Baby Steps Speech Tip

When practicing speech at home it’s so tempting to think about the NEXT skill you want to encourage.

But working on the NEXT skill isn’t always best. Sometimes it’s better to grow an EXISTING SKILL before moving on to the next one. Especially when a communication skill is newly acquired. Kids benefit from continued practice in new contexts over many days.

The Baby Steps Speech Tip is all about how you can grow a communication skill your child has already acquired, creating a solid foundation upon which later skills develop. Don’t forget, all the baby steps together are critical for developing overall communication skills. Let’s get started!

It’s all about the baby steps! - Activity

One of the best tips for parents practicing speech at home is to focus on the baby steps of communication development. And there are a few reasons why:

1. Focusing on baby steps ensures that you aren’t trying to teach too much too soon.

2. Making progress and reaching your short term goals (baby steps) helps you feel excited to keep practicing.

3. Choosing the right skills to teach can help your little one feel confident and ready to learn more. 

In this activity I’m going to help you define the specific skills your child has already learned in 2 main areas of communication - talking & understanding. Then we’ll map out the baby steps you can work towards this month! 

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Talking Baby Steps

Step 1: Meet Them Where They’re At

Talking Skills: How does your child express their wants and needs with you today? Check all that apply:

☐ My child copies my actions, like rolling a ball or kissing your dog

☐ My child grabs my hand and shows me what they want

☐ My child uses gestures, like pointing or baby sign language, to show me what they want

☐ My child copies sounds I make, like “Oh-No!” and “Wow!”

☐ My child repeats words I say

☐ My child says words on their own

☐ My child puts 2 words together often

☐ My child puts 3+ words together often

Now that we see the skills your child has already learned, it’s time to move onto Step 2. But first I want to let you in on a little speech secret - it’s okay to keep practicing with a skill your child can already do. Okay, with that in mind time for Step 2.

Step 2: Finding This Month’s Baby Steps

Look at all the skills you checked off on the list above and find the skill farthest down on the list that you checked off. 

Here’s an example (photo) →

Now we are going to think of one thing that you can do to grow that skill - to take it one baby step farther. It might be copying one new sound, saying one new word, or using one new word combination. While it might seem “small,” I promise you it’s not. It’s all these little steps together (that often go unnoticed) that result in little talkers.   

Skill I am going to focus on ________________________________________

Baby Step  ________________________________________

Example Using the Checklist Above: 

Skill I am going to focus on = Using gestures to show me what they want 

Baby Step = Teaching the baby sign for “all done”

Here are some more examples of baby steps you could work towards for each of the expression or talking skills:

• My child copies some actions

  Baby Step: Copying a new action when playing together. Like hiding a toy under a pillow, knocking down a tower, or drumming on a pot with wooden spoons.

• My child grabs my hand and shows me what they want

  Baby Step: My child grabs my hand, then reaches for what they want.

• My child uses the baby sign for milk.

  Baby Step: Teach a new baby sign - the baby sign for eat.

• My child copies the sounds “Oh-No!” and “Woof”

  Baby Step: Practice with a new sound, like “Moo” and Yum!”

• My child repeats words

  Baby Step: Listen for them to repeat 5 new words

• My child says words on their own

  Baby Step: Learning to say 1 new word each week

• My child puts 2 words together

  Baby Step: Using a new word combination

• My child puts 3 words together

  Baby Step: Using a new word combination

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Understanding Baby Steps

Step 1: Meet Them Where They’re At

Now that we’ve completed the talking skills section we are going to continue on with understanding skills.

Understanding Skills: Mark all the understanding skills your child has already learned.

☐ My child looks when they hear people talking 

☐ My child understands what “No!” means

☐ My child follows some directions - like “Give me” and “Sit down”

☐ My child can tell me “yes” or “no” (with words or gestures like shaking their head) when I ask them, “Do you ____?”

☐ My child follows lots of directions - like Bring me your coat, Go get a clean diaper, and Wash your hands. 

☐ My child answers WH questions: Who is there? What is that? What are you doing? Etc. 

☐ My child understands location words: in, out, on, under, between, next to, close, far 

☐ My child follows directions that have more than one part: Put your shoes in the basket and go wash your hands. 

Step 2: Finding Your Next Baby Step

Just like we did for the talking section above, look at all the understanding skills you checked off on the list above and find the skill farthest down on the list that you checked off. 

Now we are going to think of one thing that you can do to grow that skill one baby step. This might be listening to “No!” in more safety situations than before, following a new direction, or answering a new type of question. 

Skill I am going to focus on _____________________________________________

Baby Step _____________________________________________

Here are some more examples of baby steps you could work towards for each of the understanding skills:

• My child looks when they hear people talking

  Baby Step: They also look when they hear music

• My child listens to “No!” when we are outside and they get too close to the road

  Baby Step: Listening to “No!” when doing something dangerous in the kitchen too

• My child knows the “Give me” command

  Baby Step: Learning the “Come here” command

• My child tells answers yes or no questions about what they want to eat

  Baby Step: Answering yes or no questions about what they want to do

• My child follows lots of directions

  Baby Step: Learning even more directions - maybe 2 new ones

• My child answers What? questions

  Baby Step: Learning to answer who questions

• My child understands location words

  Baby Step: Learning a new descriptive word - either a location word or a different adjective like clean/dirty or smooth/bumpy

• My child follows directions with 2+ steps

  Baby Step: Learning to follow more specific instructions - For example: Put your pink shoes in the basket and go wash your hands upstairs.

Share your baby steps in the comments below!

Written By: Stephanie Keffer, MS CCC-SLp

© 2020-2023. Stephanie Keffer, MS CCC-SLP. All Rights Reserved.

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