What are the most common first words? How do those words become phrases and sentences? Kim and Mary talk through the process of how children learn to talk and make a very complicated process simple. Join us to learn about how you can help teach your child their first words and sentences!
Link to resources for moving through our First Words plan
First Words Bundle by Speech Source | TPT (teacherspayteachers.com)
For more information on speech, language, feeding and play visit The Speech Source and follow us on Instagram @thespeechsource.
Also, if you haven't done so already, follow our podcast! You will be the first to know when new episodes release. We would also love for you to leave a review and rate our show. The Speech Source appreciates your feedback and support! Follow here!
Follow Kim and Mary on IG here! - https://www.instagram.com/thespeechsource/
For more information on speech, language, feeding and play - visit The Speech Source Website - https://www.thespeechsource.com/
What are the most common first words? How do those words become phrases and sentences? Kim and Mary talk through the process of how children learn to talk and make a very complicated process simple. Join us to learn about how you can help teach your child their first words and sentences!
Link to resources for moving through our First Words plan
First Words Bundle by Speech Source | TPT (teacherspayteachers.com)
For more information on speech, language, feeding and play visit The Speech Source and follow us on Instagram @thespeechsource.
Also, if you haven't done so already, follow our podcast! You will be the first to know when new episodes release. We would also love for you to leave a review and rate our show. The Speech Source appreciates your feedback and support! Follow here!
Follow Kim and Mary on IG here! - https://www.instagram.com/thespeechsource/
For more information on speech, language, feeding and play - visit The Speech Source Website - https://www.thespeechsource.com/
It's amazing whenever you can take 25 words that cover all of those different categories that we talked about verbs, actions, some nouns, some describing words you can create so many different little phrases and meanings and I think that's what starts to make language click for a child is they have these single words and maybe it's not 100 words, but they can still use what they have and they feel that success and communication and then that just motivates them to want to work towards more.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Speech Source Podcast. My name is Mary Brazeek and I'm Kim Dillon.
Speaker 1:We are two pediatric speech language pathologists with a combined 25 years of experience.
Speaker 2:We are your source for speech, language feeding, play and much more in between. In today's episode, kim and I are talking about language, specifically first words. How do we learn language and how in the world do we build sentences? This is a really complicated process in our brain and a lot of times it happens so easily for kids, so we never stopped to even think. Wait, how did that work? How did they learn those first words? How did they learn how to put them together and build sentences? But you know that if you have a late talker or if you have a kid who's struggled with the idea of building their words, you've had to stop and purposely think about how does this even develop in the first place. So today's episode is going to be all about what are those typical first words? And then how do those first words turn into phrases, sentences, conversation. How does that building process work?
Speaker 1:I'm so glad we're talking about this today, mary, because it's something that you and I have talked about quite a bit over the last year and we've talked about late talkers and we've talked with preschools and other parents and we both have families on our caseloads, that we are working through this process with them and so we are able to break down what do we choose for our first words, why do we choose those and how that builds into phrases and sentences. We've been sharing resources and strategies with families, so we thought we would talk about it today on the podcast. And let's start off with what everybody thinks. First words are because when anyone has a baby, I feel like everyone gets those first word books and all it is labeling nouns. You have all of your body parts, all of your clothing, all of the animals, all of the house items and its noun, which is great. They're great pictures to look at, great words to say. But, mary, why does that not work as a kid learning 50 nouns as their first?
Speaker 2:words. Yeah, you're right, it's all nouns and I guess maybe nouns they are definitely the most straightforward if you put a picture on a book. But nouns are not buildable. We can't make a noun car make sense with the word train, car, train, car. It doesn't work. You add in ball, you add in cup, cup, train, roller coaster, ball. Nothing works. So the problem is, if a child has this vocabulary that is really noun centric and it's all tangible things, that doesn't always scale with them and sometimes they reach this kind of ceiling or plateau almost because they have all these nouns but they're still behind because they're not putting two words together and they're not saying sentences. But really it's because they can't, it's because to build language together you have to have nouns and verbs and prepositions and adjectives and all kinds of functions of your words, because they've got to work together to make a meaningful unit of language.
