Parents often get concerned if their toddler isn’t speaking when others of the same age are talking away. Is there something wrong? What’s considered normal? Should you seek help?

First, it helps to understand what medical experts consider normal speech development for a toddler. When your toddler was a baby between birth and 3 months, did he/she exhibit the following signs of normal speech development?

* Response to sounds such as smiling at the sound of your voice or increasing suckling
* React to your voice by calming down if upset
* Make cooing sounds

From 4 to 6 months or so, did your baby:

* Turn eyes or head in response to sounds?
* Respond to music?
* Respond to noise-making toys?
* Make verbal sounds to express feelings like excitement?

As your baby approached a year of age, did he/she exhibit these signs of normal speech development?

* Imitation of speech sounds
* Sounding like he/she is trying to say simple words, such as “daddy” or “mama”
* Responding to words you use (“cup,” “ball,” etc.)

Once your toddler begins to move toward the age of two, normal speech development takes the form of comprehension (he/she understands your words and can point to objects and body parts when you identify them), the use of consonants, and putting two words together to express simple ideas (“more drink” or “no ball”). Toddlers between the age of one and two will also enjoy listening to words in the form of stories and rhymes.

As your child approaches the age of three, new words are added to his or her vocabulary every few weeks, and parents can discern clear and exciting progress in their toddler’s speech.

Signs that Help May be Needed

Bearing in mind that children are individuals and the above milestones are based on averages, you might consider seeking speech therapy or similar help if your toddler exhibits little to none of the signs noted above. Other signs that something might be amiss include:

* Frustration and/or tantrums when trying to speak
* Short-term memory seems lacking or non-existent
* Seems to “tune you out” or not hear you when you speak

If you have concerns, your pediatrician can arrange for a hearing test and, if necessary, can direct you to a speech therapist. In the meantime, encourage your toddler to talk with lots of interaction, stimulation, and speech-stimulating games.

Experts agree that reading aloud to your toddler is important for normal speech development, so get out the rhymes and stories and show your toddler the fun and exciting realm of words. This may help him or her get past the “hump” that is delaying his or her speech.

The toddler years are ones of fascination, development, and movement! Toddlers are learning fine motor skills, speech, and how to manipulate materials like clay and crayons. This is a great time to jump in with educational games that are fun and engaging. Here are some ideas.

Speech/Language

Rhyming games can be lots of fun for toddlers. Play a game where you describe something or make up a poem or song and your toddler fills in the rhyming word. Or read a short rhyming poem or song and try to think of other rhyming words that could have been used instead.

For those toddlers who are more visual, you could engage them in a picture book or photo album and let them make up the story to go with the pictures. You could also draw pictures and let your toddler “narrate.”

Matching games help build vocabulary and may help with reading readiness. If you don’t have a matching game from the toy store, you can make one easily with your own drawings, photocopies, or printed photos. You could even do a real-life matching game by printing photos of things around the house and having your toddler find the real life objects depicted in the picture.

Motor Skills

Gross and fine motor skills can be practiced through game-playing. There are so many possibilities! Here are some ideas:

* Stack soft blocks

* Poke a hole in the bottom of a shoebox, and let your toddler poke things through it, such as baby-safe strings of beads, balls, and scarves.

* Nest big and small boxes or other containers (many plastic food storage containers can be nested in this manner).

* Create objects with play-dough

* Dance (this helps with coordination and mobility)

* Make necklaces using large beads or tubular pasta

Social Skills

Play a game where you practice going out to meet and/or interact with others. Some toddlers are shy and others simply don’t seem to interact effectively; a lot of that may be because they just don’t know what to do. Practice going to the doctor, dentist, play group, nursery, wherever. Make it fun, and even dress up if you want.

Prompt your toddler after you’ve shown him or her what to do – “What do we do when someone says, ‘hello’?” “What do you do when the dentist says to open your mouth?”

Take your toddler with you whenever it’s practical so that he or she can not only interact with others, but observe how you and others communicate and interact with each other. Toddlers are learning all the time, even when they are just watching!

Storytelling is an ancient form of communication. For millennia, people have passed on traditions, legends, and historic events through the telling of stories. True storytelling does not make use of books; like the ancients, it is intended to convey an idea simply through the spoken word.

Many are interested in exploring the art of storytelling, but aren’t sure where to begin. If this interests you, here are some ideas on getting started.

1. Research the stories you love or have heard, such as folktales. Many of those stories were told and re-told many times before being written down. And people still enjoy them today. Why? Look into what ties these stories together across generations. What makes them compelling? Why do children still enjoy these ancient stories? As you seek answers for these things, you can weave these universal elements into your storytelling.

2. Consider family stories. Talk to your relatives and, if you have the means, do some genealogical research. Nearly everyone has at least one interesting character or story in their past. As you find these fascinating personalities, you can create stories about them or tell their true stories.

You might have family stories that have been passed down, too, that you might not have considered for storytelling fodder. Did your grandmother used to make remarks about certain incidents? Maybe your dad likes to joke with your uncle about something funny that happened to them when they were kids. Keep your ears open!

