.

SEE ALSO: 917+ Best free Boom Cards for Speech Therapy

34. learning games for kids.

This site includes educational games for kids to make learning fun with math facts, language arts, and more.

Want educational games that make learning fun for your students? You’ve come to the right place!

35. Time for Kids

The website ‘Time for Kids’ is a great educational resource that provides articles and videos geared towards children of all ages.

Time for Kids is a great resource for educational activities, making it the perfect place to find digital resources for speech therapy.

It’s also a great way to keep younger children entertained and engaged while practicing their language skills.

Scroll down to the latest articles and stories for the free resources.

36. The Kidz Page   

Here is another educational website that provides free educational games and activities for children.

There are hundreds of free kids games, puzzles, activities, fun coloring pages, clip art & more.

You are sure to find something on this site that will help reinforce what you’re teaching your students in the classroom.

37. Disney Now Games

Disney Now has a great selection of educational games for children.

The games are designed to help kids learn math, reading, and science skills.

There are also games devoted to social skills development.

38. Word Wall

A great way to help young children learn new words and their definitions is by using a word wall.

A word wall is a collection of words, usually posted in a designated area, with each word printed or written on a separate piece of paper or card. The definition of the word can also be included.

This is a great visual aid for children and can help them learn new words in a fun way. It is also a great resource for parents and family members who want to help their child with their language development.

39. Birthday Song

Does your child or student have a birthday coming up?

Then be sure to check out this website where you type your child or student’s name and you can sing the child happy birthday with their name!

40. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

Their website also has a few articles of ideas for using online speech therapy ideas that might be worth checking out.

41. Book Trust

If you want your child or student to listen to a free book then be sure to check out this website where your child or student can watch and listen to the interactive children’s books and then play a game, such as the Jigsaw Puzzles , Coloring Pages , or Faces and Feelings .

Conclusion : Online Speech Therapy Activities

Here is a list of 41 online speech-language therapy activities and games to help your child work on their language skills!

These resources are a great way to use online technology and are perfect for children with autism spectrum disorder, communication delays, or other speech-language needs.

They are a great way to improve vocabulary skills, phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, and more. Try out these online resources today!

Want Even More?

• 21 Best Reinforcement Games for Speech Therapy
• 261+ Free Ideas for Digital Therapy
• 917+ Best Free Boom Cards for Speech Therapy
• 11 Free Articulation Games for Speech Therapy
• Learn How to Turn any Static PDF into an Interactive PDF.

Want the Best of the Bests?

Be sure to check out our most popular posts below!

• 21 Best Reinforcement Games for Speech Therapy / Teletherapy
• Best IEP Resources
• 71+ Free Social Problem-Solving Scenarios
• 430+ Free Multisyllabic Words List Activity Bundle
• 432+ Free Measurable IEP Goals and Objectives Bank
• 279+ Free Speech Therapy Digital Materials
• 179+ Free Speech Therapy Wh-Questions Printable

Saturday 18th of June 2022

Thank you for this freebies! God bless your good heart!

Melissa Berg

Hi Ela! Aw, thank you so much. I'm happy to know you like this resource! Wishing you all the best, Melissa

Free Speech Therapy Activities for Toddlers

• allisonfors
• November 1, 2023
• One Comment
• Early Intervention , Preschool , Speech Resources

Download free speech therapy activities, printables, and handouts for preschoolers!  Work on critical communication skills and language development whether you are an SLP, educator, or parent working with your child at home.

Click on the title to view and download these free activities!

FREE SPEECH THERAPY ACTIVITIES FOR TODDLERS

Free farm interactive book.

The interactive book contains 3 scenes (the farm, inside the barn, and the farm at night) with 10 farm-themed pieces. The book allows you to flip through the scenes and move the pieces onto the pages. Use to work on vocabulary, prepositions, increasing MLU, wh- questions, inferences, categories, and more.

Behavior Social Story

A social narrative mini-book on how to handle frustration with calming strategies. A great way to discuss feelings and appropriate ways to express them!

Category Match Up

Practice categories and associations with this NO PREP resource! You may also open on your device for a NO PRINT option. Directions included on how to draw on PDFs on your tablet or computer.

Articulation and Phonology Minimal Pairs Smash Mats

Includes 5 sets- Gliding, Fronting, Stopping, Cluster Reduction, and Final Consonant Deletion.

Speech Sound Cue Cards

This packet contains speech sound cue and prompt cards for 21 consonant sounds and 14 vowel sounds (including 4 diphthongs). On each card is a picture of a mouth showing how to produce the sound, as well as a picture to help remind your students what sound they are working on! 

Sound Loaded Book Lists for Articulation

A list of my favorite sound-loaded books to target articulation of specific phonemes.

Birthday Party Language Scene

Use the scene and activities to target -wh questions, following directions, answering open-ended questions, formulating sentences, and conversation skills. Send home for homework, and use as no prep or no print activity. And perfect for celebrating birthdays in speech or the classroom!

Caveman and Dinos Barrier Game

Barrier games for speaking and listening skills in speech therapy, ESL, and more! Target many skills: expressive skills (giving directions), receptive skills (following directions), social skills, basic concepts, vocabulary, categorization, sentence formation, and storytelling. Premade directions page included!

What Doesn’t Belong? Scenes

Practice negation, association, and categories with this 5 page, no-prep activity!

WH Question Pizza Party

90 question cards included while you build a pizza

Speech Therapy Handouts

Developmental norms and milestones handouts for toddlers.

Language Strategies List

Download a 3-page download including 18 strategies with definitions and examples on how to elicit language development in children! This is a summary reference list of effective language stimulation and modeling techniques. Perfect handout for parents of late talkers or language delayed children.

Read this post to find ideas for speech therapy activities for toddlers, including toys, games, and books!

PRESCHOOL MUST-HAVES FOR SPEECH THERAPY

Thanks for reading! Do you have any other free speech therapy activities for toddlers to add to this list?

Get more speech resources and access to the freebie library too!

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100+ fun activities for kids that will keep them entertained for hours! Target speech development through play and games. They won’t even know they are learning!

Learn about your baby and toddler developmental milestones! Check if you are on track, when to worry, and how to work on skills like language, potty training, and feeding!

Every child is different! Here are speech and language tips and tools for kids with learning differences, alongside information for parents provided by speech therapists.

Parenting starts with your well-being! Here is some advice on how to teach life skills, work from home, distance learning, along with tips for developing parenting coping skills.

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From your first worry to your first appointment, and your last speech therapy session – find the information you need to help your child thrive and gain necessary speech skills.

Parent's Academy › Activities for Kids › Language Activities › 21 Kids Activities to Encourage Speech Development

21 Kids Activities to Encourage Speech Development

SAHM Blogger, Masters in Psychology , Dallas , Texas

Jan 15, 2022 From day one, your baby is listening to you intently to eventually communicate with you. Those listening skills will then turn into eye contact, cries, smiling, giggling, babbling, and more. In fact, your baby’s first communication begins with crying.

Have you ever noticed your baby cries differently for different needs? Different cries are baby’s way of communicating with you!

But how do a baby’s cries develop into speech? By the age of one, your baby will develop both nonverbal and verbal language skills to communicate. To help your baby develop essential language milestones, here are 21 kids’ speech activities to foster listening skills and speech development for your baby!

One-Year-Old Speech and Language Milestones

During year one, most babies develop the following language milestones:

• Recognizes familiar voices
• Responds to familiar voices by smiling and laughing
• Coos, squeals, shouts
• Has different cries for different needs
• Communicates through gestures (points to a bottle to tell you he/she needs more milk)
• Repeats sound or actions/gestures
• Responds to simple instructions (“Come here please”)
• Repeats words
• Recognizes the names of common objects
• Shows interest in reading books

Take this free cutting-edge 3-minute quiz . You will find out if your child is on track with his milestones and receive a free report with a personalized plan of learning. Speech Blubs is full of activities to encourage speech development!

Let’s Encourage Your Child’s Speech Development!

Take this quiz and get a report on your child’s milestones and a personalized learning plan to start progressing with Speech Blubs!

21 Kids Activities for Speech and Language Development

1. animal jam.

Simply say phrases like:

• A cow goes ‘moo’
• A duck says ‘quake’
• A chicken goes ‘cluck’

This helps your baby recognize the names of common animals along with their unique sounds. The best part about Animal Jam is it can be done anywhere, even in the car!

2. Sound Stories

Storytime is a wonderful time to bond with your baby. But it is also a way to enrich your baby’s language development. To learn speech skills, your baby also needs to learn nonverbal communication and sounds in response to everyday things. Instead of reading through a book,  make reading fun by adding facial expressions, voice inflections, sound effects, and animal sounds .

3. Talk Back

Babies communicate by crying, cooing, and squealing to get your attention.  When he/she is communicating with you, start talking back.  If your baby coos, coo back. If baby smiles at you from across the room, smile back while saying ‘Hello’ and waving.

Babies learn through imitation. Over time your baby will not only smile, but say ‘Hello’ back to you while waving.

4. Name That Color

Everything is made of color. To help foster early color recognition,  say the colors of everything you see .

For example: Name the colors of cars passing by while taking a walk to the park; tell your baby what color clothes he/she is wearing, toy colors, and more!

Whether you can keep a tune or not, your baby doesn’t care!  Singing is a perfect way to provide a language learning opportunity  that includes voice inflections, new words, and facial expressions. So go ahead and make a silly face while singing at the top of your lungs!

6. Monkey See, Monkey Do

“Monkey see, monkey do” is all about facial expressions. Facial expressions are an important aspect of speech development because they convey emotions. Research suggests that nonverbal forms of communication like facial expressions make up 60 to 65% of communication.

To encourage increased emotions through facial expressions,  hold your baby in front of you and mimic his/her facial expressions . When your baby smiles, smile back. Better yet! Stick out your tongue, make a silly face, and watch to see if baby repeats your expressions.

7. Mirror, Mirror

Since tummy time is an essential part of a baby’s physical development,  take advantage of tummy time by using a mirror . Not only will baby enjoy his/her reflection, but each time a coo or giggle is made your baby can see where the sound is coming from and his/her facial expressions when ‘speaking.’

After a diaper change or anytime your baby is on his/her back,  take baby’s legs in move them in bicycle motions  while singing a silly song or reciting a nursery rhyme. The bicycling motion will allow baby to focus on your face while you sing or speak to her/him.

9. Face-To-Face

Face-to-face is one of my favorite fun activities for promoting speech development! Lay on the floor with your little one and face each other. Point to areas of her/his face while naming the parts of the face. This will help your baby not only learn hand/eye coordination, but early recognition of parts of the face.

Better yet, take this activity one step further by doing the following example:

• Point to baby’s nose and say ‘nose’
• Take baby’s hand and touch your nose while saying ‘nose’

Having baby touch your nose allows her/him to understand that everyone has similar body parts with the same names.

10. Repeat after Me

This simple game works best when facing your baby.  Start making babbling sounds AKA baby talk  (especially with vowel sounds) and wait for your baby to repeat them back to you. Some common coos and babbling sounds include: Oohh/aww; mamma/dada.

This type of speech normally does not develop until four months of age. So don’t be upset if your one-month-old is not catching on, just give it time. Before long you and baby will be chattering back-and-forth.

11. Say My Name

One of the biggest language developments a baby will make is learning/recognizing his/her name! While it’s different for every baby, most babies will recognize and respond to their names between 3 to 6 months of age.

To help baby along with this language development, say your baby’s name whenever possible. Some fun ways to say your baby’s name include:

• Adding his/her name to a silly song,
• Asking a question with his/her name,
• Replacing the names of book characters with your baby’s name.

To develop language babies need to repeat or ‘echo’ words. A great way to include new words and increase language skills is by adding expressive phrases to everyday situations.

For instance, if your baby drops his/her bottle on the floor say, “Oh no!”