Speaker 1:Right, and sometimes that gets overwhelming to think about as a parent. Where do I start? That means, if it's not just nouns, there are a million different words I can choose from. Where do I start? We're going to talk a little bit today about those core words, or what we've called power words. Where should you start with choosing words for a child? And let's actually start with nouns.
Speaker 1:If we are going to pick some nouns, what kind of nouns do we want to pick? Because we don't necessarily want to pick roller coaster or sailboat or even boat if that's not in the child's world. So, looking at nouns, we really want to pick objects that a child is interacting with, their favorite toys, maybe their favorite foods, their bottle, their milk, their blanket, whatever their favorites are. Those are going to be the nouns that we're going to focus on, not every noun in the 101st words book, but your child's favorite objects and then also favorite people. So mama, dadda, papa, sissy, nana, whoever makes up that child's world, those are going to be the people that you focus on. Those are the words that you want to focus on.
Speaker 2:Really what we have to think about. Go TUNE. First words are going to be very egocentric, right, it's all about them. Their world is all about them. If you've ever met a toddler, you know there is number one and it is them. And so the words they say are going to be things that are meaningful to them. And, kim, like the hundred first words book, they're gonna have something crazy like Toucan in there, where you're like you know what, unless your favorite stuff is a Toucan. I guarantee you don't need to know that word right now.
Speaker 2:We're not looking for volume of first words, which is hard, because when you go to the pediatrician at two years old they're like do you have 50 words? But really we're not looking for volume. We're looking for quality and variety of first words. And so, you're right, their favorite toys are gonna be super motivating. Their favorite people, or maybe their favorite pets Some kids, that will be their first word Is their beloved dog or cat. And then two of their first foods. Kids eat five 20 times a day. Just spending on the day they eat so much. Those are very important nouns and so all of those food words should also be important words in their vocabulary.
Speaker 1:But that kind of covers nouns, it does so if they have these favorite toys, they have these favorite foods and they have these favorite people and they're not talking. Yet they may not be motivated to say those words because those are always with them. Maybe they have access to their toys all their time, or the food or their people. What's gonna motivate them is the actions to get to those words. If their favorite thing is popcorn and it's in a bag that needs to be opened, we need to target that word open If they really want that part popcorn, so we can look at some of those actions open.
Speaker 1:Or if they're really wanting you to pick you up because they want mama and that's a really important person targeting that word up and helping get to mama, that's gonna be a target word. So we really wanna look at the words that get them to some of their favorites. Those are gonna be some really important words that we want to put on the list. So, Mary, looking at just some of the words we've created, what are some big words you've seen that are important for kids to start working on early?
Speaker 2:I feel, like a lot of the kids that I've worked with, if words are not being picked up on their own a lot of times, we have some really good success with sound effects. That's a huge first category of sounds and so that's an area that I really highlight because it has this sing song quality or it has like beep, shsh, boom or boom, big crashes. It's really animated. What I love about sound effects are you're really connecting with the child during that and you're usually sharing some kind of experience with them. If they're really into animals, maybe you're doing animal sounds. It's really an animated way to use your sounds in a fun way.
Speaker 2:It doesn't have that overt like demand placed in it and I think such an important part of using words is when the child feels like it's an invitation, like they're invited, and they will take that invitation to speak if they think they're gonna be successful. Sound effects are so much easier to say, oh, the vowels so much easier to say than a word like jump, for example, that has a lot of tricky sounds. There's so many different factors that go into what are a child's first words and why, and I think that as we think about building language with a child who that's not happening naturally, then we're really thinking about how can we do this really purposefully in a way that the child is really engaged in it?
