Why teaching children to talk is so important:

Did you talk to your child/ student today? The real talk, not the hi- how are you speech?

Communication builds relationships! Yup, by simply talking to your child you are building your relationship with him/her.

We communicate to connect with others, (whether it is verbal or non verbal,) to meet a need or just to interact.

Children have to be taught how to communicate properly.

How can we teach children to communicate?

➢ Read books

How does that work? Books are a great conversation starter. By asking “What do you think will happen, what is your favorite part of the story?” will lead to more conversation.

➢ Ask questions (to have a back and forth conversation)

There are many great questions to ask. The purpose of these questions is to have a conversation loop. Ask open ended questions so that children will give an answer that requires thinking. These type of questions get children to think for themselves, give reasoning, become creative and use their imagination.

Ask where, what when who and how questions.

➢ Play with them

Board-games allow for much learning and discussions, such as talking about how to share, lose gracefully and win. Playing dress up games or any imaginary play requires imagination and conversation.

➢ Model

Children are constantly watching you. When you use your words correctly and appropriately they will too.

➢ Converse with them about your day- share ideas, thoughts and dreams

Conversing with children gets them to open up and share parts of their day with you in a safe, nonjudgmental setting.

Take a walk with them and point out birds, flowers and trees.

➢ Discuss emotions

Show children it is normal to be upset and show them how you deal with your frustrations. Acknowledge that there are times we are happy and at times sad.

➢ Put feelings into words

When children are upset about something, acknowledge their feeling. “I see you are upset about having missed the party, would you like to talk about it?”

➢ Throw in vocabulary words

Build their word bank. Share with them new words you learned. Help them keep a journal of words they found while reading.

➢ Follow up with children

If a child mentioned something, follow up. How was their test, how was the new teacher..

Communication is not difficult and is key to your relationships.

Let the talk begin! Begin communicating today!