I’ve found this activity also helps develop speech by adding sound effects to baby’s activities.  Each time your baby jumps while holding him/her, add a sound effect like “ boing, boing .” While trying to calm your crying baby, rock him/her back and forth while saying, “swoosh, swoosh.”

Over time, baby will begin to “echo” what he/she hears.

I know it seems silly, and that’s because it is! Echo is meant to be a fun learning activity for babies, so the sillier you get with sound effects and funny phrases the more baby absorbs new words, sounds, and phrases.

13. This Little Piggie

Next time, your baby is laying on his/her back, grab a foot and start saying the rhyme “This Little Piggie.” Since this game doesn’t number each of the five toes, the rhyme needs to be modified to help baby learn numbers.

Instead of saying “This little piggie went to the market” say, “The first little piggie went to the market; the second little piggie stayed home,” etc.

Another I’ve done the rhyme to help with number recognition is by saying the rhyme the following way:

• “One little piggie went to the market”
• “Two little piggies stayed home”
• “Three little piggies had roast beef”
• “Four little piggies had none”
• “And five little piggies cried wee, wee, wee all the way home”

While this may give the rhyme much more little piggies,  it still allows your baby to hear each number and count the number with each toe .

14. Carpool

Carpool is an activity that’s perfect for crawling babies! While baby is crawling, get down and your hands and knees and teach baby how to push a car or truck as she/he is crawling. Your baby doesn’t have to keep a constant hand on the car, just a little push in between crawling motions.

To include speech development,  add car sound effects ;  tell a funny story  about the car ride;  sing  “Wheels on the Bus/Car/Truck”; etc.

15. Roll-A-Ball

This game if perfect for babies who can sit unsupported and have decent hand/eye coordination.  Simply take a (medium- to large-sized) ball and roll the ball directly toward him/her.  Incorporate language skills by saying phrases like “Here is your red ball!”

Roll-A-Ball can become more advanced by helping baby understand simple instructions and responding to those instructions. Try rolling a ball over to him/her and asking him/her to roll the ball back. 

16. Count with Me

You can help your baby with learning numbers by counting out loud to him/her every day. This activity doesn’t require extra effort on your part, simply start talking and counting out loud.

The following are great ways to include number counting each day:

• Count each stair step as you carry baby upstairs,
• Count how many bananas you bought at the store,
• Count baby’s fingers and toes.

17. Disappear, Reappear

Instead of playing a regular game of peek-a-boo, try playing with your baby’s favorite toy or stuffed animal.  Hide his/her toy from view. Wait and few seconds and say “ peek-a-boo .” You can also incorporate more speaking skills into the game by adding some creative dialogue!

Examples: “Peek-a-boo! There you are . . . Mister Bear missed you so much! Thank goodness you found him!”

18. Finger Puppets

Small finger or hand puppets are an amazing way to help develop language skills for your little one! By using finger or hand puppets to tell a story you are showing baby the following language and speech skills:

• Different facial expressions  to show emotions when speaking
• Creative dialogue  between two or more puppets (similar to speaking between two people).

19. Fruits and Veggies

Much of a baby’s speech development has to do with repetitive hearing and use of everyday words. One way to help with word recognition of common fruits and vegetables is by  playing pretend with plastic fruits and vegetables .

Although baby will need to be supervised with pretend plastic food because of small pieces, he/she will learn how to recognize a banana, carrot, pear, and more! 

Also, don’t forget to count your fruits and veggies for number recognition!

20. Picture This

One of the easiest ways to help develop language skills in babies is through flashcards. Flashcards with pictures and writing  help your baby begin to recognize what the picture or action is on the card  along with the corresponding word or phrase. 

While your baby won’t say the words out loud for a while, it helps him/her to recognize the picture with the associated word. 

21. Build a Tower

Building a tower with blocks is perfect for developing hand/eye coordination. But this activity can also be used for encouraging language development in babies.

As you watch or directly help your child stack blocks,  say the color of the block along with counting the blocks  as the tower is being stacked. Many available baby blocks also have pictures in which you can describe the picture to your baby. For instance: If you have blocks with animals pictured on them, name each animal along with the sound the animal makes.

It’s a Process

Speech development is more than speaking words. It is a complex system of verbal and nonverbal communication. To express emotions and thoughts you baby will first begin to cry to communicate his or her needs to you.

After communication crying, the sky is the limit for speech development and your baby! 

But your baby needs your help along the way! The best way to develop language skills by year one is through imagination and play. 

Each of the 21 activities above combines:

• Imaginative play,
• Simple instructions for you and baby to follow,
• Activities involving both verbal and nonverbal speech.

So start playing some of these fun speech and language activities to give your baby a head start before he or she turns one!

Read more on  how to utilize kids activities  to reach developmental milestones! If your toddler already reached their wonderful twos, consider  using  Speech Blubs App  in combination with offline games for kids to build their vocabulary .

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The author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not necessarily reflect the views of Blub Blub Inc. All content provided on this website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for independent professional medical judgement, advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.

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Speech Therapy for Toddlers [Games and Printables]

Language delays can happen at any age and they aren’t necessarily a reason for concern, but finding some fun and engaging activities to provide some speech therapy for toddler s at home can never hurt. In this post, I have rounded up 5 fun and engaging printables and activities to promote language skills and new words in toddlers and preschoolers.

Speech-language pathologist will love these ideas too. I’m always looking for new ways to provide language development skills in an organic way while teaching.

Expressive language games

Are you looking for the best way to provide some social skills and receptive language program to your child or a group of students you tutor?

Something as simple as some highly engaging speech therapy materials like the ones below added to an early intervention program can do wonders.

Even if you’re in private practices, these games and ideas can work well on improving language disorders.

Speech disorders are not always noted in the first two or three years of development, however sometimes parents can tell whether their child is lisping, not saying many words for their age or development and more.

Word association game therapy

This game below will prove highly engaging for speech language pathologists and is perfect for a child’s speech development.

Each puzzle piece contains simple words that the child can associate with the other to build the puzzle piece.

Laminate these and use them in therapy sessions or add them to a treatment plan, they can be used over and over again. Articulation disorders can also be targeted through different games and activities, I will link to some below.

There are different ways you can target language skills and word associations.

Speech therapy activities

Young children will love these games listed below. Just choose the ones that suit your group of students and you’re good to go.

Sometimes, children will have trouble understanding the words on each picture cue, just have them repeat it once you read it out to them.

Get this FREE printable game at the end of this post.

These can also be used in small groups or during a speech therapy session.

Add them throughout the school year and in your daily routines to help the kids develop their language skills.

You don’t necessarily need a speech therapy service right away if you’re a parent, try these games listed below as they are very simple and easy to setup and will go a long way with your child if you’re trying to build their speech and language skills.

Signs of speech delay

Sometimes children will show some obvious early communication challenges, for examples they might struggle to acquire simple phrases and stick to simple words, it also depends on the child’s needs and the years of age.

You can even try online speech therapy at first if you feel that your child will benefit from it.

Therapy sessions do not need to be held in person. Online therapy can work wonders and you’ll be saving a lot of time on the commute. It’s a great place to start!

Speech therapy techniques

When you first start a child speech therapy program, you have to incorporate a child’s needs and speech sounds.

If those aren’t targeted yet, buy some books and soon enough the child will have a favorite book and you can add that to their individual education plan to help them along in building speech and language skills.

Speech Therapy Parent hand out for toddlers and preschoolers.

Get these FREE from the Gift of the Gab .

From the author: These free handouts are unlike any other!  Each  parent friendly  page teaches caregivers how to implement a speech therapy strategy at home. These handouts also contain  practical tips  from a real-life SLP-Mom and  guides parents  through implementing each strategy with their  individual child .

Speech Therapy for Toddlers: Common First Words Spoken.

This list is such a great start to when you need some quick reference to what words toddlers should be able to say at this age.

From the author: An easy to read handout to give to parents, grandparents, teachers, and educators listing the most commonly spoken first words. 

Get this list from Scanlon Speech Therapy

Speech Therapy Printable Worksheets for Preschoolers and Toddlers.

From the author: Speech therapy printable worksheets are a fun way to target virtually any goal! These open-ended reinforcers have a winter twist to make speech practice fun for toddlers and preschoolers.

Get these FREE from Eva Lee SLP .

Click the link between the >>> <<<< to get your copy of these super fun printable puzzles.

Before you grab your free pack you agree to the following:

• This set is for personal and classroom use only.
• This printable set may not be sold, hosted, reproduced, or stored on any other website or electronic retrieval system.
• Graphics Purchased and used with permission from
• All material provided on this blog is copyright protected.

More speech therapy resources:

• Social Pragmatic Goals Speech Therapy (Free Printable Goal Sheets)
• 20 Best K Words Speech Therapy Printables and Games
• S Sounds Speech Therapy Feed the Fox Game Printable

>>> Word Associations Speech Therapy Puzzles <<<

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10 Speech Therapy Activities You Can Do at Home With Your Toddler

Believe it or not, your child’s speech development isn’t confined in a speech therapist’s office. In fact, speech therapy activities are best done at home, where your child is comfortable. After all, where else would your child want to be than at home with you?

Even if you don’t have a speech therapist yet, nothing’s stopping you from encouraging your child to talk. Here are some recommended speech activities and routines that you can do together at home.

Speech and Language Activities While Bonding with Your Toddler

1) read books or magazines.

One of the best toddler speech activities goes back to the basics: reading. Reading aloud to your child will help them listen to how you form words and develop their vocabulary. Learning through reading may even lead your child to be an avid lover of books. They might even request their favorite book from time to time.

When they are already able to form words, encourage them to repeat the words from the book after you. This will help strengthen their articulation and literacy over time. Eventually, you can leave out some words and pause so that your toddler has a chance to speak up and fill in those words.

For the reading materials, you don’t even have to limit yourself to books. Some educational and children’s magazines can also be a good source of reading time. Magazines that are full of pictures are great for looking at together. You can also point at the pictures and ask them “What’s that?” to get them to engage.

2) Play With Your Child

Extra perks come with learning through a fun activity. Some of them include motor skill development, enhanced imagination, and better social skills with less pressure to speak up.

Toys are an amazing way to facilitate play. But, steer clear of battery-operated ones when choosing toys. You want your child to make sounds, and having toys that do it for them will not help with their development. This is especially true for those experiencing speech delays. Stick to toys that encourage:

• social interaction and communication
• usage of motor functions
• imagination and creativity

One classic way to play is using flashcards and blocks. Images and colors printed on these materials encourage word association.

You can also have your child group the cards or blocks together by various categories (animal, fruits, etc.). This will introduce the idea of related words. Plus, moving cards and blocks around will improve your child’s motor skills too.

Don’t forget to let your child lead during playtime. You will help them be confident with making choices on what to play with. It will also be easier to start conversations with them when they are having fun with it.

3) Use Hand Gestures and Sign Language

At around 8 to 9 months of age, children should start using gestures. Teaching them gestures or signs won’t cause a language delay, especially when you link them to spoken words. In fact, it is an effective tool for late talkers to start communicating .

You can start with waving and saying ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ for simple gestures. You can also create gestures for actions that your child loves doing. For example, you can say “hug” and wrap your arms around you to connect that word with the gesture.

One of the things you can also do to take this further is to teach your child sign language. Focus on words that are easy and functional, like more, help, please, thank you, and even Mom or Dad. Think about which signs would help your child the most.

Signs that are functional to them will encourage your toddler to use them daily. They can start using it to request items they want or need like milk, blanket, or even their favorite toys.

4) Singing and Rhyming

Nursery rhymes and songs can help improve your toddler’s language skills. Singing stimulates a different part of the brain, and the rhythm of songs helps your child remember words better. Some classic nursery rhyme songs you can use include:

• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
• Row, Row, Row Your Boat
• Old MacDonald Had a Farm
• The Itsy Bitsy Spider
• Mary Had a Little Lamb

Songs accompanied by gestures are also excellent for motor skills. Don’t even worry if you’re not a good singer, what’s important is facilitating this interaction with your toddler.