Speaker 1:And we have to point out too, that those sound effects do count as words. So if we're building a tower with blocks and then we knock it down and we say boom. That's a word. If we get that in imitation and doing it over and over again and, like you said, mary, making it fun and exciting and saying boom every time it crashes, that's going to be really motivating for a child. So those are definitely words that can be used when we're building.
Speaker 2:language the other words that I usually work on after sound effects are where words. So these are going to be your prepositions, and the reason is because we can make those words really sing songy as well if we need that engagement and motivation. And they're also really play driven. They're words like in, on, up, down, outside. Even I'm putting just location I know that's a noun but outside or home they're location words that we can use in their vocabulary.
Speaker 2:But so much of when you think about early children's play. So often they're what are they doing? They're putting things in and taking them out. They're putting things in and taking them out so that in, out is a really good, good one, where you're saying in, and then you can again put that little melody with it or put glasses on shirt, on whatever you're doing, and then up and down. We use all the time with play, so getting a car and going up a ramp and going up, up, up down and again using your voice to show and physically reenact the words themselves. I think that that's why those were words are really impactful. All of those were words are really important.
Speaker 1:And I can say that during play, I can use so many of these words and never even use one noun and play. So, even with the block building, going up, up, up, up and then crashing it and using boom and then using go, or if they want to build it again and they want to do the same thing, showing help, so that they are telling me they want help to build it again and we do it again up, up, up, up, boom. And I love how you referenced getting dressed to Mary, because, even though we might be labeling, this is your shirt, these are your shoes, these are your socks, I think the word that you want to focus on is on, because that's going to be an easier word For them to get is on. And that doesn't mean we're not talking about that vocabulary, but we're really talking about that important word on that can be used in so many different places than just shirt.
Speaker 2:Yes, you're right. I hadn't really thought about it like that, but you're right, because I want the word on before.
Speaker 2:I want a shirt or pants, and I think that's the key to is the repetition, is that your word is on, and so, as you're putting on underwear, socks, shoes, pants all the things you've said on so many times by that point, and you're doing a physical action that it's connecting, you're using your whole body to understand that word on, and I love how words other than nouns have the power to do that and that they're so much more related to them.
Speaker 1:And if they do have favorite foods, those might be harder to say. But if we can teach the word, teach the word eat, which is going to be easier to say and it's going to be able to work with really any of their favorite foods, they're going to be able to request that eat. So then you at least know that's what they're wanting to do. They're wanting to eat a snack or eat a meal, and then you can give them choices. At that point it helps narrow down what they're wanting, especially if they're getting frustrated with some of their communication. So, again, those toys and favorite people and favorite foods are important, but if we can teach them really powerful words that help point to those items, that's going to be helpful.
Speaker 2:I think that's also the reason that we teach all of these actions and prepositions and other words so early is because it's really important to be able to alleviate those frustrations Is that you cannot have a toddler with an inventory of nouns for everything they're going to want, because so much of that communication breakdown, as we know, is, it's not because we didn't give them the popcorn. It's usually a specific action that they wanted you to do with it, or it's the location that it should be in, or it should be in the bowl, not on the tray. So much of the breakdown happens with those extra words that are not actually the noun. If we can teach all these other words, that's going to help at home and it's also going to help if they're in a daycare or classroom setting where they've got other kids they have to communicate with, where they need to say move or they need to say stop.
Speaker 2:Those are really important words Mine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a big one, Instead of just screaming or grabbing or throwing, that's a really powerful word to say no or say mine. That gives them a tool. So that leads into self talking about mine. And those are pronouns. But again, like Mary said, a toddler is only thinking about themselves, so we're not going to teach he, she, they, that's not meaningful. The pronouns are self pronouns, so we have me, mine, I, and even greetings, yeah greetings high and by, and so those are really important because those are great words.
Speaker 1:Whenever we start connecting and building, those really help change the meaning of what the child's wanting and we put high and by in the self category, because it's all about the self.
Speaker 2:It's high, you see me, and hot and by.
