Let's be functional

I see many families excited because their kiddo can count, and identify letters and colors. The kiddo can't ask for a snack or name family members or foods though. I know these families are proud of what their kiddo can do and I don't want to knock that at all. I feel like there are better words to start with though. They will learn all those educational things in preschool. When we use the Rosetti to evaluate in EI it has "names one color" at 27-30 months and "counts to 3" at 33-36 months. As early as 9-12 months though, a child should say "mama" or "dada" purposefully. It surprises me when a kid can name a few colors or at least approximations but doesn't call for mom or dad. At 12-15 months, they should be naming objects frequently. I know naming shapes is naming objects but how does that help them with day-to-day life?

I like to teach through play so I love to use pretend foods and pretend kitchen to teach naming foods and requesting a drink or food. I've found pretend foods at the dollar store or at the dollar stop at Target. I do love Melissa and Doug's wooden foods but I know they get heavy and expensive. You could also use empty cereal boxes or cracker boxes from real foods they are eating in real life. You can play pretend kitchen and model labeling and requesting things in play. Then transfer that over to real food and request real snacks. Just like with many things, offer choices, repetition, and model what you want them to say.

When modeling, model one more than they can say. If they can't even label the apple, of course, our target word will be "apple". If they are saying "apple" then model "want apple." Build up the phrase backward. You can use "want" multiple times a day, they always want something. That is a more functional word to target.

I like to make picture books to learn to label family members. Just like you would look at a book with farm animals, look at a picture book with family members. I personally have a printer and laminator so I'm making my baby a book. I like to use one picture per page. Use not only Mom, Dad, and siblings, but Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. Don't forget the family pets too. They may not get to see extended family as much so it can help when they do see them. I know in my family there are 11 grandkids so my baby has several cousins to learn. I know the first time my baby tried to say "grandma" it just melted her heart.

I love playing with farm animals and working on animal sounds. Starting with animal sounds can help with real words. "Moo" can turn into "more" and "neigh" to "no." Playing with different sounds and imitating can help to imitate new words. If they will imitate animal sounds with you, they are more likely to imitate words when they need/want something.

Source

Rosetti, L. M. (1990). The Rossetti Infant-Toddler Language Scale : a Measure of Communication and Interaction. East Moline: LinguiSystems, Inc.