If they can already sing along with you, leave out some of the words, pause and wait for your child to sing the missing words. It gets even better when they can already sing the entire song on their own.

Day-to-Day Speech-Language Practices

Speech learning needs a parent’s support during learning and playtime. But what about other times around the house with your toddler?

You can incorporate many things in your daily lives that can help your child develop their language skills. Here are a few of them:

5) Speak Slowly and Clearly

You can help improve your child’s speech skills when you practice speaking to them slowly and clearly. With the proper articulation, they will pick up on the right sounds to make from the get-go .

Eye contact also helps with communication. Making a proper facial expression helps too, as children also pick up on this and they will imitate it.

6) Introduce New Sounds and Words

As your toddler grows, so does their ability to learn new words. By gradually introducing them, your child won’t feel overwhelmed in remembering them.

You can do this by pointing or picking up items and saying what they are, like lifting a toy ball and saying “ball”. Pointing to yourself and saying “Mommy”/”Daddy” works too, so they can associate the words with the person.

You can also help them learn new words by adding them to learned ones . For example, adding the new word “big” to the learned word “ball” will help them link the words together. Use two to three variations with the same word (“soft ball”, “green ball”) to build further vocabulary.

7) Tell Them What You’re Doing

Whether it’s cleaning the home or even getting dressed, tell your toddler what you are doing . The most ordinary things to you are absolutely new to a learning child. You can also talk about how something looks, tastes, and feels. This will improve their listening skills as well.

When you describe what you are doing, keep it short . You want to speak in phrases that are as long as they can manage to say. Speak and repeat when necessary. It will take patience, but children learn best with repetition.

8) Turn Off the TV

Prevent slow learning by turning off your TV especially when your toddler is in the room. Much like battery-operated toys, it will not help when your child is not repeating what they hear.

TV doesn’t only affect your child: it can also draw your attention away from them. That means less time for you to communicate and bond with each other.

In a study published on JAMA Pediatrics, each hour of TV exposure with sound resulted in fewer vocalizations in children. The study discouraged Tv viewing for children under 2 years in the conclusion. They instead suggest that parents focus on creating an interactive play environment.

Remember: Children are in their best learning state when they are talking to real people at home.

9) Teach Them to Ask For Things

Your toddler most likely wants a lot of things. Whether it’s food or toys, start teaching them to ask for it by letting you know what they want.

One of the ways to get your child to start communicating is to put things out of reach. Place their toys on a shelf or food on an unreachable counter. This will prompt them to call for your help.

Remember to reinforce and enhance the interaction when they do ask for something. If they ask for a banana by pointing, you can confirm “Do you want the yellow banana?” and introduce “want”, “yellow” and “banana” into his vocabulary.

There will be times that your toddler is unsure of what they want, or is having a hard time using words to describe what they want. In cases like this, you can help them with the process by giving them a choice (“Do you want a red apple or a yellow banana?). That way, you make it easier for them to think of words especially when they can imitate what you just said.

10) Repeat and Expand

Earlier we discussed how to introduce new words by linking them with already learned ones. You can also use a similar method to help with new words, which is repeating and expanding.

Repetition is crucial to language learning. Repeat what your child says, and expand on the topic. For example, if your child says, “Dog run!” you can reply with “Yes, the dog is running. He is running very fast.”

Try to keep the expansion sentences as correctly as possible. Like we said earlier, it’s important to speak clearly for your child to learn the words right from the get-go.

What if your child is using baby words? There’s no harm in starting with baby words but you should expand on what they are saying and say the correct word. If your toddler says “ba-ba” while pointing at their bottle, you can repeat (“Do you want ba-ba? Yes, here’s your bottle.)

Nowadays, speech-language pathologists can also be accessible online at home. If you’d like to learn more about how online speech therapy can help your family at home, get a consultation from us. No commitments, no contracts!

Related Post:

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How to pronounce the th sound (and how speech therapy helps), is depression a sign of dementia.

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17 Tips To Help A Toddler With A Speech Delay

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Seeme & Liz > 17 Tips To Help A Toddler With A Speech Delay

For the purpose of this article, a toddler refers to children between the ages of 18 and 30 months (give or take a few months).  However, many of these tips will work for other age groups as well.

Before I get into the tips I want to make sure you understand the difference between speech and language, as many people will say “my toddler has a speech delay” when they actually are referring to a language delay.

So here is a very brief overview of each:

What is Speech Development?

Speech development refers to the production of specific speech sounds.

Most children will learn the sounds /p/, /b/, /m/, /n/, /h/ and /w/ first, along with some basic vowel sounds.

What is Language Development?

Language development refers to both the use and understanding of language.  This encompasses:

• learning and using new words
• understanding words
• combining words into phrases and sentences
• asking and answering questions
• following directions
• social skills such as turn taking, eye contact, etc.

As I said, this is a basic overview to show you the differences between speech and language development.

The tips I am about to share with you will be for both speech and language!  Make sure you have some time set aside to get through the entire list!

If you feel (or have been told) that your toddler’s speech and language development is not where it should be for his/her age give these tips a try.

Speech Delay In Toddlers: 17 Ways You Can Help At Home

*This article may contain affiliate links *

1. Have Your Child’s Hearing Checked

Even if you think that your toddler can hear everything, their hearing may not be 100%.  The cause of a mild to moderate hearing loss in toddlers is usually due to ear infections and/or middle ear fluid.

Since any language a young child is hearing is new to them, they don’t know what to expect.  So they must hear everything clearly if they are going to use and understand that language.

Something as simple as fluid in a child’s ears can affect their hearing.  

Imagine yourself underwater and hearing a language that you are not familiar with.  This is what it can sound like to a child with a hearing loss as a result of middle ear fluid.

If your child has a history of ear infections, you can make an appointment with an audiologist to have your toddler’s hearing checked.

2.  Seek The Advice of a Speech-Language Pathologist

If you ever feel like your child is delayed in any area of development seek professional help.  The earlier the better!

A child’s early years (birth to 3) are a crucial time in their development.  Please do not take on a “wait and see” approach when it comes to your child.  You are not a bad parent because your child is not developing as per expectations.  And you will be a great parent by seeking help for your child.

To find a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist within North America, please click on the Resources tab.  In North America Speech-Language services are often publicly funded for children under the age of 3!

You can also get started with the It Takes Two To Talk book, written by Speech-Language Pathologist Elaine Weitzman.

This book has so much actionable information for parents!  Please do not be discouraged by the price tag!

3. Speak Slowly

Think about yourself learning a new language.  If the people you are in regular contact with are speaking quickly and never repeating themselves, you would have a hard time learning that language.  The same goes for your toddler.  This is especially true if your child is learning more than one language.

If you notice your toddler has tuned you out, or seems to be ignoring you, it could be because you are simply going to fast and they can’t keep up (or it could relate to Tip 1).

Slow down when you are speaking directly to your child!  You don’t need to sound like you are in slow motion, but take your time when speaking.

Be sure to use baby talk correctly though!

4. Make Eye Contact

Make sure you are looking at your child when you are speaking to them.  Children can learn a lot by looking at your mouth while you are speaking.  Making eye contact is also an essential part of communication (in most cultures).  It’s a foundation skill that comes naturally to most children!

5. Over Pronounce Early Sounds

As I mentioned above, the first sounds typically made by a baby/toddler are /p/, /b/, /m/, /n/, /h/ and /w/.  If your child is struggling with these early sounds make sure you are pronouncing them very clearly.  And from time to time, over pronounce them.

For example, if you are blowing bubbles for your child really enunciate the “p” in “pop”.  You can even point to your mouth to draw your child’s attention to the movement of your lips while you are saying “pop”.  The same goes for “bubble”.

6.  DO NOT Make Your Child Repeat You

This can be a tricky one for many parents.  I have seen it happen many times.

A child will say a word, for example “bud” (for “bubble”) and the parent will say something like “oh you mean bubble, say bubble, I know you can, say bubble.”  This will result in your toddler becoming very frustrated and tuning out.

It’s ok for you to repeat the word, but drop the expectation of having them repeat you.  While you may think your child should be capable of saying the word correctly, they probably aren’t.

Many toddlers are not developmentally ready to pronounce every sound and word correctly.

Pronunciation, or articulation  involves many muscles and fine motor skills that a toddler has not developed yet.

7. Be a Good Speech/Language Model

This one is pretty much a summary of tips 3,4,5 and 6.

If you are following all of these tips, then you are being a good speech and language model!  And this leads us into tip 8.

8. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

You will feel like a broken record, but your child needs the repetition.  Children need to hear words 100’s and often 1000’s of times before they begin using the word themselves in a meaningful way (not just repeating you or only using it in certain situations).

Let’s go back to the bubbles activity.  Narrate what you are doing.

For example, you could say “look at the bubble , do you see the bubble?   The bubble is floating away.  Uh oh, the bubble popped.  Let’s blow another bubble “.  In the 2-3 seconds it took you to say those phrases, you have said the word “bubble” 5 times!

9. Get Down to Your Child’s Level

Your child will gain more from your interactions with them if you are down at their level.  This means getting down on the floor and playing.  I know this can be hard for some parents.

I will admit that despite my background and having worked with children before having my own, this was one of the hardest things for me to do.  It just didn’t feel natural to me.  I would have much preferred to sit on a chair and “observe” my children.

However, I know the importance of “getting down to their level” that I made myself do this.

It does get easier and the reward of seeing your child’s smiling face makes it worth the effort.  So let your inner child out!

10. Choose Toys Without Batteries, or Remove Them When Possible

This section has so much information that I actually made it  an article of its own !

Toys with batteries can get quite annoying.  And for toddlers, the sounds that these toys make will not enhance their learning.

Some toy manufacturers claim that their toy will teach a child “letters, numbers, colors, etc”, but I have to disagree and many others would support this idea.  The whole goal is to get your toddler vocal and verbalizing.

If the toy is doing all of the “talking” the child can sit back and listen.  Also, most children are more likely to imitate a person over an electronic toy.

Another thing I would like to point out is that you should not be trying to teach your baby or toddler academic skills (don’t even get me started on the “your baby can read” program – luckily the company seems to have gone out of business).

There is plenty of time for a toddler to learn academic skills .  Language skills are a greater indicator of success later on in school than the fact that your 2 year old can recite their ABC’s.

Now, all of that being said, I will contradict myself a bit.  Don’t feel like you cannot have any toys with batteries. Some toys need batteries for basic functioning.  My son had a pretty cool ball drop  toy that he engaged with more when the batteries were in it.

It came with 3 clear balls that had little animal figures inside (so of course I always told him the animal names and the sounds they made and said the word “ball” many, many times).  He could drop the ball into the trees that were part of the toy and watch them come out and then be spun around.  The music it played was a bit irritating, but the spinners didn’t work without batteries.

I love open ended toys such as play kitchens , play houses , dolls, blocks, etc.

There are many more opportunities to develop language skills with these types of toys!

11. Expand and Add Language

If your toddler is starting to use some single words, expand on what they said and add more language.

For example, if your child brings you a toy truck and says “truck” you could respond with “yes, it’s a big truck”, placing the emphasis on “big truck”.

You could then add even more language around the word “truck”.  “The truck has wheels” or “The truck is red”, etc.  Or if your child drops something and says “uh oh”, respond and say “uh oh, your cup fell down, let’s pick up your cup “.

12. Take a Step Back

Try not to dominate your child’s playtime.  Take a step back and watch what your toddler is doing and then wait some more.

Listen to see if your child is saying anything to themselves.  Or if they aren’t using any words, perhaps your child is gesturing or looking intently at something.  By taking a step back you can find many new opportunities to communicate with your child!