Speaker 1:I don't see you. I am leaving. It's all about me. Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2:So I know that's silly that it's in there, but, yeah, the high and by are usually very first words. They're waving and trying to say something with it. The last category is going to be adjective, and I think adjectives are something that I don't know how you feel, kim. I feel like this is over emphasized, especially with parents that are trying to really get a lot more words and more volume of words is parents who are going through all the colors, all the sizes, all the shapes, all the numbers. It's almost like they're going through the puzzles or something and they're saying every single attribute you could possibly imagine and it's really overwhelming and it usually just doesn't come first. If a kid loves blue, that might be a first word, right?
Speaker 1:And it might be colors is not going to be first that's what I was going to say. Use that word, use that color, but don't worry about the other colors, because that is a great word to build with if it's a favorite, but I really don't worry about colors and we really only use them if we're playing for some reason with colors and I'm pointing it out, but that's never a target description for me. Colors, I think things like hot or if their food is too hot.
Speaker 2:That's very important.
Speaker 1:Right, oh, hot, or even out, because I think we've talked a little bit about the idea of them being able to tell you how they feel is a higher concept for kids. But if their tummy hurts or if they get hurt, even just showing that ow, ow, and they can show you where, that's an easy way for them to describe that they're hurting or that they're not okay. Another fun one is wet, because I think water play is just fun for kids. Or when you're in the bath you're wet, your hair is wet. That's just another functional describing word. That's how I think about these words. If we're going to use them, I want there to be a reason why we're using them.
Speaker 2:I use that word all the time with feeding, because so often kids who are struggling with foods are going to struggle with those kind of wet textures and so if we can label it as wet, or maybe a certain fruit that is wet, because it's just the strawberry has just been rinsed, then we can show the problem solving of oh wet, look, let's pat it dry, let's pat all dry. So really powerful word, I think, to be able to describe a quality that's difficult with food.
Speaker 1:These are all great categories whenever we are trying to really look at words we want to work on with a child, and Mary and I have created a resource that has these categories and suggested words. But I would say the most important thing is to take those categories and really create words that are specific and meaningful to your child, their favorite people, foods, what activities they like to do, and put those in. If they love farm animals, then focus on some of those farm animal sounds in the sound category. If they love water, play, like we said that describing word wet. So really being able to look at your child and their world and creating a plan for them based on what words are going to be meaningful for them.
Speaker 2:Because this is a question that we ask. Every single evaluation that we do is what is your child interested in? What are they playing with? What are some of their favorite toys?
Speaker 1:We see a lot with families coming in and focusing on some words that can wait, and we're not saying these words are not important at some point, but they can wait and they can come a little bit later, especially if you have a child who's struggling to talk.
Speaker 2:So, kim, what is the number one word that, as speech pathologist, this is like a trigger for us? What is the number one word that all parents are wanting their child to use again and again? They're so proud of? But we actually don't care about it too much, and they're usually signing it yes.
Speaker 1:And we have talked about more before, and I get it If you're in the moment, it's an easy sign. It's even an easy word with that. M sound, but it's really hard if they're going to get that word and that's the only word they have in someone that's not a familiar listener, or maybe you're not in a setting that you're able to understand what that means. It's not meaningful because more what?
Speaker 1:we don't know what the context is for that, and so sometimes that can cause more frustration, especially if I have a kid come in and they're using more.
Speaker 1:I have no idea what they're wanting more of, because I don't know how they learned that word and I don't know what they're referring to and so they might have learned it while they were eating blueberries, and so maybe that's what they've associated that word with is blueberries. But when they come to me and they say more, I have no idea that they're wanting blueberries, because that doesn't line up.
Speaker 2:And more is a word that means everything and nothing at the same time. More blueberries, more pushing on the swing, more pick me up, more tickles. It literally could mean anything, and there's nothing that someone like you, a therapist, or someone who doesn't know them could possibly figure out what they're talking about.
Speaker 1:I think it's a great word when you start to build, because you can say more push for the swing or more milk. You can use it to build. I just wouldn't ever use it as a single word that you're teaching.
