Teaching Toddlers To Use Phrases To Make Comments

January 15, 2021 Stephanie Keffer

As your child’s ability to communicate grows, you’ll want to encourage them to use two-word phrases as much as possible. This is an important stepping stone for children to begin speaking in full sentences later on. Describing what’s happening during play is a great opportunity to work on this skill.

Toddlers will general begin to use 2 word phrases to ask for what they want first because they are highly motivated to try! This lesson is all about the next step, teaching your toddler to use 2 word phrases to tell you about what they see, what they’re doing, what they think, and how they feel.

Teaching toddlers to use 2 word phrases - speech therapy tips

Tip 1 - Create quiet time for your toddler to speak

A simple but key ingredient in helping your child use two-word phrases to describe their play is... to be quiet! In our culture, we’re conditioned to quickly fill “awkward silences.” As a result, we don’t allow for much quiet time in conversations.

However, you may be pleasantly surprised by the power of pause. When you are silent, your child has the opportunity to comment on what is happening. Pick one activity a day and commit to thinking intentionally about pausing and creating silence during which your child can talk.

Tip 2 - Create examples of two-word phrases your child might say while playing

Leading by example is another powerful tool when working with your child. Get a toy similar to the one your child is playing with, and start copying their actions. Then, model two-word phrases about your toy while you play.

For example, if your child is playing with a teddy bear, you can grab a stuffed dog. As you copy their play, talk about what your toy is doing. You could say “This doggy is so hungry. My dog eats. Yummy food!” Remember to allow at least five to ten seconds of wait time after your phrases to see if your child will imitate and talk about what their toy is doing.

Modeling phrases during play is an excellent way to avoid creating pressure for your child to say something specific while still encouraging their participation.

Tip 3 - Continue supporting all forms of communication

Just because you’re now working on two-word phrases doesn’t mean we can’t still celebrate all forms of communication! Your child is not going to transition from using only single words and gestures to using only two-word phrases overnight. It is important to recognize that your child will continue to use all of their “old” methods of communicating as well. They will still learn new words, use gestures, and speak in single words... just like you!

3 Activities for teaching toddlers to put 2 words together when making comments ↓

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Teaching toddlers to use 2 word phrases - speech therapy at home activity

Playing with Toy Animals

Materials:

Small toy animals that your child can hold and move around. Pick animals that your child knows the name of. Don’t use too many: aim for 6 or less animals so that your child can focus on the play and not arranging/organizing the toy
Pretend food and/or bowls for the animals to “eat” from
A box, blanket, or toy bed for the animals to use to “sleep”.
If you have a dollhouse or toy farm or other such toy you can use that as well.

Set-up:

Bring out the toy animals and their accessories to the place where you and your child want to play. You can either bring them all out at once, or slowly introduce them as you play to keep it interesting.

What to do:

In this activity you will be helping your child say two-word phrases with an action word and the name of an animal. You will be acting out the actions walk, run, jump, eat, sleep, and wake up with animals and saying two-word phrases about what you are doing for your child to copy.

You will start by saying the phrases outlined below and acting out the verb. Make your play so fun that your child will want to grab a toy and copy you. After you have modeled the sentences for a while, you will give your child a chance to say them. Set up your animal to do the action, but pause for 5 seconds and look expectantly at your child to see if they fill in the words.

While playing, try to talk only half the time. Let there be silence so that your child has a chance to say something. By modeling 2-word phrases lots of times, your child will be inspired by your model and start making phrases themself.

What to say:

Here are some things you can say and do with this activity:

Move your animal along the floor in a slow walk movement while saying, “Doggy walks, Doggy walks, Doggy walks.” Then pause before you suddenly say “Run, Doggy!! Doggy Runs!!” and make your dog run all over the place. Do this again, emphasizing the pause between “walk” and “run” so that your child gets excited while they anticipate the “run.”

Do this, and then next time pause and see if your child says “doggy runs.”

Make your animal “jump.” First do small jumps, while saying “Doggy jumps.” Every fourth jump or so, make the animal jump really high so that it is silly. You will say, “Doggy jumps, Doggy jumps, Doggy jumps, Doggy JUMMMPS!”

Do this, and then next time pause and see if your child says “doggy jumps.”

While your animal eats, say “Doggy eats!” and make animal eating noises.

Do this, and then next time pause and see if your child says “doggy eats.

Tell your animal to sleep. Say “Doggy sleeps, Doggy sleeps, Doggy sleeps” while your animal lays down or is covered by a blanket. Put your fingers to your lips and say “shhh, Doggy’s sleeping!” Then, lean in and say, “wake up Doggy !” and have your animal suddenly wake up in surprise.

Do this, and then next time pause and see if your child says “doggy sleeps” or “wake up doggy!”

3 Activities for teaching toddlers to put 2 words together when making comments (this activity + 2 more!) ↓