13. Let Your Child Lead

Your child may be interested in things that aren’t of much interest to you.  You may try to steer them towards a toy you feel they should be playing with, or an activity you believe would be better for them.

If your toddler expresses an interest in something and you follow their lead , they will be much more interested in interacting with you.  You can let your child lead by imitating what they are doing, commenting on what your child is doing and repeating things they say (and expanding), etc.

If you are interested in something, chances are you will be more engaged than if you are doing something that you aren’t interested in.  The same goes for a child.  If the child is always redirected and doesn’t have the opportunity to do what they would like to do, they will naturally disengage and the language learning opportunities will be lessened.

14. Skip the Academics

As I mentioned in Tip 10, many toy manufacturers are using the fact that their toy teaches “academic skills” as a selling feature.  Please do not listen to this.

A toddler does not need to work on academic skills .

What they do need to work on is developing play skills .

Play skills build the foundation for academic skills later on!

15. Read, Read, Read

Read to your child daily!  Find simple yet engaging books.  But stay away from e-books for children of this age group.

While an e-book on a phone/tablet may be engaging because of the ability to touch an item on the screen and watch something happen (cause and effect), studies have shown that children do not engage with this type of book the same way that they do with a physical book.  Children do not retain what they heard to the same extent that they do with a physical book.

Cause and effect books do exist as physical books!  These are usually “lift the flap” books or “pop-up” books.

Looking at a physical book (holding it, pointing to pictures – without something happening, turning the pages) helps with pre-literacy skills and print awareness.

When looking at books with your child, you do not always have to read the story word for word.  Make it up as you go!  Let your child point to items in the book and then pause and wait.  Listen; your child may say or sign something.

If the book you are reading is a repetitive book such as the classic “Brown Bear Brown Bear” by Bill Martin/Eric Carle and your child has heard it several times, pause to see if your child will fill in the blanks.

16. Ask Questions (but not too many)

Ask your child questions to keep the conversation going, but don’t ask too many.  You don’t want to come across as a drill sergeant.

Ask simple questions such as “where is the ball?” (assuming the child can see it) or “what is on your foot?”  This will help with a child’s understanding of language and reinforces vocabulary words.

However, don’t “test” your child.  This will end up causing a lot of frustration and perhaps even some temper tantrums.

17. Use Routines, Songs and Finger Plays

Some childhood routines you may be familiar with such as peek-a-boo .

A routine basically has certain steps that follow an order and can be repeated many times.  Children learn from these routines because of the repetition and if the routine is a people game such as “peek-a-boo” it is also quite fun for the child.  You can also make up your own routine if there is something your child is interested in.

My children loved the “fall down” routine we made up when they were around 2 years old.  I would have them sit on my lap and move my legs up and down while saying “bump, bump, bump”, then I would pause and say “uh oh you fell down” and slightly open my legs allowing them to “fall” (while still holding my child of course).  This always ended up in laughter and them telling me they wanted more of this activity.

Songs and finger plays are also a great way to help with language development.  Nursery rhymes also fall into this category.  An example of a finger play would be “This Little Piggy”.

A song that my daughter was fascinated with that we turned into a routine was “Row Row Row Your Boat”.  She sat facing me holding my hands.  I would gently pull her back and forth towards me while singing.  At the end when we got to “life is but a dream” I would slowly let go so that she would end up laying down.  She thought it was the greatest thing ever!

Toddlers also love finger puppets that you can incorporate into finger plays!  The puppets allow for further vocabulary development and can be used later on for story telling as well.

I hope that these tips will help you and your child!  Please leave me a comment and let me know if you are using any of these tips with your child.

Keep this article for reference by pinning any image below to your favorite Pinterest boards!

47 Comments

Enjoyed reading this article, very informative. I’ll be sure to use some of these strategies.

Glad you enjoyed the article!

I love your article. I started researching about speech delay because I already started to worry about my son (turning 2 in 2 weeks). He can’t communicate yet and sometimes he’s not paying attention when I try to say something to him. He already knows the alphabet A-Z, He says letter B “ba”, H “ha” and some are incorrect like Y sounds like letter “E”. I bought him flashcards and when I show it and ask him “what letter is this?” He knows what exactly it is, but some letters he pronounce incorrectly. But as a mother, I can understand what he’s trying to say.

I’m Filipina and my husband is American. I sometimes talk to him in Filipino but mostly English as I want him to learn English first. My son knows some words but not perfectly like “do” for dog, “fa-wo” for flower and when I’m feeding him, I say “yum yum” repeatedly before I give him the food and he says “nam nam” and when I say “NO, DON’T GO OUT” he gets mad and says the word “No” too.

If your son has less than 20 words he is using regularly I strongly suggest you have him seen by a speech pathologist. Don’t worry about academic skills such as the alphabet, counting, shapes, etc. as knowing these things do not provide functional communication . The goal right now should be to have him communicate with purpose.

I shared many tips in this article that you can use. Additionally, the book “ It Takes Two To Talk ” is packed with extremely useful information that can help you get your son speaking.

You could also try introducing sign language to help him express himself. Take a look at the 2 articles I have written that can help you get started.

Baby Sign Language Basics – What You Need To Know!

Teach Your Baby Sign Language: It’s Easier Than You Think!

Also make sure that you are using proper words and grammar as much as possible! So instead of trying to have him repeat “yum yum” say (and sign) the word “eat” and hopefully he will repeat that.

It shouldn’t be a problem for you to keep speaking to him in Filipino but since you and your husband both speak English it might be a good idea to focus on English for the next few months to help him get stronger in that language.

Also, don’t worry about how he is pronouncing words for now. Once he is 3 his speech should be understood about 75% of the time. At the age of 2 it’s about 50% of the time.

I hope this helps!

My daughter just turned 24 months. She understands everything. I read your article and tried doublechecking but she indeed was able to take a toy hotdog and put it on the chair, under the table, on the keyboard, in a slipper, on my head, she found this game great fun. I made sure not to look at anything. She draws detailed drawings of animals including eyes and noses and holds the pen like an adult. She communicates with her sister, daddy and me constantly. She only speaks about 20 words and several of them aren’t “real” words ie. a dinosaur is a “rah-rah” (because they roar) all dogs are called “bah-pah” because she got a plush Snoopy 6 months ago and couldn’t say “snoopy” so called it bah-pah and now ALL dogs are “bah-pah” she does say things like “baby bah-pah” or “baby rah-rah” and “Dada rah-rah” “mama rah-rah” and “May-may rah-rah” which is a mama dog, daddy dog, and her sister Amy who she calls May-may so an Amy dog. She uses mama and dada and may-may and baby for size. So a big dog is a “dada bah-pah” also, a ghost is a “boo” because they say “boo” and an owl is a “hoo-hoo” because they say “hoo” her big sister, just turned 6 years, was always extremely advanced. I mean, that kids could LITERALLY say “micropachycephalosaurus” at age two. That’s a dinosaur, by the way. That said, I am not worried. She seems happy, healthy, bright, engaged, and she communicates extrememly well, but often by using her very limited vocabulary in clever ways. If she’s hungry, she will say “yum-yums” and then, maybe for example “dada yum yums” meaning bananas, which only her father eats. She also points and uses hand gestures and movements, so if she wants the dancing snoopy, it’s “Bah-pah” and she’s do a little dance. She rats on her big sister if she does something not nice, like hiding her toy. She’ll get my attention use a combo of facial expressions, pull me over to the room, then use her very limited words, “May-may” and the missing toy “bahp” (a bahp is a ball), then gesture to where Amy put it up high so she can’t get it. So… my mother’s heart feels like she’s fine and will speak, it’s just that she does seem to be adding words only EXTREMELY slowly. Her hearing is fine. She’s been tested by the pediatrician. We are a screen free / screen lite family so she’s not parked in front of a screen. She is home with me and her sister is homeschooled. Anyway, I wonder is some kids just speak later than others but are fine.

It sounds like your daughter may be a late talker. You can read my article about that here .

Children typically have about 20 words by 18 months and 50 words by 24 months, therefore I would suggest having her assessed by a speech-language pathologist. They may not see her for therapy if they feel she is truly a late talker but rather would provide you with a home program and then check in with you from time to time to see how she is progressing.

That is great that you are limiting her screen time as face to face interactions are best. It is also good to avoid battery operated toys that do all the talking !

It is important that you always repeat back what she has said using the correct word(s) and correct grammar as much as possible. So for example if she says “May May bahp” in frustration, then repeat back “Amy hid the ball”. However, one strategy that is often used by speech pathologists is placing favorite items (toys or food) just out of reach so that the child has to communicate their wants. So when her sister hides something from her, that is a great time to model correct speech.

You can try and see if she can imitate you, but don’t push it as that will lead to frustration.

I highly recommend the book It Takes Two To Talk as it is written for parents and provides you with strategies to use at home no matter the level of communication your child is at.

Have you tried having her repeat words? If so, is she able to do this?

Please feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.

My daughter will be 3 on Monday (10/26) and I notice she talks on her own time meaning if I ask her something or gesture her to say something she won’t say it until she is ready. She does not use sentences all the time. When she gets frustrated she throws tantrums and yells or cries instead of saying what exactly is wrong with her. She has been going to speech therapy once a week for 30 mins and I always get good feed back from the sessions. When I ask the therapist if there is more I can do she says to encourage her to ask for things and nursery rhymes which she’s done even prior to beginning speech therapy. Her school recommended child find program to have a therapist come to the school and assist and at this point I don’t know what more I can do to encourage my daughter to expand on her speech. I honestly feel with the limited speech it’s causing a delay on potty training so I am opened to any suggestions at this point

Hi Crystal,

Sorry to hear that your daughter is struggling with her language development. You haven taken all of the steps I would recommend.

If your daughter has only recently started speech therapy it’s not surprising that there hasn’t been progress. It can take a few months before you see changes happening.

I would suggest introducing some sign language to her (if you haven’t done so yet). This should help ease some of her frustrations. It can also help with potty training.

Here are 2 articles that I have written about sign language: Baby Sign Language Basics – What You Need To Know! Teach Your Baby Sign Language: It’s Easier Than You Think!

Signing Savvy is a wonderful online sign language video dictionary. You can create a free account and get access to many signs. The signs shown are in American Sign Language. Some of the ASL signs can be tricky for little kids to make so you can adapt them if you want. I talk about this in the articles I referenced above.

Has your daughter’s therapist recommended the book “ It Takes Two To Talk “? If not, I highly recommend this book. It is packed with information for parents of late talking children.

How would you say your daughter’s understanding of language is? Can she follow directions? You can take a look at an article I wrote on the subject here .

I agree with what the therapist suggested with regard having your daughter request things she wants. Keeping favorite foods and toys slightly out of reach can help encourage her to communicate. She may point and whine at the item at which point you can model the word and see if she will repeat it. You can also do this with sign language where you make the sign and say the word. She may repeat the sign before the word.

Repetitive word books are also great for language development. You can take a look at some of my recommendations here .

I hope this helps and feel free to ask me any other questions you have.

This is great, thank you — bookmarking! I have a 2-year-old who is a clever little monkey but definitely struggling with his speech. We’re on a waiting list but this will help in the meantime 🙂

I’m happy to hear that your son is on a waiting list for speech therapy! Good luck with everything and feel free to reach out if you have any questions in the meantime.

I cannot enter my email address to get this download. Help!!!

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Thank you for all the helpful tips! Very informative and practical, I will definitely try this with my 21mos old son. He can’t speak a full word yet, but he can make syllable sounds (both vowel and consonants) I actually don’t know where to start to help him. He’s fond of watching phonics songs but everytime I try to teach him, he seems not interested. Where should I start? 1. Limit his screen time even though he enjoys it? 2. Toss his toys that are not helpful with his development? 3. Should I use flashcards, wooden puzzles or charts/boards?

Would love to hear your thoughts. Again thank you for giving us moms a peace of mind and light to issues like this. God bless you more as you serves as a blessing to many.