Speaker 2:The second category is going to be please and thank you, and I know everyone and as a mom I feel this deeply. We want our children to be upstanding citizens and so polite, and expressing gratitude is important and understanding those kind of social words. They're just not great. First words because, again, they don't have a tangible meaning. It's just not concrete, it's very vague. It's the idea that it's social etiquette. That's a pretty high concept for a kid who's learning words, which again, we're talking about.
Speaker 2:That one to two year range, which is the primary building blocks of you go from zero to 50 single words and building them together. So you, of course, can model it to your children. Of course, show them thank you, please, and say the words. I just think that it should be modeled to them. It shouldn't be an expectation. We just need to manage our expectation about whether that's really a word that we should expect them to try to say or that we're frustrated that they're not saying because they are words that just don't make the mark of, they're not concrete enough to be first words.
Speaker 1:This has happened to me several times at the end of a speech session. When the parent wants them to say thank you, Ms Kim, I just want them to say bye. The parent, like you said Mary, can model that Thank you, Ms Kim. Now it's time to say bye and we're just going to go to that short, easy word. I don't think there's any wrong meaning. Parents aren't doing that, they're just thinking, yes, exactly what you said. I want my child to be polite and have these manners and so modeling it, but definitely not having those expectations.
Speaker 2:The third category are going to be grammatical words, little words that you and I know make up a sentence, articles, namely so the A, we don't need to say the blocks. We don't need to say a car, a cracker, yes, we don't need those words yet.
Speaker 2:Of course those are important building blocks, but that is way down the road. It is not even a three-year-old skill that I need those words yet. So really think of those as grammar and those are the glue that plug all the words together. But we need really meaningful words first, and then we can always add those little words in later.
Speaker 1:We talked a little bit. What's next is those feeling words? We talked a little bit about this when we were talking about the describing words, and again, the feelings are abstract. That's also going to come much later. But when we talked about teaching maybe some simple words like ow, whenever they don't feel good or something's hurting, that's going to be helpful.
Speaker 1:But words like I feel sad or I'm excited, those are just going to be harder to teach. You just need more vocabulary before you're focusing on that. One thing, though thinking about sad and sound effects, I do wow all the time with a baby, Because if we're doing wheels on the bus and the baby's crying or we see a book and we'll be like wow, and kids think that's funny again because it's a sound effect and they're going to imitate that first, and so you might see that come across. If a child is sad, they might go back to that, but that makes more sense. They've seen someone crying, they see what's happening and they hear that sound. But it's a lot easier to teach and you can model what you said with the please and thank you. You can say, oh, you feel sad if they're crying. So they learn those concepts. But again, just not having those expectations that they're going to use those words yet.
Speaker 2:Because, if you think about it, what does a kid do if he falls down? And he wants, of course, he needs an audience, right? So he's going to come and find you. So then he's not going to come up to you and say sad, he's not going to say that. He's going to come and say ow, owie, owie, and then you're going to say, oh gosh, you fell down. Ow, that hurt, you're so sad, let me give you a hug. So you're going to give the words. But the words that he uses are going to be so much more simple than sad. So, again, it's the whole concept of reading to a child and having the liberty of making your own words and making the words on the page disappear and put your own narrative in that's way simpler is just thinking about yes, kids need word exposure, definitely. But when we're asking what can they do, what words should we expect them to say? We have to go down at least a level or two beyond what we're saying.
