Between 16 to 20 months your toddler will continue to learn and use new words. He may even start to combine two words. His understanding of language is continuing to grow. Toddlers love to listen to simple stories. Read to them and enjoy nursery songs or rhymes. You will become very familiar with these activities because your toddler will request that you repeat them many times. All this repetition helps his language development. Eventually, your toddler will start singing or repeating some of the words. To encourage his imitation, try to pause briefly when reading or singing to allow him the opportunity to chime in and sing a note or two!

Additionally, your toddler's words may be missing certain sounds that he is not developmentally ready to say. He may omit sounds at the end of words and say things such as, "boa" for "boat" or will shorten words like, "nana" for "banana."

However, he is now using many different consonant sounds at the beginning of words, such as, "b, p, m, t, d, n, h, k, and g." Try to exaggerate the sounds in words to encourage his use of a variety of speech sounds. Model final sounds by stressing the final consonant. For example, "I see a caT." Encourage sounds by using them in play, "Here comes a snake, SSSSSSS."

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