What to Expect the Toddler Years by Heidi Murkoff

“Da-da.”
    Though most children overextend, some begin language development by doing the opposite: over-restricting. Instead of calling all reading materials (newspapers, magazines, letters) “books,” such a child may use “book” to refer only to the bedtime storybook that’s read every night. “Stroller” may refer only to the toddler’s own stroller. Like overextending, over-restricting disappears as a child’s language becomes more sophisticated.
    As his jargon evolves into distinguishable single words, clumps of words, and finally, sentences, your youngster’s frustration—and yours—will ease. In the meantime, as you help him move more speedily toward mastery of his parent tongue, be especially understanding of his need to be understood.
    For starters, listen carefully. There may be more to his gibberish than initially meets your ear. Look carefully, too, as you listen. Facial expressions (a smile, a pout, a raised eyebrow) and body language (drooping shoulders, stomping feet, folded arms, pointing fingers) can often be very telling. Avoid interrupting your toddler out of impatience—let him spit out what he has to say no matter how long it takes. Pay attention even if you don’t understand. It may help to ask him to “show me what you want with your hands” or “take me where you want to go.” If you become frustrated yourself, try not to let it show—this will only compound his own frustrations. And use the tips that follow to encourage language development.
W HAT IT’S IMPORTANT TO KNOW : Getting Your Toddler Talking
    Language is vital. It allows a child to not only communicate with others but to think to himself. It’s the primary tool for learning, as well as for creativity.
    Fortunately, babies are born communicators. Since their earliest needs are limited to food, sleep, and comfort, crying says it all in the first few weeks: A wail brings breast or bottle, a pair of caressing arms, a dry diaper. Soon, as the infant begins to seek attention and companionship, too, cooing begins to supplement crying. Two effective means of communication have evolved. As the baby’s drive to communicate becomes stronger, coos give way to sounds, then groups of sounds uttered singly (most children have one or two at a year), word-like jargon, then real words, groups of real words, and finally complete sentences. In the space of about two years a crying infant becomes a talking toddler, picking up, on average, 200 words (the normal range, however, is from a couple of dozen words to 400 or more)—almost half of the 500 words used most frequently in typical adult conversation. By age three, the average toddler’s vocabulary has swelled fivefold to an average of some 1,000 words. That number more than doubles by the time a child is ready for kindergarten.
    This natural evolution takes place on an individual timetable. From the cradle, some babies spend more time trying to engage those around them in social exchanges than they do trying to master physical feats, and as a result, they’re usually early talkers. For others, physical challenges consume more time and attention. These babies are often too busy rolling over, pulling up, climbing, and taking steps to focus on communicating. They’ll tackle verbal skills later on in the second and third years, when their fast-talking peers will be focusing on any physical skills they’ve neglected.
    No matter what timetable they’re running on, however, children learn tospeak faster with a little help. Here are some guidelines for providing such help:
    Expand experiences. Long before toddlers begin speaking, they build up receptive vocabularies, storing words and concepts in their heads. This means that children understand many words and concepts before using them in speech. So expose your toddler to a wide variety of environments (the supermarket, playground, library, mall, museums, buses, boatyards, farms) and talk about what you both see using simple language.