Moms with 12/13 month olds with "larger" vocabularies...

can u give me tips on what you have done to increase your DC's vocabulary? Or is it just something that is "natural". DD only says Mama, Dada, No and Nona... she has said a few other things but not consistently.

ETA- I should add that Ped said this is great. So I'm not worried, I guess the "elementary teacher" in me is just wanting more techniques to do with DD especially since I'm not teaching right now...lolol...

Message edited 5/11/2008 8:01:36 PM.

Re: Moms with very verbal 12/13 month olds...

Emma only says mama, nothing else other than baby babble. I repeat words over and over to her, like baby, papa, bottle, ball, uh oh, but she hasn't said them yet! You could try flashcards. I have some simple Fisher Price ones from the thrift store that have baby, ball, etc. and I show her the pic and say the word. She pays no attention to them though

Re: Moms with 12/13 month olds with "larger" vocabularies...

From my understanding, that is a good amount. I have been told that by 18 mos, the average vocabulary is 10 words.

Troy has quite a large vocabulary for his age (12 mos and 3 days), as I have been told by a friend who is a speech therapist. He says Mamma, Daddy, Cat, Kitty, Pedro (our cat), Meow, ball, cow, spongebob, elmo, big bird, and a few more.

Re: Moms with 12/13 month olds with "larger" vocabularies...

My older DD had a great vocabulary at that age--at least 10 words. My younger one, on the other hand, says nothing (I mean she "talks" but doesn't say anything, KWIM?). Within the past week, she said Dada. She turned 1 on Thursday. I kind of just think it's luck of the draw. I didn't do anything differently with DD#2; in fact, I figured she'd be speaking earlier since she's listening to her sister and I talk all day long--but no.

I was a bit concerned at first, but got many reassurances from people--and even a speech pathologist--and now I know she's 100% normal and will develop at her own pace...I'm not going to force the issue.

Re: Moms with 12/13 month olds with "larger" vocabularies...

My twins were early talkers and were taling in sentences by the time they were 18 months old...Honestly, I cant tell you what I did that made them that way. I am a "talker" myself with a decent vocab so maybe that's it??? Perhaps having a mom that never shuts up is the key???..I know I do talk all the time to my kids, even as babies, so that is the only bit of advice I can give. Just constantly talk to them...I used to do a minute by minute comentary of our shopping trips.."hmmm alright girls what kind of shampoo should mommy get..oh this one has vanilla..I like vanilla...etc" Just keep talking!!!

Re: Moms with 12/13 month olds with "larger" vocabularies...

Lots of modeling---thats all you can really do at this point, because you can't *make* your child say anything! Keep your sentences short: 1 or 2 words max so that your child can process and eventually attempt to imitate what you've said.

Use books, point to and name the pictures.... talk about animal sounds (ie Duck goes quack quack, cow goes moo).... model "up" when you pick your child up, model "more" when you give them more of the food they're eating, model "milk" when you give them the bottle/cup, etc.... keep your language simple. Thats the most important! I hope that helps (this is what I do for a living, so feel free to let me know if I can be of any more help!)

Re: Moms with 12/13 month olds with "larger" vocabularies...

Re: Moms with 12/13 month olds with "larger" vocabularies...

Not sure what we did. Reading was a huge thing for us. It wasn't really just reading, it was more of an interactive thing.

We would read a book & then point to something on the page & say "Ball."

Then we would say find the ball on the page.

Then we moved on to "What is this?" and they would say "Ball."

I would also use the correct names for EVERYTHING. I couldn't stand cutesy names for things "kitty", "dolly", etc.