3. Look to your own past. You can invent a character for your storytelling, and use incidents and insights from your own past to create adventures for your character. Or you can tell the story in the first person point of view (using “I”). Think about the lessons you’ve learned or funny, interesting things that have happened to you over the years. Turn these events into compelling stories.

4. Attend storytelling programs. This may be the most important thing you do as you embark on your own storytelling ventures. Local fairs and festivals may feature storytellers, or programs might be held at your local theater. Find out when storytelling is occurring in your community, and make a point to attend. If possible, get to know the storytellers and make connections; then you can talk to them about this ancient art.

You may find yourself amazed at the different styles of storytelling. Some people use props; others move around; still others stay still. You will see that there is no “right” way to do storytelling; the common thread is the ability to interest others and draw them in to your world. How you do that will reflect your personality and unique experiences.

From babyhood to the early teens, children love to hear a good story. This is one of those beautiful situations where what your children love is truly good for them. Children benefit a great deal from storytelling.

Without the use of books, telling stories takes on a different dimension. It offers a new way of looking at stories and is reminiscent of the old radio days, when families gathered around the radio to listen. But storytelling with a live human doing the telling can be quite compelling.

How, exactly, does storytelling benefit children? Here are some possible ways in which this ancient medium can have a positive impact.

Language Skills

As young children listen to a storyteller, they are hearing inflections in speech and are hearing words presented in a compelling and fascinating way. Older children can expand their vocabulary and learn drama skills that may serve them well if there is an acting career in their future.

Storytelling also presents certain literary devices in a demonstrative and memorable way. Children will see and hear the building of plot, characterization, climax, conflict, conclusion, etc. Perhaps rhyme or poetic prose will be used to tell the story, allowing children to hear the way the language sounds and how that can add to a story.

Memory

Without books or illustrations, children have to remember key points of the plot and character names. This is an excellent exercise in memorization skills, and it also may help guide children when they wish to write a story of their own.

New Worlds

Storytelling opens children’s minds to other cultures and life philosophies; it develops the inner world of imagination and creative thinking. Children tap into that wonderful imaginative mind of theirs are they provide their own images to the plot. Storytelling is also a way to bring history alive and inspire further exploration of historical events.

So What Do You Tell Stories About?

If you want to engage in storytelling for children, you can come up with your own story or re-tell an old one that you heard growing up. Your own children might love to hear stories about their babyhood, or even about what it was like to be pregnant with them. Research your family background and find an interesting ancestor who lived an interesting life or experienced an unusual event. They will discover much about themselves this way, too.

If you are telling stories to a group of kids who aren’t all your own, stories about life in the past, in other cultures, or animals make good stories. Telling things from a unique point of view will get children to think about what life is like for others, a good precursor for developing empathy.

Storytelling connects. It connects children with history, families, and each other.

Your baby is only a baby once, and just for a little while. Rather than worrying about growth and development charts, why not have some fun? This is your chance! Getting out with your baby helps you both – it gets you out of the house, and provides baby with invaluable social interaction and brain stimulation. Here are some ideas on what to do with your baby which are both entertaining and educational.

Water

Babies love water. Depending on the season, try some of these water activities.

* Fill a wading pool with a few inches of water. Get into the water with your baby and enjoy pouring water through funnels, from cup to cup, and through tubes. You can get creative with this activity! Balls, plastic containers, bottles, and other items make great toys for the mini pool. You can do this in the bathtub with your baby, too.

* Lay down a plastic painting tarp in your house and set out containers of water for your baby to touch and explore. Spoons, bowls, pots, cups, funnels, pans, and so forth can all be set out for fun.

* Natural water sources, if you have access to them, can be fascinating for babies. Creeks, rivers, waterfalls, streams, and so forth can be shown to your baby. Hopefully, you can get close enough to wade or hold your baby while you wade, or let baby feel the water flowing. Tossing in some rocks is fun, too.

Visit a “Big Box” Store

Take your baby to a home improvement store where you can both explore exciting things like ceiling fans, lights, and fountains in the garden center area. Riding mowers, refrigerators, washers and dryers, etc. all make for interesting fun for your baby. Most such stores have hands-on areas where you can experience appliances, windows and doors, curtains, carpets, and an assortment of textures and colors.

Nature “Hike”

Your baby will almost certainly enjoy a trip to a local park, forest, or other natural area. This could just be your back yard. Talk about the birds’ calls and point out the feeling of the breeze or the sunshine. Let your baby hold pine cones, nuts (make sure nothing goes in the mouth), twigs, rocks, and so forth. Nature provides a lot of textures, sights, smells and sounds.

Scarf Dancing

You can combine exercise with fun and brain simulation by putting on some music and dancing with your baby. If he is not old enough to sit up, lay him on the floor on a blanket and dance around and over and around him. Let him feel the scarf, too.

If your baby is older, he (or she) can sit up and “dance” with scarves of his own, or play peek-a-boo with the pretty cloth while you dance. You can also hold your baby and dance with him. Choose light, brightly-colored scarves with interesting textures.