Speaker 1:Right, and that takes the pressure off and you're going to have more success with them attempting especially if speech is hard you're just going to have more success with them attempting some of those easier words. Okay, so let's talk about the next category. We did a little bit. We were talking about all the nouns, the first 50 words, but it's just nouns specifically that are not in their world. I think I gave the example earlier because it's on our sheet of boat. This actually might be really important for some families. If they have a lake house or if they're on a boat, you would definitely target that boat. But if you're a family that a child has never been on a boat or seen a boat before, that's not a high-frequency or important word, just things that a child's not going to be exposed to or not going to be words that you write down on their list.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we live in Texas and so many people out here have ranches. They have some kind of family spot that they go to that might have some animals and so in that case cow might be an important word to you, or horse, but I can tell you my 15-month old has never seen either of those animals. Those are just not going to be important words for him because they don't really have a super tangible meaning. The last category of words are going to be words that are just too hard to say. Excavator is a great example of this. Maybe excavator is an important word, but you've got to break it down, so so much. Helicopter is a good example of that word.
Speaker 2:A lot of kids that'll be part of their set with cars and trains, but helicopter is such a mouthful. If you think about helicopter, you might have to start again with that kuh sound and then kutter and then hek-hutter, then hel-a-copter. There's so much building that has to be done with a four-syllable word like that. In general, those words are really hard and Kim and I today have really been talking about words and that's language, but this is really the only area that we have to say.
Speaker 2:Speech, which is articulation, or the sounds that you make definitely impacts the first words that kids are going to attempt. So we do have to mention that the sounds like r's, sounds like thl blends where you've got sl or str, all of those kind of sounds together are more advanced and so those are like four to seven year sounds. And when I'm looking at words, I'm looking at really simple ones and even something like slide that has the sl in it. We're going to expect that there's modifications that are going to be made. They might say side for a long time until they get that sl, and that's totally okay. Sometimes a word is just too difficult, but usually you just have to think about okay, how do I make this simpler so that I can model it for them? Or just take the child's lead and if they say side, then you run with it because they're one, and that's exactly how they're going to say slide or just sigh for a little while.
Speaker 1:I think this is how all grandparents get their names, because every grandparent wants a certain name, but it usually turns into something that the child can say and it's cute.
Speaker 2:So many, that's when it's yaja, not grandmother, you know, or?
Speaker 1:Nana, it's easy and that's what we go with these words. And again, it counts as a word Slide. If they're saying side, that is their word for slide. If they're saying it consistently the same way, over and over, that is a word and you can also build with that word. You can add on go side, that is a phrase and that's meaningful. You know what they mean. I think just figuring out how to make those words work, especially if they're really motivating and favorites.
Speaker 2:So what we want to talk about next in the one to two year range. That's when we're trying to get variety over volume. So I would rather have a variety of 30 words that we can build with than 200 nouns, right? So we really need a variety of 30 to 50 words in that first year of life, so 12 months to 24. And then what we also need is in that time period we need to start building them together.
Speaker 2:When you have ball, as soon as your child is saying for ball, you're going to be able to use what I call the plus one rule, which is you can give them one more word than what they're doing currently. If they don't have ball yet, then zero plus one is one. So you're just going to say ball. If they're saying ball, add one more of the words that they have to the ball, because you're showing them how do you build, instead of choosing a random round ball, big ball, blue ball. If they're using the word my and we have that then we can say my ball and we can put it together with the words we already know they're successful at. And again, it's just a way better invitation for them to build those words together when they recognize them, they know they're successful at them and then they can start using those phrases that are going to build and build my ball, my round ball. I want my round ball. Mama, push my round ball. We can do so many different combinations with starting from ball and then going out from there.
Speaker 1:I have a good example of this. That just happened yesterday. For the first time with the child I was working on, We've been at that single word level and we've been really trying to find a variety of words that he can say. But we've been doing activities and we've really focused on out or open or in things like that. And then he has a bee, like a bumblebee, and we have puppy and he's also using the word eat.
Speaker 1:Yesterday we were doing an activity with the critter clinic. If you know what that is, it has four or six little doors that you can open with a key. He would open it up and we started putting together puppy out, bee out, and then, once they were out, we had this little play food and then it was puppy eat, bee eat. And then same thing puppy in. And I know it seems so repetitive, but they're successful in it and they're playing and they like doing it and it's meaningful. And so just repeating those simple words and those simple phrases over and over again and play make it to where they'll start using it when they need it to communicate. That was an example of how we've been building with some of the words that he has. It was fun to see.
