Speech Training for Toddler

Dear Client,

Patience is the first thought I had about you after reading your 2 year-old daughter's speech question regarding her breathing interfering with her verbal communication.

You reminded me of how much patience I needed to help train my 2-1/2 year-old-child speak and breathe correctly so she could be understood by others. Her speech was garbled because of the cleft pallet she was born with.

Her speech therapist suggested I teach my daughter how to speak correctly through repetition and patience.

The theory was to begin a daily routine of saying unhurriedly and lovingly the same word correctly over and over whenever I fed her. She was a very slow eater due to the amount of food that inadvertently went through her cleft pallet instead of being chewed and swallowed.

Sometimes I’d sing the word or say it in a higher or lower voice to get her attention. Her eyes were on me all the time when she ate. She began to speak in my tone of voice, and breathe in and out like me.

Three months later she repeated the word correctly and clearly. I was ecstatic and wanted to shout to everyone that my child got it. Anyone could understand her.

In the months that followed I began to utter new words and, instead of three months she’d repeat the new expressions in a week or two.

I still required lots of patience but hope filled me with enthusiasm and renewed energy.

Good luck. Thank you for writing.