The first thing I would recommend is to have him seen by a speech language pathologist. They can do a full assessment and guide you in the right direction. Definitely limit his screen time. Unfortunately all children enjoy it but it is not good for their development. The same goes for electronic toys where all he does is push buttons.

Some TV shows such as Sesame Street are ok in moderation as he may pick up some words. But children learn best from interaction with others.

Take a look at some of my articles in the language development section of the website. Here are a few you can start with:

Educational Toys For 2 Year Old’s – How To Choose The Best Ones! The Best Play Kitchens For Language Development Straightforward Speech Therapy Activities For Toddlers You Can Do At Home

My son is 3 and a half. He knows all the words, alphabets, numbers. But the only problem is that he isnt able to combine them in to a sentence. He would just use the noun or color to specify an object. I have been taking him to a speech therapist since October but I dont see much improvement in him. I read to him alot, and repeat alot of things again and again but i am not able to figure out what is wrong. His hearing test came out fine and he is not on the autism side either. If there is something you could suggest to further help him with would be wonderful?

Unfortunately I cannot tell you exactly what is going on with your son. It sounds like you are definitely doing everything that I would be doing in this situation. Have you asked his speech therapist what may be going on? Has he been seen by a psychologist who works with young children, or perhaps a developmental pediatrician? Try reading some repetitive phrase books to him to see if he will imitate one of the phrases after hearing the book several times. I have written an article about books to use to help with language development. Click here to read it. Keep repeating what he says and expanding it to add a few more words. But try hard to keep your longer version grammatically correct . For example, if he says “shoe” you could say “yes, that’s your shoe” or find your own show and say “My shoe” and then point to his and say “your shoe” or even “This is my shoe”.

I hope this helps and hopefully you will get some answers as to what is going on soon. Keep taking him to different people who may be able to help figure out what could be causing this.

Wishing you all the best!

We thought we were doing our daughter justice by introducing two languages at the same time but am wondering if that is the leading cause to her potential speech/language delay. She just turned two and only has about 15-18 words. Many of her words are animal sounds… Moo, quack quack, woof woof, meow, etc. her understanding and all other milestones are on point. Her pediatrician is referring us for a speech evaluation. Wondering what may be the potential cause? I have to note that she gestures and signs a lot for what she wants… but isn’t vocalizing. I have to say I am the type of person that worries, stresses and definitely jumps to conclusions. Like is she ever going to talk??

Introducing two languages at once typically does not cause a language delay. Some children will have a slight delay in either both languages or one more than the other, but this should resolve quickly. Is she using the 15-18 words in both languages or is she giving preference to one over the other? A speech evaluation is also what I would recommend but because your daughter just turned 2 and is exposed to two languages I wouldn’t worry too much yet. But it is definitely something to keep an eye on.

The speech language pathologist that is doing the evaluation may recommend a home program to try for a few months.

It is better to worry a bit and take action early than it is to take a wait and see approach and end up with a 4 year old that is barely talking.

I commend your pediatrician on recommending an evaluation as many doctors tend to put parents minds at ease by telling them to just wait and see.

Honestly, so many of her words are animal sounds but the words that are not animal sounds are in English. I will do the evaluation because I too agree that i would rather be overly cautious than not. One more question-do you count words that are baby talk and used exclusively and consistently to identify particular things? For example-my daughter refers to kids as “Gaga” and has for a very long time. Her pediatrician won’t count it but another doctor said too. Sounds like they are on extreme ends and would love a third middle ground opinion.

Animal sounds and made up or “baby words” do count as words as long as they are only being used to refer to that specific object, person or animal. For example, if a child that says “moo” for all animals then it cannot be counted as a true word. If your daughter is only saying “gaga” to refer to children (and not people in general) then it is considered a word. Just like a child saying “baba” for bottle or “wawa” for water. Those are words. But if “baba” is used to refer to anything the child wants to eat or drink then it is not a word.

I hope this helps.

Some of these tips were super helpful! One of my children have a speech delay and I used the assessment here https://bit.ly/2vBCC2w To help figure out that they had it. Hopefully this helps the other mommies that unsure as well!

Thanks Jess! And thanks for sharing the assessment. I did not go through it so I can’t attest to it’s quality.

Whether using an online assessment or not, if you feel your child’s speech and/or language skills are behind please have an assessment done by a registered speech-language pathologist who will guide you in the right direction!

Loved the article! Do you have any specific tips/thoughts related to unintelligible speech? My almost 3 yr old talks a lot but much of his speech is still unintelligible to others. We are in the process of setting up an evaluation. Thanks!

Thanks Theresa,

Some of the tips I shared in the article would be applicable in your situation. For example, be sure that you are speaking clearly and enunciating early sounds such as /p,b,m,n,h,w/ when talking to your son. Since you probably understand much of what he is saying (despite others not being able to), repeat back what he said slowly and clearly. But don’t ask him to repeat you. Make eye contact with him and try to have his attention before you begin speaking (I know this isn’t always possible, but try as much as you can).

Good for you for setting up an evaluation. It is so much better to be proactive. I would also suggest setting up an appointment with an audiologist to have his hearing checked. Even a mild hearing loss (usually caused by fluid in the ear) can result in a child having difficulty producing sounds clearly.

I hope this has helped and hopefully you won’t have to wait too long to see a speech therapist.

You have many informative, educational and useful ideas in this article. You have covered so much and really have me thinking. As a parent of 4 children it can be so hard to see any issues with your amazing child. You love them so much and only see the perfect person that they are, and they talk a little and you are so proud. But you have given great points and said clearly what you should do. Thank you

Hi Michael,

Thanks so much for your comment. I am happy that you have found the article helpful.

I enjoyed reading your article. I had speech delays when I was little. I always attributed it to the fact I was an only child and both of my parents worked full-time running a hobby store and I did not get a lot of one-on-one time with them. I spent a lot time in the backroom of the hobby shop playing with toys and since I was an only child, I did not interact much with others. It was a garden railroad hobby shop and my first word was “train” because those are the words I heard most often.

Which brings me to my questions. I personally think environment has a lot to do with speech delays. I also think children who are born to a family of siblings will also have better chance of not developing speech delays because there will be other kids also talking to the toddler. Would love to hear your thoughts on that and how those factors affect speech delays.

Thank you for writing this article.

Thanks for your questions and sharing a bit about your childhood. Yes, the environment a child is raised in plays a very important role in a child’s development. This is why I am such a proponent for learning through play and experiential learning as opposed to focusing on early academic skills.

However, I know several speech therapist’s whose children have speech delays. So it is not only a child’s environment that is important. But when a child is identified as having a delay of any kind it is important for the parents to do as much as they can at home.

As for siblings, this can help a child, but there are many only children with no language development issues. The same goes with first born children. Many don’t have a sibling until they are 3 or 4 years old and well on their way with language development.

I hope that I was able to answer your questions.

Fascinating article! I definitely agree with Tip 15: Read, Read, Read. One of my fondest memories growing up was the time my parents spent reading to me. I make it a point to read to my children every day. They enjoy the time we spend together and the benefits will hopefully last them a lifetime. I sure enjoy the time we spend reading together as well. Thank you for sharing your knowledge about helping toddlers with their speech.

Thanks for your comment. Reading and exposure to books is an essential part of a child’s development. As you have mentioned, it is also a great way for parents to spend some quality time with their children!

Great article.

I have a toddler at home and I’ve done the repeat after me bit, but now that I’ve read your article, I will not be doing that again.

Also, my son has a very active imagination and prefers the TV to be off, and also doesn’t really like the talking toys and always tells me to turn them off.

Very useful article and definitely gives the reader peace of mind if they are worried.

Thanks Ian. I know many parents that ask their toddler to repeat what was said. Doing it here and there won’t cause any harm, but try not to make a habit of it.

Your son sounds like my daughter. She can only handle so much “screen time”. After about an hour she wanders off to play. Now that she is 8 she has started writing her own short stories. They are very cute! She doesn’t like to read, but she loves to write. Go figure!

My youngest son started to say his first words only at the age of 3. And both my wife and myself were worried because our eldest son was able to mouth his first words on his first year. How I wished this post was written then or someone had written such a informative article. Well done.

Thanks for your comment. I am not sure how old your son is now, but hopefully he is doing well and that he has not had any issues as a result of being late to talk.

Interesting, I didn’t know speech delay was such an issue with kids! I learned the alphabet and how to talk a little bit by the time I was 1 years old, so its pretty shocking to know some kids can’t learn words yet as a toddler. I guess if it’s an actual medical condition or something, it totally makes sense though!

I wouldn’t say a speech delay in toddlers is a common issue, but it does happen. And for many toddlers there is no medical condition that can explain it. We all develop at different rates. However, as more and more research is done with babies and children and how they learn, we are learning a lot.

We used to think that children should develop at their own pace (especially if there was no underlying condition) and it was quite normal for children to start speaking anywhere between 1 and 3 years old. Dr’s told parents not to worry when their two or three year old was not speaking. However, we are now finding out that about 20-30% of these children who were late to talk (but did eventually speak) struggle in school with reading and writing.

Studies are also showing that early intervention (seeking treatment prior to the age of 3) does help these children and allows them to be successful despite being late to talk.

Thank you for taking the time to speak about underdeveloped speech in toddlers. You are shedding light on a subject that was in complete darkness for me. You have gone into great detail and have brought forth many great points. I had no idea and would have never thought to take the batteries out of the toys that say that they are “teaching” Again Thanks.

Thanks William! Unfortunately child speech and language development is not a subject that most parents are very familiar with. Also not all doctors are aware of the speech and language milestones children should be meeting. This is why so many people often take a “wait and see” approach when it comes to their toddlers language development (or lack thereof). Many children who are late to talk will catch up on their own. But if you can help them catch up even faster, why not!

As I have hoped to point out, learning language and all of its intricacies is a building block for future success later on!

This is a great site with awesome information for anyone trying to raise a toddler and make sure they are engaging their brain. I myself am not a parent but once I become one I will definitely come back to this site for help to make sure I do the best I can when raising my child. Awesome post with great information.

Thanks! I am happy to hear that you found the site helpful despite not having any children!

This is a great article! #10 is something I would never have thought about but you make a great point. My 4 year old has a difficult time pronouncing a few letters. One being a hard “C”. It comes out more like a “T” sound. He’s only had some evaluation at his preschool but nothing more involved. Would you recommend speech intervention for something like that?

Hi Heather.

Tip #10 seems to be the tip that surprises most parents. But really it is not that surprising. The majority of toys nowadays come with batteries. And it seems counterintuitive to remove the batteries when they are what makes a toy work a certain way. However, so much more learning and person to person interaction can occur when they toy isn’t doing all of the “talking”.

Your son is doing something we in the speech world call “fronting”. It usually starts clearing up around the age of 4. Make sure that you are always repeating back the word with the correct pronunciation. But don’t ask him to repeat it. If he ends up getting speech therapy, the therapist will probably ask you to do some home practice with him. At this time it is ok to make corrections and expect that he tries to repeat you. But don’t do this if you are not working with a speech pathologist.

There is no harm in having a speech and language assessment done for your son. The speech pathologist may recommend a home program if his mispronunciations are not that bad.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks for the info! I have a nephew that has been having speech problems since he was little. He is now 7 years old and is still having the same issues with his speech.

I was unaware of how to help him with speaking and I have used some of your tips that you have provided but not all. I am going to have to make better eye contact and slow down. I tend to move to fast with him.

Sorry to hear about your nephew! But it sounds like you are quite involved and trying to really help him. As I said, these tips are for toddlers, but they can be used for any age group. I am happy that you are going to try some of these tips out with your nephew.

if you have any questions feel free to ask me! Hopefully I can help you out.

