Make Your Child Noisy!

Every child needs to be noisy. None of us can talk unless we know how to produce sound purposefully.Some children who aren’t talking yet will already be doing this, but some may not.  Here are some ideas to help move a toddler towards becoming noisy.

• Get moving! Children are more likely to vocalize, make sounds, when their little bodies are active. Run, swing, bounce your child on your lap, jump on the bed or couch. Try anything like this to elicit any kind of sound your child might make as he’s moving.
• While your child is moving, focus on modeling more sounds and early vocalizations rather than real words.  Rather than talking – scream, squeal, say single syllables (like “Oooooooooooh!” or “Duh” or “Yah”), and model play sounds (such as car noises, animal sounds). Think in terms of using sound effects, rather than words.
• Try making sounds in spaces that echo such as a bathroom or an empty garage. Remember to model more sounds and fewer words! Yell. Laugh. Run around like a crazy person making all kinds of noise. Set the stage for a child to try to make noise too.
• Use “crowd noise.” When everyone is talking, laughing or singing all at the same time, often this helps a child “let loose” and begin to make noise, just like everybody else.  Find noisy place to talk.
• Play with toys that amplify sound. Try a cheap “echo” microphone from the dollar store, a paper towel roll, a funnel, a pot, or an empty pail. 
• Introduce games and songs that include easy, early vocalizations like yelling or a simple word like “Yay!”  For example sing “Row row row your boat gently down the stream if you see an alligator close your eyes and scream”. Then say “AAAAH”.  Or saying “boom” as you knock down a block tower.  

Have fun and remember… a child has to be noisy before beginning to talk!

I hope these ideas help.  

Let me know if you have any questions. You can reach me at SLP@Speech-Therapyathome.com.

Garth Schindel SLPatHome