Have you found yourself curious about speech delay? Perhaps in a way that you can do it in the comfort of your home. Maybe you are interested because of your children. If this sounds like you then you have come to the right place to learn about it because I did the research for you!
We can talk about how you can improve your speech delay at home, good activities to practice speech delay for your children at home including toddlers, and even if too much TV could cause speech delay.
How to Improve Your Speech Delay at Home
Now, according to Melissa James, a registered speech-language pathologist, there are some great ways to improve speech. One of these ways is to record yourself reading aloud. This gives you a lot of help in self-assessments of your speech.
By doing this you can discern if you are pronouncing things wrong, and the quality of your voice.
Another helpful tool is scheduling communication time. Communication is like a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger and better it gets. By scheduling this time for yourself you can practice good communication skills.
Journaling is another one that Melissa tells us about. Not the typical how your day went type of journal, but a journal of conversations you had earlier in the day. You can reflect back on conversations and self-reflect on how the conversation went if you were mumbling or speaking too quickly, and even if you had pronounced anything incorrectly.
Attending social events can also help with this because you can practice your communication. If you are uncomfortable in larger groups, you can schedule something one-on-one.
Slowing down is the most common suggestion for adults because it gives you time to breathe and allows you the time to pronounce your words more carefully.
Practicing Speech Delay with Your Children
The ASHA professional community, or the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, encourages speech and language development in children. According to the professionals helping them with speech will vary upon their age.
Up to 2 Years
- Utilize sounds to try and get your baby to say it back. “Ma”, “Dada”, etc.When your little one makes sounds look at them and speak back to them. Even repeating their sounds to make it seem like a conversation.Teach the young one to do what you also do like peek-a-boo and clapping.Talk to them as you feed and bathe them or dress them.Talk about what you are doing and where you are going.Count the things you see.Practice animal sounds so they can connect an animal with a sound.
- Read to them! Even just talking about the pictures in the book you are reading.
2-4 Year Olds
- Model good speech by speaking clearly to them. When you use baby-talk with them, also include the actual words.
- For example with my toddler who is now 3, he knows bedtime or naptime as “time for ni-ni”, so now after I say this to him I include saying “time for bed”
- Ask questions that include choices, whether it be about the type of fruit they want, or maybe take a bath or reading, etc. Show them photos of familiar things and talk about them. It can people or animals, or places.
- Sing simple songs to them and use nursery rhymes.
4-6 Year Olds
- Pay attention when they speak.Ensure that you have their attention before speaking to them.Take pauses when you speak to help them comprehend better.Watch movies together and talk about what you are watching.Talk about foods on a menu and what they taste and feel like.
- When you go shopping together talk to them about what you are buying.
Can Too Much Television Cause Speech Delay?
There have been a lot of studies and research done to improve our knowledge of how screen time can affect language development. In 2022 a study was done to explore the literature in relation to screen time for children’s speech development.
This study showed that an increase in screen time during a child’s younger years actually has negative effects on their language development. In fact, researchers have found that children who watched more than 2 hours of TV a day before their first birthday were most likely to develop a speech delay.
However, for older children, it was more beneficial. For both aspects of this though, too much screen time for any child has more negative outcomes rather than positive.
Final Thoughts
There are plenty of things you can do from the comfort of your own home to help with speech delay. As well as speech improvement for you and your children. Including limiting TV time!
Finding ways to improve yourself and help your kids to improve themselves is a wonderful aspect of our lives.
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