Some great advice in this article, thank you!! You actually surprised me with tips number 6 and 10… but your reasoning behind them is actually quite logical! I always try tip 13 with my neice and end up doing all kinds of crazy things which actually end up being quite funny!! 😛 Thanks again for sharing!

Yes, some of the tips may be surprising to some parents, but I hope my explanations behind them will help. If it weren’t for my background in Speech-Language Pathology, I would not know all of this information.

It is great that you are following the “let your child lead” tip with your niece. You will both get some much more out of the interaction this way!

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5 Speech Therapy Games for Toddlers and Preschoolers

When you’ve got a toddler at home, it’s not always easy to think of new activities and games to play together. Sometimes you just run out of ideas (and energy!). And if your child is in speech therapy, when it comes to  practicing   their speech and language at home, you  really  need to find something fun and motivating.

When work feels more like play, everyone is happy. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of five simple speech therapist-recommended games you can play to keep the   learning going .

1. Touch and feel activities

This is one exciting activity that your child won’t want to stop playing! Take a box, a bag, or any container that your child can’t see into. Grab some items from around the house to place inside. Here are a few ideas: A small stuffed animal, Play-Doh or slime, an apple, a ball, a toy car, and a hairbrush.

Place each item in one by one, without your child seeing. Then have your child reach in, feel the item, and guess what it is.

To target speech and language skills, they can try to describe what they feel by using words like “cold” or “soft.”

You can also help your child guess by giving them clues about each item. For example, “We use this to comb your hair,” or “This is one of your favorite snacks.”

This game is great for helping your child practice saying new words and growing their vocabulary. It’s OK to throw some items in the box that they don’t know the name of. This helps them learn even more!

2. Freeze dance

Who doesn’t love freeze dance? Your toddler or preschooler definitely will! Turn on some of their favorite music and dance together. Depending on your child’s age, you can vary this game slightly. Here’s how to play.

For toddlers or kids working on more basic vocabulary, use words like “stop” and “go” throughout the game. Explain that when you say “Stop,” your child should stop dancing and stand completely still. You can show them what you mean to help them understand.

Then go on to explain that when you say “Go!,” they can start dancing again. This helps them learn the meaning of these words. And if they aren’t already saying these words, they may begin to use them, as well! So cue up the music and dance together. Say “stop!” and “go!” throughout the song.

For older preschoolers, feel free to use the word “freeze” each time you want them to stop dancing. You can even say words that rhyme with “freeze” to work on their listening abilities and word discrimination skills. You might try saying “Cheese!” or “Keys!” Your child will be anticipating the word “freeze,” so they’ll really have to listen to your words before moving. Check out this kid-friendly  video  for an example of how to play this game.

3. Movement and physical games

Never underestimate how much kids enjoy physical games that involve movement. These can be simple activities like having a tickle fight, giving a piggyback ride, having a race, or building an indoor fort.

Children love spending time with their caregivers. The one-on-one attention you give them during these activities–not to mention how much fun they are–can help your child in different areas of speech and language development. Let’s look at some things you can target during these games:

Tickle fight:  This is a perfect activity for children learning to talk. They can request “more” or “stop” by verbalizing independently, imitating after you, or even signing! They may request “more” tickles but quickly say “Stop!” when it’s just too much. The giggles and smiles from your little one will make this a favorite game to play!

Piggyback rides : Most kids love a piggyback ride. You can work on having your child use single words to request what they want, like “up.” For older children, you can focus on sentence structure and length, such as, “I want a piggyback ride.” Having a race:  Racing each other is a helpful way to practice verbs. You can have one race where you  run , one where you  skip , one where you  spin  to the finish line, or maybe even one where you  roll !

For younger children learning to talk, you can work on naming the verb in the race you just completed and using it in small phrases, such as, “We run!” or “I skip!” For older preschool children, you can work on using the right verb tense, such as “We ran a race” or “I skipped to the finish line” for past tense. You can also practice present tense: “I am skipping.”

Building a fort:  This is a good opportunity to work on spatial concepts. You can say things like, “Go  in  the fort,” “Stand  behind  the fort,” or “Put the pillow  on top. ” See how well your child can follow these directions. It’s OK if you need to help them out.

4. Scavenger hunt

What’s great about a scavenger hunt activity is that you can play indoors or out! Give your toddler or preschooler some clues of items to find. You can make the clues as easy or as hard as you want, depending on your child’s age.

You may say something like, “Go find something that keeps us warm.” Your child may find a blanket or a coat.

If you’re outside on a scavenger hunt, you can give your child clues to find items like sticks, leaves, or flowers.

For children practicing  sound production , have them look for items that use their target sounds. For example, if your child is working on the /k/ sound, they can practice saying that they found a “rock.” Or if they’re working on the /b/ sound, they can practice saying they found a “bug.”

You can also practice   receptive language   tasks with your child, such as identifying items or following directions. Ask your kiddo to find the “hose” or pick the “flower.” Or target following single- or multi-step  directions . Give a direction such as “Pick up the ball,” or “Pick up the ball and then put it by the door.” See how easily your child can follow these directions. If they need a little help, try repeating the directions or gesturing to show them what you mean.

A classic game like I Spy can be easily repurposed for speech therapy practice! As you and your child find items to “spy,” you can focus on whatever goals may be most beneficial to them.

For instance, if your child is working on sound production, practice “spying” items that begin with or have the target sound in the word.

If your child is working on  imitating  phrases or learning to use phrases on their own, they can practice saying “I spy…” over and over. Repeating a familiar phrase like this, and simply adding one new word each time, is a great way to practice.

As you can see, speech therapy games and activities at home don’t have to be anything elaborate. The key is finding a game that will interest your child, then working your child’s specific goals into the activity. The more fun they’re having, the more practicing they’ll complete. Plus, the two of you are enjoying one-on-one time together. That’s a win for everyone!

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Major Domains in Child Development

There are four major developmental domains: physical, cognitive, language, and social-emotional. As children grow, they develop skills in all areas.

What Are Developmental Domains?

Physical developmental domain.

• Cognitive Developmental Domain
• Social and Emotional Developmental Domain
• Language Developmental Domain

Developmental Domain Delays

When to talk to a health care provider.

A child's development is a multi-faceted process comprised of growth, regression, and change in different domains. These domains include physical , cognitive, socio-emotional, and language development.

Acquiring and mastering skills in certain domains may appear more prominent during specific stages of life. Yet kids virtually always experience some degree of change in all domains as they grow.

Learn more about developmental domains, what to expect in the major areas of development, and when to contact a health care provider.

Phil Boorman / Getty Images

When discussing human development, the word "domain" refers to specific aspects of growth and change. The major domains of development are physical ( fine motor and gross motor skills ), cognitive, language, and social-emotional.

Children often experience a significant and obvious change in one domain at a time. For example, if a baby is focusing on learning to walk , which is in the physical domain, you may not notice as much language development or new words until they have mastered walking.

It might seem like a particular domain is the only one experiencing developmental change during different periods of a child's life. But change typically occurs in the other domains as well—just more gradually and less prominently.

The physical domain covers the development of physical changes, which includes the following:

• Growing in size and strength

Gross motor skills

Fine motor skills.

• Development of the senses

When young, children are learning how to perform different activities with their fingers in coordination with their eyes such as  grasping , releasing, reaching, pinching, and turning their wrists. Because these small muscle movements take time to develop, they may not come easily at first.

What Are Fine Motor Skills?

These fine motor skills help kids perform tasks for daily living, like buttoning buttons, picking up finger foods , using a fork, pouring milk, going to the restroom, and washing their hands.

From an early age, give kids opportunities to use their hands and fingers. Give your baby rattles, plush balls, and other toys to grasp.

Later, toys that allow them to pick things up and fit them into slots are good for developing beginning skills. As they get older, teach them how to button buttons, use scissors, hold a pencil, and do other tasks with their fingers and hands.

In addition to these fine motor skills, kids also learn to use their larger muscles, like those in their arms, legs, back, and stomach. Walking, running, throwing, lifting, pulling, pushing, and kicking are all important skills that are related to body awareness, balance, and strength. These skills allow your child to control and move their body in different ways.

Parents can help their child's physical development by providing opportunities for age-appropriate activities . For instance, babies need regular tummy time  to build their neck and upper body strength.

Preschoolers and school-aged children need plenty of opportunities to run around and play. Even tweens and teens need regular opportunities for physical activity.

Overall Health Impacts Physical Development

Physical development can also be influenced by nutrition and illness. So, make sure your kids have a healthy diet, regular exercise, and annual wellness check-ups to promote proper child development.

Cognitive Developmental Domain

The cognitive domain includes intellectual development and creativity. As they develop cognitively, kids gain the ability to do the following:

• Process thoughts
• Pay attention
• Develop memories
• Understand their surroundings
• Express creativity
• Make, implement, and accomplish plans

The child psychologist Jean Piaget outlined four stages of cognitive development, known as the Paigentian Theory. These stages are outlined below.

Sensorimotor stage (birth to age 2)

The sensorimotor stage involves learning about the environment through movements and sensations. Infants and toddlers use basic actions like sucking, grasping, looking, and listening to learn about the world around them.

Preoperational stage (ages 2 to 7)

During the preoperational stage, children learn to think symbolically as well as use words or pictures to represent things. Kids in this stage enjoy pretend play, but still struggle with logic and understanding another person's perspective.

Concrete operational stage (ages 7 to 11)

Once they enter the concrete operational stage, kids start to think more logically, but may still struggle with hypothetical situations and abstract thinking. Because they are beginning to see things from another person's perspective, now is a good time to start teaching empathy.

Formal operational stage (age 12 and up)

During the formal operational stage, a child develops an increase in logical thinking. They also develop an ability to use deductive reasoning and understand abstract ideas. As they become more adept at problem-solving, they also are able to think more scientifically about the world around them.

Even older kids and teens need play . You can help your child develop and hone their cognitive skills by giving them opportunities to play with blocks, puzzles, and board games.

You also should create an environment where your child feels comfortable asking questions about the world around them and has plenty of opportunities for free play.

Develop your child's desire to learn by helping them explore topics they are passionate about. Encourage thinking and reasoning skills by asking them open-ended questions and teaching them to expand on their thought processes. As they get older, teach them how to be critical consumers of media and where to find answers to things they don't know.

Social and Emotional Developmental Domain 

The social-emotional domain includes a child's growing understanding and control of their emotions. They also begin to identify what others are feeling, develop the ability to cooperate, show empathy, and use moral reasoning.

Friendships

This domain includes developing attachments to others and learning how to interact with them. For instance, young children learn how to share , take turns, and accept differences in others. They also develop many different types of relationships, from parents and siblings to peers, teachers, coaches, and others in the community.

Key Skills of the Social-Emotional Stage

Children develop self-knowledge during the social-emotional stage. They learn how they identify with different groups and their innate temperament will emerge in their relationships.

Tweens, especially, demonstrate significant developments in the social-emotional domain as their peers become more central to their lives and they learn how to carry out long-term friendships . Typically, parents will notice major increases in social skills during this time.

To help your child develop socially and emotionally, look for opportunities for them to interact with kids their age and form relationships with both children and adults. You can arrange playdates, explore playgroups, and look into extracurricular activities. Also, encourage them to talk to their grandparents, teachers, and coaches.

Sense of self

To encourage a sense of self, ask your child about their interests and passions and encourage them to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Teach them about recognizing and managing feelings. As they get older, talk to them about healthy friendships and how to handle peer pressure.

You also should not shy away from challenging talks like those covering sex and consent . All of these different social and emotional facets play into your child's overall development.

Language Developmental Domain 

Language development  is dependent on the other developmental domains. The ability to communicate with others grows from infancy, but children develop these abilities at different rates. Aspects of language include:

• Phonology : Creating the sounds of speech
• Pragmatics : Communicating verbally and non-verbally in social situations
• Semantics : Understanding the rules of what words mean
• Syntax :   Using   grammar and putting sentences together

Read to kids

One of the most important things you can do with your child throughout their early life is to  read to them —and not just at bedtime.