Speaker 1:It was fun to watch. You see them start to put it together and it's exciting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that when they see they can make the world slow down and they can make it a lot smaller area than they, get really excited, because the world must be a really scary place for little guys.
Speaker 2:And so all these words being thrown at them all the time. I think that's when you see the delight in therapy is when you do have this little pool of vocab words that you're using and there's a max of like five to 10. And, like you said, you had your animals and then you had the word eat or on, and then you're just being flexible and showing, like a rubber band, how you can stretch those words in different directions. And then you're just being flexible and showing, like a rubber band, how you can stretch those words in different directions. Children get really excited about that and feel like it's something that's manageable.
Speaker 1:It's amazing whenever you can take 25 words that cover all of those different categories that we talked about verbs, actions, some nouns, some describing words you can create so many different little phrases and meanings and even within that same activity I open, I put in so many different things you can create and I think that's what starts to make language click for a child is they have these single words and maybe it's not a hundred words, but they can still use what they have and they feel that success and communication and then that just motivates them to want to work towards more.
Speaker 2:So my daughter is working on math right now in school and I feel like I was thinking about this and how we learn language, because I was having to think about how people learn math, which is not something that we stress know anything about, I will say, but I was thinking about it. She understands the concepts of all the numbers clearly and how much seven is, how much 13 is. But then in math and she's in first grade is you're now figuring out how do you put it together, separate them addition, subtraction and so you're figuring out this action of how do you flex and put numbers together. Or you're taking a number apart and that you see, once addition and the whole concept of addition makes sense, it's fun. And then they're like, ooh, what is four plus two? What's 13 plus five?
Speaker 2:It gets really fun to just play with this whole concept. And it's the same with building words, because I feel like once they get these words, the whole idea of addition and adding words together gets really fun. And that's when you see that light bulb go off. But if it's not building and if a child is not doing that, naturally it means that they might need a little boost understanding that this whole concept of building ideas together and how that's cool and that can make good things happen when you're playing and you want something.
Speaker 1:It goes back again to their mindset. I can use my words to make something happen for me and that is what their world is about right now and that's what communication is for them right now. And talking Some of those words that we talked about, that don't make the list. That is down the road, when communication becomes a little bit more than just what I want and what I need, those are just those different concepts, higher level concepts in communication and language, but right now it's all about them and that's how we choose our words for them.
Speaker 2:Exactly this morning I had a little boy that I was seeing and we were talking through this exact concept because we were saying he is actually one that doesn't have the nouns, he doesn't have the words block and ball, car, truck, even though he plays with them every day, because it's not motivating. What purpose does that serve? For him to say the word they're always available, they're there. Why would he just label something? He's not interested in labeling the word car or the word block. But even though it doesn't say block, he is very motivated to build towers. So we're building together and he's going up, up down and he's doing all of those words as they're crashing, because he's engaged and he loves doing it.
Speaker 2:But the block itself was not something that was motivating in the sense that it wasn't on a shelf, he didn't have to take it down, it was just right there, handed to him. We have to think about that concept as well as just what can we do to motivate kids if some of the vocabulary in our list isn't inherently motivating to them. Maybe that's when we say, hey, let's put those blocks away and put them on the counter. Let's have the favorite cars and he has to request to open to get the cars out of the box, or that we have to say Apple to get the Apple pouches, or that we're going to work on those. I think there's just so many different ways that kids are motivated and different things that we have to do to really encourage that.
Speaker 1:Mary and I have created some resources that are helpful for parents. We use them in our sessions. They're helpful for parents or if other speech therapists want to use them with their families, and we'll put a link to those in the podcast notes and hope that you can find it helpful for your families and for your kids. Thanks for listening. Make sure you subscribe to our podcast and check out our website, thespeechsourcecom.
Speaker 2:Also check us out on Instagram for more ideas on speech, language, feeding and play.