The Big Little Blog

First Words If you have been tracking your new talkers first words, every new word can feel like its own milestone And it makes sense! Talking is hard work Not only does your little one have to learn all of the foundational skills for talking like how to make different sounds, how to copy you, […]

When you think of speech and language, talking is probably what comes to mind. But there are so many foundational skills that come before that- one of those is gestures. Gestures and speech develop in the same area of the brain and are tightly linked. For example, infants start moving objects rhythmically by banging them […]

While there is a range of normal, milestones can be a quick screener to see if your toddler is on track with their speech and language development. Here is a quick breakdown of speech milestones for how many words: 12 months: 1-5 words 18 months: 10-50 24 months: 100-300 words + using word combinations such […]

If you’re like me, you couldn’t wait to hear your little one say “mama” for the first time. If it hasn’t happened yet, here are a few expert tips from a speech therapist Read “Everything is Mama” This book by Jimmy Fallon is one of my favorites! It’s full of familiar vocabulary such as “waffle” and […]

To Sign or Not to Sign? When your little one isn’t talking yet, it’s understandable you want the focus to be on well, talking. But here’s a speech therapy secret: Gestures actually help little ones talk! Take a look at the research: Research on Gestures: Gestures produced at 16 months were correlated with spoken vocabulary […]

Won’t Daycare Help My Toddler Talk? You hear it all the time-But don’t they need to be around other kids to socializing and learn to talk? Here’s the thing.  Children learn language through hearing language.  That means the most important factor in helping children learn to talk is a responsive adult and a language rich […]

If you’ve noticed your toddler isn’t using many words yet, you may start wondering if they need speech therapy.  If you have concerns about your child’s speech development, it’s always helpful to seek out support. Additionally, the following questions might be helpful: Does My Toddler Get Frustrated Often? When your toddler can’t tell you that […]

Your Toddler’s Attention Span It probably won’t surprise you to hear that your toddler’s attention span isn’t very long, but how long should you expect it to be? The general rule of thumb is that a child should have an attention span for 2–3 minutes per year of the child’s age.  That means we expect […]

You may be wondering, How many words should my toddler use? | Late Talker Toolkit Speech delays are fairly common. While we don’t know what causes speech delay, but we do know how to help them. 10 Ways to Help Your Toddler with a Speech Delay Start by having your child’s hearing tested: Different speech […]