Make  reading and enjoying books  a central part of your day. Reading out loud to your kids from birth and beyond has a major impact on their emerging language and literacy skills.

Look for opportunities to read other things, too, like directions to a board game, letters from family members, holiday cards, online articles, and school newsletters. Hearing new words spoken expands a child's vocabulary and helps them identify unfamiliar words when used in context.

Talk to kids

In addition to reading, make sure you talk to your kids even before they can say their first word . Tell them about the things you are doing or what you're buying in the store. Point out different things and engage them in the world around them. Singing to your child is another excellent way to build your child's language skills.

As they get older, try holding regular conversations, answering questions, and asking for your child's ideas or opinions. All of these activities are an important part of their language development.

As children grow and learn, they will pass certain developmental milestones. While every child is different and progresses at a different rate, these milestones provide general guidelines that help parents and caregivers gauge whether or not a child is on track .

You can support your child's growth and development in each of these four areas by understanding these domains and supporting the work your child is doing. Watch the changes taking place in your child and supplement their learning with activities that support their efforts .

The exact time that a child reaches a particular milestone will vary significantly. However, missing one or two milestones can be a cause for concern.

Talk to a health care provider if you're ever worried your child is not meeting milestones in a particular area. If a delay is identified, they can evaluate your child and recommend different services.

Every state in the US offers an early intervention program to support children with developmental delays under the age of 3. Once they are over age 3, the community's local school district must provide programming.

So, don't delay determining whether your child needs assistance. There are resources out there to support them should they need it.

Principles of child development and learning and implications that inform practice . National Association for the Education of Young Children . n.d.

Toddlers (1-2 years old) . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . 2021.

Transforming the workforce for children birth through age 8: a unifying foundation . Board on Children, Youth, and Families; Institute of Medicine; National Research Council.  2015.

Piagetian theory . American Psychological Association . 2018.

Social development in preschoolers . American Academy of Pediatrics . 2021.

Talking with your teen: Tips for parents . American Academy of Pediatrics . 2021.

Language in brief . American Speech-Language-Hearing Association . n.d.

Helping your child learn to read . American Academy of Pediatrics . 2015.

Is your toddler communicating with you? . American Academy of Pediatrics . 2021.

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• Healthy Habits
• Data and Statistics
• Resources for Child Development
• Positive Parenting Tips
• Keeping Children with Disabilities Safe

Developmental Disability Basics

What to know.

• Developmental disabilities are a group of conditions due to an impairment in physical, learning, language, or behavior areas.
• These conditions begin during the child's developmental period, may impact day-to-day functioning, and usually last throughout a person's lifetime.
• Most developmental disabilities begin before a baby is born, but some can happen after birth because of injury, infection, or other factors.

Causes and risk factors

Most developmental disabilities are thought to be caused by a complex mix of factors. These factors include genetics; parental health and behaviors (such as smoking and drinking) during pregnancy; complications during birth; infections the mother might have during pregnancy or the baby might have very early in life; and exposure of the mother or child to high levels of environmental toxins, such as lead. For some developmental disabilities, such as fetal alcohol syndrome, which is caused by drinking alcohol during pregnancy, we know the cause. But for most, we don’t.

Following are some examples of what we know about specific developmental disabilities:

• At least 25% of hearing loss among babies is due to maternal infections during pregnancy, such as cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection ; complications after birth; and head trauma.
• Some of the most common known causes of intellectual disability include fetal alcohol syndrome disorder ; genetic and chromosomal conditions, such as Down syndrome and fragile X syndrome ; and certain infections during pregnancy.
• Children who have a sibling with autism spectrum disorder are at a higher risk of also having autism spectrum disorder.
• Low birthweight , premature birth, multiple birth, and infections during pregnancy are associated with an increased risk for many developmental disabilities.
• Untreated newborn jaundice (high levels of bilirubin in the blood during the first few days after birth) can cause a type of brain damage known as kernicterus. Children with kernicterus are more likely to have cerebral palsy, hearing and vision problems, and problems with their teeth. Early detection and treatment of newborn jaundice can prevent kernicterus.

The Study to Explore Early Development (SEED) is a multiyear study funded by CDC. It is currently the largest study in the United States to help identify factors that may put children at risk for autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disabilities.

Who is affected

Developmental disabilities occur among all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. Recent estimates in the United States show that about 1 in 6, or about 17%, of children aged 3 through 17 years have one or more developmental disabilities, such as

• Autism spectrum disorder
• Cerebral palsy
• Hearing loss
• Fragile X syndrome
• Tourette syndrome
• and other developmental disabilities 1

For more than a decade, CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network has been tracking the number and characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, and intellectual disability in several diverse communities throughout the United States.

Healthy living for people with disabilities

Children and adults with disabilities need health care and health programs for the same reasons anyone else does—to stay well, active, and a part of the community.

Having a disability does not mean a person is not healthy or that he or she cannot be healthy. Being healthy means the same thing for all of us—getting and staying well so we can lead full, active lives. That includes having the tools and information to make healthy choices and knowing how to prevent illness. Some health conditions, such as asthma, gastrointestinal symptoms, eczema and skin allergies, and migraine headaches, have been found to be more common among children with developmental disabilities. Thus, it is especially important for children with developmental disabilities to see a health care provider regularly.

CDC does not study education or treatment programs for people with developmental disabilities, nor does it provide direct services to people with developmental disabilities or to their families. However, CDC has put together a list of resources for people affected by developmental disabilities.

Don't Wait!‎

• Zablotsky B, Black LI, Maenner MJ, et.al. Prevalence and Trends of Developmental Disabilities among Children in the US: 2009–2017 . Pediatrics. 2019; 144(4):e20190811.

Child Development

The early years of a child’s life are very important for their health and development. Parents, health professionals, educators, and others can work together as partners to help children grow up to reach their full potential.

Generative AI Applications in Helping Children with Speech Language Issues

• Helen Qin Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology

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The Possible Collapse of the U.S. Home Insurance System

A times investigation found climate change may now be a concern for every homeowner in the country..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

From “The New York Times,” I’m Sabrina Tavernise. And this is “The Daily.”

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Today, my colleague, Christopher Flavelle, on a “Times” investigation into one of the least known and most consequential effects of climate change — insurance — and why it may now be a concern for every homeowner in the country.

It’s Wednesday, May 15.

So, Chris, you and I talked a while ago about how climate change was really wreaking havoc in the insurance market in Florida. You’ve just done an investigation that takes a look into the insurance markets more broadly and more deeply. Tell us about it.

Yeah, so I cover climate change, in particular the way climate shocks affect different parts of American life. And insurance has become a really big part of that coverage. And Florida is a great example. As hurricanes have gotten worse and more frequent, insurers are paying out more and more money to rebuild people’s homes. And that’s driving up insurance costs and ultimately driving up the cost of owning a home in Florida.

So we’re already seeing that climate impact on the housing market in Florida. My colleagues and I started to think, well, could it be that that kind of disruption is also happening in other states, not just in the obvious coastal states but maybe even through the middle of the US? So we set out to find out just how much it is happening, how much that Florida turmoil has, in fact, become really a contagion that is spreading across the country.

So how did you go about reporting this? I mean, where did you start?

All we knew at the start of this was that there was reason to think this might be a problem. If you just look at how the federal government tracks disasters around the country, there’s been a big increase almost every year in the number and severity of all kinds of disasters around the country. So we thought, OK, it’s worth trying to find out, what does that mean for insurers?

The problem is getting data on the insurance industry is actually really hard. There’s no federal regulation. There’s no government agency you can go to that holds this data. If you talk to the insurers directly, they tend to be a little reluctant to share information about what they’re going through. So we weren’t sure where to go until, finally, we realized the best people to ask are the people whose job it is to gauge the financial health of insurance companies.

Those are rating agencies. In particular, there’s one rating company called AM Best, whose whole purpose is to tell investors how healthy an insurance company is.

Whoa. So this is way down in the nuts and bolts of the US insurance industry.

Right. This is a part of the broader economy that most people would never experience. But we asked them to do something special for us. We said, hey, can you help us find the one number that would tell us reporters just how healthy or unhealthy this insurance market is state by state over time? And it turns out, there is just such a number. It’s called a combined ratio.

OK, plain English?

Plain English, it is the ratio of revenue to costs, how much money these guys take in for homeowner’s insurance and how much they pay out in costs and losses. You want your revenue to be higher than your costs. If not, you’re in trouble.

So what did you find out?

Well, we got that number for every state, going back more than a decade. And what it showed us was our suspicions were right. This market turmoil that we were seeing in Florida and California has indeed been spreading across the country. And in fact, it turns out that in 18 states, last year, the homeowner’s insurance market lost money. And that’s a big jump from 5 or 10 years ago and spells real trouble for insurance and for homeowners and for almost every part of the economy.

So the contagion was real.

Right. This is our first window showing us just how far that contagion had spread. And one of the really striking things about this data was it showed the contagion had spread to places that I wouldn’t have thought of as especially prone to climate shocks — for example, a lot of the Midwest, a lot of the Southeast. In fact, if you think of a map of the country, there was no state between Pennsylvania and the Dakotas that didn’t lose money on homeowner’s insurance last year.

So just huge parts of the middle of the US have become unprofitable for homeowner’s insurance. This market is starting to buckle under the cost of climate change.

And this is all happening really fast. When we did the Florida episode two years ago, it was a completely new phenomenon and really only in Florida. And now it’s everywhere.

Yeah. And that’s exactly what’s so striking here. The rate at which this is becoming, again, a contagion and spreading across the country is just demolishing the expectations of anyone I’ve spoken to. No one thought that this problem would affect so much of the US so quickly.

So in these states, these new places that the contagion has spread to, what exactly is happening that’s causing the insurance companies to fold up shop?

Yeah. Something really particular is happening in a lot of these states. And it’s worth noting how it’s surprised everyone. And what that is, is formally unimportant weather events, like hailstorms or windstorms, those didn’t used to be the kind of thing that would scare insurance companies. Obviously, a big problem if it destroys your home or damages your home. But for insurers, it wasn’t going to wipe them out financially.

Right. It wasn’t just a complete and utter wipeout that the company would then have to pony up a lot of money for.

Exactly. And insurers call them secondary perils, sort of a belittling term, something other than a big deal, like a hurricane.

These minor league weather events.

Right. But those are becoming so frequent and so much more intense that they can cause existential threats for insurance companies. And insurers are now fleeing states not because of hurricanes but because those former things that were small are now big. Hailstorms, wildfires in some places, previous annoyances are becoming real threats to insurers.

Chris, what’s the big picture on what insurers are actually facing? What’s happening out there numbers-wise?

This is a huge threat. In terms of the number of states where this industry is losing money, it’s more than doubled from 10 years ago to basically a third of the country. The amount they’re losing is enormous. In some states, insurers are paying out $1.25 or even $1.50 for every dollar they bring in, in revenue, which is totally unsustainable.

And the result is insurers are making changes. They are pulling back from these markets. They’re hiking premiums. And often, they’re just dropping customers. And that’s where this becomes real, not just for people who surf balance sheets and trade in the stock market. This is becoming real for homeowners around the country, who all of a sudden increasingly can’t get insurance.

So, Chris, what’s the actual implication? I mean, what happens when people in a state can’t get insurance for their homes?

Getting insurance for a home is crucial if you want to sell or buy a home. Most people can’t buy a home without a mortgage. And banks won’t issue a mortgage without home insurance. So if you’ve got a home that insurance company doesn’t want to cover, you got a real problem. You need to find insurance, or that home becomes very close to unsellable.

