Your child needs to learn that communication is the sharing of meaning. If we focus too much on how your child is making their speech sounds at this level, it can interfere with their purposes for communicating. If saying a word doesn’t work for them (get the outcome they want or expect) they will stop using it.

You can recognize that your child is using a word when they consistently make the same sounds to represent an idea. It does not have to sound like the adult word. As they get lots more practice, their sounds will become more accurate.

Today’s activity: Respond to your child’s meaning, rather than how they pronounce a word. Keep the focus on a successful exchange of ideas and feelings.

Send your questions to [email protected].

Visit www.TheInteractionCoach.com to see the directory of speech-language pathologists licensed in your area. If you can’t find one in the directory, contact me at [email protected] and I’ll track down someone for you.

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