These shockingly simple techniques work really well to help teach your toddler to talk.

They are all easy to add into your daily routine and not stressful for your little one or for you.

If you're trying to teach your toddler to talk because they're screaming, getting frustrated, or struggling to communicate their needs because they don't have words yet, these tips will help you get there sooner.

3 Shortcuts to Get Your Toddler Talking Sooner

First Tip to Encourage Your Toddler to Talk

It's really common to assume talking to your baby is going to help them learn to talk sooner.

But generally, that's not the case.

In fact, one of the most effective ways to actually get your baby and toddler to communicate with you is to talk less.

Here's an example to demonstrate why.

Maybe you've done this, I know I have or maybe you've seen someone else do this with their child.

You ask your toddler a question like, "Would you like your dinosaur?" And then without even waiting for a reply, you pass them the toy.

The problem is babies and toddlers need time to understand what has been said and then more time to think of a response and then more time to then say or communicate their response.

And when we don't wait, our babies and toddlers do not get the opportunity to talk.

Now, I used the example of a toy but this applies to questions, whether it's offering food, a drink or anything else.

The simple act of waiting and then waiting some more, creates opportunity for your toddler to communicate.

Now, I completely understand waiting and giving your toddler time to communicate can feel awkward and it is something most parents need to practice.

In fact, it is generally the thing I find parents struggle with the most during clinical sessions.

But our time pressures of life and our internal drive to automatically anticipate our toddlers needs make it extremely challenging to wait.

But not only does waiting give your baby and toddler time to process what we have said and think about a response, it validates the importance of what they are saying without pressuring them to say it in a certain way.

So next time you ask your toddler a question, wait approximately five seconds to give them a chance to respond to what you've asked or said.

And while you are waiting, show your child that you're interested in what they have to say by raising your eyebrows, smiling or opening your mouth.

And what you will soon see is your child communicates to you by making eye contact, babbling, using gestures, pointing or actually saying a word.

Second Tip to Encourage Your Toddler to Talk

In addition to just waiting, there are other things that you can do to encourage your baby or toddler to communicate with you.

And this next tip is something very few parents use, but it works incredibly well.

But before I cover what that is, if you haven't already, make sure you download the free Communication Milestone Chart, so you will know when to expect your baby's first words and how many words they should be saying at each stage, as well as how clear their speech should be.

The next way to encourage communication is to sabotage your baby and toddlers environment.

I know that might sound a little mean, but it's really not.

What I mean is to simply create talking opportunities by strategically placing favorite items, food or other things within their line of sight but out of reach and then just waiting.

When your baby or toddler wants these items, they will be motivated to use gestures or words to ask for it.

For example, instead of placing all of the toys on a low shelf which your toddler can freely access, place their favorite toy on a higher shelf and wait for your toddler to see it and then ask for it by pointing, grunting, looking at the toy or using a word.

At that point when your toddler communicates to you, you would label the favorite toy that they're wanting and then hand it to them.

Third Tip to Encourage Your Toddler to Talk

The third tip is particularly effective in getting babies and toddlers to talk sooner because it's something you do while you're playing together.

And research has found that children including babies are more likely to use gestures, babble or talk when they are participating in activity that they're actually interested in.

And babies and toddlers love nothing better than play.

So, what should you do? When you are playing with your baby, particularly if they're nine months of age and up, you want to start using fun words.

Now, fun words include animal noises or noises of transport vehicles like cars, that might be vroom or a truck which might be rumble or train noises which might be a chugga-chugga chugga or toot-toot, as well as action noises.

So these include crash, bang or splat.

Using these fun words while playing with your baby or toddler may make you feel silly, but they are going to love it.

And what's really exciting is that these fun words and sounds are often the first word that babies and toddlers imitate and in time say by themselves.

In addition to using these three tips to get your toddler to talk, there are three mistakes that parents naturally do which actually discourage their toddlers from talking.

Toddler Development