And as you get fewer buyers, the price goes down. So this doesn’t just hurt people who are paying for these insurance premiums. It hurts people who want to sell their homes. It even could hurt, at some point, whole local economies. If home values fall, governments take in less tax revenue. That means less money for schools and police. It also means people who get hit by disasters and have to rebuild their homes all of a sudden can’t, because their insurance isn’t available anymore. It’s hard to overstate just how big a deal this is.

And is that actually happening, Chris? I mean, are housing markets being dragged down because of this problem with the insurance markets right now?

Anecdotally, we’ve got reports that in places like Florida and Louisiana and maybe in parts of California, the difficulty of getting insurance, the crazy high cost of insurance is starting to depress demand because not everyone can afford to pay these really high costs, even if they have insurance. But what we wanted to focus on with this story was also, OK, we know where this goes eventually. But where is it beginning? What are the places that are just starting to feel these shocks from the insurance market?

And so I called around and asked insurance agents, who are the front lines of this. They’re the ones who are struggling to find insurance for homeowners. And I said, hey, is there one place that I should go if I want to understand what it looks like to homeowners when all of a sudden insurance becomes really expensive or you can’t even find it? And those insurance agents told me, if you want to see what this looks like in real life, go to a little town called Marshalltown in the middle of Iowa.

We’ll be right back.

So, Chris, you went to Marshalltown, Iowa. What did you find?

Even before I got to Marshalltown, I had some idea I was in the right spot. When I landed in Des Moines and went to rent a car, the nice woman at the desk who rented me a car, she said, what are you doing here? I said, I’m here to write a story about people in Iowa who can’t get insurance because of storms. She said, oh, yeah, I know all about that. That’s a big problem here.

Even the rental car lady.

Even the rental car lady knew something was going on. And so I got into my rental car and drove about an hour northeast of Des Moines, through some rolling hills, to this lovely little town of Marshalltown. Marshalltown is a really cute, little Midwestern town with old homes and a beautiful courthouse in the town square. And when I drove through, I couldn’t help noticing all the roofs looked new.

What does that tell you?

Turns out Marshalltown, despite being a pastoral image of Midwestern easy living, was hit by two really bad disasters in recent years — first, a devastating tornado in 2018 and then, in 2020, what’s called a derecho, a straight-line wind event that’s also just enormously damaging. And the result was lots of homes in this small town got severely damaged in a short period of time. And so when you drive down, you see all these new roofs that give you the sense that something’s going on.

So climate had come to Marshalltown?

Exactly. A place that had previously seemed maybe safe from climate change, if there is such a thing, all of a sudden was not. So I found an insurance agent in Marshalltown —

We talked to other agents but haven’t talked to many homeowners.

— named Bobby Shomo. And he invited me to his office early one morning and said, come meet some people. And so I parked on a quiet street outside of his office, across the street from the courthouse, which also had a new roof, and went into his conference room and met a procession of clients who all had versions of the same horror story.

It was more — well more of double.

A huge reduction in coverage with a huge price increase.

Some people had faced big premium hikes.

I’m just a little, small business owner. So every little bit I do feel.

They had so much trouble with their insurance company.

I was with IMT Insurance forever. And then when I moved in 2020, Bobby said they won’t insure a pool.

Some people had gotten dropped.

Where we used to see carriers canceling someone for frequency of three or four or five claims, it’s one or two now.

Some people couldn’t get the coverage they needed. But it was versions of the same tale, which is all of a sudden, having homeowner’s insurance in Marshalltown was really difficult. But I wanted to see if it was bigger than just Marshalltown. So the next day, I got back in my car and drove east to Cedar Rapids, where I met another person having a version of the same problem, a guy named Dave Langston.

Tell me about Dave.

Dave lives in a handsome, modest, little townhouse on a quiet cul-de-sac on a hill at the edge of Cedar Rapids. He’s the president of his homeowners association. There’s 17 homes on this little street. And this is just as far as you could get from a danger zone. It looks as safe as could be. But in January, they got a letter from the company that insures him and his neighbors, saying his policy was being canceled, even though it wasn’t as though they’d just been hit by some giant storm.

So then what was the reason they gave?

They didn’t give a reason. And I think people might not realize, insurers don’t have to give a reason. Insurance policies are year to year. And if your insurance company decides that you’re too much of a risk or your neighborhood is too much of a risk or your state is too much of a risk, they can just leave. They can send you a letter saying, forget it. We’re canceling your insurance. There’s almost no protection people have.

And in this case, the reason was that this insurance company was losing too much money in Iowa and didn’t want to keep on writing homeowner’s insurance in the state. That was the situation that Dave shared with tens of thousands of people across the state that were all getting similar letters.

What made Dave’s situation a little more challenging was that he couldn’t get new insurance. He tried for months through agent after agent after agent. And every company told him the same thing. We won’t cover you. Even though these homes are perfectly safe in a safe part of the state, nobody would say yes. And it took them until basically two days before their insurance policy was going to run out until they finally found new coverage that was far more expensive and far more bare-bones than what they’d had.

But at least it was something.

It was something. But the problem was it wasn’t that good. Under this new policy, if Dave’s street got hit by another big windstorm, the damage from that storm and fixing that damage would wipe out all the savings set aside by these homeowners. The deductible would be crushingly high — $120,000 — to replace those roofs if the worst happened because the insurance money just wouldn’t cover anywhere close to the cost of rebuilding.

He said to me, we didn’t do anything wrong. This is just what insurance looks like today. And today, it’s us in Cedar Rapids. Everyone, though, is going to face a situation like this eventually. And Dave is right. I talked to insurance agents around the country. And they confirmed for me that this kind of a shift towards a new type of insurance, insurance that’s more expensive and doesn’t cover as much and makes it harder to rebuild after a big disaster, it’s becoming more and more common around the country.

So, Chris, if Dave and the people you spoke to in Iowa were really evidence that your hunch was right, that the problem is spreading and rapidly, what are the possible fixes here?

The fix that people seem most hopeful about is this idea that, what if you could reduce the risk and cause there to be less damage in the first place? So what some states are doing is they’re trying to encourage homeowners to spend more money on hardening their home or adding a new roof or, if it’s a wildfire zone, cut back the vegetation, things that can reduce your risk of having really serious losses. And to help pay for that, they’re telling insurers, you’ve got to offer a discount to people who do that.

And everyone who works in this field says, in theory, that’s the right approach. The problem is, number one, hardening a home costs a fantastic amount of money. So doing this at scale is hugely expensive. Number two, it takes a long time to actually get enough homes hardened in this way that you can make a real dent for insurance companies. We’re talking about years or probably decades before that has a real effect, if it ever works.

OK. So that sounds not particularly realistic, given the urgency and the timeline we’re on here. So what else are people looking at?

Option number two is the government gets involved. And instead of most Americans buying home insurance from a private company, they start buying it from government programs that are designed to make sure that people, even in risky places, can still buy insurance. That would be just a gargantuan undertaking. The idea of the government providing homeowner’s insurance because private companies can’t or won’t would lead to one of the biggest government programs that exists, if we could even do it.

So huge change, like the federal government actually trying to write these markets by itself by providing homeowner’s insurance. But is that really feasible?

Well, in some areas, we’re actually already doing it. The government already provides flood insurance because for decades, most private insurers have not wanted to cover flood. It’s too risky. It’s too expensive. But that change, with governments taking over that role, creates a new problem of its own because the government providing flood insurance that you otherwise couldn’t get means people have been building and building in flood-prone areas because they know they can get that guaranteed flood insurance.

Interesting. So that’s a huge new downside. The government would be incentivizing people to move to places that they shouldn’t be.

That’s right. But there’s even one more problem with that approach of using the government to try to solve this problem, which is these costs keep growing. The number of billion-dollar disasters the US experiences every year keeps going up. And at some point, even if the government pays the cost through some sort of subsidized insurance, what happens when that cost is so great that we can no longer afford to pay it? That’s the really hard question that no official can answer.

So that’s pretty doomsday, Chris. Are we looking at the end of insurance?

I think it’s fair to say that we’re looking at the end of insurance as we know it, the end of insurance that means most Americans can rest assured that if they get hit by a disaster, their insurance company will provide enough money they can rebuild. That idea might be going away. And what it shows is maybe the threat of climate change isn’t quite what we thought.

Maybe instead of climate change wrecking communities in the form of a big storm or a wildfire or a flood, maybe even before those things happen, climate change can wreck communities by something as seemingly mundane and even boring as insurance. Maybe the harbinger of doom is not a giant storm but an anodyne letter from your insurance company, saying, we’re sorry to inform you we can no longer cover your home.

Maybe the future of climate change is best seen not by poring over weather data from NOAA but by poring over spreadsheets from rating firms, showing the profitability from insurance companies, and how bit by bit, that money that they’re losing around the country tells its own story. And the story is these shocks are actually already here.

Chris, as always, terrifying to talk to you.

Always a pleasure, Sabrina.

Here’s what else you should know today. On Tuesday, the United Nations has reclassified the number of women and children killed in Gaza, saying that it does not have enough identifying information to know exactly how many of the total dead are women and children. The UN now estimates that about 5,000 women and about 8,000 children have been killed, figures that are about half of what it was previously citing. The UN says the numbers dropped because it is using a more conservative estimate while waiting for information on about 10,000 other dead Gazans who have not yet been identified.

And Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, gave a press conference outside the court in Lower Manhattan, where Michael Cohen, the former fixer for Donald Trump, was testifying for a second day, answering questions from Trump’s lawyers. Trump is bound by a gag order. So Johnson joined other stand-ins for the former president to discredit the proceedings. Johnson, one of the most important Republicans in the country, attacked Cohen but also the trial itself, calling it a sham and political theater.

Today’s episode was produced by Nina Feldman, Shannon Lin, and Jessica Cheung. It was edited by MJ Davis Lin, with help from Michael Benoist, contains original music by Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, and Rowan Niemisto, and was engineered by Alyssa Moxley. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly.

That’s it for “The Daily.” I’m Sabrina Tavernise. See you tomorrow.

• May 22, 2024   •   23:20 Biden’s Open War on Hidden Fees
• May 21, 2024   •   24:14 The Crypto Comeback
• May 20, 2024   •   31:51 Was the 401(k) a Mistake?
• May 19, 2024   •   33:23 The Sunday Read: ‘Why Did This Guy Put a Song About Me on Spotify?’
• May 17, 2024   •   51:10 The Campus Protesters Explain Themselves
• May 16, 2024   •   30:47 The Make-or-Break Testimony of Michael Cohen
• May 15, 2024   •   27:03 The Possible Collapse of the U.S. Home Insurance System
• May 14, 2024   •   35:20 Voters Want Change. In Our Poll, They See It in Trump.
• May 13, 2024   •   27:46 How Biden Adopted Trump’s Trade War With China
• May 10, 2024   •   27:42 Stormy Daniels Takes the Stand
• May 9, 2024   •   34:42 One Strongman, One Billion Voters, and the Future of India
• May 8, 2024   •   28:28 A Plan to Remake the Middle East

Hosted by Sabrina Tavernise

Featuring Christopher Flavelle

Produced by Nina Feldman ,  Shannon M. Lin and Jessica Cheung

Edited by MJ Davis Lin

With Michael Benoist

Original music by Dan Powell ,  Marion Lozano and Rowan Niemisto

Engineered by Alyssa Moxley

Listen and follow The Daily Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube

Across the United States, more frequent extreme weather is starting to cause the home insurance market to buckle, even for those who have paid their premiums dutifully year after year.

Christopher Flavelle, a climate reporter, discusses a Times investigation into one of the most consequential effects of the changes.

On today’s episode

Christopher Flavelle , a climate change reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading

As American insurers bleed cash from climate shocks , homeowners lose.

See how the home insurance crunch affects the market in each state .

Here are four takeaways from The Times’s investigation.

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

Christopher Flavelle contributed reporting.

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson and Nina Lassam.

Christopher Flavelle is a Times reporter who writes about how the United States is trying to adapt to the effects of climate change. More about Christopher Flavelle

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