It is important for parents to be good speech and language models for their children; however, it's equally as critical that parents and caregivers encourage children to "use their words." Children need to express themselves through their words rather than by actions alone.

Although listening to language is critical for a child's language development, actually using speech to express their thoughts and desires is equally as important. Talking allows children to practice using various semantic (meaning of words) and syntactic (sentence structure) features to develop more advanced language structures. Responding to grunts, gestures and head nods is not necessarily helping a child expand their expressive language.

The next time your child comes up to you and hands you an empty cup, their coat or a toy, try to resist the urge to take it, fill it, hang it up or put it away. Instead, look at the object, look at your child and say, "Do you need something?"

Content on this site is not a substitute for professional medical or healthcare advice, diagnosis or treatment, and may not be used for such purposes. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical question or condition. Reliance on information presented on this site is at your own risk. This site contains the opinions and views of other users. Given the interactive nature of this site, we cannot endorse, guarantee, or be responsible for the accuracy, efficacy, or veracity of any content generated by our users.